Aus Election 2025

[wolty]

Sign waving again this morning and the responses were super supportive. The responses seem to be getting even better if that is possible. I've been doing this for a long time now and it's really really good.

[stylofone]

Sign waving again this morning and the responses were super supportive. The responses seem to be getting even better if that is possible. I've been doing this for a long time now and it's really really good.

I am a terrible judge of the national mood, I need better theory of mind, I just assume everyone else thinks the way I do. Once again this time I think it's looking good, and I hope we're right. I will make a special effort to yell abuse at the Liberal party tent if it is set up today on the way into town.

[pipbarber]

I doubt the polling. I think Dutton has a great chance. From my perspective, the ALP are making the mistake of campaigning on policies and not narrative. Dutton is all narrative and no policies. He's promising radical, US style, change. It is a winning strategy. However, he may not have the charisma to pull it off, but it's going to be fearfully close, i think.

[stevebrooks]

Dtton being Trump:

The broadsheet’s front page claims “The Australian can reveal the Coalition will retain the New Vehicle Emissions Standards (NVES), but will not punish companies financially that do not meet the tough carbon goals”.

The coalition’s position could help keep a lid on the rising cost of new vehicles.

So, they are going to keep the new emission standards, but everyone can ignore them because they aren't going to enforce them? WTF did I just read, if they aren't enforced they aren't am emission standard. It won't keep the lid on new car prices, what will keep the lid on new car prices are the cheaper and better EV's and PHEV's coming from China, funny thing, they will all pass the new emission standards right Dutton?

One Australian motoring executive told News Corp Australia on background that the NVES scheme, which fines car makers who cannot meet strict stringent targets, could increase prices by as much as 10 per cent.

Lets be clear, we don't have a car industry in Australia, it's a purely sales based industry, the manufacturers that have complained, Toyota for instance, are lagging behind in EV and hybrid development;

Toyota’s vice president for sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, told News Corp last month “the targets within the NVES are very challenging”.

“That’s for us, and everybody else,” he said.

Labor needs to run with this on the environmental platform, if Australia refuses to enforce rules that most other countries follow it will be a sad direction to go. Australians do care about the environment, this is why the BYD Shark 6 is now the 3rd best selling ute in Australia, people will buy them if they are available. Dutton is just trying to hold off the EV tidal wave just a little longer, but is that what Australians really want?

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 4e65ceca05

[stevebrooks]

I doubt the polling. I think Dutton has a great chance. From my perspective, the ALP are making the mistake of campaigning on policies and not narrative. Dutton is all narrative and no policies. He's promising radical, US style, change. It is a winning strategy. However, he may not have the charisma to pull it off, but it's going to be fearfully close, i think.

Always doubt the polling, it may be right or wrong, never get complacent. I don't personally think Dutton has a great chance, but he does have a chance, and it would only take one disaster from the current government to turn things around for Dutton.

[pipbarber]

Tariffs on Aussie beef! Well, well. Lets hear the National Party stand up and yell and shout and grimly support reciprocal tariffs on US products, because our beef is the best in the world...our farmers are the best...how dare they....this is an attack on the great Aussie farmer....Littleproud is busy writing his scathing denunciation of Trump's idiotic economic policies and promising to go out and find other markets.

Nah...not really, all good mate. Let's defund the ABC.

So Albo....? Stand up for the farmers? Condemn the tariff, do a rural tour maybe. Point out how stupid the US policy is and link Trump to Dutton. That would seem a sensible approach to me, lets see.

[stevebrooks]

Tariffs on Aussie beef! Well, well. Lets hear the National Party stand up and yell and shout and grimly support reciprocal tariffs on US products, because our beef is the best in the world...our farmers are the best...how dare they....this is an attack on the great Aussie farmer....Littleproud is busy writing his scathing denunciation of Trump's idiotic economic policies and promising to go out and find other markets.

Nah...not really, all good mate. Let's defund the ABC.

So Albo....? Stand up for the farmers? Condemn the tariff, do a rural tour maybe. Point out how stupid the US policy is and link Trump to Dutton. That would seem a sensible approach to me, lets see.

For all the haranguing and posturing Dutton was making we were never going to evade the tariffs, but the tariff on Aussie beef is a particularly peculiar one, we don't allow any beef from the US due to biosecurity, it wouldn't matter what tariffs they impose, and note that McDonalds in the US use only Aussie beef, why? Because we, with New Zealand, and the only countries without instances of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans from eating infected meat.

The tariffs don't matter, McDonalds is still going to buy Aussie beef because it's the only way they can guarantee is free from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and they don't fancy being sued by customers. Don't need reciprocal tariffs because we simply don't buy US beef and the tariffs aren't going to affect Aussie beef exports to the US.

The 10% tariff, what's that for, well the Trump has confused the GST with a tariff, not understanding that it applies to all goods local and imported, but the reciprocal tariffs are a joke anyway because they were worked out in the worst way possible, they simply took the trade deficit and divided it by the countries exports to the US, it makes no mathematical or economic sense and doesn't reflect the other counties tariffs, it's complete and utter nonsense!

https://imgur.com/gallery/just-random-nonsense-hgplc2G

[stevebrooks]

Oh yes add to the above to see why the reciprocal tariffs and base 10% to make it fair are just basically making stuff up, Heard and Mcdonald islands in the Pacific have had 10% tariff applied to all goods exported to the US, except there's not a single human being there, they produce no goods, they export no goods, they do not have an economy because there is no-one there! How indeed are they ripping the US off?

[stevebrooks]

Well I hope this is correct, it actually paints Aussie politics in a much better light than expected!

At least that contest had participants willing to drum up a bit of interest in the whole affair too.

In contrast, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton appear determined to not say or do anything that’s worth talking about as we close in on the May 3 vote.

For Albo, it’s a winning play. The Voice referendum aside, his first term as Prime Minister has been completely forgettable.

It began with an unassailable lead and like a good footy team he’s limited the game plan to the basics, knowing it’s the smart way to secure the win.

Look, my opinion, politics should never be about the bloke running for the top job, in Australia that top job is just another job. The Liberals making changes to limit how easy it is to change leaders was a HUGE mistake. We don't elect leaders, we elect parties, and anyone voting Liberal or Labor just because of the leader are making a big mistake. If the selected party leader makes a big enough fuck up then they should be replaced, that's the problem with the US Presidency, it's just way to difficult to get rid of an elected President, the bar is way to high.

So I think this article sums it up, Australians should be voting on policy, and the man at the top being boring is actually a plus in that regard, identity politics is toxic as anything! We'll see I suppose but the more Dutton goes Trump the less actual chance the liberals should have of being the winners.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politi ... 615b1bd3d1

[pipbarber]

We should be voting on policy yes, but when both parties offer essentially the same policy, more neoliberalism, then a party that can spin a wild narrative, no matter how filled up with bullshit it is, has a reasonable chance. (Not that the ALP and coalition are the same, obviously i take a firm less worse stand here).

You are selling to an electorate that is almost entirely made up of voters with attention deficit disorders. No one really gives a fuck about policy complexities. It's about stories and unfortunately chaos, anything that offers something other than the dull monotony of late stage capitalism has an appeal.

At some point the left adjacent mob are going to have to start coming up with a compelling narrative.