Occasional snapshots from the news and current affairs
“One Nation’s visceral dislike for foreigners will always attract backers.” So says The Australian columnist Greg Craven. This view seems more like a Labor talking point than a reality voters have observed and is one reason why political discourse has become more and more extreme – and divisive. The ON I see wants a better managed immigration policy. Not the same thing as a “visceral dislike for foreigners”. But then racism was always the criticism of choice against One Nation, relying more on generic antipathy than evidence.
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For COP31 joint president Chris Bowen, it is not just electrification that matters but how it is done. Mr Bowen told the pre-COP meeting in Bonn an electrification target provides “an opportunity for a real, meaningful discussion in November about how we transition away from fossil fuels”. That simply assumes that fossil fuels should be “transitioned away from”. Show me the evidence why. The Australian’s Editorial states, “The transition to electricity first for energy must get past the mantra that renewables will always be the cheapest and best option, because the evidence shows it will not.”
For context: Article 1 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines ‘climate change’ as:
“a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”
The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, versus climate variability attributable to natural causes. This redefinition of ‘climate change’ to refer only to man-made climate change has effectively eliminated natural climate change from the public discussion on climate change. Any change that is observed over the past century, on whatever time scale, is implicitly assumed to be man-made. This assumption leads to connecting every unusual weather or climate event to man-made climate change from fossil fuel emissions.
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All this talk about preferences, as if it was ever in doubt … One Nation and the Coalition will OBVIOUSLY preference each other. Neither would preference either Labour, the Greens or teals. Just like Labor will OBVIOUSLY preference the Greens. No need for ‘discussions’ about it.
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Brittany Higgins is set to head up the Viva Fund, a fundraising body that bankrolled teal candidates at the last election. You may think it a black joke but she aims to take on “a wave of misogyny and extremism in Australia.” This is the woman who destroyed the careers of two women – Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown – by lying (as found by two judges) that they tried to cover up her alleged rape in Parliament House … perhaps she herself is responsible for a part of the “wave of misogyny”. This is also the woman who was paid $2.4 million by the Labor government in 2022 to compensate her in part for never being able to work again as a consequence of that alleged rape. This is her latest job … after being bankrupted by the damages awarded to Reynolds.
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Yesterday I provided newly relevant lyrics to the Helen Reddy women’s anthem…here’s another version:
In 1972 …
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
And no one’s ever gonna keep me down again
Composed by Ray Burton, lyrics by Helen Reddy
in 2026 …
I am Pauline, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
And no one’s ever gonna keep me down again
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Trick question: who has egg on face today after questioning the reality of One Nation’s massive donations with ‘Fire the Liar’ ads, mimicking Labor’s ‘stop One Nation’ ads. Independent audit confirmed One Nation’s haul of over $2 million in a day …