Tenderizer
@Tenderizer@aussie.zone
- Comment on Albanese's plan to 'unleash the private sector' 3 days ago:
You need to win election to fight capitalism. Could you even imagine Australia voting for Adam Bandt to be PM? Incrementalism is not evil, and sure beats the alternative of going scorched earth and handing us another decade of the LNP. This isn’t America, we can’t beat the LNP on turnout.
- Comment on Albanese's plan to 'unleash the private sector' 3 days ago:
You want Albanese to single-handedly abolish global capitalism, against the will of the Australian electorate? I think, as far as capitalism goes, small business is on the less unethical side.
Albanese is an adult, he needs to deliver the best outcomes he can from within the system we’re given, not refuse to engage in the hopes that it would somehow fix things.
- Comment on Republic debate sparks push for local power reform 4 days ago:
Education is one factor. A diversity of power structures is another. America wouldn’t be in the state it was if the monarchy needed to approve supreme court appointments.
The monarchy didn’t stop the UK from being taken out of the EU, that was a referendum and they’d bring out the guillotines of the monarchs tried to override that. The monarchy doesn’t need to actually intervene to be effective at maintaining stability, the threat of intervention is enough to keep the far-right from trying to overthrow or corrupt elections.
I think the UK system of the hereditary lords in the house of lords is better than the monarchy. A inherited position sitting at the back of democracy that can delay legislation should it be the result of blatant self-interest or populism. The house of lords is closer to a group of average upper class people with clear limits on their role.
- Comment on Republic debate sparks push for local power reform 4 days ago:
I’ll take every opportunity I can to say this, but we all need to take note of what happened when America overthrew the monarchy. A single system of power leaves us vulnerable to populism, and enables the politicization of the courts.
- Comment on Electric vehicle myths: almost half of Australians wrongly believe EVs are more likely to catch fire, survey shows 2 weeks ago:
And the chemicals are far more (or less) toxic.
- Comment on Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of racism in scathing resignation letter 2 weeks ago:
Sorry for the late reply, I wanted to think through my response and then I got busy.
The Greens could publicly behave with humility. As I said, the claim that “they don’t show humility because it would hurt them politically” doesn’t hold up if the Greens are being “slandered” in the press for lacking humility.
And as for the HAAF, a few points:
- The Australia Institute is broadly untrustworthy. They’re biased towards minor parties, or rather just anyone that’ll give them attention. They’re also closely tied to the now defunct Australian Democrats and those people would prefer if Labor was closer to the Liberals not just in practice but in ideology. Worst of all though, they’re a think-tank. Think-tanks are, quite honestly, full of idiots. Policy-area experts, like those in the construction industry or those that work in social services, they’re much more reliable than a bunch of upper-class consultants.
- The HAAF was supported across the board by people who are directly engaged with vulnerable people, and they said it was especially critical that it be passed immediately. The delay was opposed by any organization that actually dealt with vulnerable people, and the resulting delay of 1-year resulted in less housing being built. Hell, considering the state of the Australian building industry I wonder if more housing would be built even if the Greens got all their demands after this delay.
- The idea that it’d do nothing, that is absurd.
And on the double standard. The fact is the Greens would not be able to win elections without Labor. Labor could easily win elections without the Greens. You could argue that’s because the system is rigged and that the system should be changed, but we’re one of the best-performing democracies in the world. This isn’t America where voting is optional, elections in Australia are fought in the center and Labor are much more palatable to the average Australian than some inner-city tree huggers who have never worked a day in their life. Maybe an Adam Bandt dictatorship would make the country better, who knows, but I sure as hell wouldn’t bet on it.
- Comment on Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of racism in scathing resignation letter 3 weeks ago:
I think, given the (presumed) widespread perception that the Greens are arrogant, they ought to publicly air that reflection. If I’m speaking purely strategically, that would be more likely to win votes from me than what they ended up doing. I think the reason they don’t is because they’re incapable of such reflection. The only policy changes I recall them making are to support increased defense spending following Trump’s win, and to oppose IRV and support PR after Bandt lost his seat (I BTW, support going the opposite direction with Condorcet).
As for Chandler-Mather, I think the other MP’s complaining is more to do with them not seeing him as an adult than the severity of his treatment. Given how he went on the radio to complain about the treatment, I’d say they were right to.
- Comment on Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of racism in scathing resignation letter 4 weeks ago:
I can’t speak much to your anecdote, as you said. I can easily imagine the Greens apologising for using the wrong pronoun or mocking disability. I’m not sure where the exact line would be (in my almost entirely imagined idea of the Greens). The idea that their decisions are any less than perfect seems to be a sore spot for them, the only public self-reflection they’ve done regarding the last term is that “Labor ran an effective campaign on us blocking the HAAF for a year” IIRC.
I think they’re a lot more sensitive regarding the Greens political party than they are individually. They are also sensitive individually when they’re speaking on behalf of the Greens publicly (see my earlier example with Bandt, and Max Chandler-Mather’s comments about other politicians being mean). You could instead say they’re sensitive to humiliation, but that wouldn’t fit my (entirely imagined) narrative of the Greens being racist so I’ll put that theory aside.
Also maybe changing your vote because you thought an individual action by someone was stupid is a childish way of thinking about politics?
I didn’t change my vote because of that. I became open to reconsidering my views after that. Although I’m not even sure if that was the exact snowball that started this.
- Comment on Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of racism in scathing resignation letter 4 weeks ago:
I think people on the hard left or hard racist are more likely to specifically feel angry when criticized because the specific association of “makes me uncomfortable = evil” is much more likely. In the left’s case, they’re in the child prodigy “I’m too smart to be emotional” camp. In the hard right’s case it’s because the possibility that their gut instinct should maybe be interrogated is unfathomable to them.
In other words I think both One Nation and the Greens are made up of people with low EQ.
- Comment on Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of racism in scathing resignation letter 4 weeks ago:
I’d say the Greens are the most likely to be racist. They’re the kinds of people who could never even conceive of the possibility that they are not completely virtuous ("they’ as in themselves, not POC. I’m not claiming some reverse racism BS).
I cannot imagine them being called racist and not feeling angry at the accusation. I cannot imagine them admitting to fault. And I cannot imagine them growing as a result.
It took a while, but the trigger for me switching my vote from the Greens to Labor was when Bandt asked Albanese something in question time and was absolutely seething in anger when the (Labor) speaker said his question was agains the rules. The Greens (or at least Bandt) are people who consider anything that makes them uncomfortable to be absolute evil.
- Comment on ‘We have a mandate to act’: PM throws open doors to bolder agenda 4 weeks ago:
Neither will I, but honestly if I remember I don’t think the biosecurity rules around imported beef here are that important (that isn’t to say biosecurity itself isn’t important). Neither are exports to America though. TBH these trade talks don’t seem to matter at all.
- Comment on Scott Morrison receives Australia's highest honour for leadership during [COVID] crisis 4 weeks ago:
He probably arranged for this himself. Wouldn’t put it past him.
- Comment on Four-day winter storm to bring drought relief and snow 4 weeks ago:
I should really buy some long pants.
- Comment on We are seeing some vote manipulation 5 weeks ago:
Please don’t scare me with a title like that so soon after an election.
- Comment on 'Stupid' or misled? Voters demand AEC explain booth's 45% informal vote 5 weeks ago:
Apparently some people did, confronted the AEC staff about it, and were told to “just number 1-6”.
- Comment on Nationals leaving Coalition as David Littleproud announces split with Liberal party after election defeat 1 month ago:
I wouldn’t really know. I just know there’s some kind of issue with that.
And regardless it’s true that it’d be a waste of resources to duplicate a “margin-for-error” on every single house to ensure the fridge keeps running all year round.
- Comment on Nationals leaving Coalition as David Littleproud announces split with Liberal party after election defeat 1 month ago:
Rooftop solar causes some issues for the grid and especially with every person getting their own battery it’s not very efficient.
On rural properties it would make sense to mandate them, but it would also be political suicide.
- Comment on Nationals leaving Coalition as David Littleproud announces split with Liberal party after election defeat 1 month ago:
Bakers Delight donated to them.
Probably more companies to, but Bakers Delight has been the most inconvenient. I haven’t been able to find good bread anywhere else (or indeed, even at Bakers Delight these days).
- Comment on Nationals leaving Coalition as David Littleproud announces split with Liberal party after election defeat 1 month ago:
Regional seats often held for or swung to the LNP. The election results aren’t as much of a glowing endorsement for renewables as you suggest. Still, it is rich for that statement to be coming from the Nationals, considering that their long history of lies about renewables are partly to blame for the loss of their social license.
- Comment on Victoria’s planning reforms could help solve the housing crisis. But they are under threat 1 month ago:
New developments are always gonna be luxury. That’s how it works. The rich live in the new buildings, and the poor in the older and more run-down buildings. Building new luxury housing means that less luxury housing will be freed up.
What I really hate are house flippers. They take an old house, make it fancy, and sell it at a markup where otherwise it would be affordable housing. We need a higher quantity of housing first and foremost, quality comes second.
- Comment on MP berates informal voters after dud ballot spike in NSW seat 2 months ago:
More people should spoil their ballot instead of doing the donkey vote. If they want to express disinterest, the former is better than the latter.
- Comment on Greens' Adam Bandt in danger as seat of Melbourne remains on knife's edge 2 months ago:
It’s also important that the legislation survives a Liberal government, and can’t be used as a campaign point by the Liberal government to win election (see 2013).
- Comment on Greens' Adam Bandt in danger as seat of Melbourne remains on knife's edge 2 months ago:
Or Amelia Hamer, the fake renter in Kooyong. Or the cashed-up Andrew Lethlean in Bendigo.
Even if all the other in-doubt seats go to the LNP, I hope these three sats don’t.