Just as well we have you Amy, making sure that we all now know what is going on . We are so saturated with Trump that what is happening in Australia is often buried .
Sue Barrett has written some insightful explainers on How to Vote (Substack). Many Australians simply have no idea what each tier of government is responsible for, further eroding our democracy! We will likely see these impacts play out in Farrer...
Great piece Amy but you left out one of the main contributing factors in the drift to One Nation. The major parties crueled large parts of their own constituencies by ignoring them. Kos Samaras has been continuously making this point. They've taken the regions and outer suburbs for granted, doing nothing to ameliorate serious concerns about public transport, hospitals, schools.... not to mention the cost of living. They've come to the point where they see that the majors aren't talking to them in a language they understand.
One Nation purports to address their concerns in their language by simply denigrating anything the majors stand for. It doesn't matter that they're a policy free zone. They just do a very good job of sounding like they're advocating for the ignored and the disenfranchised.
Indeed - I wonder, Daniel, if these areas (from where I come and frequent, so know acutely the degrading quality of life over the last 20-30 years) will follow the UK’s trend.
Go to the far-right (Reform) only to find out that the far-right don’t really have the options and pivot to a real, anti-establishment left (UK Greens).
I think one problem in Australia at the moment is that there really isn’t a ‘real left’. The Australian Greens lean closer to the establishment than the UK Greens, who seem unapologetically anti-establishment. Which then leaves the problem - who is actually reaching out to these suburbs/regions with the right messages of actually wanting to fix their issues?
I'm not sure I fully agree with this interpretation of the Australian greens. Particularly if you look at their advocacy on Palestinian rights, pushing back against the coalition and their abject dog whistling and demonisation of immigrants. I also think they get a harder time in how they are portrayed in some of our legacy media. But I do recognise they are not getting the cut through that will be necessary in coming elections. Also, if you look at the previous federal election, where a couple of the lower house greens members lost, a lot of preferencing went to labor over the greens strategically unfortunately.
Couldn't agree more Antoun. Australian Greens see their constituents as being a very narrow demographic and can't see beyond it. You'd think they'd ask serious questions as to why their support hovers around the same numbers from one year to the next. The UK Greens could provide a model for them but they seem utterly disinterested.
One Nation (O.N.) is not much different to the other political parties in the sense that all parties kowtow to the ruling class just different section of the ruling class as does main stream media. Much of the support for O.N. is in the form of protesting that the political class can not hear the Australian people.
O. N. will be no different to the other political parties it will lie and deceive to achieve power then betray the people who vote for them.
Australia has never had a strong independent government that put Australia first, it has always been a servant to other counties and their ruling elites, England and America , who knows we are at the fag end of empire for America which is in desperation to retain its hegemony, could China or Japan be our next master.
Just as well we have you Amy, making sure that we all now know what is going on . We are so saturated with Trump that what is happening in Australia is often buried .
Brilliant piece as always, Amy. Thank you.
Sue Barrett has written some insightful explainers on How to Vote (Substack). Many Australians simply have no idea what each tier of government is responsible for, further eroding our democracy! We will likely see these impacts play out in Farrer...
Great piece Amy but you left out one of the main contributing factors in the drift to One Nation. The major parties crueled large parts of their own constituencies by ignoring them. Kos Samaras has been continuously making this point. They've taken the regions and outer suburbs for granted, doing nothing to ameliorate serious concerns about public transport, hospitals, schools.... not to mention the cost of living. They've come to the point where they see that the majors aren't talking to them in a language they understand.
One Nation purports to address their concerns in their language by simply denigrating anything the majors stand for. It doesn't matter that they're a policy free zone. They just do a very good job of sounding like they're advocating for the ignored and the disenfranchised.
Indeed - I wonder, Daniel, if these areas (from where I come and frequent, so know acutely the degrading quality of life over the last 20-30 years) will follow the UK’s trend.
Go to the far-right (Reform) only to find out that the far-right don’t really have the options and pivot to a real, anti-establishment left (UK Greens).
I think one problem in Australia at the moment is that there really isn’t a ‘real left’. The Australian Greens lean closer to the establishment than the UK Greens, who seem unapologetically anti-establishment. Which then leaves the problem - who is actually reaching out to these suburbs/regions with the right messages of actually wanting to fix their issues?
I'm not sure I fully agree with this interpretation of the Australian greens. Particularly if you look at their advocacy on Palestinian rights, pushing back against the coalition and their abject dog whistling and demonisation of immigrants. I also think they get a harder time in how they are portrayed in some of our legacy media. But I do recognise they are not getting the cut through that will be necessary in coming elections. Also, if you look at the previous federal election, where a couple of the lower house greens members lost, a lot of preferencing went to labor over the greens strategically unfortunately.
Couldn't agree more Antoun. Australian Greens see their constituents as being a very narrow demographic and can't see beyond it. You'd think they'd ask serious questions as to why their support hovers around the same numbers from one year to the next. The UK Greens could provide a model for them but they seem utterly disinterested.
One Nation (O.N.) is not much different to the other political parties in the sense that all parties kowtow to the ruling class just different section of the ruling class as does main stream media. Much of the support for O.N. is in the form of protesting that the political class can not hear the Australian people.
O. N. will be no different to the other political parties it will lie and deceive to achieve power then betray the people who vote for them.
Australia has never had a strong independent government that put Australia first, it has always been a servant to other counties and their ruling elites, England and America , who knows we are at the fag end of empire for America which is in desperation to retain its hegemony, could China or Japan be our next master.