The Australian Zeitgeist Tracking Thread

Yeah that slanderous email re Kerryn Phelps was a bit o_0

I mean "ew she has AIDS" is incredibly childish.

ok great now we're in "labor is anti-semitic" territory

no need to wonder what a Dutton prime ministership would have been like

i am loving that they keep hitting themselves

just when you think they can’t be any more stupid

Every shot of howard is magic why so many tears, old man?

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d0924fd6435bc16192d37daf14ef703a417d5014/190_668_4711_2828/master/4711.jpg

they’re sending morrison into wentworth today, because obviously the best way to win over people who liked turnbull is to parade the bigoted fuckwit who took his job

wentworth is swinging already, almost 40-60 2pp in early numbers

we have already opened wine and are ready to enjoy a waterfall of neo-nazi tears

antony green’s about to call it!

he’s called it

EAT IT MORRISON

lmao

WENTWORTH WIPEOUT

keen for a bunch of "ACTUALLY, it was Malcolm's fault" hot takes from the usual gang of idiots

they’re already doing exactly that, attacking malcolm for not gleefully supporting the people who destroyed him just a few weeks ago

it's been a big weekend!!!!!

here’s a photo of tony abbott coming back to a parking ticket at balmoral this morning pic.twitter.com/rpuVQ5jKId

— abraham bloodshack 🏗 (@pleasedontatme) October 21, 2018

~snif~ it’s beautiful

~magic happens~

Former head of a union (odd that nobody ever calls it that) is elected by rich voters, the world is upside-down.

Not exactly a union, more a lobbying organisation for a group of wealthy professionals.

I lived in Wentworth until recently, and it's a bit more mixed than you'd imagine. Up at the Rose Bay/Vaucluse end, yes it's all about extreme wealth, but elsewhere there are plenty of young people renting flats in crappy blocks who are not all millionaires.

Who can we get to roll Tony Abbot's smug smirking mug out of Warringah? Who is this Jane Caro lady?

an empty chair would do it tbf

even Rose Bay has some pretty creaky old blocks of flats tbrr

Jane is a great advocate for equality in education among other things, iirc.

The AMA is a fucking union. So's the Law Society. So are fucking Chambers of Commerce, etc. You pay fees to have a representative body fight for your rights and interests as a worker. They just don't get called unions because they vote Liberal.

Breathtaking list in the comments section of this Guardian op-ed about the Coalition's environmental record:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott
16 Sept 2013: Abolishes key ministerial positions of climate change and science
19 Sept 2013: Abolishes the Climate Commission
23 Oct 2013: Denies there is a link between climate change and more severe bush fires and accuses a senior UN official of “talking through their hat”
8 Nov 2013: Abolishes the Antarctic Animal Ethics Committee which ensured research on animals in the Antarctic complies with Australian standards
8 Nov 2013: Cuts 600 jobs at the CSIRO
12 Nov 2013: Abandons Australia’s emission reduction targets
9 Dec 2013: Downgrades national environment laws by giving approval powers to state premiers
9 Dec 2013: Removes the community’s right to challenge decisions where the government has ignored expert advice on threatened species impacts
10 Dec 2013: Approves the largest coal port in the world in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
11 Dec 2013: Approves Clive Palmer’s mega coal mine in the Galilee Basin which opponents say will severely damage Great Barrier Reef
11 Dec 2013: Overturns the “critically endangered” listing of the Murray Darling Basin
13 Dec 2013: Scraps the COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water
13 Dec 2013: Starts dismantling Australia’s world leading marine protection system
17 Dec 2013: Axes funding for animal welfare
17 Dec 2013: Defunds the Environmental Defenders Office which is a network of community legal centres providing free advice on environmental law
17 Dec 2013: Scraps the Home Energy Saver Scheme which helps struggling low income households cut their electricity bills
17 Dec 2013: Cuts funding to the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Programme which makes it mandatory for large energy-using-businesses to improve their efficiency
21 Dec 2013: Requests the delisting of World Heritage status for Tasmanian forests
23 Dec 2013: Breaks his promise to provide a customs vessel to monitor whaling operations in the Southern Ocean
18 Jan 2014: Defunds all international environmental programs, the International Labour Organisation and cuts funding to a range of international aid programs run by NGOs such as Save the Children, Oxfam, CARE Australia and Caritas
21 Jan 2014: Exempts Western Australia from national environment laws to facilitate shark culling
17 Feb 2014: Appoints a climate change skeptic to head a review of our renewable energy target
19 Feb 2014: Blames carbon pricing for the closure of Alcoa smelters and rolling mills and the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs, despite the fact the company states it had no bearing on their decision
28 Feb 2014: Axes funding earmarked to save the Sumatran rhinoceros from extinction
14 March 2014: Cuts hundreds of jobs at the CSIRO
7 Apr 2014: Cuts 480 jobs from the Environment Department which help protect places such as Kakadu, Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef
13 May 2014: Scraps the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) which was set up to support new and emerging renewable technologies and in doing so breaks an election promise
13 May 2014: Axes industry and community clean energy programs including the Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund, the National Low Emission Coal Initiative, Energy Efficiency Programmes, the National Solar Schools Plan, Energy Efficiency Information Grants and Low Carbon Communities
13 May 2014: Cuts Australia’s Animal Welfare Strategy
13 May 2014: Rips a further $111.4 million over four years out of the operating budget of the CSIRO
13 May 2014: Reduces funding to the Australian Institute for Marine Science
13 May 2014: Breaks a promise to have one million more solar roofs across Australia and at least 25 solar towns
13 May 2014: Breaks a promise to spend $2.55 billion on the Emissions Reduction Fund by committing less than half this amount in the budget
13 May 2014: Terminates the Office of Water Science research programme
13 May 2014: Slashes the Biodiversity Fund
13 May 2014: Scraps the National Water Commission
17 Jul 2014: Axes the carbon tax with no viable policy to address climate change or Australia’s emission targets
2 Sept 2014: Repeals the mining tax on the profits of big coal and iron ore companies
7 Oct 2014: Cuts spending on science and innovation to the lowest levels since the data was first published
13 Oct 2014: Describes coal as “good for humanity” while opening a coal mine in Queensland
17 Nov 2014: Refuses to contribute to the fund Green Climate Fund, which Abbott described the year before as “socialism masquerading as environmentalism”
24 Nov 2014: Cuts CSIRO funding, which means that CSIRO will lose 1/5 of its workforce
15 Dec 2014: Cuts the Climate Adaptation Outlook Independent Expert Group
15 Dec 2014: Cuts the Biological Diversity Advisory Committee
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the Subcommittee on Animal Health Laboratory Standards
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the Emissions Intensive-Trade Exposed Expert Advisory Committee
15 Dec 2014: Disbands the Commonwealth Environmental Water Stakeholder Reference Panel
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the Bureau of Meteorology Water Accounting Standards Board
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the National Marine Mammal Scientific Committee
15 Dec 2014: Disbands the National Marine Mammal Advisory Committee
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the National Landscapes Reference Committee
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the Technical Advisory Committee for the Coal Mining Abatement Technology Support Package
15 Dec 2014: Abolishes the Marine Council
21 Dec 2014: Appoints a climate skeptic who praised Rupert Murdoch as the “starting point for green innovation” to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment
12 May 2015: Cuts $12.5 million from the National Heritage Trust
24 Jun 2015: Establishes a Commissioner for Wind Farms
24 Jun 2015: Slashes the renewable energy target
2 Jul 2015: Intense lobbying keeps Great Barrier Reef off JUNSCO’s world heritage in-danger list despite many government decisions which threaten it
12 Jul 2015: Directs the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to stop investing in wind power
12 Jul 2015: Bans the Clean Energy Finance Corporation from investing in roof top solar panels and other small scale solar energy
11 Aug 2015: Reduces Australia’s carbon emissions reduction target
19 Aug 2015: Tries to introduce laws to stop citizens exercising their legal rights to stop big developments that damage the environment

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
16 Oct 2015: Approves Carmichael coal mine
10 Dec 2015: Environment Minister Greg Hunt claims selling India Australian coal will cut carbon emissions
22 Dec 2015: Approves Abbot Point Coal Terminal expansion
28 Jan 2016: Presides over a drop in Australia’s ranking on the Environmental Performance Index of 10 places
28 Feb 2016: Approves logging in Murray Valley National Park
11 Apr 2017: Tries to loan Adani $1 billion to build a railway link to the Carmichael mine and promises to “fix” native title problems
27 Apr 2016: Describes Labor’s emissions trading scheme as “jobs destroying”, a handbrake on the economy, leading to “much higher energy prices.”
25 Oct 2016: Says coal will be important for “many, many decades to come”
Oct 31 2016: Seeks changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to stop conservation groups challenging environmental ministerial decisions
1 Feb 2017: Says “if anyone had a vested interest in showing you that you could do really smart, clean things with coal, it would be us”
3 Feb 2017: Opens $5 billion infrastructure fund for “clean-coal” power stations
3 Feb 2017: Hires Sid Marris, former head of climate and environment at the Minerals Council of Australia, to be his climate and energy adviser
9 Feb 2017: Scott Morrison brings a lump of coal to question time and says “This is coal. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared.”
13 Feb 2017: Ignores advice that renewable energy was not to blame for South Australian blackouts
01 March 2017: Oversees 3.4% rise in emissions within 12 months and 7.5% increase since the Abbott-Turnbull government scrapped the carbon price
31 May 2017: Diverts funds from Clean Energy Finance Corporation to fund coal with carbon capture and storage
7 Jul 2017: Stops releasing pollution data that used to be announced on a quarterly basis
14 Aug 2017: Attacks South Australian renewable energy policy as “ideology and idiocy in equal measure”
5 Sept 2017: Lobbies AGL to delay closure of ageing Liddell coal power station for another five years
17 Oct 2017: Dumps Clean Energy Target
13 Dec 2017: Plans to reduce environmental spending to less than 60% of 2013-2014 budget
19 Dec 2017: Data released in the week before Christmas shows highest greenhouse gas emissions on record when land use change emissions excluded
19 Dec 2017: This data shows emissions increasing to 2030 and beyond
19 Dec 2017: Declares climate policies are a big success
19 Dec 2017: Climate policy review loosens the safeguard mechanism that sets limits on pollution
6 Mar 2018: Government fails to list a single piece of critical habitat for protection despite 1800 species and ecological communities being identified as threatened in Australia
27 Jun 2018: Backs Pauline Hanson’s motion for new coal-fired power stations
18 Jul 2018: Turnbull’s signature emissions reduction policy, the National Energy Guarantee, described as having ‘no benefit’ to emissions
31 Jul 2018: Personally approves $443m fund for Great Barrier Reef Foundation, an organisation with ties to BHP, Shell and Peabody Energy
20 Aug 1018: Removes emissions reduction target from National Energy Guarantee

fucking hell

I would be more than happy if every lib/nat knuckledragger on climate change had to fight off a determined independent. Where can I sign up to help?

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/24/anyone-but-nats-rural-figures-come-out-against-barnaby-joyce-and-nationals

the acid's kicking in

1 minute of Tony Abbott today #auspol pic.twitter.com/LhB8FBwJru

— Gavin Harlow (@HarlowGavin) October 24, 2018

by now i am 100% convinced he has some level of brain damage/injury, and i don’t mean that in a disparaging way, i mean there are too many things he does for which the only explanation is a breakdown in processing

^^ see list above

remember he was widely disparaged within his own party for being a giant weirdo before he became PM

the main thing that scares me about the list above is that it's all the bad shit they've done ONLY on climate change, and that somewhere there's a full 4,000 page list of every single nasty thing those fucks have done

I’m pretty sure the lists on immigration and indigenous affairs would bothe be longer and nastier.

Why is there a small corner of WA with its own Timezone 45 minutes ahead of he rest of the state?

I had no idea! It's (unofficially) set half way between Central and Western times, apparently.
https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/australias-weird-little-time-zone/

Huh. I never knew about that. Funny to read this just now as I was literally just looking at a map of the NSW/QLD border and being suprised that the border cuts Coolangatta airport clean in half.

thank you for your service, champ

Landmark changes to the way our nation pays respect to our war veterans will be announced today by @ScottMorrisonMP. They're to get priority boarding on Virgin Australia flights with a special acknowledgement to thank them for their service, before planes takeoff. #7News pic.twitter.com/7FxwxzfXjQ

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) November 3, 2018

get absolutely fucked

sooner that piece of shit locks itself in a racist broom cupboard the better

oh ffs

Hopefully this will go down as well as Abbott’s knights and dames scheme

Real talk: would Prince Philip get priority over veterans?

can’t wait for the crying from all the other groups who want recognition for being on a plane (homophobic lobbyists, males under siege by ~women~, “it’s okay to be white” cardholders)

We Hate To Govern! (The ScoMoBus)

as terrible as this guy is, it's also fucking hilarious

Hopefully this will go down as well as Abbott’s knights and dames scheme

Fantastically, it didn’t last 24 hours. Abbott couldn’t even have given a racist plane the keys to the city in that time.

got THREE (3) spam letters from the neo-nazi party today, all moaning about communist dan and his ~being nice~ policies

I think dan is now a Maoist, or at least that’s what the bolt report wants us to think. (I’m in the airport and I can’t find an off button for the TV, at least the sound isn’t on)

Why the fuck is Clive Palmer advertising on sky news and not in prison?