Boonta Vista - EPISODE 106: Albo Grease

Episode Date: July 9, 2019

Hey we're talking about the Australian Labor Party's new leader and why he seems completely insistent on rolling over at every opportunity and showing the Tories his soft, stupid belly. Maybe the hype...rconservative Neocons will be your friend if you ask nicely! After all, you have nothing to offer them in return! *** Support our show and get exclusive bonus episodes by subscribing on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BoontaVista *** Merchandise available at: boontavista.com/merchandise *** Twitter: twitter.com/boontavista iTunes: tinyurl.com/y8d5aenm Spotify: spoti.fi/2DBCXGA Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/s?fid=144888&refid=stpr Pocket Casts: pca.st/SPZB RSS: tinyurl.com/kq84ddb

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Bontevista, I think it's episode 106. Who could really be sure? Is there any way to tell? There's no way to tell? Once you've recorded it and put it out into the world, then that's where you are. You know? No way to go backwards from there. I'm Andrew. And I'm here in our great big multi-story podcasters house where we all have to live together because of the podcast economy. And Murray Condo is here and she's making us throw out all of our stuff. She's over there in the corner with Ben right now forcing him to go through all of his VHS one by one
Starting point is 00:01:03 and asking him questions like, does this fourth copy of Beastmaster bring you Joy? You know you say that I was literally looking at buying a second copy of Beastmaster the other day because it's much nicer than the one that I have. Would you keep the one you already have or? Oh yeah well the one I've got already quite good but I wanted to get one that was substantially quite good. And I would absolutely keep both. I made the very adult decision yesterday to put two of my copies of Big Trouble and Little China away, so now I only have three of them on the shelf. Only three on display that's very mature of you. Yeah, I've got my nice one from the 80s, my backup nice one from the 80s, and then I have my Japanese one.
Starting point is 00:01:46 Oh, nice. For guests. Lucy is next in line. She has a cardboard box full of all of her journals from high school. Oh, she's drawn the AFI logo. Oh boy, that is distressingly accurate. Don't like it. You're going to get asked about whether they bring you joy. Certainly do. Cradling them. And then of course over in the corner, just shaking fearfully in anticipation of having to explain why he needs so many different kinds of calculators. It's Theo. Hi, theo. Hi, Theo. Hi, theo. Hi, theyn. I am. there. I am. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the corner just shaking fearfully in anticipation of having to explain why he needs so many different
Starting point is 00:02:26 kinds of calculators. It's Theo. Hi, Theo. Hey, I have one kind of calculator. It's the TI-84. Sorry, it's TI-84 plus. I bought that because it was the only calculator I was familiar with from high school. I got that for like $40 from Gumtree and one day I left it at home just before an exam. Like this is like two weeks ago. So I went into the shop to try and find one of these, what is now like a 15 year old calculator. Oh, and they're a hundred thousand dollars. They are $260. What? like a 15 year old calculator. Oh, and they're $100,000. They are $260 if you would like to buy a TI-84-plus
Starting point is 00:03:10 from the QUT store. So- Well, I think what you have to understand is that we've actually lost the ability to make calculators. It was very cheap and it was very easy to do back when people who were still alive knew the secrets of making them in the 80s. But now, we have no idea. We're essentially just reselling the existing ones, which is why the prices continue to
Starting point is 00:03:37 go up. That makes so much more sense. I'm going to hold on to mine like a beanie baby. They're exactly like that, just as valuable. It's a lost technology. No one these days knows any of the secrets like how many buttons to put on the face of the calculator. How many numbers should be on it? It's eight? What is the... How do you make a plus sign?
Starting point is 00:03:58 You know? We don't have that sort of technology anymore. We can only only th have th have only th have that that that th have that that that that that tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thus. thus. tho tho tho tho tho the the their their their their their their their their their their their their the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to to. tooooooooooooooooooooo. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. to. the. th but we have no idea how to combine multiple minuses to make a plus. We just can't do it. Turn it which way? Oh dear folks. I tell you what, what's not bringing me any joy at the moment? It's the Australian Labour Party. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly the correct noise that anyone should be making right now when they talk about the Australian Labour Party. Now I feel like I want to preface this episode. This is disclaimer. It's a great big disclaimer on the front of this episode. I think a lot of people who are labor supporters get very stuck into this mode of like,
Starting point is 00:04:45 ah, here you are criticizing labor when you should be criticizing the government. You should be criticizing the coalition, who we all know are dog shit and have terrible ideologies and they don't even believe in their own ideologies, they're just doing the worst version of that. You should be criticizing them as though, like, number one, as tho their is a limited supply their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the worst version of that. You should be criticizing them as though, like, number one, as though there is a limited supply of criticism to go around. I didn't know we were rationing criticism now. Big criticism famine. But yeah, just this idea that like,
Starting point is 00:05:21 we should be asking the Liberal Party to do the things that we want them to do as though there is any possibility. Well like everything everything that the Liberal Party does is done in like naked contempt of anybody who is poorer than them you know anyone who doesn't own property, anybody who is poorer than them, you know, anyone who doesn't own property, anybody who is on welfare, anybody who's sick, anybody who's disabled, there is just open, naked, constant contempt for them in every policy that they take, every election and every policy that they try and pass without having got any kind of support for it at an election.
Starting point is 00:06:05 So let's just open right out of the gate with of course a great big fuck you to the Liberal Party, but it's almost like we wouldn't have to worry about what the Liberal Party were doing if a center-left or left-wing party in this country were capable of winning any elections. And that's where new Labour leader Anthony Albanese comes in. So recent election, Bill Shorten, charismatic, sexual dynamo, Bill Shorten. Oh, please don't call him charismatic. Hey, hey, I mean, sure he can fuck, but he just can't inspire any sort of leadership. What he needed to do was like, fuck, on a stage or a live feed or something, so people could finally see that side of him.
Starting point is 00:06:57 But instead, we all just heard the rumors of how much of an exciting jackhammer he was in the sack. Rumors swirling, but then you'd see him on stage, staring directly down the gun of the teleprompter, robotically reciting, wearing his shirt, what was his shirt? Chloe Shorten's husband? Was that his shirt? Mm-hmm. Oh shit out of shirt, said, I'd vote for my wife if I could. Anyway, we all remember charismatic Bill Shorten and all of his memorable catch phrases, like, you know the one, Theo, what was it? Yeah, um, hey, hey, hey, we're the guys.
Starting point is 00:07:44 Hey, hey, we're the guys. If we can't vote, and then all the rest, so basically... That was one of them. Yep, like, my wife is free to vote for whoever she likes. I'm not even mad. And she showed me a photo of a ballot slip. When my wife goes down to that polling place with her boyfriend on election day, they can both vote for whoever they want to, you know?
Starting point is 00:08:16 When my wife and her yoga instructor get back from their three-week hot rocks retreat. I think that's sweet. As long as she's happy, As long as she's happy. So Bill Shorn ran his very unsuccessful election campaign, which I believe we were all quite sad about, not because we had any particular love for Bill Shorten, but because I think that the rolling series of liberal governments in Australia are just some of the most dismally ill-equipped and uninspiring ones to ever occupy the political landscape. And he had to be replaced as leader because he,
Starting point is 00:08:59 as his tradition in Australia, as he conceded on election night, he had to take down his pants and then shuffle across the stage to the podium, the traditional dacking of the failed opposition leader, and he had to say, and he had to say, to the nation, sadly, I've not been successful and now me and my wife's boyfriend all have to get into the Tarrago and go back to our place and reflect on this. God bless Australia. Greatest democracy on earth baby. That's right. So, you know, that threw open the doors to the leadership and there was a strange kind of
Starting point is 00:09:42 period there where everybody said, I'm thinking about running for leader, but I won't because Anthony Albanese is going to be the leader. It was this really strange process of all of these people like doing public discussions of how they were going to run and then publicly announcing that they weren't. Because people are putting the hat in the ring and then tugging on the tidy string that they'd tied to the hat to remove it from the ring immediately again. That's it. So the inevitable leader came out and that was Anthony I fight Tories all the easy. That's right he actually sells shirts with a little like fighting shamrock dude on them that say I fight Tories.
Starting point is 00:10:27 He does he really? That is real? That is real. That is real. It's not good. So that's that's his, that's what he's known as is like the rough and tumble student politician who's always been super left wing and has always been about fighting Tories. And so he's chosen to prove this to the people by coming in, swing and heart, you'd think to yourself, hey, hey, we've been thoroughly defeated at this election with our extremely milk-toast, watery bullshit where we don't actually have any real policies beyond like what, the franking credit stuff? Is that about it?
Starting point is 00:11:17 I guess. I'm struggling to think of another one. There's... Remembering those policies, everyone, those memorable policies. All those policies. Oh, how about that policy where they committed the, um, they??????? they're, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their their, their their their their, their their, their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th, th, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're they're they're they're they're thi thi-to-to-s, theateat-s, theateat-s, thi-eat-eat-s-ea'-s-s-ea'-s, thi-s, thi-s, those memorable policies. All those policies. Oh how about that policy where they committed to reviewing raising the new start allowance which has not been raised in 25 years? Remember when after endless pressure they finally said we'll consider looking at it? They did say they would consider looking at it.
Starting point is 00:11:47 You got to hand it to him. Look guys, we'll think about it. We'll think about it. We'll think about all those extremely memorable policies. But you know, you'd think that he'd come out being like, hey, we've got to be strong, we've got to be decisive. We've got to be strong, we've got to be decisive, we've got to differentiate ourselves. So here's what he came out with during the campaign to become Labour leader in this article entitled, Conflict Fatigue, Alvanesi rises with a message for the suburbs. Anthony Albanese has called on labor to reconnect with aspirational Australians who rejected the party of the federal election,
Starting point is 00:12:29 declaring that voters have, quote, conflict fatigue over political arguments that pit one part of the community against the other. You already know it's bad when he says aspirational. When you're about to talk about aspirational people, it's going to be a bad time. What's the, um, what would you say, because this this this this this is this is this is this is this is this is a very this is a very, it's going to be a bad time. What's the, what would you say, because this is a very, a very common, I guess, Australian political trope, Lucy. How, when somebody says aspirational voter in Australia, what is the type of person that this conjures to you? I think it basically is the kind of person that thinks that anyone who works hard will get ahead in life. It's a temporarily embarrassed millionaire. Yes. It's quite similar I'd say.
Starting point is 00:13:16 I think this is something we've talked about before as far as like the the characteristics of the Australian voting base and and Australia in general. I think we've, we've, we've also the, the that, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, tho, tho, the the that, that, the the that, the the the the the the the the that, thi, thi, their thi, their thi, that that that, that, that, the the, the, the, the, the the, the, the, the, th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th, th, th th, th the the the the the the the thi thi, thi thi, thi, the, the the, the their, their, their, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi of the Australian voting base. And Australia in general, like, I think we've all sort of said before that Australia has this weird thing where generally people are pretty well off. We're right up there in the top, you know, one or two percent of the world in terms of like living conditions across the country. That doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of people, you know, doing it tough who could do a lot of help. In fact, that's more of an argument as to why it's like embarrassing that we would be cutting back things like welfare and funding for health and that sort of thing.
Starting point is 00:14:00 Very similar to how in the states there's this whole thing of, ah, we are the richest country on earth and also we have, you know, one of the world's largest prison populations and homeless populations. Shit like that. Pardon me. But yeah, I think Australia generally there's this whole thing of like, oh, we're all way worse off, we all think we're way worse off than we are. Like the way that the media portrays it, it's like if you don't own multiple properties, then you must be really struggling in life.
Starting point is 00:14:37 But in reality that's probably a significant portion of people are in the bottom 50% in terms of money. Yeah. Yeah, so I think often the aspirational voter is the person who's already got a lot, wants way more and doesn't want anyone to make them feel bad about it. And definitely owns more than one property. And these are the people that we can't piss off. They're aspirational. They just want a fair go for their kids or something.
Starting point is 00:15:08 I just want a fair go for my three kids that I take to their private Catholic school every morning in my giant Mercedes 4-Wil Drive. Struggling to make ends meet after the mortgage payment on my million dollar house. Yeah, that's it. Mm-hmm. Mr. Holbenese, you said the party needed to end to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the kids to to to the kids to to the kids to to their kids their kids to to their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to end to end their to end their to end their their their their their their their their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their kids their their their the mortgage payment on my million dollar house. Yeah, that's it. Mr. Hobanese, you said the party needed to end some of the us and them rhetoric that shaped its failed election campaign. Quote, people are looking for solutions rather than arguments, and they're looking for what unites the community, rather than what divides it, he said. Hey, hey, yuck, someone got an argument in my politics.
Starting point is 00:15:49 Oh, I don't want arguing. Waiter. Who put this in here? Uh, backstroke, I believe, Theo. Is that, does that scan? It does to me, but I'm not happy about it. We'll let all this out. Can you say, uh, waiter, what does to me but I'm not happy about it. We'll edit all this out. Can you say, waiter, what's this argument doing in my soup?
Starting point is 00:16:12 Wait, no, we'll edit this out. Let's work show this. Yeah, yeah. I mean I can't say that right now, but I can't say it. Oh, you can say it. I can't commit to thinking about saying it. Cool. We'll do a, we'll commit to doing a review of this joke format. Hey, um, what we're talking aspirational, sorry. I thought maybe, could we all just go around the room and say our, our favorite thing that we can just think of to top of our head about deputy, labor leader, Richard Miles.
Starting point is 00:16:43 Just, just your favorite thing, just whatever, just whatever comes to find. Ben. Well, you know, it's obviously this is a question of many dimensions and I'm definitely not stalling for time so I could use my left had to Google Richard Miles. Yeah, so if you close your eyes and maybe just picture his face. Deputy... Having that image there might prompt... You know, Rich. I thought Charmer's got the deputy leadership. Uh, what a fool I have been. Dickie Miles.
Starting point is 00:17:12 Dickie, Marls. Dickie, Miles. Oh, big dick Miles. The Marlbra man we call him. You know, I love his... You know, he's got such a, uh, about him, you know? He's like, his, his vibe. Distinctive.
Starting point is 00:17:29 It's just, he, and that's what I think we like about him. Oh, absolutely. You know, if you put him in a line up, you're, immediately, you're like, well, there's, you know, that's rich. That's rich. Oh, Richard. Richard. Richard. That's our Richard. You cannot deny. Hey, when it comes down to it, I got two words for you, baby. Richard Miles? Richard check notes, Miles.
Starting point is 00:17:57 He kind of looks like, a little bit like Warnie if his life hadn't gone wrong. I don't even know what he looks like. Warnie's looking rough on Instagram. The picture that Wikipedia has pulled up for him. Um, or no, that's his Twitter pick. He, he's kind of got... Yeah, I don't know. You guys look into this.
Starting point is 00:18:17 Tell me what you think, but he looks a little bit like healthy Warnie. Oh, God, no, no, no, no, no, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th's thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the the picture the picture the picture the picture the picture the picture the picture the picture the picture the picture thi, the picture, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. That's th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiii. thiii. thiiiii. thi. thi. thi. W. thi. W. Wourney around. Oh God, no. No, sir. One looks like he's been on a, like a two-month ice binge. Like he's been abusing horse tranquilizers since 1998, which I believe is the case. Yeah. I've seen this guy before. I have no idea why. Maybe I've just seen him on the street. That's my favorite thing about Richard Miles is that I am actually able to conjure a mental image of his face and that's it. I can't remember
Starting point is 00:18:49 anything else about it. I think he was like opposition defense spokesman at some point. That's about all I've got. Okay-dok. So yeah, anything Albany's is come out of the gate strong with the very compelling argument that people are sick of havingthe gate strong with the very compelling arguments that people are sick of having someone stand up for them. People are sick and tired of demanding anything different from the status quo. Tired of these arguments in politics, you know? The last thing I want in politics is an argument.
Starting point is 00:19:23 Why can't everyone just get along? Why can't everyone just get along? Why can't everyone just get along? You know? And I suppose as well, there is no better time than to say, make a, make a stirring call for bipartisanship than when you are stuck in the wilderness of opposition, having proven yourself completely unable to win a federal election campaign, and basically have nothing to sell anyone. That is a great time to say, hey, we should come to an agreement on everything and you should stop holding my arm by the wrist and pushing it into my face and saying, stop hitting
Starting point is 00:20:00 yourself. So I'm glad that we have a brave new leader who's willing to do that. Oh, but it goes on to say, we have to emphasize that. That people are looking for solutions rather than arguments. That doesn't mean that we shy away from the issue of inequality. It means though that we need to do that in a way that acknowledges the fact that the business community and the private sector create jobs for people. If there's one thing that we know about Australia, it's that the business community definitely doesn't get enough constant tax cuts and bailing out of everything. Just constant coddling all the time.
Starting point is 00:20:44 You don't like paying penalty rates. Okay you don't have to pay penalty rates anymore it's okay. Yeah you get to hire more people now aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. You don't have to pay penalty rates on the $10 an hour cash in hand that you weren't declaring to the ATO anyway. That's fine. Shattered by the election loss to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's senior labor figures have thrown open a debate on every major policy, including a rethink on franking credits,
Starting point is 00:21:17 negative gearing, and whether to propose a market mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So if I'm reading that correctly, they're open to a complete rethink on the only minor points of differentiation that they were between themselves and the liberal party, is that correct? Sounds about right. I think when you've gone into, you know, an election and just being stomped and everyone sort of said, well, I can't tell the parties apart. What you really want to do is, um, nothing. Yeah, I'll get back to you on that one.
Starting point is 00:21:53 I think what they're doing, maybe. That's probably, it's probably it. Labor's environment spokesman, Tony Bick said that the science had been compromised by the mechanism. And it was now time to consider a direct action model as advocated by the coalition to avoid a quote unthinkable 15 years without action. So just another example of them running down their list of policies and saying what if we changed our policy to just agreeing
Starting point is 00:22:26 with the Liberal Party's policy? This of course leads me into a separate article here from the Guardian. New Labour leader Anthony Albanese calls for end to climate wars. Oh, well in that case, Anthony Albanese has called for an end to the climate war saying he wants to work with Scott Morrison on an emissions reduction plan that case, Anthony Albania has called for an end to the climate war, saying he wants to work with Scott Morrison on an emissions reduction plan that benefits both the environment and the economy. I wonder if that'll look a lot like, say, exactly what the Liberal Party is doing right
Starting point is 00:22:58 now, which is, um, which is like not making business curb emissions in any fashion at all and then just lying and saying that emissions are going down. That's a good policy. Yeah, what they're going to do is knock on every, the door of every, you know, top 100 country, company and Australia and say, hey, do you guys feel like reducing emissions today? And they said, hmm, no, thank you. I've already had lunch. And so, okay, well, we'll, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll come, we'll, we'll, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. their. their. their. their. th. th. their. th. th. their. their. their. their. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their th. their their their their their their their their today? And they said, hmm, no, thank you. I've already had lunch. And so, OK, we'll come back in four years. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:31 Think about it. Think about it. I say, as the door is slammed in my face. Flagging his desire to see bipartisanship on the vexed issues of constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians and climate policy. Albanese said he was prepared to to to to to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to to to to to to the to their we'll their we'll the their we'll their we'll their we'll their we'll well. We'll well. We'll well. We'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to come. We'll to come come come come come. We'll come come back. We'll come come back back. We'll come come come back to come come back to come back. We'll come come back. We'll come come come back. We'll come come. We'll come. We'll the the the vexed issues of constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians and climate policy. Albanese said he was prepared to work with the coalition to develop a consensus position on a national emissions reduction plan. Let me say this unequivocally. The science is in, climate change is real. We must act, the action will create jobs and benefit our economy and our environment.
Starting point is 00:24:08 The time for ongoing conflict over these issues surely is over, he says. I'm sure we're going to get to this, right, but the concept of both creating jobs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions suggests some sort of gigantic, I would say, you know, $100 billion plan in the wings to produce programs that are going to build large swathes of wind energy or solar energy or what have you. But what we're doing instead is voting for tax cuts for a hundred plus billion dollars.
Starting point is 00:24:53 So, like, we'll get into that part as well, but like, you can't just say what we need to work together to create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without having, without putting government money into it, right? Because otherwise there's no market mechanism to do anything, right? Like you have no lever to pull for businesses to go and do that unless you are either making it punitive for them to put out greenhouse gas emissions, which is what happened with the Labour government, which worked under the Rudd-Gillard government, you know, we, we, we, th, th, th, th, th, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to to to to th, th, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thu, thu, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. thi. thi, thi, thi, the, the, to to to to to to the, to to to to to to to-n, to-n, to-n, to-a, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, greenhouse gas emissions, which is what happened with the Labour government, which worked under the Rudd-Gillard government. We saw a carbon tax go in, we saw Australia's carbon emissions drop dramatically. It was then, you know, revoked, and our carbon emissions went up.
Starting point is 00:25:42 So if you're not going to be punitive against greenhouse gas emissions, you have to give money to businesses for them to invest in it. And assuming that everything goes right, you know, you still need loads of money to go into that, but that's not what he's talking about here. That's the tax cut money. We need that for all of the things that we said before. The 14th story on my house. There's, um, yeah, and, and I think, like we can say very, very clearly, the only way that business is going to get on board with this is, like you said,
Starting point is 00:26:20 if you make it less profitable for them to do what they're currently doing, than to do what needs to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to do what they're currently doing than to do what needs to be done instead. And that is not the case currently. They're not doing that until it becomes, you know, like more affordable for them to say, oh, we will use this other type of energy or we will stop doing our manufacturing in this type of way. They will absolutely continue to do it. Yeah. There's like th that that that that the the the the thiiiiiii thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. th. thi. That is thi. th is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thate. tho. thooooooooooo. thooo. thoo. thatea. thatea. thatea. thate. that mean, there's like a third lever that we're not talking about here as well,
Starting point is 00:26:46 which is to say that the government gets involved in the production of clean energy. Yes. Or, I mean, like the proposed Green New Deal in the states, like to say, we are going to have a gigantic program of work to do things like, um, to do thii thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi their their their their their thi, their their thi, like, like, like, their thi, their thi, their their their their their their their their their g. their g. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their their their their their their their their their their their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi. thiiiii. thi. thiii. thi. thi. thi. their thi. thi. to do things like make existing housing more sustainable to go and to go and like install you know insulation and and improve improve like you know heating that's in people's houses and all sorts of stuff so that they are actually all more energy efficient but again there is absolutely no incentive for any business to do that. It needs to be a government saying we're going to invest money in doing this thing.
Starting point is 00:27:31 Almost as though that is actually the role of government to do things which benefit a society at large, but are not actually profitable to a business. But again, like the liberal government could not have made clear that they have absolutely no interest in doing any of these things and not only that, but they will fight tooth and nail against them, much like, as you said, the previous emissions trading scheme of the previous carbon price, where basically entire lead-up to it happening and every moment of every day once it was in action was consumed by the Liberal Party, the Liberal National Party saying, you are being destroyed by this government taking all of your money
Starting point is 00:28:20 for the mythical environment fairies. And they didn't stop. They didn't stop for even a second until they got that repealed. And when they did get it repealed, did they sit back and say, no more environment stuff for us were all good now? Or do they say, well, let's keep trying to push this further. Let's try and push this further and fucking open up the Galilay Basin and approve the Ad Ad Ad Ad the Ad the Adani car. the the the the approve the Adani Carmichael mine or...
Starting point is 00:28:47 Yeah, there is no point which is too much for these guys. So the idea that he's going to be able to compromise with them and find a solution that is, you know, that is like amenable to both sides is fucking absurd. Absolutely ridiculous. But But to quote Anthony Albanyzian, the time for ongoing conflict surely is over. You know how the Liberal Party hates conflict with the Labor Party and it's not at all good for them and nets them votes or anything like that. As Theo just alluded to to this of course leads us to the Labor Party also saying, oh well the the thatne Zlubanese them to the the the the the the thamamamamamamamamamamamam them them them them to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the to to the to to to to to to to to to to to to be to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to me me me me me me me me me me me me me meananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananan. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to, this of course leads us to the Labour Party also saying,
Starting point is 00:29:27 oh well, the Liberal Party are proposing massive tax cuts and absolutely shredding the Australian economy's base of funding for all of the social programs that we actually need that money for. But hey, no one likes to see a messy argument in the public's sphere. Just want world peace. Just want world peace and tax cuts, baby. It's just like, hey, you know, why can't we all just like get along with each other, you know? Like if you see a stranger smile at them, you know? If you see a stranger in public just like go up to them and smile at them and put a
Starting point is 00:30:08 hand on their shoulder, maybe a hand on their knee, you know we're all just friends. Yeah if you see someone in in their car just sitting alone. Say hello. Say hello. Maybe just go up and knock on the window and start kicking the door and screaming it's okay you can pass whatever to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the. the. the. theck. Io. Ioomeck. Imoomorrow. Ic. Ic. Ic. I'm just just. Ic. I'm just. I'm just. I'm just. I'm just. I'm just. I'm just. I'm just. I'm just just're doing. Maybe just like gently wrap on the window and start kicking the door and screaming, it's okay, you can pass whatever legislation you want! You can do it, it doesn't matter! fucking, just no laws! No taxes! No taxes, folks. So yeah, this leads us into the tax bill that, the liberal party immediately started to ram through it as soon leads us into the tax bill that the Liberal Party immediately started trying to ram through as soon as the election was over. So Ben, would you like to explain to us this bill?
Starting point is 00:30:56 Oh boy, I would absolutely love to because nothing thrills me more than listing off percentages and brackets. So, the tax bill... Oh, you're a fan too. Jesus, fucking Christ. This is the name of the bill that was proposed by the government as part of a major election promise. Here we go. Now bear with me because you might think it ends at one point but then it keeps going.
Starting point is 00:31:35 Treasury laws amendment 2019. Open bracket, tax relief so working Australians keep more of their money in bracket. Now you we touched on this with the phrase aspirational. The aspirational I think is a slightly softer version of working Australians, which is like the ultimate appeal to the Australian voter, because as we have discussed countless times on this podcast, every single Australian is a super cop, and they believe that every other Australian is the character from Wog Boy who is a professional doll bludger and they don't work but they're getting handed all this cash handover fist they are living it high on the hog
Starting point is 00:32:18 while... It's our cash too. It's our cash that they're taking your money. You're taking your money. From hard-working, battling, working Australians who actually get up in the morning and actually do the work of going to the Dick Sucking Factory and doing whatever it is that we do there, I can't tell you, it's a proprietary secret. But so this is what this is appealing to whereas in reality it's basically everyone right The bill is a it's a two-part of so the first part is Good news for anyone that pay a earned an income income to 2019 financial year that you're over the the tax-free threshold They're increasing the low and middle income tax offsets that basically mean that people
Starting point is 00:33:09 earning under $37,000, you'll just get $255,000 back on your cash, straight up. If you earn between $37,000 and $48,000, you'll get somewhere between $255 and $1080,000. If you're owning over $48,000, you get 1,080 bucks. And if you're earning between 90,000 and 126,000, stop listening this podcast, go fuck yourself. So that part, the Labour Party was all good. Unless you want to donate half of that money to the podcast, in which case we love it. You work you work so hard you know it I love that you're aspirational and you're a working Australian please give us your cash I need to spend it on um well you know what else has brackets our Patreon you can give us up to 20 dollars per month
Starting point is 00:33:59 you can give us more than 20 dollars a month. Yeah, let's not advertise those options. Those are off-menu options. Show up to the podcast and they're like, ah, could I get the, uh, Andrew special please. Wink, and that's just when Andrew comes around to your house and he takes his shoes off and he paddles his horrible feet around in your toilet. That's the $65 a month option.
Starting point is 00:34:27 The $85 a month option is the same thing, but I put him in the toilet first and then I put them in your kitchen sink. Continue back. Sorry, sorry. So labor was fine with that part. They said, Wahoo, we've got to stimulate this economy. And we're going to do it not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not the th, not th, not th, not the, not thi th part. They said, Wahhoo, we've got to stimulate this economy and we're going to do it not as quite efficiently as Kevin Rudd did by just saying, hey, you there, Sonny Jim, would you like a cool grand? Well, you're getting 900 bucks. What if I rounded that down for you? Would you like something
Starting point is 00:35:02 close to a thousand dollars? Yeah, you get $900 and I'll call you a slur in Cantonese. That's right. I long for the days of a prime minister who called Chinese people rat fuckers. Oh dear. So yeah, that part, Labour is fine with, the second part of the tax bill is some progressive, ironically enough, some progressive changes to removing a progressive tax system. So the first part is to increase the threshold for the 32.5% tax bracket to make it higher. So you don't start paying that rate until it hits $45,000 a year. Then, so that's coming in for this financial year. But then after that is when shit gets crazy.
Starting point is 00:36:02 So the plan is by the 2024 to 2025 financial year, there will only be one middle tax bracket. So we're getting rid of the 32.5% and the other one, the 37% tax bracket and replacing it with just a flat 30% tax rate for any income between 45,000 and 200,000. This also pushes up what the 45% tax bracket is which previously started 180,000 up to 200,000. Theo, do you know off the top of your head just about how much money a federal member of parliament earns. Hmm. It's interesting. I don't have those figures with me right now Ben, but I feel like you might have a... Well I'd love to tell you actually. So up until quite recently, uh, quite recently, quite recently being July 1st, which incidentally was also when the penalty cuts were put in place, penalty rate cuts were put in place, and at the same time was also when we massively reduced
Starting point is 00:37:12 the threshold for paying back your hex debt. That is when our MPs also got a pay increase going up from $200,000 a year based salary to $207,000 to $207,000. But that's, uh, this will just be great news for them because now they're paying that 45% rate on only a very, very marginal part of their tax. Huh. How awful is that? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Yeah, very strange. So that's, that's the bill basically. It's expected to cost the country something like $135 billion, I believe, or 235? Well, it's great news, because a lot of that money is going to come from the fact that they've reduced the Hex repayment threshold by almost $10,000. It is a galling. It is a
Starting point is 00:37:59 substantial amount that they have dropped it by. Why didn't Labor go around being like, this is a student tax? If you can th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, th. thi, th-a, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th- th- th- th- th- th- thi, thi, thi, th-in, th-in, th-in, th- th- the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. theanan, thioli. thean, thean, thin, thean, thioloui. the, the, didn't labor go around being like this is a student tax? If you can call fucking rethinking franking credits a retiree tax, you can call this a goddamn student tax. Yeah, it's huge. I think it's 40,000 or 43,000 now? Yeah, it's just over 40,000. Well, there's plenty of money gonna come from some of our poorest people, so that's good news. It was like like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $40,000,000,000,000,000,000, $40,000, $ $40, $40,000,000,000,000, $40, to to to to thii- thi- thi- thi- thi- thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi plenty of money going to come from some of our poorest people, so that's good news. It was like $57,000, not two years ago. Yeah, they reduced it by a pretty substantial amount to 52. And now here we are. But hey, at least we're not America. Sorry, so not American listeners. And this is the larger ongoing issue here is that with this government
Starting point is 00:38:50 and the ones before it, that the entire thing becomes a matter of, oh, we'll just, we'll just like keep cutting the funding to all these government services or at least demanding that none of them spend any more funding than they are currently spending. They do a lot of that through saying like they set they set staffing level caps on departments and say you're not allowed to hire any new people unless somebody quits or retires or anything like that and in a lot of cases they set them these targets and say you have to reduce your workforce by this much over this period of time. Except the problem is that when you're talking about things like, when you're talking about agencies
Starting point is 00:39:35 like Centilink and the NDIA and which like that and human that department of human services are all now getting combined into one great big hyper department which much like the border force thing what can possibly go wrong when you combine a whole bunch of services to a myriad types of people and say, ah now you can service all of these people simultaneously for less money somehow? I sure can't think offhand of a whole bunch of examples in very recent Australian history where this has gone incredibly wrong. But so they have this thing of, well, we'll just continue only spending the same amount or
Starting point is 00:40:25 gradually reducing the amount of money that we are spending on these particular types of service in order to save money. The only problem being that the population continues to grow the whole time and people continue to age, people continue to have more babies, you know, all this kind of shit. So the idea that you can just continually keep pulling money out of this stuff and not have all of these services either substantially suffer or just stop working altogether. You've actually, I think you've completely misunderstood this. And I hate to show you up like this on the podcast, but no, it's when you take all the
Starting point is 00:41:03 money away from a public service is how you prove that it doesn't work.. I. I. I. I. So. So. So. I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the their the you take all the money away from a public service is how you prove that it doesn't work So you massively underfund them and when they're unable to meet the basic demand of the job They have to do you actually just you found out that the public service itself is bad and you can just get rid of it This is much like a British sister podcast, Trash Future. They frequently talk about the Tory efforts to privatize like small parts of the NHS over there. And so they privatize those, which means that of course, you know, some company signs a contract and says, we get this much of your funding to spend on providing this service as part of the NHS, and they want to keep as much of that money as possible, so they cut as many corners
Starting point is 00:41:52 as possible, so the thing doesn't really work properly, and then the Tories who privatize that part of it say, see, the public service, the NHS does not work. We should privatize more of it to efficient corporations. And yeah, that's that seems to essentially be what's happening here a lot of the time. And it sucks. It fucking sucks. Well, so this did suck, right? So this is a horrible... Why did they do it? What was their super strategic reason for voting in favor of this? Well, I mean, let's not mischaracterize what they've done. So they certainly, they tried to fight it, right?
Starting point is 00:42:30 And all along, they've sort of been saying, well, we like the tax offset changes. You know, the instant sort of rebate, we like that. We like the stage one changes. That's, that's all gravy. But I, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, these, these, these, these, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, they. they. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, they. What, they. What, they. What, they. What, they. What, they. What, they. What, they. What, they. they. they. they. they. they. tha, tha, tha, they.a, they.a, they.a, they.a, their, their, their, their, their, the We like the stage one changes. That's all gravy, but I'd well these stage three ones, you know, this is going to cost the taxpayers 90 billion dollars, and about 30 billion of that will be money no longer being taxed from people earn that over $180,000. That goes against everything that Labor stands for. So we're going to try and get our amendments in. So Jim Charmers, the man that I thought was deputy, but is not. He put forward two amendments. The first one would be that the combined consolidated 45,000 to 200,000 bracket, which is getting reduced to a flat 30%.
Starting point is 00:43:30 That stays at 32.5, which is still drastically less than the 37% that upper bound used to be. That amendment was not accepted. Charm is put for it another one, and this was to get rid of the third stage entirely so that's the consolidation of that larger bracket moving the 180,000 up to 200,000 and moving all of the changes that would gradually affect the lower income stuff sooner so that would happen straight away so his sort of logic there was well if's good enough later, why isn't it good enough now? That also was not accepted, but faced with incredible defeat, we had one last tremendous act of defiant from that powerful Labour Party that we know and love with an amendment proposed
Starting point is 00:44:20 by none other than DJ Albo himself. I'm going to read you the full text sorry, what did you say? DJ Crablo I think. No I think it's DJ Albo. So this is the full text of the amendment. I move as an amendment that the short title of the bill be amended to read Treasury laws amendment 2019 tax relief so working Australians keep more of their money but not for a really long time. Oh you got them absolutely destroyed. And it's it's it's so weird that when they got to the point of saying, yeah, we'll vote for your thing either way, but you should change it to a bill that says, Treasury Laws Amendment, Labour rules and the Liberal Party sucks.
Starting point is 00:45:20 We are voting for it though. And they were like, oh, we'll vote for it anyway, sorry. Sorry for holding it up. Sorry for keeping everybody here late. So yeah, that's the fun twist on the story is they voted for it with no amendments to it. Wahhoo, I think we can all say. Yahoo!
Starting point is 00:45:41 It's going so well. Can't wait for the next election. Now, this might be hard to fathom why they would do this. So I'm going to let D. Madigan explain this. So D. Madigan is not... She's a head of a creative agency that does a lot of Labour's state and federal campaigning. So she's not officially a part of the Labour Party, but she certainly acts as a spokesperson for them on the internet and has played a big part in their sort of strategy stuff.
Starting point is 00:46:21 So I think she's in a good position to explain this. On Friday she tweeted the following. Number one, Labour did not have the numbers to split the bill. Number two, Labour's actions would have not have changed the result either way, but, then point three, had Labor not voted for it, the Libs would have run a scare campaign, say Labor refused to vote for tax cuts for low-income workers. All right, let's leave that there. And then she tweeted something else yesterday. She was quite tweeting someone who said that that 255 bucks is peanuts to them.
Starting point is 00:46:57 She was saying, those people who say these tax cuts are peanuts, they to check their privilege to a low-income worker whose wages have been stagnant for years, this makes a big difference. Labor promised to deliver tax cuts, they helped do that. Now what I want you to do, I want you guys to do a fun little exercise. I want you to hold in your mind point to from her first tweet. Now that goes like this. Labor's actions would not have changed the result either way. Now let's look at her second tweet for the last two sentences of that. Labor promised to deliver tax cuts, they helped do that.
Starting point is 00:47:33 This is great to me because this also reminds me of like the delicious trying to have their cake and eat it to on the New Start review stuff. So again, just that additional context for non-Australian listeners. The New Start welfare benefit is basically our unemployment benefit, which has not been raised beyond indexing in 25 years. It is below what Australia considers to be the poverty line. A lot of people, a lot of activists, including our friends of the show at the Australian Unemployed Workers Union,
Starting point is 00:48:19 like Jeremy Poxin, we're pressing very hard to get labor to commit to raising new start immediately upon gaining offers before the election. They would not commit to doing that. The best that they would offer was to say we will commit to undertaking a review. We commit to thinking about considering the possibility of maybe... Considering all these facts that we already have right in front of us. We might think thinking about considering the possibility of maybe... Considering all these facts that we already have right in front of us. We might think about them.
Starting point is 00:48:49 We might put them all out on a table in front of us and then stand there with one hand on our chin, you know? So that when the liberals got in and said, hey, we're not raising a fuck yourself and people went ah fuck you the liberals and labor the Labor Party said oh but you know we said we were going to review it but we didn't get elected so it's your fault it's your fault that this didn't happen so and why are you criticizing us anyway why you're us anyway? Why are you criticizing us? Just making us sad. So um so the other day who was it? Who was it from the Greens that that made a motion to raise the new side allowance in the Senate?
Starting point is 00:49:36 Um, I can't remember a name. I can't recall. I'm so'm so sorry. Someone opened Duck Duck Go, official search engine of the podcast and find out. But yes, so she moved this motion in the Senate. It was voted down by the liberals and the Labour Party together. And again, this was this thing where they want to try and have this thing simultaneously of saying, we're not going to do anything to oppose this, but also we want credit for the idea that you would have got what you wanted if we had been voted into power, except that we also didn't commit to doing that even if we got into power.
Starting point is 00:50:23 It's kind of confusing and it all comes back to this point number two from D'Madigan's tweets here, which was Labor's actions would not have changed the result either way. So they helped. Yeah, well if it's a thing you, if the part of the thing that you like, we helped with and the part of the thing that you like, we helped with, and the part of the thing that you don't like, isn't our fault. So it's just this wonderful, this wonderful way of somehow magically excusing yourself from any responsibility for things that you are actively voting in favor of, in both of these cases, somehow saying we had nothing to do with this bill being passed, despite all of our MPs or all of our senators sitting on one side of the chamber and giving
Starting point is 00:51:12 a big fuck you to, you know, news star recipients, saying, oh, well, you know, not our fault that this thing went through that we all put our hand up and said, Yes, please! Loudly, because that's how you vote for stuff in the chamber. I say all in favor, and everybody puts their hand up and goes, yes please. Yes, please. Yes, please. I'd like one bill, thank you. One bill, please. Um, I, I, right.
Starting point is 00:51:41 There's some kind of joke here about how it sucks when you go to a place where they won't let you split the bill. Hey, yo. You know? But I'm not going to, I'm not going to work that up. That would be good if it was a joke. Yeah, but, yeah. Is it like a footnote for you to put it into the script for the revised extended edition of this episode. Director's cut.
Starting point is 00:52:10 So so again all of this is just this this magical pudding that they are making in which nothing is their fault everything would be perfect if they had won an election in which they couldn't convince anyone to vote for them. I feel like we got a lot of parallels. I know I've said this before but I feel like we have a lot of parallels with the Democrats in the US and Labor here where they're like theoretically meant to be the center-left party but they're so scared of being attacked from the right on any of those issues like national security and the economy and all this kind of shit that they wind up just sort of agreeing with the right wing about everything so as to avoid conflict and
Starting point is 00:52:58 then they get fucking pilloried for it anyway and the whole time they just, yeah, they just bleat about how it's your fault for not voting for them. Even though they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they constantly they they constantly they constantly they constantly they constantly they're they're they're constantly they're constantly they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thoo thoooooooo' thee. thoooooo' the. the. their their their their the whole time they just yeah they just bleat about how it's your fault for not voting for them yeah even though they constantly demonstrate we wouldn't have done anything differently anyway you have to be in power to keep doing the same shit and like it's already happened but straight away even after they voted for it in the lower house the first thing fucking smug fuck Josh Freidemburg said uh he tweet voted for it in the lower house, the first thing, smug-fuck Josh Fridemberg said, he tweeted out after it passed in the lower house.
Starting point is 00:53:30 Tonight our full package of tax cuts passed the house and now are on the way to the Senate, Labour's amendments were defeated as they continue to put obstacles in the way of tax for millions of Australians. So that's after they voted for it, the government, the government, the government, the government, the government, the government, their, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, thi, thi, to to to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to to, to to to to to to to to to thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, theat, theat, theat, theat, theat, theat, theat, theat, to-a, toed toda, toed toda, the, th's after they voted for it, the government is still like Labor is the party of tax. They're always going to... It's the strangest thing. This fucking happens every time. And it's like it's the same stuff with the climate stuff, right? Like between this and and their comments of working with the government on the climate thing, it's just clear that the thought of engaging both the coalition and the Rupert Murdoch media in Australia over these things just terrifies them, right? That they are that they are so aware that they are so weak on the front of actually
Starting point is 00:54:22 articulating their points and benefits and arguing them convincingly in the public sphere that they're ready to just give that all up right they're ready to just say well look it's not something we can't do this it's not something we're able to do so we're gonna stop fighting yeah we we're not willing to articulate an alternative viewpoint to do, so we're going to stop fighting. Yeah, we're not willing to articulate an alternative viewpoint to this. And much like, again, much like the Democrats in the states, this whole constant thing of, well, we don't want to get wedged on this issue. So what we'll do is make ourselves a really small target.
Starting point is 00:54:59 And all you wind up doing is alienating every voter from the left who wanted a different option to the one the the the the one the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right right right right every voter on the left who wanted a different option to the one the right wing is presenting and everybody on the right wing wasn't going to fucking vote for you anyway. And also there's this ongoing thing that we've talked about before that labor and especially the kind of labor fanatics on social media and that sort of thing can't imagine somebody voting left of them, right? Just say, well look if you want material change, you need to stop criticising Labour, you need
Starting point is 00:55:35 to be on board with Labour and all that sort of stuff. And previously what that has meant is that it's meant that, hey, you know, look, it may not be the that that tho. But you can tho tho that that tho that tho tho, it may not be exactly what you're going for here, but you can vote for labor and know that it's the same option, and that we will at least not like propose a bill to load up every new start recipient into catapults and then fire them directly into the Antarctic Ocean. We're only going to fire them into the desert. That's exactly right. And they can build their own community because they're all aspirational workers, set up a jobs program. You know, we might make a submarine building program in the desert.
Starting point is 00:56:21 There's a few details there to nut out, but we won't fire them into the ocean. But now, they're saying, well, look, look, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if we, if we they they they're they're they're they're they're the the the they, they, that, that's they, that's they, that's their, that's their, that's their, that's their, that's their, that's their their, that's their, that's their, that's their, that's their, that's their, that's they, that's they, that's they, that's they, that's they they they they they they they they they they they they. That's they. they. they. they. theymea, theyananananananananan, theyan, theyanan, theyan, they. they. they. their their the desert. There's a few details there to nut out, but we won't fire them into the ocean. But now they're saying, well look, if we don't fire these into the ocean, they're just gonna attack us about it at the next election. So really, it's the same, it's the same option. And now there's no, like, but they were going to fire them into the ocean humanely. And and this and now there's no, you know, increasingly no differentiation between the between the parties. Why why should you vote for for labor? But the kind of talking point continues that you shouldn't be criticizing labor through this moment and if you do it's just hurting hurting their chances in the next next election
Starting point is 00:57:11 when they should be strong enough to fight their own points and fight yeah you know convincingly in favor for what it is that they're doing instead of whatever it is that they're currently doing, which is absolutely inexplicable. Or, I mean, the other argument that these people make is, yeah, but when you criticize them for this, you're the reason that they lost the election. You're the reason they lost. And therefore, you know, and it's, I know I keep making the same parallel, but it's, again, the same thing as people saying, oh, you know, the the the the the the their.. their their their their, th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi making the same parallel, but it's again the same thing as people saying, oh, you know, anyone who ever criticized Hillary Clinton, it's your fault that we have Donald
Starting point is 00:57:52 Trump. It's not the Democrats' fault for failing to provide a candidate that is able to inspire anybody. It's not our fault for failing to provide any kind of like clear-cut policies that address the material needs of the population that you're actually speaking to. Instead it's your fault for being critical of us. Whereas, yeah, just the entire thing with the fucking Labor Party now is this argument which makes me want to tear my fucking hair out which is the, oh well they have to be in power in order, me want to tear my fucking hair out, which is the,
Starting point is 00:58:25 oh well, they have to be in power in order, you have to have power in order to do these things that you want, except the problem is that they won't commit to doing any of the things that people want because they think that's what's stopping them from getting power. And imagine the alternative. So then you get elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected elected to to to to to to to to the the to the the to the to the to the the the to the to get to get the the to get to to to get to to get to get to to to to to to to to to to to to the to to power. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. their. their. their their their their their their their their. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the things that you specifically said you weren't going to do and that you didn't promise to anyone? Like it's the sort of thing where even if that worked as a strategy to get you elected, it would still be fucking suicide, much like Tony Abbott. When Tony Abbott got elected, he ran his whole campaign saying, here is this massive laundry list of things I'm not going to touch and the things I'm not going to do and things I'm not going to
Starting point is 00:59:08 cut and all this sort of shit and then he immediately said about doing it and the outrage from the community was so wide that he got fucking destroyed it wasn't enough to get labor in their. Imagine if labor did the same thing in opposition though, right? Like imagine if that, instead of just rolling over and doing whatever it is that they do now, like, these tax cuts are gigantic, right? They're, you know, we're talking about, you know, $100 billion plus, right? They are absolutely tremendous and they should make people very, very mad, but people don't know what to be mad about. And imagine they went out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out th th th th th they they they they they they they they they they they thi they thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, tho, thi, thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to, to, toi. toda. toda. toda. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th are absolutely tremendous and they should make people very, very mad, but people don't know what to be mad about.
Starting point is 00:59:46 And imagine they went out on morning TV shows, right? And they went on insiders and, you know, wherever else they could, they could get on and say, the coalition is taking the funding base away for the services that are vital to you as an Australian. They're taking the funding base away for the world-class hospital system that we have. The your mothers and your grandmothers pension for the excellent public schools that we all enjoy, for unemployed workers, for students who are now having to pay more tax, not less tax, coming out of uni because they have to pay their hex debt back, which will reduce the impetus to go to uni in the first place,
Starting point is 01:00:44 which will reduce our position in the world for you know being a leader in research and in production, right? Imagine they went out there and actually got mad about these things and went on TV and actually fought about this stuff instead of just being this incredibly passive thing and I can't believe that that's not the lesson they took away from Bill Shorten's leadership right that like what we should do is become more meek in the face of all this horse shit yeah Bill Shorten the most fucking milk toast forgettable bland gray pile of porridge in the suit.
Starting point is 01:01:26 The skim milk of leaders. Yeah, we took a look at that and said, man, we gotta tone it down. That guy is too much of a fuck machine. He's making it. That's it. The women are distracted by this guy. Yeah, it's just yeah. Why is there no argument being made out there of just they are fucking shredding the revenue base of this country. They are shredding our ability to provide these services to you. And I just don't understand and the idea that people aren't supposed to be critical
Starting point is 01:01:59 of them is fucking absurd. And even even people like fucking Van Batham who worked for them at the last election. Even she is out there writing articles, like in The Guardian, saying, Labour's support for tax cuts is an unfathomable betrayal of principle. You know, she's saying, she's just a little chunk here, not fighting the tax cuts on a job's message was a staggering squib. What is Labour's fear here that the Liberals will smear it as high taxing, that News Corp will join in? These things that, as we've said, are constantly happening all the time anyway,
Starting point is 01:02:41 no matter what they do? Even when they vote in favor of the tax cuts, they still the thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the the the the the the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, tho-n, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, not the, the, th. the, th. th. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, theananan, theanananananananananananananan, thean, theananananan, theanananann' theananan, not the, no matter what they do. Even when they vote in favor of the tax cuts, they still get called, oh the party of high taxes and the fucking what's the thing they're always calling it, the politics of envy? Is that the one? Mm-hmm. Oh they love those, the politics of envy. She goes on to say it. It's amazing that labor politicians have not learned the the thi.. the the the the the the the the the thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi they they're thi thi thi they're all they're all they're all they're they're they're all all they're they're they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they are they are they are thi thi thi thi ty ty ty ty ty. ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty. ty. they still still still still still they they they they're all all all all all t You want more and you start because you envy millionaires. That's it. She goes on to say, it's amazing that Labour politicians have not learned, their parliamentary votes are immaterial, their enemies mount the same attacks, they'll even make them up, as they have every election since Federation.
Starting point is 01:03:16 Appeasing Liberal Party policy never negates their attack. It merely allows the liberals to legislate their matters without criticism. The popular support Labour's labor's new the new the new the new the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their l laborals laborals th laborals laborals th laboral the labor is the laboral labor is th. th. thoen. thi le lease le, labor is to legislate their matters without criticism. The popular support Labour's new leader, Anthony Albania, enjoyed long before he even gained the leadership was based on a reputation for fighting Tories. Those who yearned for a dog in the political brawl who would show more teeth than the conciliatory consensus politician Bill Shorten have just watched their political animal enter its first actual fight and rollover. What is the appeal of capitulation to any part of the electorate? Zealots at least have the confidence of their convictions. False converts on the other hand come across as Craven. They come across as weak. If you've got fucking Van Bannum at this
Starting point is 01:03:55 point who will go to any lengths to make something like this about the Greens instead of labor. If you've got even her saying, what the fuck are you doing? You know something's gone extremely off the rails. It's bad time, folks. Absolute dog shit areas. Right in, to labor, write to your local representative. Right to, right to fucking, any of them. Demand to go on sunrise and get to yell about it for 10 minutes. Tweet it, Cochie and say, let me on there so I can fucking yell at Anthony Albanese. Just dismal stuff, an incredibly poor showing from Anthony Albanyzani's straight out of the gate
Starting point is 01:04:42 and really this doesn't give me and I would think anybody else any confidence that he's gonna go, whoa! Oh, that was weird. I was having a light coma there for the first month or two, but I'm back in it now. I comically fell down a set of stairs. My head is swaved in bandages. I'm unsure of my own name. I'm just stumbling foolishly about voting yes and amending bill titles to ridiculous names. But I'm good now. I saw the doctor. He recommended that I fall down the same set of stairs a second time. Landing on my head in the same way. And that fixed me. So I'm back to back to fighting Tories. My goodness, my goodness. Well, I mean Just ridiculous, you know, it's I think I'm not sure if you were saying before at some point there
Starting point is 01:05:32 That's yeah, you have this whole thing now of Ah, what we'll do is stop saying that we need to take any form of like market-based action on climate change Stop insisting that we raise taxes on the richest people in this country to pay for some some to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to soe soe to to soe to to to to to to to to to to to soiiii soi to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to this ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. thii thi thi thi thi the the thi thi the thi thi the theii theiii the the theiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thiiiiiiiiii, stop insisting that we raise taxes on the richest people in this country to pay for some sort of action. And of course, start making the very compelling argument that punishing refugees in the horrible way that we do was actually our idea and you stole it. So, great looks, great looks everybody, not exactly inspirational stuff. I guess, you know, probably at this point the best that people can do is, you know, actually try and communicate with those local
Starting point is 01:06:18 representatives and say, you are fucking this up very hard and I'm going to have to keep voting for the Greens until you are actually willing to differentiate yourself from the liberal national coalition in any significant way. Because you might think you're doing it right now and it's really not working. Ben what is this week's crime pass? This week, your crime pass is actually fighting Tories. If you see someone and they look like a conservative, just beat them up. Hmm. Mild assault.
Starting point is 01:06:57 Oh, like, don't kill him. Yeah, absolutely, but, you know, rough him up a little. Just put a fear of God into them. Good wedgie for a Tory. Now that's what I call wedging someone. Like the... Oh, now there he is. Oh, good, disgrace.
Starting point is 01:07:15 A political wedge. We're going to call it. God damn. Just really frustrating stuff. Yeah, I'm sure that a lot of people were looking at it and thinking, hey, cool, maybe we'll get someone in who's actually kind of left wing, but no. I also think in the context of the Labour Party that Anthony Albanese is also not particularly a union guy. Which means that he's going to be all about kissing that sweet
Starting point is 01:07:46 business asshole. In fact, we had a few extra pieces here. We are all out of time. But we did have a few extra pieces here outlining Anthony Albanyzi doing some nice dinners from the Australian's margin call column. Anthony Albanese meets and greets the rich at NPC fundraiser. Blue chip corporates in Australia's richest are clearly tanking Anthony Albanese's leadership at the Labour Party seriously. On Wednesday night, Albo, fuck I'll be happy when we get like just a political leader with a normal name. She says, no, my name's just, just James. It's just so it's going to be a man, is it?
Starting point is 01:08:37 It's probably an interesting take, Andrew. Hmm. Why don't you tell us, um, the inspiring female political figure that you think is going to be the Prime Minister, Lucia? That's just so many slay queens to choose from. I wouldn't know who to choose. Great save. That is spot on.
Starting point is 01:09:02 I just want this to absolutely not be the next election campaign between Albo and Scomo. I will fucking shoot myself in the face, honestly. Goddam. On Wednesday night, Albo and his chief of staff, Tim Gartrell hosted a private dinner sponsored by Andy Penn's Telstra at the National Press Club in Australia. Margin Hall can reveal that around 20 paying corporates were along to discuss the new iteration of the federal ALP. It was a blue chip roll-up, a good sign for Albo's, as he attempts to improve the party's
Starting point is 01:09:34 relationship with the business community. Among those who forked up between $3,500 and $5,000 to attend were government relations operations from Government relations operatives from tech behemoth Google the retail superannuation fund lobby the financial services council a delicate from Stephen Conroy's online gaming lobby responsible wagering Australia fuck you Stephen Conroy fucking piece of shit. Macquarie Banks government government. McQuarrie bank's government relations agent Neveline Prasad and her Telstra counterpart, Cecilia Bergman, a Rod Gillard era labor advisor who was poached from Treasury. God damn, honestly.
Starting point is 01:10:14 We mustn't overlook the richest attendee, Harold Mitchell, whose fortune was recently valued on the stench-holt list at $350,000. It's interesting to see the Crownch halt list at 350 million dollars. It's interesting to see the Crown Resorts Director flying his bombardier global express to Cambrose so early in the political cycle. The reviews from last night's attendees who spoke to margin call were favorable. We'd like to see an effective opposition, one told us. They had a good positive approach, said another another which means they took our money and said yes we will do the things that you want us to do. Very
Starting point is 01:10:52 encouraging stuff there. That's what I call fighting Tories. There was a that other article I chucked in there as well about their new plan to so help to business where it's just got all these quotes from like the Business Council of Australia people being like yes I they're actually being more the the their their their their their their their their their th th they they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're th. they're they're they're th. they're they're they're they're they're thi they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they're they're they're they're they're they're they're th. they're th. th. thi thi thi tole tole tole. ty tole. ty tole. tole. ty tole. ty tole. they're they're they're they're they're they to so-hop to business where it's just got all these quotes from like the Business Council of Australia people being like, hmm yes I think they're actually being more reasonable now where every single quote reads them being like you know what I love being sucked off and they're sucking me off those lips are wrapped firmly around this business dick God damn it's so fucking sucks. Australian politics
Starting point is 01:11:27 folks it eats a bag of shit and if you've ever eaten a bag of shit you know it's not great. And if you haven't you can probably guess. Just smell the shit and then picture what? Good Lord. What do you want to add on? Horrible. Have you got a good note for us to end on? Nope, bye. Anybody else, anybody else got a positive note? Yeah, that's a good positive sound, Lucy. Got nothing.
Starting point is 01:11:57 It's beautiful. Theo, you extremely happy? Extremely happy about these developments? No, I saw some Rosella's in the garden the other day. That's pretty nice. That's nice. That's nice. Beautiful birds.
Starting point is 01:12:10 Are they crimson rosellas? No, they're like blue and yellow. Oh. I like a crimson one. There it is folks. As always, you can get an extra bonus episode every week if you're into that kind of thia thia. thia. thia. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th thi. thi. thi. to to to to to to to to to to to to thi. to to thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th if you're into that kind of thing. Over on Patreon.com. For slash Wundervista. Five dollars a month. Five US dollars because we're in the global economy. Five at a minimum.
Starting point is 01:12:33 For much more you can purchase our bath water. Purchase some gamer girl bath water. Erotically eat an egg for you on camera. I'll do it. For basically any amount of money. Yep. Merchandise available. Bundavista.com slash merchandise. It's tea shirts, not bathwater. Just to clarify. We can put bathwater on there if people are into it. Here's the thing though, you don't know which cast members bath water you're getting. I mean, statistically, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I, by far take I to any any to any to any to to any to any to to any any to to any any to to any any to to any to any any any any any any any any any any any any. any any. any. any. any. any. any. For any. any. any. For any. For any. For any. any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. For any. any. any. any. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the thing though, you don't know which cast members bath what are you getting. I mean statistically, I've got to go out on a limb and say I'd by far take the most baths. That's true.
Starting point is 01:13:12 That is true. All right, folks. Thanks for joining us. Sorry for getting so pissed off about the shitty state of our bullshit. Don't be sorry. I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry. It's the one thing I'm not sorry about everything else. Thanks everybody. See you next week. Hi.
Starting point is 01:13:33 Hey. You've got such a sad goodbye. Bye. you know

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