General Australian Politics Thread

Hi.

American here.

I've heard of Pauline Hanson, and I'm wondering how she's viewed by the country.

Through a fake burqa, mostly.

I guess that in US terms she's kind of a crazier Steve King who somehow managed to get into the Senate and start her own party - she's mostly seen as a fringe nutter and nobody really respects her, but just by being around she normalises a lot of radical, xenophobic views and allows the relatively more respectable members of the federal government to utter their xenophobic views without being branded as outliers.

Thanks.

For a guy leading a lame-duck government on borrowed time with no democratic mandate, Morrison sure does seem intent on being as much of a dick as possible in the time he does have.

I think the Liberal party has lost it's collective mind. Peter Dutton was seriously suggesting that Scott Morrison could carry the next election and comparing him to John Howard (who it should be pointed out ended his political career in ignominy, losing not only the election for his party, but his seat as well).

Crazy has come to Canberra and they're determined to stay.

Teenager filmed biting chunks out of possum, as RSPCA condemns spate of attacks

Do people in Queensland just hate possums or something?

Some people do find them annoying because in older houses with corrugated tin rooves they can be loud when climbing around on them. But this seems more like bored, cruel teens attacking a target of opportunity.

I love Ringtail Possums. My friend has a family of them living in a tree outside his house, and there's one that I occasionally spook on my street when I'm walking home during the night times.

I can't imagine the sort of cruel bastard who would go around taking bites out of these creatures. Like look at this shit◊ - what kind of asshole sees this face and decides to tear a chunk of flesh off of them with their teeth?

Of course an animal's cuteness shouldn't define some arbitrary level of cruelty that's acceptable to inflict upon it, this sort of abuse is horrible regardless of whatever animal it is and whether it's adorable or Nightmare Fuel. It's just not on. But I have to wonder how some shitty person can do something like this. It's incredibly sad.

Edited by MrMallard on Mar 5th 2019 at 11:59:05 PM

I've seen teenagers kicking wild blue-tongued skinks into the dirt, so y'know, not exactly abnormal behaviour.

Milo just got banned from entering Australia.

And Pauline Hanson is upset by that.

I find myself view his banning and Hanson's subsequent unhappiness with a great sense of contented equanimity.

Even my limited knowledge of Australian politics tells me that if you've pissed off Hansen, you have made the right call.

Fraser Anning punches teen after being egged while speaking to media in Melbourne

I don't know why he's so mad. The kid was doing what he's always wanted to do: separating the whites.

Not too thrilled to find that the whole world knows who Fraser Anning is now, honestly. And repeating the "19 votes" meme isn't too helpful - he got his seat because 370,000 Queenslanders voted for the racist, xenophobic One Nation, and their guy got caught up in a dual citizenship scandal that collapsed half the government.

He later denounced One Nation for not being racist enough, because of course.

Edited by eagleoftheninth on Mar 16th 2019 at 6:18:31 AM

x3 I'll assume Hansen is just one of the alt-right nutter that seem to pop up like weed nowadays and share in the joy.

All I can think of is... Well, that's one lad who won't have to buy a single drink for his eighteenth. <nods in approval>

Frankly, making the alt-Reich look like the savage assholes they are is perfectly acceptable to me.

If I ever go to the Land Down Under, I'm going to buy that fellow who threw the eggs the biggest crate of whiskey he's ever seen in his life, I promise you.

Hanson (with an "o") actually has a more complicated history than that, mostly because this is her second time in the political spotlight. She originally rose to prominence in the mid 90s and her political bugbear that time was "Asians" (in this case meaning South-East Asians, mostly Malaysians, Filipinos and Indonesians). It got her booted from the Liberal Party (which in Australia is averages out somewhere around centre-right) but it happened too late to take her name off the ballot so she actually won the seat (US tropers, think Congressional District) and wound up forming her own political party, the original One Nation party. She didn't stand for reelection at the Federal level (the seat traditionally being a safe Labor seat... which it still remains with her election being the odd one out), but started again at the state level. But her party imploded and she herself actually spent time in jail for electoral fraud. And she went away for a while. She tried to get a Senate seat in NSW a few years ago but failed miserably and even said she was moving to England for a time but decided against it because it was "too full of immigrants".

It's ok. Take a second. Let the hypocrisy of that sink in for a while.

Anyhow due to both major parties in having major leadership issues over the last ten years and forcing a double dissolution election that makes it easier for minor parties to get Senate seats she actually managed a comeback in 2016. Though given several of her candidates, including a couple of prospective Senators, were found ineligible, including one who had a pending criminal case against him, in addition to defections and being hit in the citizenship crisis it looks like it's going to be a repeat of the last time, just playing out a bit slower.

As for Katter's Australia Party... he's very much cut from the same cloth as Hanson but appealing more to rural prejudices, while Hanson's base is distinctly more urban and suburban.

And while I'll apologise for going a bit wall of text there, you did hit a nerve. For most Tropers its something happening on the other side of the world and even for most Australian tropers its something happening elsewhere but for me it's local. At the time of her election I was living in Hanson's electorate (and would still be if the electoral boundaries hadn't been redrawn), I drive past her old fish and chip shop on a semi-regular basis (and I take great delight that it now specialises in Vietnamese-style take-away food). My mother and sister once encountered her shopping at the supermarket that we still shop at. And given my politics lie more or less in the opposite direction of hers, its something of a sore spot. (And for the record, the election where she was my local representative was before I was elegible to vote).

I’m surprised that someone jailed for election fraud is allowed to hold office, that seems like the kind of thing that should get you bared for life.

Just double checked and the conviction was actually overturned on appeal. It's been a while (16 years) so I didn't remember that particular wrinkle.

In France, you can be disqualified from holding office for a maximum of 10 years. And I bet that anyone who runs for office after that will have their opponents dig it up.

Canberra politician uses Christchurch shootings to argue against child sex abuse reform

...

How does that make any sense? At all?

She thinks that such a reporting requirement demonizes the clergy and by extension religion in general. Very far fetched "logic" that. Sure, actions can have surprising consequences but I am not buying this without proof.