Australian Politics

The simple fact is that it is not enough to “punish Labor” in the coming elections. The real challenge is to build a political alternative to Labor that will act for the majority, not slavishly serve the billionaire class.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission Inspector has announced she has launched a formal investigation into the regulator’s refusal to investigate six public officials referred by the Royal Commission into Robodebt.

For anyone missing the significance, the Inspector announced "looking into" complaints about the NACC decision months ago, but this is the first time the word "investigation" has been used.

The distinction is important because once a formal “investigation” is commenced the NACC Inspector has additional powers, including the power to obtain documents.

Go Annabel. The history of taxation is not only interesting but vital knowledge.

Further context on the Green's RBA demands.

~~Sub to Schwartz media if you've got the dosh btw. One of the few Aussie media orgs that still does real maintstream journalism.~~ pirate their articles on auspol. See comment, Israel is a colonial state engaged in genocide current run by a maniac wanted to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Don't give money to orgs that do propaganda for them.

De-paywalled link.

The mining industry launched a war of words on the Federal Government, an absurd move considering its minuscule contribution to the economy.

• Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/national/property-investors-fear-forced-sales-under-negative-gearing-changes-20240925-p5kdju.html
• archive.is snapshot: https://archive.is/y99nH

The corporate media wasting no time on the fear campaign...

This seems pretty wtf.

What sort of precedent do they want to set? Whether or not you embrace neoliberal ideology political interference with monetary policy has not typically gone well, no matter what or whom you want to blame for that.

Am I missing something, or are they just going off the rails here?

Title edited down from first paragraph

Original title: "GUESS WHO? The $600,000 question at the heart of Robodebt"

Governments can’t wave around the cash and create out of thin air a “market” that has any of the self-controlling properties described in economics textbooks.

Source: 6 News.

SBS: Senator labels the government 'capaholics': Fatima Payman's Gen Alpha speech decoded - Includes graphic below and edited video with some 'translation'.

Graphic from article above

Interesting to read the potential conflicts of interest section.

Bill Shorten will not be returning for an extra season of NDIS, after the current season received mixed reviews and was plagued by budget cuts.

You need to only look at the modern crossbench, and the teals in particular, to see the prospect of a 2010 repeat is unlikely.

These modern independents aren't former Nationals blokes who have turned their back on their party.

They're modern women who couldn't see themselves in the party that once took their seats for granted.

"While the 2022 election might be heralded as a ‘breakthrough’ for the independents, the conditions for their election have been building over several decade," the Australian Election Study noted in 2022.

"Many of these changes are associated with voters being ‘less rusted on’ to the major political parties and becoming more independently minded in their political choices."

That's the problem with scare campaigns like the Coalition's. When you threaten voters with a minority government, that would require crossbench negotiations, some in the seats you're trying to win might be left thinking: "Oh, that sounds more preferable than you."

Where the fuck are we politically when asio is telling the right they're being too xenophobic and hardline?

Fucking asio man, the org that pushed for the "we can hold you and you can't even tell a lawyer it happened" laws.

Quiggin with some interesting thoughts on cost of living.

Research Paper by Jonathan Bartholomaeus, Peter Strelan (Open Access)