The LNP: American Style
What a Trump-inspired Coalition could mean for Australia
Australia has always prided itself on being different from America. Yes, we’ve borrowed TV shows, bits of slang, and the occasional fried chicken recipe, but when it comes to politics, Australians usually prefer their leaders to sound a little less like game-show hosts.
But imagine for a moment if the Trump-leaning Coalition decided its best path in opposition was to borrow directly from the president’s playbook – and from the policies of the people he hand-picked to run his government. The result would be unlike anything Australia has ever seen.
Take health. Public protections would be dismantled, drug prices would rise, and untested “cures” would be pushed as serious policy. Picture Sussan Ley standing in Parliament to announce that Medicare must be “scaled back for the sake of individual responsibility,” while suggesting Australians could ward off COVID with a dab of goanna oil on the forehead. The public backlash would be swift – and rightly so. Twitter would erupt with #SaveTheGoannas trending for six days.
Education wouldn’t escape either. Following the model of Trump’s Education Secretary, the Coalition might call for the return of school prayer, slash university funding for being “too woke,” and replace climate science with “alternative facts.” Report cards, no doubt, could come stamped with the grade: “A+ if you believe in me.”
On the environment, Trump’s Cabinet rolled back emissions targets, mocked renewable energy, and subsidised fossil fuels. A Canberra version of that agenda might describe coal as “freedom fuel” while handing out free petrol vouchers to every ute owner.
Immigration would turn even harsher. A Trump-style wall along the northern coastline – complete with crocodiles as border guards – would symbolise the shift. AusICE agents might be dispatched to remove people for offences as vague as “not white enough,” sending them without trial to Manus, Nauru, or worse still, Florida.
Defence policy would descend into theatre. The Army Reserve could be mobilised to “invade” Labor states to tackle imaginary crime. Jaywalkers arrested, graffiti artists tasered, the homeless rounded up and detained – it would be authoritarianism dressed as law and order.
Foreign affairs wouldn’t fare better. A Shadow Foreign Minister might declare: “From now on, all major decisions must be cleared with Washington – specifically, with whoever Donald Trump is listening to on Fox News that night.” Australian sovereignty, reduced to background noise.
Even the Treasury could be sidelined. With 155% tariffs slapped on New Zealand imports, the Coalition might promise a $2.5 trillion windfall, transforming Australia into the world’s wealthiest nation almost overnight. Angus Taylor would shake his head that no one thought of it sooner.
Of course, all of this remains hypothetical. But the point is clear: if any Australian party tried to impose Trump-era policies here, the backlash would be fierce. Australians like to think of ourselves as practical and fair-minded. Importing America’s chaos wouldn’t just be unpopular – it would cut against the very grain of our political culture.
And so, to be sure: let’s never hand the LNP the keys to the country again.
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I’m just reading that the Trump administration are seeking to neuter the United Nations and effectively defeat efforts by the General Assembly to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state and admit it to full UN membership.
With the numbers against them, the Trump administration is looking to achieve this by cancelling or withdrawing the visas of the Palestinian delegation to enter the US and participate in the UN General Assembly vote during the September session.
Closer to home it will be interesting to see how the coalition react to this blatant attack on democracy – they are probably awaiting a cue from SKY.
It will probably cheer the coalition naysayers on climate to hear that Trump, in his continuing battle against renewable energy has announced that he is terminating or withdrawing $679 million in federal funding for 12 projects around the country intended to support the development of offshore wind power.
They walk among us !
I almost dropped my coffee when I read that this morning.
Same here Roswell.
The US is going further and harder down the fascism path than Nazi Germany.
Chomsky states in Year 501 — “The Supreme Court has accorded the US the right to kidnap alleged criminals abroad, to bring them to justice here. Not for us the qualms of Adolf Hitler, who returned a German emigre abducted by Himmler’s gangsters from Switzerland in 1937, after the Swiss government protested, appealing to basic principles of international law.”
This visa cancelling move shows that Hitler had more respect for international law than the US has today.
Although we are far behind America, there can be no doubt in my mind, that we are edging their way. Restrictions are being imposed every day and personal freedoms are being eroded, this is very evident in Victoria which is setting the tone for the rest of our country.
To think, we can have nuclear war machines, but we cannot have nuclear generation!!
What we can say or do is becoming more restricted and we have to seek permission to protest!!!
No, we are not America yet, but it’s on the horizon.
Oh dear, we may not be as blatant as the USA but many of those actions you mention are gradually happening in the quiet Australian way, I do fear we are walking down the same path. The LNP may fall apart but there seem to be others out there keen to see the US way creep into our country.
Not entirely unexpected was the ruling, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, affirming a lower court’s initial finding in May that Mr. Trump did not possess unlimited authority to impose taxes on nearly all imports to the United States. But the appellate judges delayed the enforcement of their order until mid-October, allowing the tariffs to remain in place so that the administration can appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
So, the tariffs are not legal and he doesn’t have the power to impose them. Trump now goes to the Supreme Court who are the final arbiter with ultimate authority on the matter. So, it looks as though he will have to start dismantling his tariff regime unless he can fix the Supreme Court.
Silly me, he has already fixed the Supreme Court who undoubtedly will find in his favour and so the judicial processes of the United States are further degraded and corrupted.
Trump has noted in response to the court ruling : “Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end,” Mr. Trump wrote. “If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country.”
What he means is that it would be ‘a total disaster for him.’
For those who are concerned that we could go down the same path as the US I would disagree. We don’t have a presidential system and that’s important and we do have a sound judicial system but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be eternally vigilant.
I have mentioned on other occasions that the way Scott Morrison gulled the then compliant Governor General and had himself appointed to various ministerial portfolios without the knowledge of his colleagues or the parliament was very troubling.
I was thinking about that, Terry. Namely, what happens to the (alleged) $10 trillion his tariffs have already collected (a claim made by his press secretary)? Do they have to pay it back? Or do they stop lying?
I hope the Supreme Court shows more loyalty to the law than loyalty to Trump. Can you imagine the sh*tstorm if Trump loses?
Wow. It’ll be nuclear.