Showing posts with label Australian Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian Politics. Show all posts

Angus Taylor: ‘The Labor government is f**kin’ sh*t…’

The optics of Pollie Pedal, despite being for a good cause, are out of touch with our lived reality.

Good intentions aside, Lycra-clad politicians riding their bicycles around being all fit and happy is at odds with how crappy life in Australia has become.

The rest of the country doesn’t have time to exercise, doesn’t have time for recreation, doesn’t have enough money left to take time off, and is looking for side-hustles just to make ends meet. And they’ve got nothing left for charity.

The annoying thing is that the Coalition isn’t hitting the mark against Labor while continuing to agree with them on legislation that does little to ease our economic pain.

All I want is for Angus Taylor to say what he really means.

On a hot mic the other day, maybe he did:

‘Alright, we’ve got to go and prep for this presser. We’re just going to say the Labor government is f**kin’ sh*t. You got your lines? Talking points? [inaudible dialogue] F**kin’ ABC will be.’

If only we’d continue to hear Gus talking straight. I don’t know anybody who is being all nice and polite about life under Labor.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Angus Taylor: ‘The Labor government is f**kin’ sh*t…’

Give us back our beer, smokes, and super

A schooner of Resch’s is now over $8 at my local (despite the publican absorbing the excise).

Australia has a habit of creating senior-age crunch times. Previously, it was working men (in particular) who were broken by age 63 but couldn’t get the pension until age 65. They had to gut it out for a few years.

Nowadays, Gen X are frequently being made redundant in their late 50s and are unable to access their superannuation until they are 60. It’s criminal.

When One Nation starts talking about giving us access to our super, Gen X are all ears.

With mortgage repayments the single biggest expense for many Gen Xers, accessing superannuation before the arbitrary age of 60 would be a no-brainer. But no. You have to die in a ditch because your super isn’t yours – it’s a ‘national asset’.

So, you can’t smoke, you can’t drink, and you have to give more of your money to the banks for absolutely nothing.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Pauline Hanson says it’s your money to do with as you wish, and Michael de Percy is certain the young are all ears to her message. But if the union-dominated super behemoth is to be cut down to size, we need a few policy ideas on how to do it, not just thought bubbles. Over to you, Pauline and Barnaby – not to mention Andrew Bragg and the leader he ignores cavalierly, Angus Taylor.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaGive us back our beer, smokes, and super.

The Census is no place for politics

Unwelcome, personal, and political questions were in the Census this year... [Deposit Photos/@olly18]

Why am I not surprised the 2026 Census feels a bit … politicised?

The last time a national census was held under a Labor government was in 2011. What a coincidence that those are the only two occasions I have felt the process turned into a political exercise. That is my opinion, at least.

This year the battleground is obvious.

For the first time, Australians aged 16 and over were asked optional questions about sexual orientation and gender identity. At the same time, secular campaigners ran a coordinated push to mark ‘No Religion’. Religious groups counter-campaigned, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) was reduced to pleading with the public to ignore online crusades.

It is my opinion that the Census has become another front in the identity wars. And Labor, after initially baulking at the ‘divisive’ new questions, eventually waved them through.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Did you think more than a few Census questions were unduly personal and intrusive, and others designed to pander to the identity politics agenda? Your scribe did, and so did Michael de Percy. Michael also relates a disturbing first-hand experience of the Blob’s unquenched desire for all manner of personal information from all manner of people. The Census is now a political document, not a simple number-gathering exercise, and both sides of politics are to blame.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

For those in the Coalition upper-ranks who like to snoop on my nightly writings, I urge you to read this article from Michael de Percy in a sober and calm fashion. Political parties must try to understand the political reality of their voters before it is too late. As I said to Michael when he filed this submission, it seems as if the ‘party’ and the ‘people’ have different native languages. They understand the words – but the jokes never hit because the proper context is missing.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Census is no place for politics.

Identity politics is modern communism

Communism failed to smash the state, so identity politics tries to smash the society.

How progressive politics unpicked Western Enlightenment one dangerous idea at a time

Every aspect of post-pandemic policy has become dominated by identity politics. The question is where this leads.

Key to identity politics is the right of individuals to identify however they choose, even if that means grammatically incorrect pronouns or irreversible medical interventions on minors. What is missing is any serious concept of the common good.

Ordinarily, if A identifies in a way that B rejects, B can still accept A’s right to choose. But when refusal to affirm that identity becomes a social, professional, or criminal offence, the purpose is no longer liberty. It is the enforced subordination of shared reality to private will.

Identity politics does not merely expand freedom. It systematically dismantles the shared understandings that make a free society possible.

Identity politics represents the acceleration of contradiction and therefore the manifestation of modern communism. It is destroying our liberal democratic traditions, and it is undoing the very fabric of Enlightenment thinking. Not only is it destroying the West from within, but it is making excuses for otherwise abhorrent human rights abuses elsewhere. It is hypocrisy in the extreme.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaIdentity politics is modern communism.

The One Nation of our discontent

The major parties do not grasp how deeply they are hated.

People are livid. This is no longer tall-poppy syndrome or healthy scepticism. They want the whole system burnt to the ground. For many, Roberts-Smith was doing his duty while the political class looked after itself, as it always does.

Anecdotes of women in their seventies living in cars after losing their houses are everywhere. Meanwhile politicians tell us to tighten our belts, or worse, take the roof racks off. Labor MPs film TikTok-style videos while people are weed-spraying, driving trucks, rouseabouting, working in cafés and cleaning. I did an eight-hour barista shift in a regional café last Sunday. It nearly killed me. I did harder things in the Army, but in my late fifties that shift was hell. Imagine a pollie lasting the distance.

The divide between ordinary Australians and the political class could not be greater. Politicians lecture us about what they stand for and then do the opposite. They may not all have lived by the skin of their teeth, but few have ever scrounged for durrie butts while properly down and out.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

There’s been a worrying spread of ‘might as well burn it down’ among the frustrated and exhausted ‘quiet Australians’. Once the unshakeable electoral base of the conservatives, these voters are struggling to find hope – even with the rise of One Nation. The notion that political parties can be reformed, saved, or even join forces into a workable coalition, is slipping further out of sight. And that’s a terrible thing for our future.
For those in the Coalition upper-ranks who like to snoop on my nightly writings, I urge you to read this article from Michael de Percy in a sober and calm fashion. Political parties must try to understand the political reality of their voters before it is too late. As I said to Michael when he filed this submission, it seems as if the ‘party’ and the ‘people’ have different native languages. They understand the words – but the jokes never hit because the proper context is missing.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy makes a powerful point very succinctly. The major parties don’t realise, or understand, just how much voters hate them. Say no more.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaThe One Nation of our discontent.

Identity politics is the root cause of Albo’s success

Albo is Karl Marx's executive chef. And it might just be the greatest challenge to our liberal democracy

In Australia, all aspects of our laws have been usurped by identity politics. Our courts, in my opinion, actively support it. This is not identity politics like Farmer’s Pride or the oldest bloke who feels like he’s losing his identity because he is no longer medically fit to hold a heavy licence. It’s the politics of grievance.

People can now declare themselves neurodiverse. It gives them an excuse for being an unreflective arsehole.

Albo can gaslight you because it’s the new normal, you bigot.

The reality is that identity politics helps the communist cause. Marx didn’t write recipes for tomorrow’s kitchens. But make no mistake, Albo is his executive chef in Australia.

Labor is not building anything. They are tearing society apart…

Albanese’s Labor are not building anything. Their communism brings us full circle back to anarchy.

Labor governments in Australia arose from the union movement and the Fabian tradition, but there has always been tension between the reformers and the radicals of the left. The reformers see government as a means of putting a human face on capitalism, whereas the radicals, or more appropriately, the communists, see government as the very problem with human society.

From Hobbes and his conservatism that saves us from anarchy to Locke and Mill and their liberalism, and to the Fabians and their reformist zeal, communism brings us full circle back to anarchy.

That’s where Albanese’s Labor Party is taking us. They’re not building anything. They’re tearing us apart.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

And what of Labor? Are they nation builders, or nation destroyers? I think we know the answer to that one, don’t we folks? Michael de Percy certainly does!

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaLabor is not building anything. They are tearing society apart

What did I miss? Australia's political week in fast-forward

What is his Plan B? This has nothing to do with chepaer electricity or carbon emissions. 

Those who allow Labor press releases to act as their sole source of truth wouldn’t imagine that Australians are caught in the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory.

The economy is … buggered. And the culture wars, that don’t exist, have the major parties bound and gagged as the captives of Populism. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe by the level of hysteria.

While this is going on, the average voter is watching ISIS fighters, enthusiasts, and brides return with surprisingly few consequences.

On that topic, and with battle-hardened ISIS Grooms discovered in Iraqi jails, One Nation’s Pauline Hanson wrote to Angus Taylor offering her party’s support for any legislation put forward to keep them out.

This was triggered by Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh, known as ‘Dr Jihad’, wishing to return. An action Angus Taylor wants to block over his alleged support for ISIS.

Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume wasn’t particularly interested in One Nation’s offer of support, insisting that the Coalition needs the support of Labor, not One Nation. Good luck with that.

My latest in The Spectator Australia co-authored with my editor, Alexandra Marshall @ellymellyWhat did I miss? Australia's political week in fast-forward.

What if small businesses went on strike against Labor?

Small businesses are hurting (and closing) under Labor’s federal and state policies

Labor’s wealth redistribution and bracket creep realities are one result of the federal stage 3 tax cuts adjustments and reversals and fiscal settings that have led to bracket creep.

These effects, amid persistent inflation, are squeezing small business owners and their ability to retain staff or invest in future capabilities. Small businesses face higher effective burdens without the scale of larger firms. Yet they are carrying a proportionately higher regulatory burden.

ASIC has reported record revenue of some $830 million in fines. The NSW government is riding high on the back of increased revenue from fines including small businesses. This is set to continue.

Terry Barnes wrote in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy is right. Small businesses can’t thrive under federal Labor’s anti-private enterprise and high-taxing regime, let alone state Labor’s payroll and other job-killing taxes. And that’s not including onerous government-mandated paperwork and compliance. But speaking as a self-employed small business type, the costs of going ‘on strike’ against Labor’s incessant demands on my bottom line is having the Australian Taxation Office out to crush both me, and my ability to put food on the table for my family and keep the lights on. How I’d love to tell the ATO to get knotted, but they know they have me, and hundreds of thousands like me, by the short and curlies.

 My latest in The Spectator AustraliaWhat if small businesses went on strike against Labor?

One Nation polling proves ‘The Establishment’ can’t be trusted

The Establishment presents itself as the calm, serious voice of reason in politics and society. But, nuh!

The Establishment presents itself as the calm, serious voice of reason in politics and society.

You hear it most clearly when the Prime Minister says Pauline Hanson should not ‘talk Australia down’ when overseas.

Life at Copacabana must be quite pleasant. Here in regional Australia, businesses are collapsing, people are struggling, and nobody is saying, ‘How great is Albo’s Australia!’

Yet the media’s focus is all on One Nation. It reminds me of most of the stuff coming out of universities these days.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Michael de Percy looked at the polls and said … The Establishment can’t be trusted! That’s because after a solid week of wall-to-wall screeching, One Nation has emerged with barely a dent.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy heads in a similar direction to James Allan, except he’s concluded the battle of ideas is over already, and One Nation has won it. In his view, the Establishment is trying to bring Hanson and One Nation down because they can’t recover their dominance any other way. Ironically, Hanson herself has been around politics so long that it could be said that she, herself, is part of the Establishment, or at least the political class associated with it. She knows how the system works, and plays the game accordingly.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaOne Nation polling proves ‘The Establishment’ can’t be trusted.

What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward

They came after Pauline, they came after Barnaby, and now they are coming for Malcolm Roberts.

 The results of Labor’s economic meddling are in. Rents are going up, housing prices are coming down, mortgage repayments are going up, and Labor also briefly considered tinkering with the idea of charging capital gains tax on the sale of the classic car you’ve worked on forever. (They backed out of that last one pretty quick!) Your labour counts for nought of course.

(Unless you are at BHP, Australia’s biggest company, where 63 union members walked off the job in a strike that was meant to cripple the Pilbara. Quite the union hit job…? The final numbers are being debated and the unions are insisting it was a success.)

In other news, people are hearing about a tax on the sale of assets when one’s partner dies. Is this for real? Isn’t that called a death tax?

There are so many questions.

My latest weekly round-up in The Spectator Australia, What did I miss?


How will the Liberal Party atone for their ‘failings’?

The Liberal Party once stood for the individual, the family and free enterprise.

During the pandemic, I recall John Howard’s advice to Josh Frydenberg, then Treasurer, words to the effect of ‘now is not the time for ideology’. It has all gone pear-shaped for the Liberal Party from that time on. Many of the Party’s actions, even Tony Abbott’s, were not in the spirit of the individual, the family, or free enterprise.

Rather than return to the Party’s creed, Peter Dutton attempted to show his soft side. The man who took on Australia’s national security agencies and forced them to do their jobs suddenly went limp. It was a disastrous result and, in my opinion, one where his advisors are largely to blame.

Sussan Ley then went full Labor-lite. It was as if she had listened to Scott Morrison in the 2022 election debate where he agreed with Albanese that the Labor Party made all the great innovations in Australian politics, but the Coalition ended up having to pay for them. Talk about a non-policy. It had me cringing worse than Fawlty Towers.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy concludes the Liberal party has made some huge mistakes over the last 15 years, and is paying the price in the current polls. The crux of his argument is that the Liberals have to break away from the Establishment and identify with the people – which effectively is what the Hanson party has done, as they see it. But as Michael also contends, the Liberals have strayed too far from their spiritual roots – smaller and less intrusive government, lower taxes and greater personal responsibility. As a party, the need to rediscover those roots urgently, and frame their electoral alternative to both Labor and ON around them. Angus Taylor is not as eloquent as his wife, perhaps, but his policy thinking certainly is heading in that direction.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaHow will the Liberal Party atone for their ‘failings’?

 


Can One Nation break through the glass ceiling to the majors?

One Nation has struck a chord with Australians who are sick and tired of the same old Uniparty.

Pauline Hanson is like the Rocky Balboa doll: ‘You can kick it, you can beat it, it does everything. That’s right, takes a terrific beating.’

In my opinion she was Australia’s first political prisoner. Of course, Hanson was exonerated. But you can’t get much more underdog than that.

Hanson has also been consistent. She doesn’t need to say she is a conviction politician (like Albo used to tell us before gaslighting became the new normal). Nothing says conviction more than living by conviction.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

One Nation’s polling may or may not have peaked, but in terms of voter share it is up equal to, or ahead of, the two major parties. Will it stay there? Will it crack the ‘glass ceiling’ in actual elections? Michael de Percy thinks so, as One Nation rides the wave of voter dissatisfaction with their major party choices. But with ascension to major party Olympus comes what Pauline Hanson seems to hate – scrutiny. Of ideas, policies and, yes, people. That even includes One Nation people scrutinising other One Nation people, as we’ve seen this week with Barnaby Joyce dissociating himself from certain views of Malcom Roberts. Arguably, One Nation has some political growing-up to do if it aspires to electoral greatness. Being prepared to offer costed policies would be a great start.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

There is a lot of talk about the survival chances of One Nation as a potential major party. Michael de Percy runs through the essential things that Pauline Hanson and her colleagues will have to get right if One Nation is to survive this trial by fire. Are these unfair standards? Probably. But at the moment, all of their political competitors are out to get them.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaCan One Nation break through the glass ceiling to the majors?

Albo’s cold fart warmed up, or Gus’ genuine cool?

As we used to say when we were kids, Albo think's he's hot shit, but he's only cold fart warmed up.

Anthony Albanese stepped off his RAAF jet last October in his jeans with a Joy Division T-shirt stretched across his chest, grinning like he’d just pulled off the greatest larrikin stunt in Australian political cool. The press gallery cooed. Cool statement, they said. The Prime Minister enjoying his ascension, showing he’s still one of the boys.

As we used to say when we were kids, Albo thought he was hot shit. But he was only cold fart warmed up.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaAlbo’s cold fart warmed up, or Gus’ genuine cool?

Pauline Hanson came, saw, and conquered Canberra

Pauline kept on as if nothing had happened. One Nation later joked they wish they’d thought of it!

The National Press Club this week attempted to show its liberal democratic credentials by giving the One Nation leader a national platform.

I was hoping it would be a win-win situation for Pauline Hanson.

If the journos got the best of her, more sympathisers would be on her side. If she won over the journos, she would have shifted the party into new territory. But nobody could predict that she would win, and win, and then win big in Canberra.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Our Press Gallery correspondent, Michael de Percy, was at the Press Club on Wednesday, and asked Pauline Hanson a question as one of her media interrogators. As an accredited Gallery journo, Michael had a box seat to the proceedings, and he’s shared his impressions of the lunch, Hanson and her performance. It’s probably fair to say he’s had a Pauline conversion. And, as Rowan said on Sky, Michael’s question was excellent.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaPauline Hanson came, saw, and conquered Canberra.

Labor failed their political IQ test

Bozo! The Stop Sign!! And the week Albanese almost certainly regrets...

This week, Labor failed a political IQ test.

The best way to fight your political opponent is to Labor what pouring petrol on a fire is to the Rural Fire Service. Not only did Labor raise barely a trickle of financial support to stop One Nation, they helped Pauline win big. After three days and counting, One Nation’s war chest has surpassed $3.6 million.

Albo reckons it’s all a bit dubious. Pauline posted proof of truth.

Independent tech auditors say the amount is legit. Apparently, they’ve checked with the SQuirreLs and the SQuirreLs say the funds are not just promised but already delivered. That means there could be even more money on the way.

Just to remind Albo about his integrity, trucks are now driving around his electorate of Grayndler with the words ‘Fire the Liar’ emblazoned on the sides of the trucks.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Meanwhile, the Fire the Liar fundraising campaign goes from strength to strength, with Oner Nation’s banked total now well over $4 million. Damien Costas explores the politics behind the visceral public reaction to Fire the Liar – and indeed to the Liar, and his and his government’s lies, that inspired it. Michael de Percy also adds his ringing endorsement to the cheeky One Nation campaign inspired by a comment made on a Sky News television programme just a week ago.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaLabor failed their political IQ test.

What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward

Angus Taylor openly referred to Albo’s government policies as socialist. It’s about time.

Recent interviews suggest Paul Kelly isn’t a fan of One Nation. The veteran editor-at-large at The Australian reckoned ‘Pauline Hanson is not fit to be Prime Minister of Australia’. Our editor-in-chief begged to differ.

Meanwhile, One Nation will ban The Guardian from attending party events after the masthead allegedly admitted it used photographs that deliberately made Pauline Hanson look more sinister. The only thing sinister about Pauline is that she is putting the wind up the establishment that doesn’t give a toss about ordinary Australians.

While we’re on the topic of not being fit to be Prime Minister of Australia, Angus Taylor openly referred to Albo’s government policies as socialist. It’s about time somebody in high office stated the bleeding obvious. It seems the battle lines have been drawn.

It’s a good thing too because those ‘other people’ who have the money that socialists use are now mere mythical creatures. Unless of course you read the comments from all the leftie bots that ride on Albo’s gravy train.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaWhat did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward.

Albanese’s regional Australia is being subsidised by $5 coffees

This week, I became a barista. It's more like Mugatu's bloated foamy latte fart than art, but it's a start! 

You don’t have to tell me that most politicians and policymakers are out of touch with small businesses in regional Australia.

I know it for a fact.

This week, Labor’s policies created a Catch-22 for the people who hold regional communities together. For me, this time it’s personal.

Small business cafés in the regions are being forced to choose between two bad options. They can absorb the rising costs of running a business and keep providing the social glue that governments never fund. Or they can pass those costs on to customers who are already stretched, watch their trade collapse, and lose the very community role that makes the business viable in the first place.

Either way, the social fabric frays and the business is weakened. That is the bind Labor’s cost-of-living settings have created for regional Australia.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaAlbanese’s regional Australia is being subsidised by $5 coffees.

What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward

My editor: Where is the interview? All you filed with me were photos of yourself in an infinity pool.

From Port Havannah, Vanuatu: What have you missed? If you’ve had a gutful of trending politics like me, probably all of it. Every day brings another story about how the Albanese government is driving the cost of living through the roof. Labor has become the proverbial ‘passion fingers’.

Exhausted by press releases and nauseated watching Labor’s pitiful social media campaign (designed to bombard taxpayers with so much Budget propaganda that they eventually fall in love it), we went off to Port Havannah in Vanuatu for a week. It is the first time I have had an actual holiday in nearly 40 years of adult life. I turned my phone off and drank Piña Coladas like they were going out of fashion (if that’s possible).

There’s no point saving money while Labor is in power. I figured they’ll take it off me somehow. So off we went.

The trouble is, we ran straight into a microcosm of Labor’s bullshit in Vanuatu.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward.

Standing on the shoulders of leftists

Labor deserves a Darwin Award. They’re standing on the shoulders of Lilliputians.

The Albanese government is unoriginal. They are supported by the bolshie petty bourgeoisie.

The bolshie petty bourgeoisie are those who survive on government funds. In other words, they are leaners and not lifters. With so many people now living on government funds, that is, taxpayers’ money, these grifters are not the owners of the means of production. But they are communist in intent and dead set on milking the government teat dry. All while claiming they are productive.

It’s like the old joke about capitalism and communism. In capitalism, you have two cows. You buy a bull and create a herd. You sell your natural increase which produces protein. Everybody is happy – they have meat, you have money – and there is much rejoicing.

In communism, you have two cows. A public servant decides that veganism is great. You know they’re a vegan because they tell you straight away. Next thing you know the public servant takes your cows and shoots them because they are creating too much methane and causing climate change. You shake your head. But that is a microaggression and next minute you are forced to undertake retraining to become vegan.

My latest in The Spectator AustraliaStanding on the shoulders of leftists.




 


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