Jump to content

Australia's political shambles


Recommended Posts

Wondering what our Australian members here are thinking of the latest shambles going on politically.  And International members if they have an interest in Australian politics.  It is certainly out of control in every way.  Will we have yet another new Prime Minister tomorrow ?   

For International members,  our Liberal Party (  who are actually the conservative party - the title is misleading in itself  )  are tearing themselves apart internally.   There are far too many right wing politicians in that party who are holding PM Malcolm Turnbull to ransom.  He can't get anything through as being hampered all the time by the ultra conservative factions and has to keep on appeasing them.  There looks like there will be another leadership vote tomorrow which could see PM Malcolm Turnbull be replaced as PM. 

I kind of now hope that Peter Dutton does come PM although it is a terrifying thought.  Simply because it will then completely expose their far right ideology to the people who have no interest in politics and they will be voted out in droves.  No point in moderates in the Liberal Party (  moderate for their standards )  trying to run the party, because the same thing will keep happening.   I truly fear for Australia if people like Dutton and co are allowed to continue having so much influence on the Liberal party.

I don't agree with every single thing the Greens say but thought this speech from Richard Di Natale was  spot on about what this government is about.  He has the guts to say it too. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, nightcutter said:

I haven't a clue what's going on in Australia Jan but I loved that guy's speech. 

Yes,  I loved it.  Going to be another interesting day today in seeing what happens with the leadership.  Australians are fed up to the back teeth with our politicians.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s a disgrace, showing us at our worst. These people get paid a fortune and carry on like selfish children. But, I wonder if other countries might wish it were a bit easier to get rid of their leader?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Paul said:

It’s a disgrace, showing us at our worst. These people get paid a fortune and carry on like selfish children. But, I wonder if other countries might wish it were a bit easier to get rid of their leader?

At work but have heard Scott Morrison is our new leader.  Disgusted in the Liberal party. The right wing factions have really taken hold of the party.  Just hope the Australian people wake up before even more damage is done. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:

At work but have heard Scott Morrison is our new leader.  Disgusted in the Liberal party. The right wing factions have really taken hold of the party.  Just hope the Australian people wake up before even more damage is done. 

 

 

It really didn’t matter what they decided today. They will be kicked out at the next election. Good riddance. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, beta_test said:

It seems to happen quite frequently lately. Wasn't Julia Gillard forced out too (after she forced out her predecessor before - who was the one to take office again after her).

Yes but that was slightly different.   The then PM Kevin Rudd was hated by his own party on a personal level,.   Have seen many docos etc on this and his staff and colleagues hated dealing with him.  The Australian Labor Party has since said they would never engage in that again.  It was a mess.  Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd but never was given a real chance in my opinion after that as faced an incredibly hostile media (  Rupert Murdoch actually tweeted  hateful tweets about her ) and angry Kevin Rudd supporters who felt she knifed him.  Was amazed later at just how much Kevin Rudd was hated by his own party. 

The Current Liberal government is all to do with political ideology and are completely torn apart by that.  The Far Right members all have a lot of power and are still behind Former PM Tony Abbott. .   The same Tony Abbott who campaigned against marriage equality,  is a climate change denier,  power hungry, anti immigration and is ultra conservative.  So many in the Coalition that feel the same.  I saw tonight where political commentators said that powerful factional group resembles One Nation Party more than One Nation.  Malcolm Turnbull was on a hiding to nothing as had to water down all of what he believed in to appease them.  Such a mess. 

8 hours ago, Paul said:

It really didn’t matter what they decided today. They will be kicked out at the next election. Good riddance. 

I hope so.  If Australia votes them back in after seeing exactly what so many of that party believe in,  it will be a sad day. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why are these governments unable to quell the extreme right wing (minority?) factions in their own parties? Why do they wield so much power when it's obvious what kind of damage it's doing? The same thing is happening in the UK with a handful of mental cases holding the govt to ransom over what kind of Brexit deal we negotiate. At least in Australia it seems Turnbull made an attempt to stand up against them whereas here everyone's too scared for their own job to even try. Party politics over COUNTRY every time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Kim said:

Why are these governments unable to quell the extreme right wing (minority?) factions in their own parties? Why do they wield so much power when it's obvious what kind of damage it's doing? The same thing is happening in the UK with a handful of mental cases holding the govt to ransom over what kind of Brexit deal we negotiate. At least in Australia it seems Turnbull made an attempt to stand up against them whereas here everyone's too scared for their own job to even try. Party politics over COUNTRY every time.

Unfortunately our Liberal party ( what a joke it is them having that name )  have so many that are extreme right wing in their party.  It is frightening.  They are also very religious.  Our New Pm Scott Morrison is a devout member of the Horizon church.  He also was anti marriage equality and is  hardline in the whole "  Stop the boats"  " Keep Australia safe"  stuff.  Our treatment of refugees and illegal immigrants is every bit as horrible as Trump.  

I feel sorry for Malcolm Turnbull.  He really was quite progressive in comparison to so many in that party but was thwarted at every turn.  He was hated by the right wing members in own party because he wanted marriage equality,  wanted climate change action,  wanted renewable energy instead of coal etc,  wants Australia to be a republic and called out the racists such as Pauline Hanson.  He had to negotiate constantly with those factions which make up almost half of the Liberal Party.  They are also known as the coalition as are partners with the Country party which are very conservative.  Peter Dutton who was going for the leadership today,  is so far right it is not funny.   He also refused to join in with the "sorry"  apology in Parliament where Australia officially apologised to the Aboriginal people for the stolen generation.  Has no compassion for anyone. 

At least now,  more and more people are noticing how right wing Murdoch's press is.  There has been actual reports and calling out of how Murdoch and his media empire are actively pushing this far right movement.  Murdoch's papers HATED Turnbull and were always calling for his head and for a "true conservative"  to take back the party.  Sky news used to be just a place to catch up on news but now has employed all of Murdoch's ultra right wing commentators and political members to have segments and shows on the network.  It is outrageous.  I read at work in the Herald Scum today that they should go back to the policies of Abbott and push the whole anti immigration agenda and also join Trump in abandoning the Climate Change agreement.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Jazzy Jan said:

Unfortunately our Liberal party ( what a joke it is them having that name )  have so many that are extreme right wing in their party.  It is frightening.  They are also very religious.  Our New Pm Scott Morrison is a devout member of the Horizon church.  He also was anti marriage equality and is  hardline in the whole "  Stop the boats"  " Keep Australia safe"  stuff.  Our treatment of refugees and illegal immigrants is every bit as horrible as Trump.  

I feel sorry for Malcolm Turnbull.  He really was quite progressive in comparison to so many in that party but was thwarted at every turn.  He was hated by the right wing members in own party because he wanted marriage equality,  wanted climate change action,  wanted renewable energy instead of coal etc,  wants Australia to be a republic and called out the racists such as Pauline Hanson.  He had to negotiate constantly with those factions which make up almost half of the Liberal Party.  They are also known as the coalition as are partners with the Country party which are very conservative.  Peter Dutton who was going for the leadership today,  is so far right it is not funny.   He also refused to join in with the "sorry"  apology in Parliament where Australia officially apologised to the Aboriginal people for the stolen generation.  Has no compassion for anyone. 

At least now,  more and more people are noticing how right wing Murdoch's press is.  There has been actual reports and calling out of how Murdoch and his media empire are actively pushing this far right movement.  Murdoch's papers HATED Turnbull and were always calling for his head and for a "true conservative"  to take back the party.  Sky news used to be just a place to catch up on news but now has employed all of Murdoch's ultra right wing commentators and political members to have segments and shows on the network.  It is outrageous.  I read at work in the Herald Scum today that they should go back to the policies of Abbott and push the whole anti immigration agenda and also join Trump in abandoning the Climate Change agreement.  

 

I take it the equal marriage legislation has already gone through and can't be thwarted by these nutters?

I know we've said it before, but I'm so surprised that Australia is so politically conservative at heart compared to the public image it (used?) to have, and that a country that was built on immigration is so hostile to it now. I don't know enough about Oz to know if mass immigration is causing problems or whatever, but I was under the impression they had a strict points based system.

I think at this point most people are well aware of the meddlings of Murdoch and the like, but as long as there's an audience for their bile, they'll cater to it. The Murdoch press in the UK is a joke. Depending on what country you look at, the same newspaper has completely different, narratives, headlines and political alegiencies; often contradicting what the other says despite all being under the one umbrella.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Kim said:

I take it the equal marriage legislation has already gone through and can't be thwarted by these nutters?

I know we've said it before, but I'm so surprised that Australia is so politically conservative at heart compared to the public image it (used?) to have, and that a country that was built on immigration is so hostile to it now. I don't know enough about Oz to know if mass immigration is causing problems or whatever, but I was under the impression they had a strict points based system.

I think at this point most people are well aware of the meddlings of Murdoch and the like, but as long as there's an audience for their bile, they'll cater to it. The Murdoch press in the UK is a joke. Depending on what country you look at, the same newspaper has completely different, narratives, headlines and political alegiencies; often contradicting what the other says despite all being under the one umbrella.

Yes the equal marriage legislation has gone through. 

It is more this current government that is ultra conservative rather than the public. Australians tend to reject far right politicians. John Howard for example completely wrecked his popularity by becoming full on conservative toward the end of his long leadership and bringing workplace unfair laws in.  He lost that last election he was PM in, when his right wing ideology came out in his newer policies. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Jazzy Jan said:

It is more this current government that is ultra conservative rather than the public. Australians tend to reject far right politicians. John Howard for example completely wrecked his popularity by becoming full on conservative toward the end of his long leadership and bringing workplace unfair laws in.  He lost that last election he was PM in, when his right wing ideology came out in his newer policies. 

Well one would think the public would know the poliitics of these people before voting them into office. Unless of course it's because the opposition are just as bad.

We have the most inept govt in decades, yet even this week they're still polling higher than Labour because they're an even bigger shambles than the Tories. It's a joke.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:

 Scott Morrison is a devout member of the Horizon church. 

 

I was reading quickly and thought this said "the Horizontal church". :smiles:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:

At work but have heard Scott Morrison is our new leader.  Disgusted in the Liberal party. The right wing factions have really taken hold of the party.  Just hope the Australian people wake up before even more damage is done. 

 

 

The whole f'king WORLD! This is NOT how most people feel or want yet these small (yet very, very well funded and sneaky )faar right  bat shit crazy super dangerous groups and forces are taking over..everywhere. It's a cancer that must be stopped asap. Murdoch, Mercers, Bannon, Koch brothers etc etc...are the financial core of this shit. The US midterms in 2 1/2 months are absolutely the most important in US history. If the Dems show up super strong this horrid trend the last 3-4 years may finally start to get fumigated worldwide. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Ciccone's Cheeks said:

The whole f'king WORLD! This is NOT how most people feel or want yet these small (yet very, very well funded and sneaky )faar right  bat shit crazy super dangerous groups and forces are taking over..everywhere. It's a cancer that must be stopped asap. Murdoch, Mercers, Bannon, Koch brothers etc etc...are the financial core of this shit. The US midterms in 2 1/2 months are absolutely the most important in US history. If the Dems show up super strong this horrid trend the last 3-4 years may finally start to get fumigated worldwide. 

It is frightening how the extreme far right are taking over conservative political parties. They are more ambitious and vocal every day. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Kim said:

Well one would think the public would know the poliitics of these people before voting them into office. Unless of course it's because the opposition are just as bad.

We have the most inept govt in decades, yet even this week they're still polling higher than Labour because they're an even bigger shambles than the Tories. It's a joke.

It never ceases to amaze me how disinterested and apathetic many people are about politics.  They later whinge and whine about decisions make by parliament that deeply effect their lives and standard of living etc but don't even bother reading what candidates stand for.   We have compulsory voting here and some whinge like stuffed pigs about having to vote.  You would think people would be eagar to have a say in how their country is run but too many have no interest. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:

Our New Pm Scott Morrison is a devout member of the Horizon church.  He also was anti marriage equality and is  hardline in the whole "  Stop the boats"  " Keep Australia safe"  stuff.  Our treatment of refugees and illegal immigrants is every bit as horrible as Trump.  

:scared:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, Crystal Coffin said:

:scared:

 

The way "boat people"  are treating by the Australian government is shameful.  Taken to off shore detention hell holes for years locked up while politicians gloat about "stopping the boats"    Peter Dutton, Tony Abbott and all the ultra right wing politicians not only have no problem with this but are proud of it. 

Related image

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The whole situation here is a fucking mess! And you just watch the gen pop get accustomed to #ScoMo (roll my fucking eyes so hard) just because he'll fool them all that he's their mate and on their side. The public are a pack of morons distracted by The Bachelor and Masterchef. I have zero faith that they can make intelligent decisions. This too will be forgotten.

Why can't we vote for parties indirectly. Get a ballot of key questions based on important social issues and answer them. Ain't no right wing party gonna win that vote!

And while I'm here. Fuck Tony Abbott. That tiny weasel of a man. Toxic through and through. Zero integrity.

Also, Turnbull was piss weak and compromised all he stood for to stay afloat. And he has nothing to show for his time as PM. An embarrassment. He would have lasted longer and had the people on his side had he stood up for what most Australian's want/need. And the far right would have had zero ammunition. Bye bitch.

Love that a refugee boat made it through to the mainland today. Suck it liberal scum!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OMG and they appointed Abbott special envoy for indigenous affairs. What in the actual fuck, I had to check that wasn't a joke!

Sack that spineless weasel!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, San said:

The whole situation here is a fucking mess! And you just watch the gen pop get accustomed to #ScoMo (roll my fucking eyes so hard) just because he'll fool them all that he's their mate and on their side. The public are a pack of morons distracted by The Bachelor and Masterchef. I have zero faith that they can make intelligent decisions. This too will be forgotten.

Why can't we vote for parties indirectly. Get a ballot of key questions based on important social issues and answer them. Ain't no right wing party gonna win that vote!

And while I'm here. Fuck Tony Abbott. That tiny weasel of a man. Toxic through and through. Zero integrity.

Also, Turnbull was piss weak and compromised all he stood for to stay afloat. And he has nothing to show for his time as PM. An embarrassment. He would have lasted longer and had the people on his side had he stood up for what most Australian's want/need. And the far right would have had zero ammunition. Bye bitch.

Love that a refugee boat made it through to the mainland today. Suck it liberal scum!

Yes San !  Tony Abbott is the most revolting toxic man imaginable. ScoMo reminds me of that creep Joe Hockey. Pretended to be for the people but showed his true right wing colours when Abbott got power with his policies that kicked the poor and favoured the corporates and rich. 

Still wish Julia Gillard was PM. She was treated like dirt by the media. 

 I hate this  government so much.  Also agree about what you said about distracted public. So many don't even care what is happening politically or how others are treated. As long as they are not initially affected but they find out too late how damaging their ignorance and apathy truly is. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/27/2018 at 7:09 AM, San said:

The whole situation here is a fucking mess! And you just watch the gen pop get accustomed to #ScoMo (roll my fucking eyes so hard) just because he'll fool them all that he's their mate and on their side. The public are a pack of morons distracted by The Bachelor and Masterchef. I have zero faith that they can make intelligent decisions. This too will be forgotten.

Why can't we vote for parties indirectly. Get a ballot of key questions based on important social issues and answer them. Ain't no right wing party gonna win that vote!

And while I'm here. Fuck Tony Abbott. That tiny weasel of a man. Toxic through and through. Zero integrity.

Also, Turnbull was piss weak and compromised all he stood for to stay afloat. And he has nothing to show for his time as PM. An embarrassment. He would have lasted longer and had the people on his side had he stood up for what most Australian's want/need. And the far right would have had zero ammunition. Bye bitch.

Love that a refugee boat made it through to the mainland today. Suck it liberal scum!

I had this reflexion the other day. You should vote on idea and electoral platform without knowing who propose what. 

Most people don't know  what they vote for because if they really knew the result would be very different, I'm sure. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is so corrupt. . Peter Dutton has flat out rejected help and shown no feelings or understanding for refugees, people who have lived for decades in Australia but only discovered they had the wrong visas or a 10 year old boy held in detention in Nauru needing urgent medical assistance. Many examples of how emotionless and cruel he has been shown to be for ages.   Yet he personally had intervened in helping 3 Au Pairs who were denied travellers visas due to them not obtaining working visas.  

 Granted them entry on " humanitarian grounds". :wacko: Of course it helps when they were going to work for millionaires who give major donations to his political party. The super wealthy always look after each other. Typical and dreadful. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Long article but very interesting if have the time to read it. 

How the Murdoch press ran Turnbull from his office

Of all the commentaries on the role of the media in fomenting last week’s right-wing coup within the Liberal Party, perhaps the most succinct came from Malcolm Turnbull’s son, Alex.

Here is his reply to an invitation to appear on the Sky News program Outsiders:

“Pass. I’d rather hang out with my kids. Surely angry white men can go off their meds without me.”

In an interview with Fairfax Media, he was even more terse: “My father fought the stupid and the stupid won.”

Alex Turnbull, who had kept his opinions largely to himself during his father’s tenure as prime minister, has been devastatingly blunt in his commentary since his father’s demise. The coup, Alex said, was the consequence of the determination of the government’s right wing to stop action on climate change. That, in turn, was a consequence of the “undue influence” of a small cabal of people with vested interests in the fossil fuel industry. And it was all aided and abetted by elements of the media. He particularly noted the Murdoch media.

He was not alone in his assessment. His father, in defeat, blamed a “determined insurgency” against him involving not only elements within his party but also “voices in the media”. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd this week repeated his characterisation of News Corp – first made to The Saturday Paper’s Karen Middleton in November last year – as a “cancer on Australian democracy”.

“An incoming Labor government should consider a full royal commission into the future of Australian media ownership, with particular reference to News Corp,” he wrote, in an opinion piece for Fairfax.

Sour grapes, you might say. Defeated politicians often blame the media. But this time, the media itself – at least those parts of it not controlled by Murdoch – echoed the criticism.

The Nine Network’s political editor, Chris Uhlmann, set the ball rolling with an on-air spray – actually a series of sprays – at those he considered to have “crossed the line” separating punditry from politics.

THE LIBERAL PARTY’S INFIGHTING WAS NEVER ABOUT THE BASE. IT WAS ABOUT THE BUBBLE, INSIDE WHICH THE RIGHT-WING POLITICIANS AND THE RIGHT-WING PUNDITS CONSTANTLY REINFORCE ONE ANOTHER’S VIEWS, BECOMING EVER MORE DISTANCED FROM OBJECTIVE REALITY.

 

He implicated the News Corp papers, including The Australian, as well as all the Murdoch tabloids and the media mogul’s Sky News, along with the talkback jocks Alan Jones and Ray Hadley – of 2GB, which is owned by Fairfax’s     Macquarie Media, not News Corp – of going beyond their roles as recorders or even commentators on politics, and becoming players. And particularly vicious ones at that.

“They’re among the biggest bullies in the land and it’s about time that people called them out for what they are,” Uhlmann said.

They had been actively lobbying against Turnbull, he said.

“If they are making phone calls to people trying to push people over the line, then they’re part of the story,” he said.

The accused parties responded with attacks on Uhlmann, even as they admitted the essential truth of his claim.

Alan Jones conceded he had lobbied MPs before the coup. On Monday this week, he offered his reassurance to the new prime minister, Scott Morrison, that “I’ve spoken to Tony Abbott and he will be supporting the whole show, completely.”

The same day, Hadley also boasted on air of his role as an intermediary between Morrison and Abbott, using his influence to persuade Abbott to accept a new role as an “Indigenous envoy”.

“Can I sincerely say to you I think he’s fair dinkum,” Hadley told Abbott as they spoke of Morrison’s offer on air.

The situation was all the more remarkable for the fact that Jones, Hadley and the third of the big three reactionary-right commentators, Murdoch columnist and Sky News host Andrew Bolt, had been barracking for Peter Dutton. Relations between Hadley and Morrison were particularly poisonous, and had been for more than a year.

Most laughably Bolt, showing the accuracy and sound judgement for which he has become famous, prematurely called the leadership contest for Dutton, several hours before the Liberal party room meeting.

“Peter Dutton will be prime minister today. The Turnbull era is over,” he declared in his Herald Sun blog, only to later update with the word: “Oops.”

When their preferred extreme right-wing candidate didn’t get up, they all scrambled to reassert influence with the slightly less right-wing candidate who won. They were not entirely happy but, as another of their number, Chris Kenny, put it in The Australian, they got “four-fifths” of what they wanted.

They had helped remove the most electorally saleable asset of an unpopular government, Malcolm Turnbull, as well as the next most-saleable, Julie Bishop, and had helped kill off any meaningful action on climate change, even though Australians overwhelmingly want more done. They also claimed to have restored control of the party to the so-called Liberal “base”.

Both before and after the challenge, we heard innumerable references to this “base”, from conservative Liberals. But as Judith Brett, emeritus professor of politics, La Trobe University, pointed out in a piece last week for The Conversation website, this base is an amorphous entity.

Were they referring to the party membership? If so, Brett said, that meant some 50,000 people “at a generous estimate”, nationwide.

In reality, she argued, all the claims made by party right-wingers about the alleged concerns of “the base” – issues such as the “undermining” of Western civilisation and religious freedom, or climate change denial and opposition to same-sex marriage – actually signalled their own alienation from mainstream opinion and put their “minority ideological convictions ahead of winning elections”.

The Liberal Party’s infighting was never about the base. It was about the bubble, inside which the right-wing politicians and the right-wing pundits constantly reinforce one another’s views, becoming ever more distanced from objective reality.

“Vocal opinion is out of step with public opinion,” says Rodney Tiffen, emeritus professor of government and international relations at the University of Sydney.

Australia’s high degree of media concentration – Murdoch controls some three quarters of all print circulation – amplifies the views of the “feral” columnists, Tiffen says.

Then many of the same people reappear on Sky News at night and on radio. Add in the non-Murdoch 2GB shouters, says Tiffen, and “it creates this impression of a chorus of outrage, when in fact it’s a relatively small number of people speaking to each other”.

This small number became ever more strident. Just one example from last week shows how deluded things are inside that bubble.

Maurice Newman is taken very seriously in conservative Liberal circles. He is a close friend of John Howard and was the Howard government’s choice to be chairman of the ABC. Later, when Tony Abbott became prime minister, he made Newman his chief business adviser.

Newman is also a big-time conspiracy theorist. He does not believe the science of climate change. Indeed, he has expressed the conviction that the world actually is cooling, and that the real agenda of all those urging action on global warming is the destruction of the capitalist system and the establishment of one world government controlled by the United Nations.

Last Friday, at the height of the controversy over News Corp’s bias and bullying, he flew into print in The Australian, offering a defence not just of Murdoch media in this country, but internationally.

He proceeded by way of attack on other media, beginning with the The Washington Post, which he asserted “regularly slants news and current affairs through misleading commentary, factual distortions and omissions”. Likewise, The New York Times deliberately distorted the news as part of its leftist agenda.

Having thus dismissed the two most-respected media organisations in the United States, he went on to attack Time magazine, “the left-leaning CNN-MSNBC-CBS-ABC oligopoly” in US broadcast media, as well as Fairfax, the ABC, SBS and Guardian Australia, “to name a few” in this country. All biased, he said, and all staffed by the products of the “neo-Marxist” media schools.

He lauded Rupert Murdoch for having set up Fox News in the US as a counter to the prevailing left-wing view.

“Indeed,” Newman continued, “of the major global networks, Murdoch’s expanding interests stand alone in consistently testing the ‘liberal’ mindset, a policy appreciated by its questioning audiences and applauded by its shareholders.”

Truly, it is hard to know how one might respond to such a through-the-looking-glass view. Perhaps you could start by pointing to the Edward R. Murrow Awards – the electronic media equivalent of America’s Pulitzer Prizes. Of the of 267 awarded since 2001, NBC TV has won 48 and MSNBC 4, CBS TV 22, CNN 9 and ABC TV 9. Fox has won none.

Or you could point to the statistics compiled by the nonpartisan fact-checking organisations in America, which consistently find Fox the least accurate news network. The “PunditFact” site, for example, which assesses the truthfulness of claims made by presenters and guests – not including politicians or paid spokespeople – found that over the past several years, 21 per cent of the “facts” asserted on Fox were mostly false, while 29 per cent were entirely false and 9 per cent such egregious lies as to merit a “pants on fire” rating.

Or you might, at this time when the world is remembering the late Republican senator John McCain, recall his polite but firm correction of those party faithful who had swallowed the “birther” conspiracy theory about Barack Obama, promulgated by Donald Trump and Fox.

Let us instead check one of the few “facts” asserted by Newman in his Friday rant: that with Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership under threat, “the ABC and fellow leftists” had increased their negative commentary on Tony Abbott. He claimed this retaliation had caused a precipitous decline in public trust in the media.

“No wonder,” wrote Newman, “the Edelman Trust Barometer finds the Australian population’s trust in media stands at 31 per cent, 12 points below the global and US average and an 11-point drop in two years.”

It was a pants on fire claim. First, Edelman did not suggest any particular media outlet was responsible for a shift in the level of public trust. Second and more importantly, the report actually showed trust in traditional and online journalism increasing over the two years, from 47 to 52 per cent. The measure that had sharply declined was trust in social media and online platforms, down from 44 per cent in 2016 to 43 in 2017 to 35 in 2018, a result attributed to growing concern about fake news online.

Curiously, Newman omitted the standout finding of the Edelman report. When respondents were asked which institution in Australia was “most broken”, 56 per cent nominated “government”, compared with a global average of 42. That would be the government on whose behalf he was propagandising.

Newman’s errors and omissions invited further investigation of the relationship between media, government and levels of trust in the community.

Rather then relying on Edelman, though, we went to work done by the nonpartisan, non-profit Pew Research Center, and a global survey released in January on public trust in media in a large number of countries around the world.

It found some interesting things. For one, there was a strong correlation between trust in the media and trust in government.

For another, there were surprisingly large proportions of people in some countries – up to 43 per cent in Israel – who thought it sometimes acceptable for a news organisation to favour one political party over others.

Australians were more fair-minded than most: 87 per cent said such bias was never acceptable. But they felt let down on this score by the country’s news organisations. There was an even split between those who thought they reported politics fairly and those who didn’t.

This was roughly on par with the two other big Anglosphere countries in which the Murdoch media has a significant presence, the United States and Britain. In the US, 52 per cent of people claimed to see bias in the coverage of politics, and in Britain the figure was 43 per cent.

Canada, the other big English-speaking nation, returned very different results. There, most people – 73 per cent – thought their media did a good job of reporting politics fairly. News Corp is not a player in Canada.

Caveats must attach, of course. Canada has a popular and progressive government, whereas the other three countries have unpopular right-wing governments. On the other hand, News Corp played a big role in fostering that unpopularity, by its ceaseless propagandising for Trump in America and by its advocacy of Brexit.

Unfortunately the Pew survey did not include New Zealand, which also has no Murdoch media.

But Dr Gavin Ellis, former editor of The New Zealand Heraldturned academic turned media consultant, attests to a more balanced and far less aggressive media environment across the Tasman.

“Quite clearly, the Murdoch press and other conservative elements, like 2GB, were determined to see the back of Malcolm Turnbull,” he says.

“I think the media here is balanced in a way it isn’t over there.”

Ellis suggests two reasons. First, no media organisation in New Zealand enjoys the kind of market dominance News Corp does in Australia. The two main publishers, he says, are equally powerful, while in TV the dominant player is the publicly owned Television New Zealand.

And the second reason: “We’ve been remarkably free of proprietor influence,” he says. “In all my years, in all my discussions with fellow editors over the years, none of them were ever subject to the diktats that appear to be the case with Australian, British and American Murdoch editors.”

While there are talkback hosts with identifiable ideological positions, Ellis says, none projects the kind of hyper-partisanship or outrage of their Australian counterparts.

“We’ve certainly got no one of the ilk of a Hadley or a Jones,” he says.

“Basically, media here are straight down the middle. Of course they will take positions on how well or badly individual politicians and parties are doing.”

But never, he says, would they get involved in “an orchestrated campaign of the type that has been alleged in Australia.”

The question now is, what has that orchestrated campaign really achieved?

For the current government, nothing good, in the view of many.

As Tiffen observes, dryly, “The logic that says ‘Labor’s ahead, we must move to the right’ is not a compelling one. It’s a recipe for losing the election.”

Others foresee worse consequences.

Former Liberal adviser Terry Barnes predicted – even before the party room vote – not just the loss of the next election but “a cataclysmic and existential fight” within conservative ranks. “And I’m not sure the Liberal Party as we know it will survive,” he said.

But what about the hard-right pundits who worked so tirelessly to engineer the coup?

The available evidence is that they will throw their propagandist weight behind the new Liberal leadership, now the loathed Turnbull is gone. Already we see News Corp ramping up its campaign around climate change, backing the government’s efforts to foster a false dichotomy between cheap power and clean power.

Matthew Ricketson, professor of communication at Deakin University, has no doubt they will be doing their best to win it for Scott Morrison and co.

“Look at how Jones, Hadley et al reacted immediately after Morrison was announced winner. They immediately fell in behind him, and began telling the new prime minister how he should be doing his job.”

However, says Ricketson, “I would separate out their intention from their effect.”

He points to some recent examples that suggest the Murdoch media are not as influential as they used to be – a couple of state elections in Victoria and Queensland where they backed the losing horse and, most notably, the last federal election, in which The Daily Telegraph, self-portrayed as the voice of Western Sydney, went in boots and all against Labor, only to see the Labor vote jump in the west.

So the next election shapes as a test of both right-wing politics and also of the influence of the right-wing media.

Of course, the consequences of defeat are much greater for the politicians. The worst that can happen for the media demagogues is that they get new material for their endless fulmination.

Unless, that is, the unthinkable happens, and people just stop paying them the attention they crave.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well it's what most of us have been saying on here for years. Mainstream media is rotten to the core and infiltrated by those who benefit from the chaos that comes from having extremists in positions of power. "News" is no longer about providing neutral facts, but giving every crackpot with an opinion a space to air it. The BBC can't have a piece on climate change without having a climate change DENIER on to give an alternate view under the umbrella of fairness. Fuck something as silly as science. This is not news, it's madness, but it becomes mainstream because everyone, including politicians, can say anything they like with impunity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Kim said:

Well it's what most of us have been saying on here for years. Mainstream media is rotten to the core and infiltrated by those who benefit from the chaos that comes from having extremists in positions of power. "News" is no longer about providing neutral facts, but giving every crackpot with an opinion a space to air it. The BBC can't have a piece on climate change without having a climate change DENIER on to give an alternate view under the umbrella of fairness. Fuck something as silly as science. This is not news, it's madness, but it becomes mainstream because everyone, including politicians, can say anything they like with impunity.

It is so infuriating.  

Talking about the BBC and climate change -  it also baffles me why we have to keep hearing from climate change deniers who are either conspiracy theory crackpots or have their own agendas - such as shares and interests in the coal industry. 

If you want a laugh,  watch this interview on ABC Australia Q and A.  They had conspiracy theorist nutter Malcolm Roberts who was in Pauline Hanson's One nation party debating with Brian Cox who is a professor.   Crazy stuff.  Go to 5.15 and see his views on NASA.   Insane. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Jazzy Jan said:

It is so infuriating.  

Talking about the BBC and climate change -  it also baffles me why we have to keep hearing from climate change deniers who are either conspiracy theory crackpots or have their own agendas - such as shares and interests in the coal industry. 

If you want a laugh,  watch this interview on ABC Australia Q and A.  They had conspiracy theorist nutter Malcolm Roberts who was in Pauline Hanson's One nation party debating with Brian Cox who is a professor.   Crazy stuff.  Go to 5.15 and see his views on NASA.   Insane. 

 

That looks a bit like UK's Question Time,  except the climate change denier would get applause instead of laughed at! There's also been the growth of the flat earth movement again now that everyone can say whatever shit they want and be given a platform for it. I can't figure out if these people are using the opportunity to make money from being the resident idiot that's called on to appear on these shows or if they really believe it. Either way, it's another representation of how far we've fallen in recent years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Kim said:

That looks a bit like UK's Question Time,  except the climate change denier would get applause instead of laughed at! There's also been the growth of the flat earth movement again now that everyone can say whatever shit they want and be given a platform for it. I can't figure out if these people are using the opportunity to make money from being the resident idiot that's called on to appear on these shows or if they really believe it. Either way, it's another representation of how far we've fallen in recent years.

The flat earth people are certifiable.  How on earth can they even be listened to.  It really is shameful that people with no knowledge of what they are talking about can debate facts with scientists in their chosen fields.  Look how the experts tell us exactly when eclipses are happening for example.  They are spot on because they know what they are talking about through studying in detail what happens and being experts in their field.  To see them having to be spoken down to by ignorant conspiracy theorists who believed the world was going to end in 2012 is madness. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...