How bloody well informed are we? It doesn’t look good!

This is the dead land*
  this is cactus land
here the stone images
  are raised, here they receive
the supplication of a dead man’s hand
  under the twinkle of a fading star.

One thing’s for sure, I have no great desire for the Donald or his latest hallowed MAGA team. Do not let JD Vance (junior, lesser known) into the country, he shoots from the mouth without connecting to anything that remotely resembles a brain just like Donald apparently, and when in Europe he insults everyone including the Romans. Clearly JD hasn’t got the foggiest fudgestone clue what he is talking about as he tells European leaders and peoples how to suck eggs out of the Betel-juice of democracy. Elon, he’s just a baby, but like a star spangled billionaire Republican in a MAGA (not the MAGA you know) swasticar with Starship wings under its pretty looking bonnet – he appears to have already flown to Mars in search of intelligent life, having found precious little in the White House, a few stripes more in Congress, and what was left of a living, breathing, hollow government and public service sacked, suspended, on leave, sick leave or contemplating leaving the country, silenced with a bang and a whimper by the DOGE’s palace, and the judiciary next. So T.S. Eliot was right on all three counts, who’d have thought, but then he was a poet!

Yesterday we were shot down by YouGov, led by the ABC (not the US one, although sometimes hard to tell these days) and it was very un-Australian. Today and tomorrow, we have some time to recover, if we know how. The regular fortnightly Australian owned Essential Poll courtesy of Guardian Australia is out, telling us Labor and the Coalition were neck and neck, 48-48 2PP+ vote.

Guardian Essential poll: Labor’s policies appear unknown to voters as major parties neck and neck, Josh Butler, 18 February 2025.

Quick Background

Essential Media Communications was founded in 1997 by Tony Douglas, with the Australian Education Union as its first client, and yes that was 3 years before YouGov in the UK. In 2004, it launched the inaugural Essential Report, resulting from regular public polling on social issues in Australia. It was originally published in partnership with Crikey, but subsequently established a relationship with Guardian Australia, and is published for free. The company is co-owned by Executive Director Peter Lewis and Managing Director Peter Stahel. Peter Lewis is also a regular columnist for Guardian Australia.

The Essential Report (Essential Report) is a regular fortnightly poll of topical political and social issues in Australia published by Guardian Australia. Further detail, including the wording of each question and breakdowns of demographic groups, are published online. People can sign up to receive summaries by email for free. Essential Media also publishes its methodology and compliance with Australian Polling Council Quality Mark standards. All of its polling is done online.

So today the question facing us appears to be the Australian electorate are predominantly ‘unaware’ or ‘unclear’ of the Australian Government’s achievements over the past three years. Australians and mainstream media (MSM) also seem to be flooded by the Coalition in Opposition and their tireless efforts to fudge the airwaves with their usual diatribe, scaremongering and lies. Dutton aided by bid daddy corporate interests, miners, gambling, Murdoch’s News Corp, Sky News and others are bankrolling the money and airwaves, stealing the oxygen, the news and the narrative, hammering the ears of the Australian electorate. It also doesn’t help when foreign polls like YouGov aided by the ABC make big announcements that scare the shit out of most of us, and given the MAGA debacle tearing the USA apart, not to mention rogue and highly aggressive States with political designs and interests in Europe, Middle East, and other nation’s democratic elections and diaspora like Australia, I’m particularly thinking of Israel and Russia – What a mess how low can you go?

So we need to be clear and well-informed before we vote, what we are voting for and what’s at stake here. We are all ultimately responsible for the government we elect and we can’t afford to be shallow, flippant, indifferent, apathetic, ill-informed, ill-advised, arrogant, complacent, selfish, easily led, unsure or bemused, there’s no more time for this. I don’t know of many in Australia who have the stomach for Trump, Putin and Netanyahu, but their stripes are clearly in alignment and they are not the colour or sound of democracy, humanity or reason, and neither are they good for country or our world.

First up let’s not forget the past

Here we go round the prickly pear*
  prickly pear prickly pear
here we go round the prickly pear
  at five o’clock in the morning.

Achievements of the Coalition Government: A comprehensive list of (almost) everything the Australian Coalition government did, Matthew Davis, 27 April 2022 (Independent analysis and very comprehensive, perhaps a little OCD but thank the gods for Mat’s amazing persistence and foresight) – First port of call, you might want to re-familiarise yourself (and then again you might not want or need to) with the shitfest that materialised on our plate in the previous eight years under the Coalition governments of Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison. I’m not going to even attempt an executive summary or analysis because the list is so perverse and extensive, 1,016 on last count. But everyone should at least do a hop, skip and jump down the page and let that observational or critical eye capture 20-40 at random as you go, it doesn’t take long to bring back the trauma so don’t stay too long (advice from a retired mental health professional). Next step I usually take is to clear my head of everything, the scowling faces of the LNP, and there are many with different degrees of disturbing negative emotion and destructive traits (does that qualify for an euphemism?) – but clear my head I must, against the above list, every time the lies and claims come tumbling out their mouths on who to trust, managing the economy, cost of living, the housing crisis, relations with our biggest trading partner, health care, management of COVID, causes of inflation (make no mistake it was corporate greed and pricing across the board from monopolies and billionaires), taxation, wages and that devious question Dutton keeps asking who are you better off with or indeed are you better off now than you were three years ago?

To get another taste of Dutton, not that anyone sane who wishes to preserve their palate would want to – Spud stands on his record, Grumpy Geezer, 21 January, The AIM Network is a blistering reminder in the usual masterful composite of satire and fact, replete with ‘a far from comprehensive list of the political career highlights of the tinpotato’ by Ronni Salt. Whether you want news or entertainment, apologetically you get both. Remember with a Party or potential government led by the Coalition, you will get the cruel fantasia, glory and destruction of Dutton here and overseas, junior to the infantile Trump on Republican, and it is no laughing matter. Think how low we and Australia could go domestically, the insecurity and infamy internationally – compare the pair.

Take a step back – The Dutton leader ‘are you better off’ is a trick question the wolf will ask its prey:

1. Few if any political claims are based on empirical evidence, science or fact, it’s subjective opinion, routinely politically motivated (self/party interest) and often manipulation with shark infested corporate interests and think tanks overthinking it, boiling it, stewing and repeatedly serving it up on a frilly frothy paper platter – they lurk and lobby in the shadows like the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), big business mining, gambling, banking, insurance, energy, pharmaceutical and the big tech sectors. No kidding, what is the real reason for the RBA holding back on interests rates for so long (till now), first cut in 4 years. They are autonomous, nothing to do with our Labor government, Dutton’s spit and lies. Even economic theory is just theory, not science – so don’t go bamboozled by that one.
2. The ills of the current term of office are mostly generated by the immediate preceding term/s, so on a three year election cycle it can be a fearsome task to just keep every Australian’s head above water, and some don’t even try they cherry pick. When you have eight years to make up for, to repair and re-float the nation while negotiating over or with a pack of wolves yapping at your heals, it is a very prickly brier to be thrown into, and be heard. Little wonder ‘many Australians say they are not aware of the Labor government’s key economic achievements and policies’ – Guardian Essential Poll, 18 February 2025.
3. The dominant and loudest howl, scowl or voice is rarely if ever the one you should be paying attention to. The air waves are never neutral and there is no level playing field. Listen to the still quiet voice of reason (inside your head or out there), look behind what is said and not being said. Pay attention to your sources, if it sounds like a wolf it probably is. If it is not in full view and it is telling, selling, pressing, claiming shit then it probably is. Question it, research it or know someone you can trust who does, we need to be up to speed with our Australian independent media and those who bear our shore for profit from overseas.
4. The MSM repeatedly do not ask the right questions, they are often muzzled and silent depending on who owns them and the level of skill and professional autonomy a journalist has from their editors, bosses and owners which may not be much. Even our Public broadcasters are not immune and of late and all too often make insidious and sometimes huge mistakes. But the corporate owned media giants who rely on advertising and market share are another breed like News Corp, Sky News, radio shock-jocks, Seven-Prime, Nine and Ten are the carnivorous beasts of the fields. Your brain, your sanity, your mental health and wellbeing, your voice and your vote are worth so much more than they will ever credit you for. You are the meal in their industry not the consumer and we do live in a world of ravenous consumption.

Second up, what we need not want

If we don’t know what our current government has achieved, what it tried and failed and why, and what it didn’t do and could do better, if we are have difficulty re-collecting or think we know but the list is short and disappointing, we will do far better to examine our case reflectively and with earnest than take counsel from the opposition or indeed the government, both come flapping with their mating feathers. But it might pay for good government to ensure it has presented effectively and well what it has attempted, not attempted and achieved, and this has it would seem not be done, except in dull, monotonous and defensive tones, hence why we are not exactly genuinely inspired.

We don’t want slogans, salesmen, jargon, dribble, lies, excuses, fudgestone warriors, smurks or scowling faces. We don’t want pointing fingers, hammers, chisels, chain saws, scaremongering, screaming, shouting, bashing down the doors especially in our homes. And there are a few of these faces I am so sick and tired of seeing who are forced into our daily lives, our TV news, news feeds and mobile devices as live grabs, press conferences, campaign adverts, the endless rounds of current affairs navel gazing, political analysts and commentators, TV and local radio hosts, guest celebrities, the monotonous echolalia of ministers, shadow ministers and witless backbenchers. It’s as if the world stands still and nothing else matters but this company of players who are revered and paid far too much to joust and dodge their little games in front of the cameras and microphone every day during the mating season. What we want is healthy food and sustenance we can rely on, not the glitzy sleazy fast food store, drive in takeaways, supermarket buy my exclusive inflated air-filled tarty farty wind and glossy packaging, candystick and sloppy artificial flavoured fat and chemical additives that may dull my body and dim my brain.

Here’s a reminder of what Labor have achieved this term:

What Labor achieved in the past three years (up to end of 2024), Tom Mcllroy, Canberra Bureau Chief, Australian Financial Review, 29 November 2024 – Key summary of the Bills that were passed and not passed not including final Parliamentary sitting in February 2025. AFR were founded by Fairfax, now owned by Nine Entertainment, a mass media holding company also including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Nine TV channel.

Useful if you get an entry level or one-off peek (stay there and finish it because you’ll be challenged if you return soon to get a second glimpse), and you may not be able to view it if you are not a subscriber to the AFR, hence why our public broadcasters, ABC and SBS are so important in our social-living landscape, a life-line to the information we need.

But most of us aren’t subscribers because if we subscribed to everything the private, corporate and notably poorly regulated sector might reasonably provide to be well informed across the board, we would have no money left every fortnight for living eg groceries, rent or mortgage. Much of it is shark infested and absolutely boring as bat shit, and politics and finance are not the only beasts in the world, as much as some might think. You can double up that financial burden for the entertainment industry and ditch the living three times over if you are sucked into the gambling sector. Even in good times we need to be judicious or frugal on subscription based markets, which have exploded exponentially since digitalisation, internet and the expansion of outrageous corporate empires, and here we are in a serious cost of living and housing crisis, what do they care? Behind this curtain lies the circle of competition, profit and greed that drives the new whizzbang model of inflation they denied throughout the years and thereafter COVID (supply and demand the old hat they chose to wear), but Dutton and the LNP still trying to blame it all on wages, the workforce, Albanese and Labor, the witless buffoon.

Assessing Albanese: an annotated list by John Quiggin (Independent analysis) – Upfront and honest with a little shameless critique, easy read. A little sharp in places but let’s not make apologies, since Labor can do much better. And then there’s the Australian Greens Labor love to demonise, we sometimes call this reaction formation or just plain professional jealousy… hmm, professional that’s not right.

“So far in office we have delivered” Graham Douglas Perrett has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, representing the Queensland seat of Moreton for the Australian Labor Party. He worked as a schoolteacher, solicitor, and political staffer before entering parliament – A quick flick perhaps and reluctant as I was here, to quote what Labor themselves say, without the same space for the Coalition, but Labor are in government and apart from Matthew Davis’ comprehensive list posted, there’s nothing particularly productive, significant or coherent the Coalition have done since John Howard’s gun law reforms in 1996. And that was only after and in response to the Port Arthur massacre on 28 April 1996 and public pressure. So the Coalition could argue it has done marginally better than US Republicans, great form yay. Of course I may be suffering from the same ill-ease of recall, memory and time, the rest of the population appear to be suffering over the past three years, if you are forgiving.

A little hint to Labor – If you treated the Australian Greens and cross-bench Independents with a little more credence and respect, you might achieve great things. For it is amidst the progressive, humanitarian, social and earth friendly policies of the Greens, good reason and the genuine representation and diversity of Independents you will hear the growing voice of Australians, especially the younger generations who live in this world after we are gone. Stop fighting them, step down from the pulpit, collaborate and innovate. Bring them into Cabinet or Ministerial porfolios instead of being prude and belligerent.

And I have one principle request of the ABC – Stop shovelling Trump and his dystopian life and vision down our throats every day; and the unchallenged narratives, lies and echolalia of Dutton and his tribe. If Dutton wishes to speak, make it succinct, legitimate, informative and keep him honest and then switch off the camera and micorphone – Oh I know it’s not possible to keep him honest and it requires some political nouse, savvy and courage, but you need to try harder even if you don’t get the result, after all he is not quite as ‘human’ as you and I. Try a little behavioural psychology. Free speech is not any speech, but comes with responsibility and nuance, and Dutton does not understand this. If this all seems a little awkward, then it is time to review some of your political chiefs and leads, and where you recruit or extract them from. As a major national public broadcaster you have been found wanting. But panting heavily like a hound who’s found a bone over YouGov yesterday was not a clever move, indeed it was disingenuous and abrasive and shocked us all and I think you know why!

The readers here on The AIMN are better seasoned than I, but for those of you who are flagging on the substance, reasoning, who to vote for, uncertain, disillusioned or mad, ask yourself how the bloody well informed are we, take the plunge? And if you have any great links, cracks or salient points to add, please share them. Barely two months to go and we mostly rely on the good will and sensibilities of each other for what we get, touched up with a little satire and entertainment.

It’s a depressingly tedious, corrupt and dangerous world out there, so spare a thought for the millions in our world who have to beg for their next meal or right to vote, or worse under fire, floods and brimstone, displaced, maimed, dead or grieving – mostly human spread. And when you have a moment spare a thought for 100 years ago, the despair, apathy, and spiritual emptiness of post-World War I society. Tragically, there was worse to come. Surely we must do better – Vote compassionately and wisely.

*T.S. Eliot (The Hollow Men, 1925)

Between the desire
  and the spasm
Between the potency
  and the existence
Between the essence
  and the descent
falls the shadow

This is the way the world ends
  not with a bang but with a whimper.

… just not yet.

Update 20 February

Next instalment: Tittle-tattle, rittle-rattle: Dutton in Adelaide 21February 2025

Dear reader, we need your support

Independent sites such as The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.

One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.

With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.

Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.

You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969