Labor wins S.A. election

[Marty_d]

No, we don't need massive change.

Massive change is disruptive and hurts many people. Unintended consequences are greater in size and impact.

Australia is a well functioning democracy. Are there things we can improve? Definitely. Are massive changes required? No.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

Australia is a well functioning democracy

Yes One Nation just did OK, quite encouraging. We should urge them on to bring about a bright future for all Australians in all States. 

[rgmwa]

One Nation would be a disaster for Australia’s interests. There would be no bright future from a right wing populist party with Pauline in charge. 

[onetrack]

I'd really like to see what this great Australian Plan is, that One Nation has for ALL Australians in ALL States. I suspect there's no plan, except to blame immigrants for every problem that arises.

 

Pauline Hanson is a Female Donald Trump. Says what people want to hear, but has no long-term plans, indulges in "stunts" to keep her name in the media, and picks people for her party members who have zero leadership skills, they only need to support a radical right wing agenda that focuses solely on, "too many immigrants from s***hole countries".

 

I like going through the long list of deadbeat One Nation picks for representatives, who have turned out to be criminals, total rabbits, incompetent, geriatric, or who changed sides as soon as they were elected. And none of them, were immigrants from "s***hole countries".

[Marty_d]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/24/one-nation-pauline-hanson-integrity-she-breaks-rules-ntwnfb

 

5 undeclared gifted flights in 6 months.

If this were a member of Labor or the LNP you could hear the usual suspects frothing about the "corrupt major parties".

Yep she's just an honest Aussie battler, isn't she!

[Jerry_Atrick]

She is in the enviable position, to paraphrase el Chumpo, she could walk down Ann street in Brissie and shoot someone and no one would care. There is so much disenchantment with the poltical establishment, that a vagabond to that establishment has got sort of Ned Kelly status. As the article says, you can't attack PHON at the moment. Well, you can, but you do so at your political peril. 

 

It's the same here with Farage and BoJo when he was in power. If it were up to the people, BoJo woudl still be PM. This larrakin like approach to politics is winning over the disenfranchised, and like a lot of people who's values/agenda are corrected by fact, they tend to ignore the fact, or interpret it in a way that confirms their bias. 

 

The rebellion is starting, I guess. 

[facthunter]

People look for an easy answer and don't Look or Think very Hard . What are HER Policies? She's Never been Interviewed at depth or addressed the Press Council in 30 years Murdoch Press is in Love with her. People should question why that is. One reason is she will abolish SBS and the ABC and no doubt anything else Rupee desires.  Nev

[willedoo]

The final preferenced result won't be known until Saturday. One nation has one lower house seat called by different outlets, but I don't think it's official. They're ahead in three others, but I think of those three, only Hammond will get up for them. It's a ON against Labor contest with the sitting Liberal knocked out. ON has a good lead over Labor at this stage and they'll pick up Liberal preferences. In the other two, ON is ahead of Liberals in the number two position, but only just. Labor and Green preferences will flow to the Liberals ahead of ON, so I can see the Libs gaining those seats.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

7 hours ago, facthunter said:

she will abolish SBS and the ABC

SBS would certainly be criticized and something done about them, but the ABC will be left intact and asked to drop their lefty progressive mindset.

[facthunter]

They want them defunded.  How come you Know all these details GON? Murdoch's wanted rid of them for years. The ABC meets fairness standards by a mile and runs lots of utter rubbish SKY  stuff. Most ABC people have just about given up with the ABC canning Labor. It's chock full of Ex Murdoch personalities. Of Course I doubt you would ever acknowledge that. You are A Trump person through and through although It's becoming Increasingly more difficult to justify that. I'm pretty sure you will never change.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

9 hours ago, facthunter said:

People look for an easy answer and don't Look or Think very Hard . What are HER Policies? She's Never been Interviewed at depth or addressed the Press Council in 30 years Murdoch Press is in Love with her. People should question why that is. One reason is she will abolish SBS and the ABC and no doubt anything else Rupee desires.  Nev

That may be true, but I think that is also a product of our society, and statistics.. I thought I was a baby boomer, but actuall am Gen X (just). I lived and was schooled at both ends of the socio-economic ladder (although, we really were on the lower end where my father made sacrifices to get me into a well reputed grammar school in Melbourne for a couple of years). 

 

The state education system at both ends of town were very much around learning enough to get through, get a job, retire. The government will look after your health and welfare needs beyond that. Work hard, and you will be able to afford the house, a car, 2.5 kids, a dog  and life will be sweet. Don't worry about anything, don't think about anything (as it will upset the apple cart), and just vote the way you normally do. Everything will be sweet. That was the same in the deprived areas of Melbourne I lived and the upper middle class area I lived (for state schools). The grammar school was different in that it tried to instill leadership.

 

This is not a slate on the teachers - the most important teacher in my life and the person I credit to transforming a troubled child into an almost functioning adult is Claire Kelly - a unionist  lefty, socialist, I think lesbian who came to my rescue in the darkest part of my childhood/early adolescence while living in what is an economically depraved area of Melobourne. There were many good teachers in state schools at both the lower and upper end of town, and they were no better nor worse than the private school teachers I came across. The difference is the system that constrains them.

 

I digress..

 

So, you have a system that produces people who are trained not to really think outside getting a job and the rest will fall into place.. and we wonder why they don't think about it beyond they did what they were told and, despite there being battles to be had, things were generally OK. Now, their kids can hardly afford a tent in a caravan park let alone a house, prices are skyrocketing, the corruption or favoured treatment is so rife it can't be contained and no one is really doing anything serious about it, they can barely afford to keep their cars on the road after being told that fossil fuels are the way to go, they are taxed to their necks while those with the money seem to avoid it nicely, and all their life theyt have been told no worries - don't think too hard the government has got your back.. I guess they missed the bit of the knife in the back?

 

You're right - they aren't thinking it through.. Or maybe they are? I mean, more of the same is just a slower walk to oblivion, but we will get there the way we are going. Get someone in who will bring that oblivion forward and maybe it will be cleaned up in their lifetime - may be exactly how they are thinking. 

 

Look at the problem Australia has with its fuel reserves. It is neither ALP or LNP that you can blame. It is both. A part of the nations critical infrastructure; a vital part of its securtity (I don't think fighting forces are electrified yet), and we are toast. This and so many other every day things seem to be abandoned by the majors. Its not liek just the governing leadership have lost vision and become stale; it is like the whole political system has. 

 

So, yep, they may not be thinking it through, but they are probably thinking anything is better than what is there today to shake things up. 

 

This is the message that is being lost on the major parties. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

but the ABC will be left intact and asked to drop their lefty progressive mindset.

And adopt a righty mindset? Well mate, I hope you're not on a state pension as that will eat into their sponsor's profits, so you can expect that to be eroded.. and any of the local services you get will probably come under the knife, too. Health? Privatise the lot. 

 

You don't have to look too far to see what is likely to happen.

[red750]

12 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

living in what is an economically depraved area of Melobourne.

Depraved or deprived?

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 minute ago, red750 said:

Depraved or deprived?

Ha Ha Ha.. Probably both 🙂

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Anyway, quite timely in my YT feed:

 

[red750]

Thought I'd check on a memory I had.

Web search:   When were Australian interest rates 15%

"

Australian interest rates reached 15% during the 1980s, primarily driven by high inflation and economic instability. 

 

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, inflation in Australia surged due to global oil crises and expansionary fiscal policies, pushing interest rates to 10.38% by 1974 and continuing to rise. 

By the mid-to-late 1980s, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised rates sharply to combat persistent inflation, with rates peaking at 17.5% in January 1990. 

During this period, rates frequently exceeded 15%, especially in the late 1980s, making it one of the most volatile and expensive borrowing periods in Australian history. 
These high rates were part of a broader global trend to control inflation, but they also contributed to a recession that lasted into the early 1990s. 

 

I was paying 7.5% on my house because bank staff home loans were half public rates. I bought my house in 1979 after being transferred back from Sydney to Melbourne.

 

 

 

 

 

[pmccarthy]

When we were paying 17% on the home loan  we did not eat out ever, didn’t go out for coffee, turned out the lights in empty rooms, and bought a second hand car. It wasn’t hard,  we were just as happy.

[Jerry_Atrick]

A lot of people these days (and I am sure in days gone by) have substituted real happiness with material happiness.