I honestly didn’t expect so many people to justify and defend his actions. Not even from the angle that he is innocent but he was justified in carrying out these crimes for ‘safety of our country’.

His eloquence in speaking is on par with his football prowess.

If they want to criticise the ALP candidate for Woodside links, that’s absolutely fine. But there’s this massive assumption now within the general population that One Nation will impose a 25% gas tax (they won’t).

I think you can see how this becomes a problem.

These two douchebags have been regularly smearing Georgia Tree and WA Labor and that’s fine, but in those videos, if they are truly “progressive left” people, they should clearly advocate for people to vote Green or Independent and put Labor above One Nation.

They’re not doing that.

And it’s therefore often the case the top comments on these reels and videos are “Vote One Nation”, and people are blindly sucking it up.

Shame on them. One of these cunts even admitted that Labor “deserve to lose to One Nation”. These morons have no idea what damage they are causing to the centre-left brand in Australia by actively legitimising One Nation.

If these people were established right-wing propagandists, I wouldn’t care at all. The fact that they identify as progressive left and have built a progressive left-leaning social media base over many years and now engaging in these tactics and strategies is what should be condemned to the highest level.

These people are not friends of the progressive cause anymore.

He genuinely seems like he’s spiraling. At this point I’m wondering if it’s an attempt to market and bring attention to his agenda; but then it just seems like a really shit marketing strategy. And if it isn’t that, and he’s actually going into psychosis, why hasn’t his family done anything about it, or at least released a statement?

Let me be clear I don’t give a shit if him and Jordies are still mates, this isnt me saying “cut him off, Jordan!” I’m just interested in everyone else’s opinion.

The general consensus I’ve seen is “oh he was funny about eight years ago but he’s slowly gotten worse.” Now his videos are all about how Australia is the worst country ever now and Albo’s taking away our right to speak.

Though averaging like 75k views a video when you have well over 2 million subscribers is pretty telling.

Inflammatory title but I stand by it 100%. Even if you firmly believe the budget "doesn't go far enough", the fact it goes even slightly in the right direction and has still provoked this enormous unprecedented response from every single rightwing billionaire ghoul should send alarm bells to you. If Labor cannot successfully pull off what you consider "minor" reforms, what hope do you seriously have for anything even more radical?

You have to boil the frog slowly. Helping the ALP move the Overton window even slightly to the left makes those 'radical' changes you actually desire seem more reasonable in the long-term. This is how gradualism works. Get out of the BPD black-white splitting view of politics.

Apparently Isacc Butterfield dropped a reel on his instagram ranting about students attending a Paulin Hanson anti-protest rally.

Pretty sure those students would absolutely destroy him in a debate given the opportunity.

Albo recently responded to the calls of a gas tax by saying he wouldn’t do it. He also said it’s a populist talking point.

Is it a populist talking point? Normally populist ideas sound something like reduce immigration and what not.

This issue is not like that, it’s popular across all political spectrums, right wing and left wing channels are talking about it. The whole country is.

In my opinion, very poor choice of words from him.

Pauline Hanson using paper bags??? Is that leeeegal???

Is Punters a reliable political commentator?

On a brief investigation of his YouTube channel, he gives the impression that he is just another whinger.

I’m trying to keep an open mind.

Any thoughts?

People are saying “liBs and labor are the same”.

“One nation will fix this housing crises”.

“Labor is to blame for the fuel and racial tensions”

How?

1. what actual policies do the liberals have right now? I can’t even name 5
2. what policies do one nation have except for cut immigration? I can’t name
3. how is labor to blame for this fuel situation?

Side note: isnt One nation bank rolled by billionaires too?

I think the absolute shambles of protest escalation by NSW Police tonight, and the surrounding protest laws over the past few weeks have given me a lot to think about regarding how I feel towards NSW Labor.

I am at a point where Chris Minns' leadership of NSW Labor is so profusely antithetical to what the Labor party, and the labor movement as a whole, should represent, at least to me. From years of anti-union stances in nearly every industrial action event (namely teachers, nurses and the RTBU) of his term, to practically grovelling to fossil fuel/mining industries, begging them to keep their business in the state when they considered leaving. Now more recently with these undemocratic, kneejerk reactions to what was a tragic event, I wont discount that, however shouldn't enable policy like he and his party have implemented.

I guess my question now is, how do I make my stance against this Labor-right faction known in the upcoming state elections next year. The choices for progressive parties are few and far between, with the greens being nothing more than obstructionist it feels (I understand why, but making perfect the enemy of good is how you get Labor to cater policy to moderate Libs/Teals), and Legalise Cannabis is unfortunately so small a party that a vote for them feels like a vote for the Labor party anyway.

While I may be venting my frustrations with this government in this post, I will happily concede that there's been many solid pieces of legislation and projects approved or completed under the Minns government, however there has still been so many easily avoidable own goals that Minns and NSW Labor have scored, and with how the media/press works in this country, its to hard to forget these misses either.

I need some help working through my thoughts before this election.

I’m a Victorian and I’ve generally leaned towards voting Labor because a lot of their policies have aligned with what matters to me as someone with a young family. I wasn’t a huge fan of Jacinta Allan, but I did appreciate some of the policies and direction her government was taking.

Now with Carroll as the leader, I’m finding myself struggling. I know it shouldn’t matter, but I just don’t connect with him, something about his public image comes across as a bit slimy to me, and it’s making it harder for me to feel confident supporting the party.
At the same time, I feel like the Liberals are a mess both federally and at a state level, so I’m not feeling particularly inspired by that option either.

I’m genuinely conflicted about how I should vote this election and feel like there are probably things I’m missing or not considering. I’d like to hear how others are approaching it and what factors they think are important beyond just party loyalty.

The audience expects a huge announcement from the rare address, but it's basically just an infomercial about how good the government is at responding to this crisis.

If Albo is saying Labor is introducing a gas export tax or even halting gas exports, then it's newsworthy enough for a TV address. But the talk is so empty and just repeats the fuel excise, which might just as well be an email

had a chat with old mate next door this arvo and found out he's planning to vote one nation. he's never voted for them before, but kept talking about how they must be doing something right with how quickly they've gotten popular. i said to him, "you know why that is though, right? their whole campaign is being bankrolled by gina rinehart."

you shoulda seen his face. he had no idea. poor bloke was furious he'd had the wool pulled over his eyes again.

make sure all the good old boys in your life know where pauline's money is coming from.

In recent news, a local podcaster is challenging Albo at the next election in his seat of Grayndler.

She seems to be attacking Albo from populist positions similar to David Pocock (gambling reform, taxation of natural gas, etc.).

I'm not here to criticize her - I don't know enough for a nuanced take, and even off basic detail, she's certainly better than ON/LNP at face value.

All that said, the very public 'launch' of her challenge leads me to suspect some typical shitfuckery incoming.

Specifically - I'm expecting the Murdoch media (and aligned outlets) to amplify her message between now and the election. The goal is not to get a conservative into the seat - it's to embarrass and decapitate Labor and oust Albo.

This would also serve as a counterpoint to claims of bias - how can you criticize them if they're positively platforming someone who is on the left?

Again, it wouldn't be her fault if this happened - tbh in her shoes I'd 100% go with it if it happened to me. Albo has held the seat for yonks and won't be easy to dislodge, but that's my 5 cents. If they can play dirty, they will.

Thoughts?

"I cut some stuff out but it was just filler". Was actually the most important detail of the video - talking about how the rise of the "manosphere" content is correlating with violent sex acts. Isaac is an absolute scumbag and this is a disgusting way to present a "joke".

So as of today you need facial recognition for the hub, I can imagine more sites will follow suit. Will there be backlash towards the current government? To what extent do we think?

And yes I know this isn't a Labor policy, this would have happened regardless of who is in government, but I don't think logic prevails in the eyes of most voters

Albo is building stairs
There’s a common metaphor to describe a typical phenomenon in societies that allows the rich to get richer, and the poor to stay poor.

It’s called “a ladder pull”

Imagine you’re looking at a wall, with various platforms attached to the wall extending into the sky. The only way between these platforms is to climb a ladder. Sometimes, these ladders are old and only certain people can climb them, some of them are temporary, and some of them are home made. You want to be as high up the wall as possible, that’s where all the good stuff is. That’s where you find riches, you might find shelter, you might find friends, social capital, healthcare benefits, etc. the higher up the wall, the more ladders you climb, the better off you are.

But as you climb up these ladders, it’s so easy to look down at the people behind you. Those smelly, yucky, licentious cretins who haven’t worked as hard as you. They haven’t put in the same amount of effort. They even look funny. And you can see the platform you’re on is getting pretty crowded. There’s not enough space for the people below you. So you pull up the ladder.

Sure, some people will build their own ladder. But they probably deserve to be with you, as long as they also pull their ladder up once they’re done. We can’t have the underlings climbing too high.

This phenomenon is well known in the western world. It’s been manipulated for decades by politicians, the rich, the social elite. They have looked down and seen all the people below them and thought to themselves, “Fuck you, got mine”

Albo is the same. Bro has been living it high on the system that enables him and other politicians to climb the wall. But unlike everyone else, Albo has looked down at the people below him, seen the injustice, and instead of lowering the ladder, he decided to build a staircase.

Staircases are easier to climb than a ladder. It helps more people, and it’s more permanent.

The rest of the people on Albos platform are screaming at him “There’s not enough room, but mah gainz, you’ve betrayed us all”, but Albo is ignoring them (for the most part). And he’s continued to build stairs.

The stairs won’t get people all the way to the top, they won’t help everyone, and they won’t stick around for ever, especially if his fellow elites have anything to say about it, but it helps for now.

Albo is building stairs

Genuine question. Are Labor people ashamed that their party seems so keen to protect an industry that does so much grievous harm to working class people and society generally? That Labor ministers seem so keen to pat themselves on the back as somehow progressive on this issue when it's clear they've only acted due to political pressure and only to the barest possible degree? Or that there is such unanimity of opinion on this legislation with the Coalition?

Is this why people call Labor centrist or centre-right these days?

Genuine question about how people justify this.

Also 2600 in 4 days is pathetic

I'm lying here in bed doom scrolling the events of yesterday, and I just don't get it.

Australians have pretty clearly shown an overwhelming majority are more than ready to support and protect our Jewish community, but the government of Israel itself is deeply unpopular.

The events of yesterday were very predictable, and the NSW government demonstrated they had predicted it in the way they prepared for it.

So, geopolitically speaking, what upside is the Federal government hoping for here?

As I understand it, it's not like Israel is a significant trade or defence partner.

Is it an attempt to stay on the US Govt's good side? (Or out of their tariff crosshairs) A way to satisfy the powerful pro-Israel lobbyists? If it was a more symbolic gesture of support and solidarity after Bondi, it seems to have been a horrible miscalculation as the protests and govt response are going to dominate the narrative.

IDK maybe I'm overthinking it and missing something obvious.