Because all the cities are on the coast, which means all employment is on the coast. Australia may have a lot of land, but it's not exactly easily habitable.
Meanwhile, our illustrious PM has still not called an election as he is now facing growing rage from many on the east coast of Australia. While trying to again tout the country as being a country at war (we aren't), because voters tend to not like to switch governments during war time, the government has completely ignored the ongoing disaster that has hit the east coast over the past week. Many deaths, large areas went under water, thousands upon thousands now homeless.. No support whatsoever from the government. Actually no, they did send in a few hundred from the military, 30 assigned to one of the towns worst hit - who all arrived there not to 'volunteer' with the clean up or to help locals. No no. Instead, soldiers from the army were made to pretend they were doing a clean up for photo ops for our illustrious PM to use on his social media sites about how much the government is helping. Thousands are without food, clean water, power and phone. They tried to defend the role of the army who were present for the "clean up" - all of whom sported spotlessly clean uniforms for the day, saying they arrived as quickly as the weather allowed them to - meanwhile members of the Sikh community arrived before them, driving up from Melbourne with vans full of food to try to provide support for communities in northern NSW.. But army with helicopters and vehicles that could get through the terrain somehow took several days before arriving, and then spent a few days pretending to clean up for photo ops for the PM to use on his social media. To say that people are pissed would be an understatement. The government's response has been, well.. interesting.. “ADF personnel aren’t trained in the immediate response” the former emergency management minister told Sky News. I'm sorry, our defence force is not trained in immediate response? What? WHAT?! So if we are attacked, it's going to take a week for them to respond? NSW is led by the same conservative party that our PM belongs to. Is it any surprise it's gone belly up? What were they doing instead, as a disaster unfolded? They were busy taking over the state's party branch to stack their people in seats - because god forbid non-right wing conservatives get elected by the party.. That's right. While a large chunk of the east coast of the country went under water, our PM was too busy playing politics to notice. Then to top it off, because if he couldn't get any lower, he went on radio to promote himself while using a recently deceased sporting icon.
Election still not called. Situation now worse. PM Morrison decided to visit the town of Lismore today, one of so many devastated by floods and who were abandoned by their respective State and Federal government for any form of help or aid. Lismore is in a region in New South Wales, called the northern rivers region. The entire region has been destroyed in catastrophic and deadly floods. People are still trapped, awaiting aid, running out of food and clean water. The army who had turned up to "help" staged photo-ops throughout the town and those images appeared on Morrison's social media pages touting his response to the disaster. He literally slinked into the town, a small army of police officers guarding him, and literally evaded the locals who are rightly upset and angry and begging for help to not only rescue those still trapped, but also for the bare necessities like shelter, food, clothing, clean water, electricity and phone lines. He then held a closed press conference, without the presence of any locals and when asked why the military was not sent in sooner, why are people still trapped, his response was that the army cannot be dropped in to a dangerous situation and are not geared to respond quickly.. I mean, excuse the language, but WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?!? We can only hope to never be invaded, because apparently our armed forces are not geared to respond quickly and cannot be dropped into any areas or zones that could be construed as dangerous. Meanwhile locals who are trapped were being rescued by surfers, movie stars who live nearby and who have boats and jet skis and rushed to the area to help, but sadly and tragically, whose who live further inland and in the hills cannot be rescued without proper rescue helicopters, which the NSW and Federal government are still to provide to the area to save them. This becomes more farcical when one realises that there are bases within less than 1 hour drive from these areas. Then he said he was there to make a special announcement, an extra payment of $1000 for people in that region who had lost everything.. And then he snuck out the back door and left.. Will get to that special extra payment in a second.. What he failed to note or realise was that people in the area are unable to access the funds since there is no electricity, banks are closed (everything went under water), there's little phone network - in other words, the payment will go into people's bank accounts, but they won't be able to access any of it. Meanwhile, the earlier payment is still to have been made.. But here is where this whole sorry disaster becomes even more disgusting. That extra payment that he flew there to announce.. Will only be given to towns and people living in the electorate held by a member of the government. The victims of the floods neighbouring towns, which are held by a member of the opposition, will not receive any additional funding or aid. The map of where the additional support is to be given makes it even more blatant. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This entire region went under water. But it's only those who reside in the seat of "Page" will receive funding. Page is held by a member of Morrison's coalition government. Those who live in the seat of Richmond, which is held by a member of the opposition, will receive no additional funding, despite suffering similar devastation in this flood. Nor did he visit those areas today. People are rightly upset and livid. Those who are trapped.. Are still trapped and cut off.
Funny that . None of us Darwinites were not trained for immediate response to Cyclone Tracy Never directed traffic before - did OK for a few hours :
They've been going at it for nearly 2 weeks now. Without help. Many are still cut off, without supplies and locals are having to crowdfund helicopters to drop off supplies. It's inexcusable. The fact they are now only giving extra funding to victims in LNP seats says it all. And today they announced extra ADF recruitment.. We are at the stage now where they want a war to save their careers.
Not sure about wanting but looks closer each day Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Our NT News newspaper had small article about page 5 about some defence personnel were south helping with the floods Showed backs of a few (? if even ours) pushing a inflatable with elderly people Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
When we had the severe storm in The Gap (QLD) several years ago, the military was brought in to help us. We were covered in mud and debris on a daily basis as we tried to clean up. The military were brought in the next day and they went to every house that was in the path of that storm and they actually came in, helped drag furniture out, rip out wet carpet, etc. They were covered in filth like the rest of us. Lismore and the Northern Rivers district suffered more extensive damage. Floods are muddy, the remnants after the water goes down is disgusting, dirty and it covers you. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The ADF was not brought in until several days had passed. Look at their uniforms. Spotlessly clean. I can assure you, having been there and done that, there is no way they would remain that clean if they were doing any actual work. Instead, as was widely noted, filmed and photographed by disgusted locals, they set up to take photos, and then left for the day. Locals were working, covered in mud, in the only clothes they had left, ADF maintained spotlessly clean uniforms. As for the help they were allowed to provide, do the comparison.. More than 20 tonnes of essential goods have so far been delivered by a fleet of privately owned helicopters – hired thanks to a crowdfunding campaign and funds from Mick Fanning, Chris Hemsworth and the Essential Energy state-owned corporation, among others. Local helicopter pilots have been volunteering their time, and their presence in the skies across the flood-affected region is dwarfing the official Australian defence force contingent. By Sunday, the 14 community-organised helicopters, and a handful of other private aircraft, were averaging seven hours in the air each day running drops and performing rescues to towns such as Coraki, Bungawalbin and New Italy. Meanwhile, radar showed the ADF had just two helicopters in the air, and private helicopters contracted by government agencies for flood recovery that were parked in nearby Casino were averaging just one hour in the air each day. It's understandable that locals are angry. And he refused to meet with any of them. The same thing in Gympie today. He "toured" the flood affected regions, but he refused to speak to any of the locals. He got there, took some photos and left. Literally. Actually I am wrong. The only "locals" he took photos with are some liberal members at a chicken farm who are all millionaires and donate to the party and who received multi million dollar grants they never requested a few years ago, from Morrison's government... And then shifting the blame as to why they did not declare a disaster, saying the states should have asked for help.. That's not their job. The LNP changed the laws to bypass the states to declare disasters. So he lied. Meanwhile, in trying to take credit for all the work he is doing in his photo op in Gympie today and saying how he was declaring a disaster... None of the victims of these floods in Queensland are getting any of the extra funding. The only people who are are the ones in the LNP seat of Page in northern NSW. Australia used to be so good at this sort of thing. The ADF would be called in immediately and they would get into it and start cleaning up and help would be available within a day or two at most. Now it's been 2 weeks.. People still haven't received their money. Not that they can spend it because there's no power and no atms working, thousands are still cut off... Meanwhile the person he's put in charge of disaster relief fund blamed the victims of the floods.. They still haven't given a cent to relief from the fires. It's just a litany of failures, all of which cost lives and all of which is resulting in a continuation of abject suffering. Morrison is only about the photo-op and announcements.. He held off for nearly 2 weeks, so he could front the media to do the announcement, in his khaki pants and blue shirt with Bridget McKenzie looking on adoringly.. Morrison’s office made it known earlier in the day he was going to make the declaration, but it later emerged he couldn’t until the states were formally on board, because that’s how the legislation (that his own government drafted and passed) actually worked. What? He couldn't do this when the natural disaster occurred? He had to wait 2 weeks? Ms McKenzie this morning was completely incapable of explaining where the "tipping point" to make such a declaration actually was.. Apparently 20 dead, thousands of homes and businesses destroyed, tens of thousands homeless, was not a tipping point for declaring a national disaster. But at least she was kind enough to tell us that if a nuclear bomb dropped on us, they would immediately declare a natural disaster... Let that sink in for a second.
Seems like natural tipping points have inflated Since when has "a nuclear bomb dropped on us" been natural? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Who knows. But it's good to know the government would immediately declare a natural disaster if it happened. Actual natural disasters though? Not so much.
Don't make politicians like they used to BLOKE ones - Bob Hawke SMART ones - Paul Keating NEEDING NAPPY CHANGED ones - current crop from Federal and State Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
If the state elections in South Australia are any indication, people are angry.. PM Morrison still delaying calling the election...
Budget night in Australia, where the government delivers its budget and going into an election, the expected cash splash happened.. Give people money and hope like hell they vote for you.. But in the Senate, things were getting spicy.. Enter Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells... Who didn't just burn bridges, but basically went up into space and blasted the bridge with a tactical nuclear weapon after she set it on fire. And can I just say.. Oh My God! https://www.theguardian.com/austral...by-liberal-senator-concetta-fierravanti-wells Whether this is the lead tomorrow or the budget and then followed closely by this, remains to be seen. The budget was a cash splash and an attempt to buy votes. But this.. THIS?! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! To quote Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.. "Holy smokes!" when he rose and gave her his allotted time to keep speaking. Because really.. HOLY SHIT!! She said the quiet parts out loud.
The gift that keeps on giving. After Peter Dutton began a GoFundMe for $25,000 for the deadly floods in QLD, that caused billions of dollars in damage, some interesting news has come to light.. Applications for money from an online flood support fundraiser by federal Defence Minister Peter Dutton are being directed through a password protected section of his Liberal National Party-branded website, alongside links to other official government programs. Mr Dutton, who holds the seat of Dickson in Brisbane’s north, has also named a small community group with close links to him as the beneficiary of the $28,962 raised for his electorate, despite it not being listed with the national charities register. They aren't even trying to hide it any more.
Well.. Have been away for a while and the election has been called while I was away.. Huzzah, we say. HUZZAH! 21st of May. And campaigning started with a whine, whimper and the usual clap-trap that goes on with the election cycle. A news media that leans decidedly right. Liberal Party candidate (hand picked by the PM - despite visceral opposition to her appointment as the candidate from members of the party in that seat and elsewhere) horrific transphobic tweets coming to light, a government made up of a coalition that are openly contradicting each other. The opposition leader is currently isolating after testing positive for COVID and a PM who decided to try to score a political point off someone's illness.. I could be here all night detailing the horror show this has become. On issues of the flooding we have recently endured, the governmental failures were noted above.. Our PM has decided to provide financial support to those affected... Thousands of dollars of much needed help (they haven't received it yet and there's no bank for them to be able to access it, but you know, it's the optics of the promise). But only to those who live in seats held by his government. The other areas which also suffered catastrophic flooding, get zip. I don't even have the energy to vent my rage any more.
And just like that, Scott Morrison and his party are essentially obliterated from the political landscape, with a front bench that has shrunk considerably, with many of the party's big names losing, including the treasurer. Not even close to being able to form government, gaining just one seat, but losing oh so many.. Not just to Labor, but to the Teals, also known as the Independents campaigning on responsibility and climate.. All women.. And this is where the government's loss becomes more stunning. Tonight saw a sledgehammer in the way people voted and what they were voting for and what was resonating across the entire country. Safe seats for the Government, seats that few could imagine they could lose, were lost to Independents. The "Teals". The interesting thing about the "Teals", is that most of these independent women were previous Liberal voters, fiscal conservatives. But all of them were campaigning on climate change and management and accountability in government and also on issues that matter within the electorate. All of them, without exception, discussed issues that affected men and women, as well as children, from climate, equality, health, education, safety. Essentially, everything the Morrison Government campaigned against. Seats previously held by the Liberals fell not just to the independents, but also to the Greens! So how did it go so wrong for the Government? I'd say one of his biggest issues came down to half of the electorate. While many are concerned about the possible loss of a two party preferred culture of Australian politics, I think it's a good thing. Candidates who actually live and work in their electorates, who aren't beholden to party politics, but instead striving for their electorates and what they want and need, can only be a good thing for the political landscape. The same goes for the gains of the Greens in my home state. One of which was because the candidate literally went door knocking to find out what people wanted. For months on end. He pounded that pavement and spoke to people who lived there and their concerns wasn't just the environment or climate change, but the new runway that resulted in more noise and their desire for a curfew. And that's what he worked for. But the government? His dismissing climate change, mishandling everything that came his way, from fires, floods, COVID, vaccines, housing crisis (telling renters who can't afford to pay rising rent to simply just 'buy a house', when house prices have gone through the roof, may not have been a good plan), calling a State that is currently kicking his party to the curb 'cave people' for refusing to re-open their border to NSW during a crazy COVID outbreak and so on and so forth. But women? Mr Morrison ignored women for so long, told women that we were lucky we weren't shot when thousands marched on Parliament - demanding change for the culture of sex abuse, rape, violence against women in Parliament and outside of it. Instead, Mr Morrison used a woman to attack trans men and women and other LGBTQIA+ people and tonight, the incompetence of our outgoing PM shone through with that personal pick. Women roared back with a giant 'fuck you'. He hid behind his wife on every occasion and when issues about women came to the forefront, Morrison would rely back on his wife and his daughters, while ignoring the actual points. This has been a constant throughout his leadership. Never taking responsibility and always hiding behind his wife when things got tough and literally dismissing women. When he tried to ram through the religious discrimination bill that at its heart, targeted members of the LGBTQIA+ community, women took note. Because the bill also targeted us, from our sexual and reproductive health, and to our choices about how we lived our lives or how we allowed our children to live their lives. When he declared his intention to have a second crack at the bill, whatever real estate he still had with women voters went down the drain. One would think that this defeat would have been humbling. Not so with Mr Morrison, who delivered a concession speech that was, for lack of a better term, completely cooked! Praising his government and himself for doing everything oh so right, he ranted on and on.. While conveniently ignoring that he had lost the election, because people were fed up with how the government and how they failed at just about everything.. So we have a new government. And quite possibly a minority government who will have to work with independents and the Greens on shared and common goals, of which there are many. And that can only be a good thing for the country. As for the now outgoing Government? Morrison has stated he will resign from the leadership and a new leader of the now slimmed down opposition will have to be voted on by the remnants of the party. The push from the right is to go more to the right - despite the giant roar from the electorate that saw people swing against the right in every way imaginable, but the call from the party faithful is to push further to the right.. Apparently they are still failing to read the room. The more moderate conservatives, if one could call them that, are essentially gone, wiped out in their safe Liberal seats by Independents, the Greens and Labor. And it's not because they weren't conservative enough. The only person who would probably take over the leadership, seeing the deputy leader of the party lost his seat (LOL!) is a man by the name of Peter Dutton, a far right, bigoted, fear-mongering conservative who is desperate to push much more to the right and who tried to start a war with China, and who is so generally hated, that he very nearly lost his own seat tonight. Many are hoping he succeeds in winning leadership of the party. Not because they think he will do well. But because it would guarantee they never regain power again for many more elections.
And if you are not Australian, the 'winning' party had it's lowest first preference vote since 1919 and it will most likely have to form a minority government with some of the independents.
It's still undecided, but looking increasing likely that Labor will have enough seats to get over the line into majority government. With the loss of so many moderate Liberals at this election, it will be interesting to see what happens next for that party. The Liberal party could move further to the right and possibly ruin its chances of regaining government in the next few terms. If it decides to move even further right, I guess there could be a possibility of forming a coalition with parties such as One Nation or United Australia. Having said that, those parties together got between 5 and 10% of the vote, despite massive election spending by the UAP. I think that a fair portion of the Liberal party base would consider deserting if that kind of coalition was formed, leaving only a shell of the far right. That would effectively destroy the Liberal Party as it has been known and probably ensure that it remains unelectable. Another option would be for the Liberal party to take the message sent by the electorate on board and fundamentally re-think its priorities, to try to bring those who voted for the Teals into the fold (For non-Australian readers, the "Teals" are so called because they were mostly disgruntled Liberals - blue is the party colour - who wanted more Green-style policies; blue+green = teal). However, with many moderate voices within the Liberal party gone, there may be few to advocate for such change within the Party. Meanwhile, there are encouraging signs that the newly elected government will implement a positive agenda for the nation, rather than the marking-time approach of the Morrison government, which has really had no big-picture vision for the nation.
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Well may you question saved I'll stick with doomed Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
