I don't think Dutton is a wannabe Nazi or Trump-lite. He's a plain old right-wing conservative, although one whose role models are more likely to be Thatcher, Howard and Abbott rather than Menzies or Fraser. That's not to say he's not above pinching a few plays from the Trump anti-woke playbook when it suits him.
Dutton has always been more right-wing populist than conservative. Remember how thankful we were that Morrison took over after Turbull was ousted? I mean, not that Morrison was a great PM either, but at least he was from the conservative business wing of the party rather than the reactionaries.
Honest Government ad on Duttons "fuck you renewables, Nuclear plan".
It covers all that has been said here.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqVVBUdW84
It covers all that has been said here.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqVVBUdW84
Through a contact in the QPS, I have heard that the story of dog food cans being left on Dutton's desk the day he left the force is true.
I would not be surprised.
Eloquently done! I'd crosspost is in the Renewables thread but not sure of the rules.
They've covered it very well!
I don't know if that should be seen as a good or a bad thing, given what Queensland cops are like.
I have it on reasonable authority that when he left high school, he didn't really leave much of an impression. Certainly I never noticed him, although he was a few years behind me.
Huh?
Did you miss him agitating white power clowns for the last decade?
Did you miss him copying every single thing that has worked for the lunatic fringe right in the USA, right up to the anti-trans announcement just these last few days?
He's a fucking pig, a fascist in waiting pig.
If you don't see the similarity it's because you don't want to see it.
Don't kid yourself, since you fool no-one else that is even moderately politically informed.
Unlike the LNP, Rio Tinto thinks batteries firming wind and solar is the way to go for a massive aluminium smelter. Fossil fuels put them “on the wrong side of the cost curve”.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/rio-tin...rs-as-firmed-renewables-eclipse-gas-and-coal/
https://reneweconomy.com.au/rio-tin...rs-as-firmed-renewables-eclipse-gas-and-coal/
^ now if every nation on earth could just manage to sneak through a few pieces of specifically targeted legislation which make fossil fuels more economically prohibitive than going all-in on renewables + large scale grid storage for large new industrial development projects. Along with suitably placed and appropriately worded "scientific studies" which strongly suggest that this is the right way to go if you wanna make all of da mahnees.
This is the dirty game that the Petrochem industry has been playing in Australia and all over the world for decades..
I'm not saying that those of us with a functioning brain and an eye towards the future of the planet need to be employing such manipulative tactics yet. Like, I'm certainly not saying that outright here, like it's some kind of "Gloves Off Time for the future of humanity" kind of situation, or anything like that. Not at all.
This is the dirty game that the Petrochem industry has been playing in Australia and all over the world for decades..
I'm not saying that those of us with a functioning brain and an eye towards the future of the planet need to be employing such manipulative tactics yet. Like, I'm certainly not saying that outright here, like it's some kind of "Gloves Off Time for the future of humanity" kind of situation, or anything like that. Not at all.
The world makes a lot more sense if you think about how a nation relates to its primary resources. So the USA is almost as much a petrostate as Saudi, and Australia is mostly a fossil fuel economy. That gives the carbon huffers an awful lot of leverage in those countries. Trump and Dutton are mainly about satisfying those reactionary interests, but they rally the racists and idiots around other issues to get wider spread support.
Given enough time, what will save us is dirt cheap renewables, as the coal huggers will eventually go under. My fear is that we don’t have enough time and that the damage from the death throes of those industries will cause is terrifying.
Given enough time, what will save us is dirt cheap renewables, as the coal huggers will eventually go under. My fear is that we don’t have enough time and that the damage from the death throes of those industries will cause is terrifying.
If Trump and the GOP have their way, the US could easily outproduce Saudi Arabia (although at a significantly higher cost per barrel, but that won't matter because Good Ol' US Oil for the Good Ol' Boys). That's the end goal, the dream situation for them. Suck it all dry, fuck the environment, fuck the people living anywhere above anything we might be able to frack for any kind of profit, we are extracting every last bit we can get, fuck everything until it's "no longer economically viable". And then we'll simply fuck off and leave many thousands of ecological disasters in our wake because who fucking cares, we don't live in those shitholes that we ruined.
And that's exactly what a big chunk of Australia's economy is also built on. Lots of Aussies just don't like to admit it to themselves or their international friends. Those of us that do are pretty concerned about how we're all going to sustain the level of economic success to which we've become accustomed amid the shift to a Renewable Future, because the numbers aren't really adding up at the current time. The UK and several Euro nations are making great strides, but they're tiny compared to Australia, it's a very different challenge.
And here's Dutton and his ilk leaning heavily into all the Culture War fuckery around climate change by bending the knee and kissing the ring. Awesome, how very encouraging.
And that's exactly what a big chunk of Australia's economy is also built on. Lots of Aussies just don't like to admit it to themselves or their international friends. Those of us that do are pretty concerned about how we're all going to sustain the level of economic success to which we've become accustomed amid the shift to a Renewable Future, because the numbers aren't really adding up at the current time. The UK and several Euro nations are making great strides, but they're tiny compared to Australia, it's a very different challenge.
And here's Dutton and his ilk leaning heavily into all the Culture War fuckery around climate change by bending the knee and kissing the ring. Awesome, how very encouraging.
Australia should use dirt cheap renewables to “value add” its raw exports. So refine iron ore into much more valuable iron, refine lithium ores to lithium carbonate, same with a range of minerals. Walk down the value chain and own more of the value.
What? Value add to our precious, precious primary industry exports? That's unAustralian! We don't want to do anything with it once we've dug it out of the ground, that's someone else's problem.
rainynight65
Ars Scholae Palatinae
So, apparently the Nationals don't want Barnaby to shoot off his mouth and embarrass them prior to the federal election.
I could only find paywalled online sources, but this BlueSky post has a picture of the printed article.
View: https://bsky.app/profile/quentindempster.bsky.social/post/3lhmlrmt22c2c
I could only find paywalled online sources, but this BlueSky post has a picture of the printed article.
View: https://bsky.app/profile/quentindempster.bsky.social/post/3lhmlrmt22c2c
Oh yes, please let him run his mouth off!
Senator Jacqui Lambie not mincing her words: Don't suck up to Trump in tariff negotiations.
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...08c6c8c9c2be81#block-67a98fbc8f08c6c8c9c2be81
I don't always agree with her, but I do like her refreshingly direct manner.
Coincidentally, according to this report in The Age: "Australian firms are edging closer to breaking China’s production stranglehold on the rare minerals used in the world’s critical defence systems, electric vehicles and clean energy transition." (apologies if it's paywalled).
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...08c6c8c9c2be81#block-67a98fbc8f08c6c8c9c2be81
I don't always agree with her, but I do like her refreshingly direct manner.
Coincidentally, according to this report in The Age: "Australian firms are edging closer to breaking China’s production stranglehold on the rare minerals used in the world’s critical defence systems, electric vehicles and clean energy transition." (apologies if it's paywalled).
rainynight65
Ars Scholae Palatinae
If these figures are factual and something to go by (not unlikely since they're also cited in an SBS article), then Australia's main export to the US isn't even metals or some such - it's meat. Apparently, in 2023 Australia exported meat and meat products to the US to the tune of US$2.5bn, closely followed by gold and precious metals at $1.4bn.
I don't see any specific figures for rare minerals and such in that list. Would be interesting to know more details.
I don't see any specific figures for rare minerals and such in that list. Would be interesting to know more details.
Precisely; Labor should absolutely poke that bear in the ego until it explodes....
He's a never ending source of own goals.
This all over.
It's like we view doing anything productive with the stuff we dig up as being equivalent to a dealer getting high off his own supply, economically speaking. Notable exceptions being anthracite, bauxite and iron ore of course.
We could be leading the world in renewable-powered industry. We got the bloody space, we got the brains, we got the skilled labour... but I don't know if we really have the political will to heavily plan for and subsidise it. Thanks @VirtualWolf for the handy link, I should probably go read it.
Had to take a moment to ponder what "confidential items of trade" meant, then it clicked.
Australia could also have a much bigger share of that particular global market if we made it "worthwhile" for the local arms of the Big Contractors and for our homegrown industry. We have the technological chops and track record to offer some attractive systems to strategic partners, Wedgetail being an excellent example. Develop our partnership with Korea, throw more money at the AUKUS subs to try and stop that whole program from becoming a massively delayed boondoggle, build up our local aerospace industry, approve construction of a local spaceport etc.
Hey, we could even look seriously at powering that whole little bunsen burner with renewables and grid storage too! But now I'm just stacking thorny political issue on top of thorny political issue like some horrible capitalist Fusion Cuisine featuring native Australian game served in a sauce of spicy industrial waste. Maybe we'd better stick with agriculture, although I'm not sure how that can be made sustainable on a massive industrial scale either, whether it's to feed the population or for export. We have a lot of problems to solve...
And speaking of Future Made in Australia, The Guardian is reporting that the legislation has passed the Senate. 
The Great Barry O. Jones wrote about shifting the economy from "The Lucky Country" to "The Clever Country" over 40 years ago, and, despite R. J. L. Hawke lifting it for policy in 1988, nothing ever came of it. It's still more likely that any Australian innovation will have to go overseas for funding and investment, because the big corporations here are too stuck in a Primary Industry mindset.This all over.
It's like we view doing anything productive with the stuff we dig up as being equivalent to a dealer getting high off his own supply, economically speaking. Notable exceptions being anthracite, bauxite and iron ore of course.
We could be leading the world in renewable-powered industry. We got the bloody space, we got the brains, we got the skilled labour... but I don't know if we really have the political will to heavily plan for and subsidise it. Thanks @VirtualWolf for the handy link, I should probably go read it.
I'm cautiously hopeful that Dutton will publically support Albanese in his dealings with the White House - especially with regard to the recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminium. The last thing we need are opposition MPs with a grudge white-anting Rudd and his team of diplomats when they're trying to help Australian companies (and by extension, workers).
But I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone does.
But I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone does.
rainynight65
Ars Scholae Palatinae
I dunno. It was pretty clear in QT today that they had planned to keep hammering Albanese on the whole tariffs thing, but we're forestalled by his having already had his call with Trump, and therefore had to fall back to something else (in this case negative gearing, which today got a pretty good slap back from Albanese).
Dutton will find a way to politicise this and try to score points against Albanese. I'm pretty sure of it.
I'm not.
Dutton urges RBA to resist pressure to cut rates
He'd sell his grandmother if it'd hurt the Labor party.
I'm not clear on how he thinks this is going to look with the general public, given the RBA having kept raising rates has been a not-insignificant part of why people are struggling.
And of course, we all know there's no way he'd be saying that if the positions were reversed and the Libs were in power.
rainynight65
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Meanwhile Commbank is again reporting massive profits. While acknowledging the cost-of-living crisis...
The Guardian Live Blog
The Guardian Live Blog
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rainynight65
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Unfortunately, Senator Ralph Babet is not up for re-election this time.
Combined, he and the UAP got 150,000 first preference votes in Victoria at the last election, so it's not like he got elected via some bizarre preferences flows, but still, he's a disgrace.
If I was as sure of the lotto numbers as I am Dutton will politicise it, I'd be a happy and retired man.
He's the most evil cretin the LNP has ever coughed up, and that's no mean feat.
After failing to join forces with Pauline Hanson, Clive Palmer has registered the party name 'Trumpet of Patriots' .
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-19/clive-palmer-pauline-hanson-fail-unify-parties/104957330
Firstly, it's no surprise that two people with such an overblown idea of their own importance couldn't agree who would lead or bankroll the party.
And secondly, as Tony Wright wrote in The Age, "what a magnificently flatulent title"
In 2022 at least, Palmer and One Nation almost certainly hurt LNP more than Labor. They attract the rabid right, but 2PP preference flows were only about 60% to LNP; compare that to 85% for Greens to Labor.
In other words, I think they're actually a pretty good honeypot for the idiot protest vote, who would otherwise be attracted to Dutton's (slightly) less extreme brand of populism.
(Of course this assumes that they don't actually win seats... )
Fun fact: in seats where they contested, Nationals -> LNP was only 80%
In other words, I think they're actually a pretty good honeypot for the idiot protest vote, who would otherwise be attracted to Dutton's (slightly) less extreme brand of populism.
(Of course this assumes that they don't actually win seats... )
Fun fact: in seats where they contested, Nationals -> LNP was only 80%
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