#australian election 2019

[batshit-auspol]

I just spent some time scrolling through this blog and am suffering from sever laughter. Thanks so much for collating the countries craziest moments. One of my favourites is when Scott Morrison was in Hawaii while the bushfires where burning.

December 2019: As Australia's east coast is engulfed in the worst bushfires in living memory, rumours begin to circulate that Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison may have secretly fucked off for a holiday in Hawaii.

Keep in mind, this is what is going down in Australia at the time:

The Hawaii rumour is initially written off as a fringe conspiracy, because surely nobody could be that fuckin tonedeaf, and it was quickly forgotten about... until an Australian man visiting Hawaii UPLOADED A SELFIE ON THE BEACH WITH THE PM THROWING A SHAKA.

At which point all hell broke loose.

Overnight the formerly popular "Scomo" became the most despised man in all of Australia. Think "firefighters shouting out of their windows to news cameras" level of despised.

After about two days of radio silence and pretending like he was still at home running the country, the Prime Minister's handlers finally dragged him onto call with an Australian radio station, where he pinky promised to return to Australia as fast as he could in an attempt to calm things down.

Unfortunately Scott's empathy consultant (a real job) then had to watch Scott pour more gasoline on the dumpster fire by uttering the now famous phrase "Look I don't hold a hose mate" when asked by the radio interviewer why the fucking fuck the fuckhead wasn't fucking in Australia doing his fucking job during a massive fucking crisis.

Testing just how much worse things could get, Scomo then proceeded to NOT rush back to Australia as promised, instead attempting to complete the rest of his holiday, a fact that was exposed when a passerby snapped a picture of him still lounging on the beach two days later.

Eventually, holiday complete, Morrison did reluctantly slink back to Australia, and in an attempt to calm things down, he decided to pay a visit to a small town that had been destroyed by the fires.

Which was a big mistake.

Scomo still had not registered how absolutely and totally he had screwed the poodle with his Hawaiian beach vacation, and he walks into what is now taught in PR classes as one of the greatest examples of "what not do do in a crisis" in all of history.

Scotty from Marketing, as he is now dubbed by the nation, spends a painfully cringe-inducing hour wandering around a burned down town with TV news cameras in tow, having to FORCE PEOPLE TO SHAKE HIS HAND in what is some of the most awkward footage you will ever see.

At this point it's probably also worth mentioning that, before becoming Prime Minister, Scott Morrison's biggest claim to fame in politics was being the guy that was so far up the coal lobby's arse that he literally brought coal into parliament and waved it around, claiming it doesn't hurt people.

So when a protest was organised it turned out to be one big national fuck you to the Prime Minister, the likes of which the world has never seen before or since.

Needless to say, at this point Scomo's career was dead in the water, but thanks to the rules brought in to stop Australian political parties from knifing their leader every two weeks (a popular Aussie passtime) Morrison basically couldn't get fired until after the next election.

And so, when the election rolled around in 2022, we decided that was an opportune time to travel over to Hawaii to erect this bad boy tribute to the Prime Minister, on the very beach where Scomo had sat and drank margaritas that one fateful week in December as Australia burned (thanks to @chaser for funding the ticket)

[antifaintl]

I had a random gut feeling that if writer and actor strikes in USA continues, capitalists may start using their pundits to incite fascists to go after the protesters. Your opinion on this perspective?

We don't know about that Anon, that seems a bit far-fetched. It's not like fascists have a 100+ year history of attacking strikers and trade unions. Unless of course you count Benito Mussolini hiring out his blackshirts as strikebreakers in 1919. Or the fascist attacks & disruptions of the 1926 general strike in the UK. Or Hitler making trade unions illegal in 1933 and then sending trade unionists to be murdered in concentration camps. Anyways, that's all ancient history and there are no examples of recent fascist activity targeting trade unions. Aside from the fascist attack on striking railway workers in Manchester in 2019. Or the murder of Bolivian miner union leader Orlando Gutiérrez in 2020 by a mob of fascists protesting the outcome of the country's election by beating him to death. Or the 2021 attack on the headquarters of an Australian construction workers' union in Australia in 2021 by far-right extremists and anti-public health conspiracy theorists, who broke into the building and attacked union officials and union staff. Or the attack by members of the fascist Forza Nuova party on a union office in Rome, Italy that same year. Or the (failed) attempt by fascists in Albi, France to assault trade union members (only to be badly beaten themselves by the union members!) in October 2021. Or the November 2021 attack on two union members in Paris by a fascist gang. Well anyways it's not like fascist leaders like the UK's Alek Yerbury are currently calling for his followers to target union offices, picket lines, and strikers.

You see? Nothing at all to worry about and anti-fascists shouldn't bother showing their support and solidarity with working people striking in an attempt to raise the working conditions and lives of all of us! OR MAYBE WE SHOULD???

[mariacallous]

I am bad at small talk, so I went in big. “You are probably going to be the social democratic leader with the largest parliamentary majority anywhere on Earth. How does it feel?” I said to Keir Starmer during a private meeting with him and a few advisors in late 2022.

Starmer’s aides looked annoyed, while the likely next prime minister of the United Kingdom paused and tried to deflect: “We can’t take anything for granted,” which has become the unofficial motto for Labour’s general election campaign.

Yet despite Starmer’s hesitancy to bank success—he is genuinely a modest man—it is likely that on the morning of July 5, Starmer will wake up as the world’s social democratic superhero: the only center-left leader of a major economy with a parliamentary supermajority and the great hope for progressives all over the world.

The governing Conservative Party, which is historically arguably the most successful political party on Earth, now faces electoral oblivion. In 2019, Boris Johnson demolished Labour’s heartlands, the so-called red wall. Labour had become detached from its base and collapsed in its postindustrial heartlands after then-leader Jeremy Corbyn embraced the siren sounds of political extremism; he refused to sing the national anthem at a memorial for the Battle of Britain and drove the party toward a position of fiscal incontinence that scared anyone with financial assets.

Five years later, Labour is on track not only to regain the red wall but also to achieve a dream of progressives by taking solid Conservative seats in their blue wall of affluent commuter constituencies surrounding London and rural seats that have voted Conservative since time immemorial. (East Worthing and Shoreham, for example, is part of a constituency that first voted Tory in 1780 and has been reliably Tory since. Polls suggest Labour is on track to take the seat.)

What is happening in the U.K. is unusual for center-left parties, to put it mildly. Labour could gain as many as 70 percent of seats in the House of Commons—a victory that could surpass even the electoral landside of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997, offering lessons for progressives everywhere. A politically dominant Starmer will attend the G-7 as a leader in total political control, in stark contrast to his counterparts in France and Germany, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, who are facing high disapproval ratings and struggling to pursue their governing agendas.

Labour’s victory in the U.K. will be important in three key regards: It will recast how progressives can win national elections and set a high-water mark for what social democrats can achieve; it will reshape British politics in new and unexpected ways that could be more important than the victory itself; and it will flip external perceptions of the U.K., resetting international views of the country and its future.

Despite the pathological obsession Britain’s political class has with America’s, it is perhaps time for Democrats in the United States to look across the pond and glean some lessons from Labour’s success.

Part of Starmer’s success has been to take an oath of omertà on culture war issues, much as the Australian Labor Party did. These include transgender rights, Britain’s colonial past, and immigration—all issues that the British right has tried to capitalize on. Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, has committed to scrap the Tories’ controversial Rwanda deportation scheme but on the grounds of practicality rather than as a wider moral statement. More broadly on immigration, the party has been treading very carefully. This is certainly not brave, but it has worked. For all the attempts to fire up the culture wars in this election, Labour has remained focused on the prize.

While the Conservatives have attempted to stoke a culture war, what remains more salient for voters in the U.K. is the perceived corruption and rule-breaking of leading Conservatives, culminating in the current scandal involving elected officials using insider information to bet on the election date.

Scandals including preferential contracts for protective equipment for the National Health Service (NHS) during the COVID-19 pandemic, where an astonishing 4 billion pounds ($5 billion) worth of faulty equipment was procured (some allegedly from companies with links to the ruling party). Then came “Partygate,” in which Johnson and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were fined by police for breaking COVID-era laws. A lobbying scandal involving another former prime minister, David Cameron, also caused significant public anger. Elite rule-breaking has cut through with voters in a way that the endless culture wars simply haven’t.

In parallel, Labour has pivoted from a form of identity politics under Corbyn to a very proactive position on class. Starmer has put his humble upbringing center stage in the U.K. election campaign and has spoken authentically about the “class ceiling” in British society. This has particular resonance as Starmer is running against Sunak, whose net wealth of $822 million makes him the richest leader of any democracy.

A typical Starmer set-piece homily is as follows:

“My dad was a toolmaker, he worked in a factory, and my mum was a nurse. We didn’t have a lot when we were growing up. Like millions of working-class children now, I grew up in a cost-of-living crisis. I know what it feels like to be embarrassed to bring your mates home because the carpet is threadbare and the windows cracked. … I was actually responsible for that as I put the football through it.”

This focus on class is unusual in modern British politics. Indeed, recent Labour leaders—from Blair to Gordon Brown to Ed Miliband to Corbyn—were all in different ways outsiders to the British working class: Blair and Corbyn for their relatively affluent (and privately educated) upbringings, Brown and Miliband because of their middle-class backgrounds and partly because Miliband’s father was one of the country’s most notable Marxist academics. As for the Conservatives, the days of a prime minister who was a grocer’s daughter are long gone. Cameron and Johnson didn’t just attend the same elite private school (Eton) two years apart; they went to the same university (Oxford) and were members of the same private dining club (for the most privileged).

Starmer is leaning into class politics—and it is working. The promise to impose the same value-added tax on private school fees that is applied to most goods and services (20 percent) has led to an outpouring of anger from the often very wealthy 6 percent of U.K. parents who send their kids to private schools—usefully, those who are privately educated often tend to vote Conservative. Labour’s pledge to use the private school tax revenues to invest in education for the 94 percent of kids in state schools has, on the other hand, drawn support from ordinary voters.

This focus on class has won back a group of voters who in other countries have now been captured by the right and far right. Labour now leads among working-class voters with 38-42 percent of the vote share, in contrast to Conservatives’ 22-24 percent. For those with the fewest educational qualifications, Labour leads in every age category except the over-50s.

One of the architects of Labour’s reengagement with the British working class is Angela Rayner, who is on track to become deputy prime minister. Rayner is working-class, was a mother at 16, and a grandmother at 37. Opinionated and unfiltered, an unapologetic smoker who enjoys a strong drink, she worked in a care home before rising quickly through the trade union movement and becoming a Labour candidate. Rayner’s story is a masterclass in how to elevate remarkable people into parliamentary politics. Her success is her own, but the unions cultivated her, and the membership backed her as deputy leader. She has real star power—and there is virtually no one like her in the upper echelons of the Democratic establishment in the United States.

Remarkably, the class dimension has not, it seems, alienated middle England. Disillusioned surbubanites and centrist liberals have been turned off by a Conservative Party that seems increasingly radical and dysfunctional. Starmer’s former career as the country’s chief prosecutor, and his knighthood—he is formally referred to as “Sir Keir”—have given him broad appeal, just as the Conservatives’ unapologetic embrace of the populist right’s pet causes has cratered their support.

Part of Labour’s success is due to the systemic clusterfuck that has been the last few years of the Conservative government. The Tories have foisted five prime ministers on the public since 2010—four of them elected by the party’s mostly white, male membership of about 170,000 rather than the public at large. Economic growth is anemic; there are nearly 8 million people on the NHS waiting list in England alone (in a country where the use of private medical care is uncommon); and essential public services including the prison service and local government are on the edge of systemic failure.

Yet signs exist that there may be more fundamental shifts at play. Labour leads in every age group except the over-65s. If you work, you are more likely to vote Labour; 45 percent of voters under 45 are likely to vote Labour, compared with only 1 in 10 backing the Conservative Party. Millennials will become the largest voting bloc in the U.K. in this election. Their key issues include policies to prevent catastrophic climate change (which poll well across the U.K. political spectrum), the building of homes, better transport links (especially for non-car owners, many urban millennials among them), and pro-family policies. All of these have come into play in this election.

Older homeowners across the Western world have been successful in running what is, potentially, the world’s largest cartel—by opposing construction of new homes for millennials. Labour is committed to ending that in the U.K. with a significant loosening of planning regulations that currently thwart sustainable development.

While the party has ruled out taxes on working people, no such commitment has been made on unearned income, leading to widespread speculation that the tax system may be rebalanced with higher capital gains taxes and fewer loopholes for the megarich, including for the landed gentry whose farming estates pass between generations tax-free. Labour has no love for landlords either. After nearly two decades in which London’s property market has been inflated by speculative investments from the world’s kleptocrats, the public appetite for new restrictions on foreign property ownership or new taxes has grown.

Labour has also surrounded itself with a technocratic positivist elite. This group includes Labour Together, an ambitious intellectual think tank closely aligned with Starmer’s inner circle, and the Tony Blair Institute, which has embraced a techno-futurism aligned with the country’s comparative advantage in the life sciences and artificial intelligence. Public sector reform under a Starmer government could be significant if one imagines the potential, for example, of using the NHS’s treasure trove of data (on 70 million people) to drive innovation in health care.

In stark contrast to Labour’s focus on the future, an aging right-wing voter base is now split between the Conservative Party and Reform, a vehicle that is a mix between a private company, a political party, and a personal platform for Nigel Farage—the pro-Brexit politician Donald Trump has trotted out as a posh Anglo stage prop. Conservatives in Parliament are already moving rightward. Tory MPs give statements to the media condemning the European Convention on Human Rights, a document co-drafted by David Maxwell-Fyfe—a Conservative MP and prosecutor of Nazis at Nuremberg—that was inspired by Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s vision for postwar Europe.

Meanwhile, a wing of Conservative MPs are already attempting to cast the almost certain defeat as evidence that the party did not pivot enough to the populist right. The divided right is making the admission of the controversial Farage into the Conservative Party a real possibility, a prospect that fills Labour with glee. Needless to say, the next Conservative leader is unlikely to be a moderate. With the party tacking to the right, it could soon become a vessel for Faragism and a weak British version of the Trump movement.

Finally, there are the vibes. A progressive recasting of British politics will shift narratives around the U.K. National narratives can flip in an instant: Think of foreigners’ perceptions of the United States from Barack Obama to Trump or the assumption of Chinese economic primacy to a sense of retrenchment and decline under Xi Jinping. The U.K. in recent memory was seen as a fairly stable, politically dull island anchored somewhere in the mid-Atlantic. Brexit, Johnson, and Liz Truss put an end to that. With the shift from perceived and actual chaos and an insurgent right to a progressive supermajority, attitudes will likely shift again.

Vibes are important, especially to the economy of the U.K., which may have ceased to be a traditional superpower but remains a cultural one punching significantly above its weight internationally. Six percent of U.K. GDP comes from the creative industries—from the success of British music to the Premier League, a booming film and TV industry, fashion, and the arts. That’s double the level of Germany and larger than the contribution of the German car industry to the country’s output (4.5 percent). For a country that trades on vibes and is reliant on the export of its creativity, Brexit and isolation have caused real damage.

It’s long forgotten now, but during the last Labour government from 1997 until the 2008 financial crisis, the U.K. was the fastest-growing economy in the G-7, faster than that of the Clinton- and Bush-era United States. Given the country’s currently stagnant economy, the next Parliament will be more challenging, but in a highly open society, the role of consumer confidence and investor confidence cannot be underestimated.

In a previous piece in these pages, after Labour’s historic loss in the 2019 general election, I wrote: “Radical leftism is not a drug you can take as a party and return to normal the next morning.” I was right about the election but wrong about the next morning.

No one expected Labour to turn a historic defeat into a historic victory in just five years. The circumstances the Conservative Party faced were extraordinary, but Starmer has shown that tight party management, a focus on voters and not ideology, and a sprinkling of class-based politics can reinvigorate social democratic politics.

What lessons does this hold for other center-left parties?

First, culture war issues aren’t a central motivation for most voters. On all the major culture war issues, Labour holds a less popular position than the Conservative Party. Yet when mortgage rates have risen from 2 to 5 percent, “it’s the economy, stupid.” Progressives don’t need to fear the charge of the populist right; they need smarter answers.

Second, rule-breaking or perceived corruption is a powerful motivator for voters, and global polling proves this. Progressives need a stronger line on conflicts of interest, corporate lobbying, the kleptocratic buy-up of the finest properties in the world’s global cities, and tackling emerging monopolies that exist due to political capture. Doing so counters the populist right head-on.

Third, the dominance of identity politics in left-wing online spaces is not matched by public understanding of or interest in this form of politics. Class is understood, whereas intersectionality isn’t. Class may, or may not, be the most relevant dividing line for progressives in different places—but for progressives to win, they need messengers who are from outside the upper middle class and have lived experience that resonates with people who feel disenchanted and left behind. In other words, Democrats in the United States need an Angela Rayner.

Most critically, once in power, social democrats do not have the luxury of time. Crumbling infrastructure, failing public services, falling living standards, and a lack of housing all point to direct state intervention on a scale not seen since the late 1960s Great Society programs in the United States and similar policies during that era in the U.K. Unless progressives can deliver, it will be challenged further by a populist right that is gaining momentum.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has been the talk of London and Brussels for progressives, and Biden deserves more credit for his boldness. With a supermajority, Starmer has the scope for even bolder programs. A progressive U.K. government will not only reset Europeans’ views of the country, but if successful, it can aid progressive arguments within Europe that austerity and fiscalization do not generate economic growth or social stability.

Starmer’s victory will give global social democrats a high-water mark for electoral success in a wealthy democracy. The challenge for Starmer is the incredible weight of hope in an era of polycrisis. If Labour succeeds in delivering growth, building homes, and raising wages, then it will provide a blueprint that can—and should—be copied elsewhere.

[zvaigzdelasas]

The Panguna mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, closed in 1989 after pollution sparked a local rebellion. As many as 20,000 people, close to 10 per cent of the island’s population, died in the civil war that followed.

Once controlled by Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, Panguna has been the subject of intense interest from speculators and smaller companies for more than two decades, but only in recent months has resuming copper and gold mining looked achievable.

The Autonomous Bougainville Government sees the revival of the project as critical to the island’s economic destiny following a referendum in 2019 that almost unanimously backed independence from PNG. It has tried to resolve a legal dispute over who has the rights to mine Panguna. Bougainville Copper Limited, the Australian-listed historic operator of the mine that is now majority owned by the island’s government, is confident it will be issued a new exploration licence next year.

The island’s President Ishmael Toroama also appointed himself as mining minister in September. Advisers say he is determined to set Panguna on the path towards reopening ahead of elections set to take place in 2025 in order to show progress is being made towards independence.[...]

Reopening Panguna is seen as critical to making Bougainville economically independent as the island pushes to secede. The island’s vote for independence four years ago, part of a peace process agreed in 2001, was non-binding and must be ratified by the PNG parliament. 

James Marape, prime minister of PNG, told a Lowy Institute event in Sydney this month that ratification was “at the doorsteps”, but stressed he would not pre-empt the parliamentary process.[...]

BCL said it would require a larger partner to develop the site. Australian, US and Chinese mining companies are all active in PNG and Togolo said he would not rule out working with any partners.

“Geopolitics is a factor not just in Bougainville but in PNG and the Pacific,” he said. “For us it is about working with someone who will share the benefits with us all.”

PNG signed a bilateral security agreement with Australia this month, which followed a security pact with the US earlier in the year. Bougainville lies between PNG’s mainland and the Solomon Islands, which has forged closer ties with China in the past two years including a security agreement. 

Toroama, who wants to achieve secession by 2027, travelled to Washington in November when he met politicians and business leaders in what advisers said was a sign the government favours a North American or Australian partner for Panguna.

27 Dec 23

[rottingwaysofmisery]

For fans of Old School Death Metal

This post is to serve as a list of recommendations of niche or newer Old School Death Metal-esque bands, and what bands they’re most similar to.

Let me preface, if you’re looking for Cannibal Corpse you’re not going to get it. I like some Cannibal Corpse songs, but they’re not the kind of music that I want to get from Old School Death Metal (OSDM). You’re going to get a lot more stuff similar to Morbid Angel or Death because that’s mainly what I’m into.

I’m also going to mention themes here, which you may find confusing if you don’t pay attention to Death Metal’s themes but there’s something much more interesting to me about Death Metal that goes into mythology, history, or the occult, in the stead of the classic “Gore and Misogyny” that lazy Death Metal bands tend to do.

With that out of the way, here we go.

Gruesome - For Fans of early Death

American band done explicitly in the style of/in tribute to the band Death, with albums reminiscent of Leprosy or Spiritual Healing.

Sijjin - For Fans of Morbid Angel

A personal favorite of mine, this one has hooks and riffs for days. I found myself surprised to like this, as I had expected modern death metal bands to have nothing interesting in store, but this 2019-born band delivers just as well as any old Florida Death Metal band.

Atrocity - For Fans of the general Florida Death Metal scene

If you search this band up on Spotify, you’re most likely going to be greeted by their shitty cover albums. Yeah, in my opinion this band definitely fell off. I would, however, highly recommend their sophomore release “Todessehnsucht”. It even happens to feature a cover of a Death demo song, Archangel.

Perdition Temple - For Fans of Deicide and Morbid Angel

You’re in for a lot of Morbid Angel-type stuff, even though Death is my favorite band. This one isn’t necessarily just death metal though, as it’s sometimes labelled Black/Death Metal. Not in like, a war metal/bestial black metal kind of way though so don’t get your hopes up if you’re into that. I would personally recommend their first release the most, “Edict of the Antichrist Elect”.

Nile - For Fans of Morbid Angel

You might cry, “That’s not niche or new!”, but if I can get through to at least one Morbid Angel fan who just happens to not know about Nile, my job will be done. As the name suggests, this band thematically pertains to Egypt, particularly Ancient Egypt. I’ve never been a huge Nile fan, but of the few songs I do love I really love them.

Xenomorph - For Fans of Morbid Angel

Specifically, the American band that only released Empyreal Regimes in 1995. I really love the production on that album, something about the tone feels warm.

Angelcorpse - For Fans of Morbid Angel

If you love Morbid Angel but hate the groovier or slower parts, this band is for you. Personally, never been a big fan since I love the slower stuff from Morbid Angel, but you may love this.

Altars - For Fans of Morbid Angel

In direct contrast to the last band, here’s a bit of a groovier death metal band. Specifically, this the Altars that is an Australian Death Metal band that released “Paramnesia”.

Necronomicon - For fans of Morbid Angel

Canadian Death Metal band, I would specifically recommend “Pharoah of the Gods”, if you can get past all the unnecessary intros on multiple tracks at least. Generally, mid-paced sorta stuff.

Sentenced - For Fans of Death

They had a similar thing to Atrocity, except they went into rock music later on instead of just making covers. I would recommend their first album, Shadows of the Past, if you’re looking for that Florida Death Metal sound, and their second album if you’re looking for a more prog extreme metal sound. Anything beyond that I don’t like.

Mithras - For Fans of Morbid Angel

I would recommend specifically their album “Forever Advancing...... Legions”. It’s more on the groovy end of that Morbid Angel sound.

Scarab - For Fans of Morbid Angel (or Nile)

Excellent Egyptian Death Metal band, except this time actually from Egypt! I would highly recommend “Blinding the Masses”.

Coffin Texts - For Fans of Morbid Angel

A very underrated Death Metal band that is yet again, thematically about Ancient Egypt. If you’re tired of this theme, at least know it’s better than the alternative of just gore and femicide.

Nader Sadek - For Fans of Morbid Angel

Morbid Angel-esque riffing, sung over by one of the Morbid Angel singers, but oddly enough, about oil? I would recommend their excellent release from 2011, “In the Flesh”.

End of Recommendations

That’s all I have for now! If anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear em, if you reply with a suitable band I might give em a listen and reblog this with more!

[beardedmrbean]

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday his government stands firm against the United States over the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen fighting extradition from Britain on U.S. espionage charges.

Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government has been arguing since winning the 2022 elections that the United States should end its pursuit of the 52-year-old, who has spent four years in a London prison fighting extradition.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back against the Australian position during a visit Saturday, saying Assange was accused of “very serious criminal conduct” in publishing a trove of classified U.S. documents more than a decade ago.

“I understand the concerns and views of Australians. I think it’s very important that our friends here understand our concerns about this matter,” Blinken told reporters.

On Tuesday, Albanese said, “This has gone on for too long. Enough is enough."

He told reporters that Blinken’s public comments echoed points made by President Joe Biden’s administration during private discussions with Australian government officials.

“We remain very firm in our view and our representations to the American government and we will continue to do so,” Albanese added.

Assange, whose freedom is widely seen as a test of Australia’s leverage with the Biden administration, was discussed in annual bilateral meetings Brisbane, Australia, last week between Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Wong told reporters Saturday that Australia wanted the charges “brought to a conclusion.” Australia remains ambiguous about whether the U.S. should drop the prosecution or strike a plea deal.

Assange faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents in 2010. American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

Australia argues there is a disconnect between the U.S. treatment of Assange and Manning. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence to seven years, which allowed her release in 2017.

Assange has been in high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was arrested in 2019 for skipping bail during a separate legal battle. Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in 2019 because so much time had passed.

Last week, Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton, called for Australia to increase pressure on the United States.

“Each day the U.S. administration ignores the Australian public on Julian’s freedom, it becomes clearer and clearer Australia’s true standing in the alliance,” Shipton said, referring to a bilateral security treaty signed in 1951.

[ellinafox02]

Katherine Ruth Gallagher is an Australian government official who served as the Australian Labour Party senator for the Australian Capital Territory since the 2019 parliamentary election. She was the Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2011 until 2014. Katy Gallagher net worth is around $5 million.

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review X (NSW 2023): Public Education Party

Prior reviews of parties related to this entity:

Voluntary Euthanasia Party: federal 2013, VIC 2014, federal 2016, VIC 2018; NSW 2019

Reason Party/Australian Sex Party: federal 2013, VIC 2014, federal 2016, VIC 2018), federal 2019, federal 2022

There has been an interesting and somewhat quixotic evolution here. In 2014, the NSW branch of the Voluntary Euthanasia Party was founded. It became the NSW branch of the Reason Party in 2019, in part because it believed it was too narrow as a single-issue party and wished to ally with a federal party that shared its platform on euthanasia. Then, in 2022, Reason NSW considered winding itself up after state parliament legislated for voluntary assisted dying, and because the party had had a consistent lack of electoral success. Instead, it announced it would merge with the obscure and never-registered Fairer Education Party (so obscure I hadn’t heard of them until the merger), which had been formed in 2021 to promote the interests of government schools.

After this merger, the party changed its name to the Public Education Party. So… now they’re a single-issue party again. Jane Caro, who has been a consistent advocate for public education, led the Reason ticket in NSW at last year’s federal election, so a bunch of us micro-party watchers assumed the name change had something to do with her making a run for state parliament. But she is nowhere to be found on the ballot. There is, though, some continuity with the old Voluntary Euthanasia Party: the registered returning officer of the Public Education Party was the lead candidate for the VEP back at the 2015 NSW state election.

Anyway, you’re absolutely never gonna believe the Public Education Party’s main purpose is to promote government schools and the public education sector. They believe that the sector is underfunded and that governments are routinely reluctant to invest in it properly. The policies about education are, consequently, fairly detailed and seek more equitable funding and other reforms to staffing and resourcing in line with the recommendations of the Gonski Review.

I’m pretty sympathetic to this. I went to public primary schools and a private high school; on reflection, my views are strongly in favour of public education and of funding the system to a much greater extent. To me, many private schools would be best nationalised, and the privileges of elite private schools need to be reined in (and certainly not have their handsome income topped up with public money). Indeed, my views on this are stronger than what the Public Education Party says explicitly, which is simply that public schools should be “the preferred educational setting for young people”.

This party is a single-issue vehicle, unlike the more broadly conceived Reason NSW, and I’ve said many, many times that single-issue parties are conceived too narrowly for the fullness of parliamentary business. The background in Reason NSW means I anticipate this party would generally take a centre-left approach to other policies, but all they say is that they are “advocating for social justice and equity, and fighting for a fairer, more cohesive, and productive society”. This is a motherhood statement that doesn’t tell the prospective voter an awful lot. I cannot give any single-issue party an unqualified endorsement.

Recommendation: Give the Public Education Party a decent preference.

Website: https://www.publiceducationparty.org.au/

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

So I’m stealing this from @tayloralisonswift and you should definitely check out their version, but I’m going to listen to and rank all of Taylor’s songs album by album (and then maybe her non album songs at the end). You can also see my debut rankings and what I’ve changed here + my Fearless, Speak Now, RED, 1989 + Reputation rankings here, here, here, here and here.

So with that in mind, it’s Lover’s turn. As per usual, I'll put a content warning here and say that I mention sexual violence, terminal illness, political conflict (usually I would not note this, but given the US election is this week and tensions are high all around the world, I will) and suicidality/mental struggles. They are just mentions, but read at your own discretion.

I Forgot That You Existed: From the first listen, this felt like such a sister song to Are You Fucking Kidding Me by Kate Miller-Heidke, and if you know me, you know I'm one of like 2 Kate stans on here, so that's a plus to me. I know she was going for an opposite vibe/closer to Reputation for this, but I feel like it's weak as a opening track, but a good song on its own. 7/10.

Cruel Summer: In hindsight it's interesting that the fandom clocked that Taylor was going back and writing about the start of the relationship even as early as their first listen to this song. That's not me being like "she was that miserable and deluding herself for years" because like no relationship is that simple, but it is interesting. I also want to note that I am team 'anti ME! and Cruel Summer should have been the opening single'. I'll get into why for ME! during its section but Cruel Summer was too close to Getaway Car production wise and as we discussed last time, Getaway Car was the final radio single for a lot of countries. Overall though, this is one of those songs that I like but feel like everyone treats as the second coming of Jesus when it's like middle of my ranking for this album lmao. I will say that I do like G Flip's cover more than the album version, so maybe I'm just not as big on the production. Either way the album version is a solid 8/10.

Lover: I'm sorry, I've always just found this song very cheesy and kinda boring. Potentially my least favourite of her romantic songs. In saying that, I do like the first dance remix and Niall and Fletcher's cover much more and mourn for what a good duet remix could have done for this song because the Shawn version is even worse than the album version for me. Anyway the album version is a 5/10.

The Man: If this song has no fans, I'm dead. I get that it is not the most in depth feminism media you will ever hear, but I don't need all of my media to be. Sometimes it's enough to have a fun time and say 'A man would not be treated like this'. Also, 'when everyone believes ya, what's that like?' as a sexual violence survivor always has me like !!! in the best way. It was also so fun to see a lot of casual fans go ham for it both at my shows and in the theatre. 7/10.

The Archer: Up until recently, this was the song I said was Taylor's most relatable to me. I'm healed past the point of saying/feeling that now, but it has a very warm place in my heart still. 9/10.

I Think He Knows: The lead single of this album in my heart. I think this would have done everything she was aiming for with ME! without the divisiveness. Overall I just love this song though and it just gets better the more healed I am. 9/10.

Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince: I feel like I do not listen to this song all that much which is a shame because I do like it and it's among my favourite production track on this album. I know this song is seen to fans as an allusion to the US 2016 election, but I feel it's universal in that when I first heard it, it felt very 2019 Australian politics (noting that obviously a lot of those battles are still happening, but I'm talking about first impressions of the song back in 2019). 7.5/10.

Paper Rings: This is another song that I feel like I should like more than I do tbh. Like it has all the elements I like and context aside (because the paper rings line feels kinda sad if I think of Taylor given what we know now), it is a good song; it just never caught my attention. 7/10.

Cornelia Street: My stan song! Not just for the album this time! Like this is my number 1 Taylor song full stop. Every time I listen to this song, I feel like I'm getting a piece of my soul back. I just feel so content and happy every time. If I were ever to make a top songs ever for me, this would definitely make it. Also I know the Paris version is the more popular version of this song in this fandom, but the production is part of why I love the album version that much more. 10/10.

Death By A Thousand Cuts: This is one of those songs that I don't vibe with the production that much and much prefer the tiny desk version, but I do love the lore that it was made based off of a movie that was inspired by 1989 and it is a good song so the album version gets 7/10.

London Boy: Sorry guys, I am not a pubwe fan. If I were to cut a song from this album, this would be it. 3/10.

Soon You'll Get Better: I understand that this is one of those songs that is too sad to rank for most people, but I do want to note that it's a top 2 song from this album for me and really has been a comfort during being a carer for my mum, especially during her more suicidal days. I've also had loved ones say similarly about past versions of me, both in regards to my own historic mental struggles and the period where my long covid was not diagnosed and we thought it may be something terminal. So yeah overall amazing song. 9.5/10.

False God: I don't have much to say about this song, I just really like it, which is kinda funny because I'm so anti 'use sex as a bridge to fix things'. But what can I say? A good song is a good song lmao. 8.5/10.

You Need To Calm Down: I know this song is controversial, but unironically I really like it. And if I'm honest, I feel like all of the controversy I saw was in online spaces with most offline members of the queer community I know appreciating the sentiment even if the song wasn't for them; especially given the work with the equality act that came along with it. But yeah, overall a bop. 7/10.

Afterglow: This is one of those songs where if it came out like a year before, I feel I would have loved it more out of relatability. But it did not, so I find it kinda boring ngl. I will say that the first first notes sounding just like Wicked Games by The Weeknd really has fuelled my 'please collaborate' mindset with them though (for those who don't know, The Weeknd is my favourite male artist). It also did lead me to sending an apology to someone I lashed out at the year before though so yeah, kinda funny in that way, but alas, still boring. 4/10.

ME!: God do I wish this song was not the lead single. I feel like it's the Stayx3 of the album where it works best within the the context of the album/as a companion piece with Afterglow, and it's sad that by the time I heard it in that context, I was already put off by it. In saying that, as much as I hated the spelling line, she should have not gotten rid of it (or at least gotten rid of it without replacing it with something else) because the sound sounds disjointed without it. I also find it kinda funny that it was pushed as a self love song because tbh I feel like outside of the obvious that it's talking about a relationship, it is one of the most anxiety/low self esteem ridden songs in her discography for me. 4/10.

It's Nice To Have A Friend: The first time I heard this, I felt it was weirdly placed and overall didn't like it. Then, two days after Lover came out, I laid on my bed with one of my loved ones and some camomile tea relistening (listening for the first time in their case) to this album and realised that shit, it truly is nice to have a friend. In the best way possible, I still think this is one of her most experimental and least 'Taylor' sounding songs and I would argue that that helped open the gates for Folklore. 9/10.

Daylight: One of my self love songs. A top 3 from this album and overall joy. I mentioned this during my RED ranking, but getting this mashed up with Come Back Be Here (a song I relate to someone who committed suicide) at one of my Eras shows meant the world to me and will forever be one of my favourite performances from her. 9.5/10.

All Of The Girls You Loved Before: Sorry, I am a CD listener, so I barely listen to this. Out of the two songs that leaked at the time, I much preferred Need (and still hope that it'll be a Reputation vault track), and this song just never really stood out to me at all. 5/10.

Final score: 136/190 - 71.6%.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.21 (after 1950)

1950 – Korean War: Heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces and North Koreans during the Battle of Yongju. 1956 – The Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya is defeated. 1959 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. 1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. 1965 – Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun. 1966 – A colliery spoil tip slips onto houses and a school in the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, 116 of whom were schoolchildren. 1967 – The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam organizes a march of fifty thousand people from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon. 1969 – The 1969 Somali coup d'état establishes a Marxist–Leninist administration. 1971 – A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre near Glasgow, Scotland. 1973 – Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game. 1978 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft. 1979 – Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs. 1981 – Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces. 1983 – The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. 1984 – Niki Lauda claims his third and final Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by half a point ahead of McLaren team-mate Alain Prost at the Portuguese Grand Prix. 1986 – In Lebanon, pro-Iran kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991). 1987 – The Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian peacekeeping forces in Sri Lanka, killing 70 Tamil patients, doctors and nurses. 1989 – In Honduras, 131 people are killed when a Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Toncontín International Airport near the nation's capital Tegucigalpa. 1994 – North Korea and the United States sign an Agreed Framework that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections. 1994 – In Seoul, South Korea, 32 people are killed when a span of the Seongsu Bridge collapses. 2005 – Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in documenting its discovery. 2011 – Iraq War: President Barack Obama announces that the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq will be complete by the end of the year. 2019 – Thirty people are killed in a fiery bus crash in western Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2019 – In Canada, the 2019 Canadian federal election ends, resulting in incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remaining in office, albeit with the Liberal Party in a minority government 2021 – A shooting occurs on the set of the film Rust, in which actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop weapon which had been loaded, killing the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring director Joel Souza.

[avandelay20]

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told Australians not to expect negative gearing to be part of the government's housing policy... 

The comments come as the government faces fresh pressure over its housing policies...

The teals, Greens and a growing chorus of mostly anonymous Labor backbenchers want the government to revisit its 2019 election policy to wind back negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount.

Fresh modelling produced by the Parliamentary Library, at the Greens' request, estimates winding back gearing could see nearly 300,000 homes redistributed from property investors to homeowners.

The figures are based on a paper by NSW Treasury's Michael Warlters, which found reforming the tax concessions would boost home ownership rates by 4.7 per cent.

It aligns with previous modelling by the Grattan Institute and Deloitte, which has found reform would constrain supply slightly, but reduce investor demand by more, resulting in modestly lower house prices but a big change to ownership patterns.

"The biggest blocker to change is a very stubborn prime minister who seems not to understand the housing crisis, frankly."

[lavelled]

voted most lightly.

Kamala & Tim

Kamala Harris has soared in the race shakeup. Whether skillfully debating taunts and personal attacks, advocating for fundamental freedoms and justice for all people, especially women, or at home with her family, Kamala gives America’s place on the world stage the authenticity and intelligible policy positions we need. She has the vitality to blaze a trail for brighter days. I will be casting my vote for Kamala and Tim in the 2024 Presidential Election.

Pretentious Ambition

Meg is reworking something: She hates Harry. When did she realize she was used for wombed monetization, when he paid her? Was it at the Women’s Empowerment Reception at the Royal Aeronautical Society, Royal Ascot races, Polo Club matches, Wimbledon matches, movie premieres, concerts, Netflix miniseries, Bondi Beach, Australian Geographic Society Awards, a speech on women’s suffrage in New Zealand, British Ambassador’s Residence Party, at the Kennedy Human Rights Awards, her Archewell Audio Podcasts, her published father-and-son children’s book, Gloria Steinem chat, 2018 British Fashion Awards, King of Morocco meeting, baby shower at The Mark Penthouse in New York, visiting the site where 19-year-old student, Uyinene Mrwetyana, was raped and murdered when she picked up a box at the post office in Cape Town, which, as FedEx actress, must’ve been improv theatre, at the Mountbatten Festival of Music, kissing Harry in Colombia then big geographical avoidance, wheelchair exploitation, grandad lies, amusing dog tags, jarring teen and tween products or her standby tiara wedding?

Years ago, a YouTube video of silk: Inside the Suits’ fashion closet with actress, Meghan Markle.

The physical task is her pomposity. Must be before any regal training. At 1:07, she displays the rooted Californian “quintessential” and then fucked him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWZonwIYmMI

Cohorts of Commonplace

Little fictionalization of a swoony royal wedding that hinted at groundedness. America hated it. 2018 shootings: May 16, 2018, Justin Painter shot his three young children in Ponder, Texas. May 20, 2018 one man was killed in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. June 10, four people were shot outside a graduation party in Kannapolis, NC. On June 14, a 15-year-old was shot in Tracy, California. June 24, one man shot in the back in Gary, Indiana. July 4, three people killed in Gary, Indiana. July 10, 2018, a father killed his three young children in Prices Corner, Delaware. August 12, 2018, a father shot his three children in Clearlake, California. October 8, teen was shot and killed in Española, New Mexico. December 28, 2018, boyfriend killed his girlfriend, her young children, and her mother in Saint Charles, Missouri.

Mosque Morgue

March 15, 2019, Brenton Harrison Tarrant murdered 51 worshippers, injuring 89 in Christchurch, NZ. The Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre. Youngest victim was three years old. Inspired by these mosque shootings, on August 10, 2019, Philip Manshaus, a 21-year-old Norwegian man, shot and killed his teenage sister while she was in her bed, firing three bullets into her head and one into her chest, then opened fire at the Al-Noor Islamic Centre in Norway.

Aqua

On Twitter mouthparts, Harry is Oasis musician, Liam Gallagher. He uses a faux accent that is technically British to compose a blend of tipsy, thorny, anger-fueled noise. They’re crass to me and then you remember he’s married:

Fuck me i think I've just done my first SLUT DROP c'mon.

Just had RKID on the phone begging for forgiveness bless him wants to meet up what Dya reckon meet up or fuck him off.

blimey green pedophilia. google.

Divorce

The youngest suicide on record was incorrect: In 2017, Gabriel Taye at Carson Elementary, with a necktie, hanged himself. He was 8. The youngest was Samantha Nicole Kuberski who hanged herself with a belt from a crib back in 2009. She was 6.

Jayden Lalchan of Princes Town, Trinidad, 15, just hanged himself. On October 7, 20-year-old Rani Pradhan set herself on fire, dying at MKCG Medical College & Hospital in Odisha, India.

Staged marriage, long-distance divorce.

K

[mariacallous]

In a move that surely made the Succession theme play in the heads of all who got the push notification, Rupert Murdoch announced today that the “time is right” for him to step down as chair of Fox Corporation and News Corp, ending his seven-decade reign as mastermind of the media landscape. His retirement won’t begin until November, but the great unbundling of his media empire has already begun.

Still, what an empire it is, or was. Murdoch, 92, got his start at 21 years old, when his father died and left him in charge of his relatively small Australian newspaper company. On taking the helm, he upped circulation by shifting their coverage to be more tabloidy. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s he continued to build that portfolio, gobbling up everything from The Sun in the UK to The Village Voice and New York magazine in the US.

By the 1980s, Murdoch was casting his gaze toward film and TV, taking over regional news stations and the movie studio 20th Century Fox. The Fox broadcast network launched in 1986, Fox News a decade later. By the early aughts, Murdoch set his sights on new media, writing a Scrooge McDuck–sized $580 million check to then-superhot social network Myspace.

Soon, a spark lit a fuse that set the whole dumpster on fire.

It’s an easy shorthand to say “Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp ruined discourse,” but that’s also not far from the truth. (The notion of “truth” is also something Murdoch’s empire has had a hand in destabilizing.) News Corp ownership effectively ruined Myspace, making way for platforms like Facebook and Twitter to host the public square, but the influence of Murdoch and his companies spread regardless. As WIRED reporters Vittoria Elliott and Peter Guest noted earlier this year, Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson “helped bring often dangerous misinformation into the mainstream around the world.” Murdoch may have never controlled Facebook or Twitter, but the people his companies platformed dominated the conversation on them anyway.

“For Rupert Murdoch, all of his media empire was a way of trying to push certain ideas,” says Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

In the US, this was most evident in the way Fox News wed itself with the Trump administration, a marriage that was for a long time beneficial to both parties but also led to Fox News agreeing to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems that “would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election,” as the Associated Press put it. It also led to revelations that Carlson, in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection, sent texts saying that he hated Trump “passionately.” Carlson was canned by Fox News in April.

Murdoch newspapers in the UK backed Brexit and got caught up in a phone hacking scandal. In Australia, where his family’s news empire still holds massive influence, Murdoch periodicals showed skepticism about climate change. Today, as news spread that Murdoch was stepping down, Angelo Carusone, the CEO of watchdog group Media Matters for America, issued a statement saying, “The world is worse off because of Rupert Murdoch. No one should sugarcoat the damage he caused.”

Still, the empire Murdoch built, though vast, is dwindling. Murdoch pushed out Roger Ailes, the man behind the ascent of Fox News, in 2016. (Ailes died a year later.) News Corp sold off 21st Century Fox to Disney in 2019 for $71.3 billion. (Fox News and the Fox broadcast network were spun off into Fox Corporation as a result of the deal.) As of this summer, News Corp profits are down 75 percent year over year. As the media industry goes through a series of massive shake-ups ranging from the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger to the increasing dominance of Apple and Amazon, everything is getting unbundled and rebundled, including Murdoch’s empire.

Not that Murdoch hasn’t tried to have a hand in how those bundles come together. Murdoch abandoned a plan earlier this year to consolidate Fox Corporation and News Corp, a move he said could give the entertainment and publishing business better scale, after shareholders opposed it. “Fox is certainly diminished,” Carusone says. “I don’t think they’re going to be able to keep this big thing together.”

When Murdoch steps down in the fall, his son, Lachlan, will become chair of News Corp and remain Fox Corporation’s CEO and executive chair. (Cue the “eldest boy” memes.) It remains to be seen where Lachlan will take the empire from here or whether he’ll be able to maintain the same hold on political messaging as his father. Following the transition, Rupert Murdoch plans to stay on as chair emeritus of the companies, and in a message to his staff today said that in his new role he would still “be involved every day in the contest of ideas.” Perhaps, though, with his empire shrinking, that contest will no longer be an all-out war.

[head-post]

China to lift 4-year trade ban on Australian lobsters

China will resume imports of Australian live lobsters by the end of the year, removing the last major obstacle to bilateral trade that once cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars (US$13 billion) a year, Australia’s Prime Minister said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement after meeting Prime Minister Li Qiang on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Vientiane, Laos.

The lobster ban was the latest in a string of official and unofficial trade barriers Beijing has agreed to lift since the election of Albanese’s centre-left Labour Party government in 2022. Albanese told reporters:

I’m pleased to announce that Premier Li and I have agreed on a timetable to resume full lobster trade by the end of this year. This of course will be in time for Chinese New Year and this will be welcomed by the people engaged in the live lobster industry.

Albanese assured that relations with China have been improved without jeopardising Australian interests. Beijing is unhappy with the restrictions Australia has placed on some Chinese investments due to security concerns. He also added:

What’s important is that friends are able to have direct discussions. It doesn’t imply agreement, it doesn’t imply compliance and I’ll always represent Australia’s national interest. That’s what I did today; it was a very constructive meeting. I’m encouraged by the progress that we have made between Australia and China’s relationship in producing stabilization to the benefit of both of our nations and with the objective of advancing peace and security in the region.

The Chinese embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Australia’s biggest export market for lobsters

China is Australia’s biggest export market for lobster, with more than 727 million Australian dollars ($506 million) worth of the crustacean exported to the country in 2019, the last year of normal lobster exports to the country, according to the International Trade Centre.

Beijing halted trade with Australia in 2020 on a range of products including lobster, coal, wine, barley, beef and timber as diplomatic relations plunged to new depths.

In some cases, Australian suppliers have been able to find other buyers and new markets have proved more lucrative. For example, Australian coking coal producers have shifted their focus to Europe and India.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website says China is the country’s largest trading partner. As of July 2022, it accounted for a third of foreign trade. The report says that despite the restrictions, trade with China still grew by 6.3 per cent in 2020-2021, mainly driven by exports.

During a state visit to Australia in June, Li said he had agreed with Albanese to “properly resolve” differences between their countries. Beijing has broken off contact between ministers in the nine years the conservatives have been in power.

Read more HERE

[warningsine]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — People in Kiribati went to the polls on Wednesday for the first round of voting in a national election expected to serve as a referendum on rising living costs and the government’s stronger ties with China.

A second round of voting is scheduled on Aug. 19 for all parliamentary seats that are not won by a majority vote on Wednesday. Results from the first round are expected Thursday.

The nation of low-lying atolls with 120,000 people is one of the most threatened in the world by rising sea levels and does not command the resource wealth or tourism branding of other Pacific islands. But its proximity to Hawaii and its huge ocean expanse have bolstered its strategic importance and provoked an influence skirmish between Western powers and Beijing.

The Kiribati government switched its allegiance from pro-Taiwan to pro-Beijing in 2019, citing its national interest and joining several other Pacific nations that have severed diplomatic ties with Taipei since 2016.

Kiribati is one of the most aid-dependent nations in the world and is rated at high risk of external debt distress by the International Monetary Fund. Its existence is threatened by coastal erosion and rising seas that have contaminated drinking water and driven much of the population onto the most populous island, South Tarawa.

Analysts say few details about the campaigning or this week’s vote have appeared online and there are few English-language news sources in the country. The blocked or delayed entry of Australian officials to Kiribati and a stalled flow of information between the governments in recent years have prompted anxiety in Canberra about the scale of Beijing’s influence.

“A lot of countries in the region are really trying to find their place with a lot of geostrategic competition,” said Blake Johnson, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Kiribati has “taken the approach of keeping its cards pretty close” and is not divulging details “that might impact the way those relationships are trending,” he said.

The election will decide 44 of the 45 seats in Parliament but not the Kiribati presidency, which is due to be resolved in October. A public vote will be held to choose the leader from three or four candidates selected from among those elected this month.

The incumbent, Taneti Maamau, who has been in office since 2016, is expected to seek another term as leader if returned to his seat.

The increased cost of living, scarce medicine supplies and fuel shortages are expected to be central issues for voters. Analysts say voters are likely to reward the incumbent government for the introduction of universal unemployment benefits and increased subsidies for copra, or dried coconut flesh.

“People are taking time to link that the challenges they’re facing are a result of the policies that are in place,” Rimon Rimon, an independent journalist in Kiribati, said by phone. He said the prospect of incumbents being reelected was “quite strong at the moment.”

The question of how much influence Beijing has is not a simple one. Dismay from Australia, New Zealand and the United States about China’s sway is not always specific or well-articulated and has often caused frustration in the Pacific, Johnson said.

He said Australia’s worries include reports that Beijing has trained and equipped Kiribati police officers, and the suspension of foreign judges serving in the island nation.

“Interestingly, these Western countries maintain their own connections with China, but when small island states do the same, it suddenly raises concerns,” said Takuia Uakeia, director of the Kiribati campus of the University of the South Pacific. “This is well understood by the people.”

Rimon, the journalist, said policy shifts since Kiribati switched to a pro-Beijing stance include a requirement that researchers and reporters apply for permits for filming and a more “hard-line” approach to information access. The government remains very secretive about the content of 10 agreements signed between Kiribati and China in 2022, he added.

Voters who spoke by phone on Wednesday said a list of polling places had only been published by the government on Tuesday and there had been uncertainty before voting opened about whether identification cards were required to vote.

Political parties are loose groups in Kiribati, and lawmakers do not confirm their allegiance until elected to office. Kiribati was traditionally a society governed by consensus, with strong democratic principles and respect for its constitution, but the contest for foreign influence had sowed divisions, Rimon said.

“How we’re seeing things in terms of donors and cooperation with partners is that we’re not sure how this is helping us that they’re competing in this sense,” he said.

There are 115 candidates contesting the election, including 18 women. Candidates were unopposed for four seats — three of them incumbent lawmakers from the governing Tobwaan Kiribati Party, according to Radio New Zealand.

[qnewsau]

'Betrayal': PM slammed for dumping key LGBTQIA+ reform

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/betrayal-pm-slammed-for-dumping-key-lgbtqia-reform/

'Betrayal': PM slammed for dumping key LGBTQIA+ reform

Australia will continue to allow religious owned schools and other institutions to legally discriminate against LGBTQIA+ staff and students until after the next election, according to new reports.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that time had expired for the legislation to be introduced during the May budget session of Parliament, which he was unwilling to do without bipartisan support from the Opposition.

“The timing, I said, had to be that we would introduce legislation during the budget session if agreement could be reached,” Albanese said.

“Agreement hasn’t been able to be reached because there’s been no suggestions from the Coalition of amendments of the legislation. So I don’t intend to engage in a partisan debate when it comes to religious discrimination, and I think that is unfortunate.”

Advocates respond

The news has concerned LGBTQIA+ advocates who have accused the Prime Minister of breaking an election promise.

“Our community’s needs have again been overlooked and blatant injustices ignored,” said Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown.

“This news is devastating to every Australian waiting for better protections including gay and trans teachers, pregnant women, people who are divorced or in de facto relationships, as well as people of faith.

“More children are going to miss out on leadership roles or be refused enrolment, teachers will continue to lose their jobs or be denied promotions while many more live with the constant fear that someone will finally discover who they are.

“Religious schools should not have to harm students or punish teachers to uphold their faith. This is not who we are as a nation and it doesn’t reflect what many people of faith want or believe to be fair.

“Only two years ago five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor to back changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to protect trans students. There is support for the reforms that would protect LGBTQ+ staff and students among the Greens and crossbench.

“The government is playing a dangerous game by not acting now and pursuing the available pathway through parliament when the stakes are so high for thousands of vulnerable Australians.”

Brown said that LGBTQIA+ Australians had been waiting over a decade for this reform to be passed by an Australian Government.

A vote loser

Just.Equal Australia has warned the Albanese Government it will lose votes if it fails to fulfill this election promise, pointing to recent polling.

“YouGov polling commissioned by Just.Equal shows Australians, especially Labor voters, want LGBTQA+ students and teachers in religious schools protected,” Just.Equal spokesperson Rodney Croome said.

“Our research in the LGBTQA+ community has shown that a substantial number of LGBTQA+ people who voted Labor in 2019 voted Green in 2022 because of Labor’s poor record on LGBTQA+ equality.

“Together this research shows Labor will lose votes if it fails to fulfill its promise of protecting LGBTQA+ students and teachers from discrimination.

“Several states and territories have shown the sky does not fall in when faith-based schools and services are prohibited from discriminating against LGBTQA+ people.

“There is no evidence religious schools have suffered in any way from strong state and territory anti-discrimination laws, so there is no excuse for the Federal Government to balk at reform.”

Croome warned that federal inaction would send a message to those states that were still lagging behind in this area.

Western Australia has said it won’t act until it sees what legislation the Federal Government intends to pass.

“Should the Feds fail, WA has no more excuses,” Croome said.

“Indeed, it has a greater responsibility than ever to act.”

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