Australian Politics

a-wingspan-unbelievable: sombreaclair: Let’s all remember this...

the-metres-gained — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:59:18 +1000

sombreaclair:

Let’s all remember this hilarious piece of advertising.

Ikea - capitalising on the entertainment that Australian Politics provides.

Turns out you can make jokes about politicians without being offensive

danbutt: australian politics is like a fucking circus except you have to live there and all the...

the-metres-gained — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:04:02 +1000

danbutt:

australian politics is like a fucking circus except you have to live there and all the clowns are dead

citizen-cam: vot 1 julie gibbard

the-metres-gained — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:15:13 +1000

citizen-cam:

vot 1 julie gibbard

mediapunditry: The Geopolitical History of Australia An...

the-metres-gained — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:36:17 +1000

mediapunditry:

The Geopolitical History of Australia

An animated map showing the creation of Austalia’s colonies/states and mainland territories.

That pesky conservative IPA protecting the unions' rights to full political participation!

the-metres-gained — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:51:35 +1000

That pesky conservative IPA protecting the unions' rights to full political participation!:

WHEN WILL THIS NEOLIBERAL CONSPIRACY END?!

Suspended coffees come to Canberra!

the-metres-gained — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:46:48 +1000

the-metres-gained:

If you’re not familiar with the concept of a suspended coffee, it’s when you walk into a coffee shop and pay for a ‘suspended’ coffee alongside your own. It means that when someone who cannot afford their own hot beverage on a cold day can come in and ask for one, already paid-for.

Smiths Alternative Bookshop - which stocks the Socialist Worker, but hey, I won’t hold it against them - has announced that as of tomorrow (the 29th of April) they will be offering this at their Alinga St shop.

Spread the word!

Not strictly politics, but hopefully you’ll appreciate this.

Photo

the-metres-gained — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:10:43 +1000

Gay marriage bill passed

the-metres-gained — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:40:58 +1000

Gay marriage bill passed:

boardface:

toniclark:

New Zealand has become just the thirteenth country in the world to support gay marriage.

Wow! Well done New Zealand!

If anything will compel the Australian government to change same-sex marriage laws, it has to be this.

Boardface is being a little optimistic here I think, but… Yeah Australia must just really breed stupidity.

"The cost of indefinite detention has to be clearly recognised. Detention on-shore costs around..."

the-metres-gained — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:25:08 +1100

“The cost of indefinite detention has to be clearly recognised. Detention on-shore costs around $150,000 per person per year. It costs about $350,000 per person per year to hold them off-shore. But the cost goes further. Since most boat people are ultimately recognised as refugees, and are accepted into the community, they come into the community profoundly damaged by their detention experience and (in some cases no doubt) resentful rather than grateful. They are less able to contribute fully to the Australian community because of the damage we inflict on them.”

- Julian Burnside, Four steps to more humane refugee processing (via ldp-australia)

bootyregrit: inside-the-occupants: imspencer: Six minutes of...

the-metres-gained — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:23:00 +1100

bootyregrit:

inside-the-occupants:

imspencer:

Six minutes of why Tony Abbott should not be Prime Minister.

My personal favorite is stunned-nod head Tony. It looks like he has completely shut down.

I like Paul Keating’s takedown.

I’m trying to recall the context of the super-angry-about-to-deck-the-journalist Tony right there at the end but I can’t. Any assistance?

Edit: “the stunned abbott was when Mark Riley questioned him over saying “shit happens” when informed of the death of some australian soldiers in afghanistan” - fairmanrants

But seriously, to choose between this idiot and the clusterfuck of the current government - Tweedledum and Tweedlejustasdumb

Haha only Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan re-nominated for their positions and were unopposed

the-metres-gained — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:47:03 +1100

The spill that wasn’t.

Kevin Rudd has pulled the ultimate 'fuck you' and decided not to challenge Gillard

the-metres-gained — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:45:34 +1100

His last position was that he would never challenge for the leadership, only take it if he had it handed to him on a silver platter
This is the worst possible outcome: you can’t go halfway on a spill
Now, Labor looks more disunited than ever, and without the advantage of a popular man as Prime Minister
Rudd probably couldn’t have won the election for Labor, but he could have minimised their losses and made sure they could be electable in 1 or 2 terms
Basically Rudd has pwned them all.

Wow, almost none of you care about actual political news, do you? I'm glad I don't bother with it often.

the-metres-gained — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:34:10 +1100

Simon Crean calls for Julia Gillard to call a spill in a press conference

the-metres-gained — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:31:00 +1100

Crean supports Rudd for the leadership, but Rudd himself hasn’t been party to Crean’s decision
Crean would run for Deputy PM if Rudd were to win
He won’t step aside until the spill is called - if Gillard wins, then he will resign from Cabinet
He wants to resolve this stalemate
He says he supports the Hawke-Keating model of changing the nation for the better and thinks this isn’t happening at the moment

Today, my home state got rid of legislation protecting a person's right to silence during police questioning

the-metres-gained — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:07:02 +1100

Today, my home state got rid of legislation protecting a person's right to silence during police questioning:

the-metres-gained:

A judge can now draw an adverse inference if someone is silent during police questioning, and they later rely on something in court that they could have reasonably mentioned in custody in the presence of a lawyer.

tritanium: citizen-cam: qualityjernalisms: Courtesy of...

the-metres-gained — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:00:37 +1100

tritanium:

citizen-cam:

qualityjernalisms:

Courtesy of everyone on Twitter, we are pleased to present - without comment - the next instalment of the Daily Terrorgraph’s War on the War On Freedom.

Enjoy.

Yeah so the thing is, this is exactly what Labor hacks think the media should be reporting.
Minus the unflattering photos.

Unflattering?

I’ve developed a level of respect for the Telegraph I never thought possible.

fairmanrants: monsterpussy: Time to die, Daily Telegraph (via...

the-metres-gained — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:23:00 +1100

fairmanrants:

monsterpussy:

Time to die, Daily Telegraph (via the Vine)

Here’s a prediction: if there was to be sufficient uproar that the Daily Tele powers that be felt compelled to defend it, they’d just claim that it was done in some sort of true blue, dinky-di “larrikin spirit”. Because ha ha stop the funny train my cheeks are hurting and I think I’m going to throw up, Stephen Conroy’s suggestion that maybe, just maybe print media should be subject to some of the same scrutiny that their broadcast journalism partners are is definitely on par with the actions of a suite of monsters whose regimes between them – as a very rough estimate – have overseen the deaths of some 100 million people. And when Conroy personally executes News Ltd CEO Kim Williams in the middle of a busy town square we can make that 100 million and 1.

Aaaaand:

Now let’s call a wretched abomination against the values of the Enlightenment a wretched abomination against the values of the Enlightenment: the world would be made immeasurably better if the Daily Tele just vanished. Or for that matter, if close to every news outlet simmering and sweating under the avaricious hate machine of Uncle Rupert simply ceased to exist. I know they’re the most popular newspapers in the country, but that doesn’t make them helpful or correct. It doesn’t make them any less of a contributor to the intellectual deadening of public discourse. It doesn’t make them any less wilfully and consciously petty, or cruel, or sexist, or racist. It just makes them glorified vehicles for humanity’s base impulses. Having already abdicated from any tradition of proper journalism, the only purpose they can really be said to serve is keeping people up to date with what happened on last night’s episode of My Kitchen Rules.

i really liked that paragraph.

The Tele has overstepped the mark, and I’m not going to give them enough credit and say that it’s intentionally ironic, but you know what’s really a wretched abomination against the values of the Enlightenment?

Trying to regulate the fucking media. This isn’t about voluntary self-regulation, but rather the idea that media ownership should be subject to a ‘public interest test’. You put that power in the hands of the government, any government, and before you know it you have Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull doing whatever the hell he likes, just like Conroy is doing now.

And if anybody needed evidence that Conroy is actually a really dangerous individual to put in charge of media regulation, one need only look at the fact that he smugly told Australian telcos that they would have to wear red underpants on their head (i.e. capitulate to the government’s whim) just to do business. That is goddamn terrifying.

msnyx: Awesome cartoon by David Pope on Scott Morrison

the-metres-gained — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:39:45 +1100

msnyx:

Awesome cartoon by David Pope on Scott Morrison

Australian Libertarians

the-metres-gained — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:08:09 +1100

staticdiplomat:

staticdiplomat:

Libertarian Independent to be running for the House of Reps in Goldstein.
If you want to know more, message me (staticdiplomat).

Please reblog for the handful of Australian libertarians on this site.

Throwing this out there again for those who missed it.

If you're interested in the free market, the Centre for Independent Studies' Liberty and Society program for students might be for you

the-metres-gained — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:17:07 +1100

If you're interested in the free market, the Centre for Independent Studies' Liberty and Society program for students might be for you:

You can attend if you don’t believe in the free market, you just have to be open-minded.

Your right-wing-as-all-fuck blog runner, yours truly, attended in 2011 and it was really great. You also have the opportunity to do some networking with people who get paid to research federal government policy.

If that’s your sort of thing, I recommend you apply.