SA Labor Academy Viewpoints.

Puff, The Magic Dragon Uncategorized

Viewpoints #324 – Friday 18 July 2025


Viewpoints shares access to articles in the media curated weekly by Labor Academy SA.


For all previous editions, click https://laboracademysa.org/blog/archive/

China sees Australia as the Western partner worth resetting with and Anthony
Albanese made it happen By Bang Xiao in ABC Online https://tinyurl.com/2khmvfe8


Tax reform talk heats up after Treasury FOI error, and that might just suit Jim
Chalmers nicely By Michael Janda in ABC Online https://tinyurl.com/2ta3avjb


South Australia’s leap into the unknown with political finance changes
By Bill Browne in InDaily https://tinyurl.com/5da3kmf2


Segal’s antisemitism plan gives government controversy, not clarity
By Michelle Grattan in The Conversation https://tinyurl.com/4xmw99st


‘New thinking’: Australian Medical Association SA reveals ramping
recommendations By Claude Dichiera in InDaily https://tinyurl.com/y26wxvk8


Almost half of young workers expected to work unpaid overtime, while a quarter
aren’t paid … By John Howe and … in The Conversationhttps://tinyurl.com/4vrmp7sh


Sack the NACC [National Anti-Corruption Commission]
By John Hewson in The Saturday Paper https://tinyurl.com/23pr37ft


How to disappear a problem – The school system has spent 50 years not fixing one
of its central flaws By Dean Ashenden in Inside Story https://tinyurl.com/2kwhuc3p


Raise taxes to fix budget, Treasury advises Labor in accidentally published advice
By Daniel Ziffer and … in ABC Online https://tinyurl.com/28x7fdfk


Serious burns, fire damage: Alarming spike in powerbank recalls
By The New Daily https://tinyurl.com/475t8esk


How lobsters help us start to make sense of Donald Trump’s trade chaos
By Annabel Crabb in ABC Online https://tinyurl.com/5c27mffn

‐‐———————–
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We pay our respect to Kaurna elders past, present and emerging.


Some articles may require reader registration. We try to avoid pay-walled articles. The Advertiser and The
Australian are not included for paywall reasons.

e: michael_cowling@mac.com w: https://laboracademysa.org


Copyright © 2019 – 2025 Michael Cowling on behalf of Labor Academy SA. All rights reserved.


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Making Membership Meaningful
Video: PM Anthony Albanese
speaks at Great Wall of China

I am sorry I have not been contributing lately but I was unwell and not up to writing.

These links are sent out by email and while the focus is on South Australia, national topics dominate.

I do however point out for your perusal, this obe, which may become the blueprint for the rest of Australia l in regard to political donations.

South Australia’s leap into the unknown with political finance changes
By Bill Browne in InDaily https://tinyurl.com/5da3kmf2

Quote: ‘

…

In South Australia, sitting MPs and registered political parties are now banned from receiving political donations. However, the laws include loopholes: Political parties can still charge their own MPs and staff levies (worth millions of dollars) and still take money from “nominated entities”, such as an established investment vehicle. 

Of course, the small political parties and independent candidates who compete with major parties do not have many or any MPs to extract levies from, and have no investment vehicles that could operate outside the donation ban. 

In exchange for limiting political donations, South Australians will pay about $18 million more in taxpayer funding of political parties and candidates every four-year cycle. Of this, the Australia Institute estimates about 75 per cent will go to the major parties and only 1-2 per cent to new entrants.

…”

Endquote

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216 thoughts on “SA Labor Academy Viewpoints.”

  1. These comments from a war criminal nation’s government minister has their US ambassador furiously rushing around offering buckets of blandishments.

    Eliyahu was quoted on July 24 as telling the Haredi radio station Kol Barama, “The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out. Thank God, we are wiping out this evil. We are pushing out this population that has been educated on Mein Kampf.”

    “All Gaza will be Jewish,”

    “……there’s no hunger in the Gaza Strip, but we don’t need to be concerned with hunger in the Strip. Let the world worry about it.”

    “Despite the enormous difficulties of providing humanitarian aid to the noncombatant population of Gaza, we have done so with determination and commitment,” says Ambassador Yechiel Leiter.

    Netanyahu: Eliyahu’s remarks on Gaza being ‘wiped out’ not gov’t policy

    https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-eliyahus-remarks-on-gaza-being-wiped-out-not-govt-policy/

    • And then you have !!!

      Shadow foreign affairs minister Michaelia Cash says Hamas is to blame for Israel’s denial of aid into Gaza and that the government failed to hold the group responsible in a statement issued on Friday.

      op. cit.

  4. Richard Marles will be in Darwin on Sunday to attend the Talisman Sabre military exercises after signing a 50-year submarine deal with Britain.

    Someone give him a sharp thing to play with.

    • 😆 A night to remember for this choir………

      The City Academy Voices choir had just finished belting out The Supremes hit, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, when the lights went out and they were joined by an unexpected guest.

      As they were about to perform their last song, a man appeared on stage wearing a blue dressing gown with no shoes. He took the mic, described their singing as a “terrible racket” and told them to get out, leaving the 360-odd people in the room shocked and dumfounded.

      “You are in my house, can you leave it now please,” he said. The man, it appears, was Jonathan Baker, the bishop of Fulham

      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/26/bishop-interrupts-church-concert-telling-choir-to-leave-due-to-late-hour

    • While in Darwin perhaps a swim at Casuarina Beach.

      .

      A saltwater crocodile made a splash with locals at a popular Darwin beach on Friday. (Jill Huck)

  5. Such bravery Albo. Word of the day for you, “pusillanimous”.

    Albanese said it was “quite clearly” a breach of international law to block aid deliveries. Asked by Insiders host David Speers to clarify whether he was specifically accusing Israel of breaching international law, Albanese responded “I’m not a lawyer, those things will play out their course”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/27/anthony-albanese-accuses-israel-of-international-law-breach-says-australia-has-no-immediate-plans-to-recognise-palestinian-state

  6. Someone got AI to do a bit of a farewell to Ozzie Osbourne. Have a decent GPU and away you go creating………

  8. Images of children starving in Gaza have shaken some world leaders out of inertia – but what will Labor do?
    Josh Butler

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/28/albanese-government-faces-labor-party-and-external-pressure-to-act-on-gaza-ntwntfb

    Same as Australian governments always do Josh. SFA until they feel that any noise they make won’t upset the US of A and preferably not even noticed.. Even then there must also be something of an international ‘crowd’ when they ‘stand up and be counted’. First making sure it won’t ‘upset Rupert’ also seems a bit of a pattern with Strayan governments.

    Remember folks, people outside the Western World’s MSM cocoon have been watching graphic footage and killing of people as they look for food for a very long time. You can imagine how the ‘leaders’ of The West sound as they strut around lecturing others about our ‘values’. There must be quite a pool of young ‘digital natives’ in the West forming who have also been seeing such imagery and reading of reports on it outside the MSM bubble.

  10. Sarah Henderson, dumped from frontbench, to push for HECS changes from backbench. The team player intends to make the extraordinary move of advocating for changes to Labor’s election pledge to cut university student debts from the backbench. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/polit... ($) #auspol

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T00:45:34.347Z

    Employees of disability employment provider Bedford are relieved the organisation has avoided entering administration. The SA state govt is giving the organisation a $15m rescue package in exchange for a supported accommodation owned by Bedford in Clapham. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07... #saparli

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T00:48:38.035Z

    Campbell Newman's boot camps return with David Crisafulli calling them "Regional Reset" facilities. 9 private camps spread over Qld with operators to collect $50m in year 1. Kokoda Youth Foundation will operate the Ipswich-Darling Downs one. #qldpol statements.qld.gov.au/statements/1… #qldpol

    — David Marler (@qldaah.bsky.social) 2025-07-27T23:52:22.026Z

    Here Queensland goes again with Campbell Newman's boot camps. Here's how it ended last David Crisafulli & Jarrod Bleijie were involved. #qldpol http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04...

    — David Marler (@qldaah.bsky.social) 2025-07-27T23:30:44.733Z

    It’s a habit – Advance used the stories of multiple sexual assault accusers in elections ads without their permission, and did nothing when they asked them to stop

    — CAMERON WILSON (@cameronwilson.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T04:21:15.949Z

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/16/a...

    — CAMERON WILSON (@cameronwilson.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T04:26:59.205Z

    Tom Lehrer, musical satirist, dies at 97 http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T00:28:49.594Z

  12. …

    Butler called Cleanbill’s analysis “fundamentally flawed and should not be reported as accurate,” also pointing to the company’s terms of use where it states “Cleanbill does not make any representations, warranties or claims that the Material contained on this Website is reliable, accurate, complete or suitable.”

    Cleanbill collects its information, according to its founder, James Gillespie, …

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jul/28/australia-politics-live-question-time-anthony-albanese-sussan-ley-palestine-gaza-university-education-degree-childcare-abuse-kate-chaney-ntwnfb#top-of-blog

    With a statement like that, why does Cleanbill bother [rhetorical]?

    Well, seeing who the founder is …

  13. FMD, what bad luck to bump into 2 cops call Thick As and Two Short-Planks.

    ————————————————————————–

    Man carrying home his gardening tools arrested by armed police in Manchester
    Samuel Rowe, who was returning from allotment, seeking to overturn caution for possession of offensive weapon

    ……………Samuel Rowe, 35, who works as a technical manager at a theatre, had come back from his allotment in Manchester earlier this month

    “I just heard shouting behind me, and then two armed officers shouting at me to drop the knife,” he said. “And then they turned me around, pushed me up against my house…..Rowe said police had questioned him on whether he was “planning on doing something” with the tools, and he said he was also asked to explain what an allotment was.

    “[I had] to explain in very basic terms what an allotment is to this guy,” he said. “So it didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence that I was going to be let off.”

    He was then taken to a police station and questioned. “They started asking questions, like if I was autistic or anything like that, asking me whether I’d ever been in the army, whether I told people I was in the army,” he said.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/28/man-allotment-gardening-tools-arrest-armed-police-manchester

  19. The scum of Netanyahu’s regime get scummier by the minute. The Western press who spread his bullshit, despite all evidence to the contrary, are just as scummy.

    Archive NYT piece. They must have been quick to archive this as this would be a prime candidate to be rapidly memory holed.

    By Natan Odenheimer
    Reporting from Jerusalem
    July 26, 2025, 5:31 a.m. ET

    For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid provided by the United Nations and other international organizations. The government has used that claim as its main rationale for restricting food from entering Gaza.

    But the Israeli military never found proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations, the biggest supplier of emergency assistance to Gaza for most of the war, according to two senior Israeli military officials and two other Israelis involved in the matter.
    In fact, the Israeli military officials said, the U.N. aid delivery system, which Israel derided and undermined, was largely effective in providing food to Gaza’s desperate and hungry population.

    An internal U.S. government analysis came to similar conclusion, Reuters reported on Friday. It found no evidence of systematic Hamas theft of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies, the report said.

    https://archive.is/7jj8P#selection-699.0-707.195

    • This is just fucking appalling, read the fucking calendar people it is 2025 not 1025 we don’t starve people to death or murder them when they become desperate and run a gauntlet to ease the ravaging beast called hunger. Welcome to donald trumps Brave New World everyone. Shit I am fucking mad 👿

  22. I don’t know what the Lady of the Whiteboard is on. Nor does Penny Wong

    During Senate question time today, Cash asked the foreign affairs minister if the government would “categorically rule out ever recognising a Palestinian state while Hamas is in control of Gaza” amid commitments from France and the UK in the last week.

    Wong said the Albanese government condemned Hamas and pointed out that conversations with other nations in the Middle East were focused on reform of the Palestinian Authority and the demilitarisation of Hamas.

    Countries have made clear that they want the security architecture in the Middle East to assure the security of Israel. This is where the international community is at … This is where the discussion is, senator, and this is where the government is engaging … if we want long term peace and security in the Middle East for both Israelis and Palestinians alike, then we need to deal with the issue of a Palestinian state. That is the best way to ensure stability and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians alike. So, senator, I would suggest to you it might be good to grapple with that reality, because that is where the discussion is.

    Cash repeated the question, to which Wong replied:

    People should understand in this place just how out of touch the Coalition is on this. They don’t even support a ceasefire, which the whole world, including President Trump supports … that says something about the extent to which your position is divorced from the reality of what is happening on the ground, what is happening for people In the Middle East and what is happening to the women and children of Gaza who are, no, they are not all Hamas…

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jul/30/australia-politics-live-senate-question-time-gaza-palestine-israel-anthonty-albanese-sussan-ley-youtube-social-media-ban-ntwnfb#top-of-blog

  23. Such a statesman!

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at his British counterpart on Tuesday after the U.K. government vowed to recognize Palestinian statehood later this year.

    “[U.K. PM Keir] Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.

    He added: “A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.

    “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”

    https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-uk-keir-starmer-palestinian-statehood-war-in-gaza-hamas

  25. The Age: A Vic Liberal MP & former tennis star Sam Groth could be a test case for Australia’s new privacy laws after launching legal action against the Herald Sun & one of its journos over what he claims was a serious invasion of his private life. archive.is/TXiTW #springst #ausmedia #auslaw

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T02:09:12.124Z

    The "trimmed mean" measure of inflation — the Reserve Bank's preferred measure of underlying inflation — also declined.

    — ABC News Bot (unofficial) (@abcnewsbot.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T01:58:29.145Z

    The one conspiracy theory I was super skeptical of was that Epstein was murdered. It was already well-established that the jail staff let him kill himself, imo. And a sociopathic POS would absolutely do that out of self-pity. But this is giving me big-time pause. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...

    — Amanda Marcotte (@amandamarcotte.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T10:09:10.082Z

    It seems incomprehensible that Trump would pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, which is hanging a neon sign up that says "Covering Up Pedophile Ring." But this essay helps explain one strong possibility why: What Katie Johnson accused him of doing is just that terrible.

    — Amanda Marcotte (@amandamarcotte.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T17:07:29.958Z

  28. I think I may have to step back from day to day political crap, it appears to be affecting my health. I may post vids or not depending how I feel on the day. Just remember folks –

  31. Ah ‘Western Values’ and out glorious ‘freedoms’ . The moth eaten ex empire that is the UK has long been a glorious exemplar. Object to Israel’s genocide ? Norty norty antisemite you. And don’t think this sort of shit wouldn’t happen here.

    At 80, to be treated like a terrorist is shocking’: arrested on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action

    Jon Farley, 67
    Retired teacher

    Farley was picked up by police at a silent demonstration in Leeds for holding a sign that made a joke about the government’s proscription of Palestine Action taken from an issue of the fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye. He was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000,

    Marianne Sorrell, 80
    Retired teacher

    Sorrell, from Wells, Somerset, was arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally in Cardiff, and she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it.

    Trisha Fine, 75

    Trisha Fine, 75, who was arrested for holding a placard. Photograph: Sam Frost/The Guardian
    Also from Wells and a friend of Sorrell, Fine was held for the same period of time. The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes

    The Rev Sue Parfitt, 83
    Retired priest

    . She was attending a demonstration in Parliament Square in London. She was sitting in a camp chair surrounded by other protesters, holding a placard stating her support for Palestine Action.

    Deborah Hinton, 81, and Oliver Baines, 74
    Hinton is a retired magistrate; Baines is a former charity director

    Hinton and Baines were among eight people arrested by Devon and Cornwall officers at a peaceful demonstration……….. We’re resisting the politicised use of terror laws to suppress a non-violent campaign of sabotage. We’re resisting the criminalisation of peaceful protes

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/30/at-80-to-be-treated-like-a-terrorist-is-shocking-arrested-on-suspicion-of-supporting-palestine-action

  33. Just shows you how good the propaganda dept of the US MSM is. This disparity has been well known and widely written about for many years. And yet the population seems happy to accept such shit. They lap up the bullshit they get fed every time even the tiniest reform to address this is proposed. That any reform is a ticket on an express train to a ‘communistic’ and ‘socialist’ future, that it is truly ‘UnAmerican’.

    Sorry, America, but it’s not Australia’s fault that your healthcare system is failing you

    John Quiggin

    ….. The grim statistics are well known. As of 2022, the US spent $12,555 per person on healthcare, almost twice as much as other wealthy countries, including Australia. That gap alone cancels out about half of the difference in income per person between the US and Australia, according to World Bank estimates.

    Higher expenditure on healthcare would not be a problem if it delivered a healthier population. But this is not the case. The US has one of the lowest life expectancies of any rich country. And even though more Americans die young, those who survive have worse health than elsewhere. Americans suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma and depression at around twice the (age-adjusted) rate of other rich countries.

    U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, D.C.

    This gap is too large to be accounted for by specific causes like gun violence or drug overdoses, or even unequal income distribution. The US has worse health outcomes at every point on the income distribution scale than other rich countries, even though those at the upper end have much higher incomes.

    And the problem is getting worse. The US saw declining life expectancy in the years after 2014 and,

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/01/sorry-america-but-its-not-australias-fault-that-your-healthcare-system-is-failing-you

  36. FMD ! This has been repeated over and over and over again across the mining industry for decades . It is SOP in Australia. “How did we get here?” asks the journo. Given how long it has been going on with somewhere between SFA and nothing being done to fix the problem the answer is obvious. The minerals sector enjoys operating under the best governments that money can buy.

    Adani promised Australia billions from its Carmichael mine but it hasn’t paid a cent in tax. How did we get here?

    Jonathan Barrett

    But just how did policymakers fail to extract a single cent in company tax from Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, even though it opened during the start of a commodity price boom?

    The independent senator David Pocock said on X: “Why on earth do successive [governments] keep allowing giant multinational companies to reap super profits from the sale of our resources without paying tax?

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/adani-australia-carmichael-mine-revenue-zero-tax-paid-explainer-ntwnfb

  37. Victorian private and public sector workers would have the right to work from home at least two days a week under legislation proposed by the Allan government. http://www.theage.com.au/politics/vic... #springst #auslaw

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T22:28:35.241Z

    Brad Battin talked about getting people back to the CBD (which is actually doing fine, it terms of foot traffic). Like so many others he talks about that as if it’s importance is self evident and the revitalisation of our surburban shopping strips and decentralisation in general is just never mentioned.

    Related, I’ve seen many other articles in Melbourne for years about retail trade in the CBD re Covid & WFH which quoted Melbourne CBD’s Lord Mayor and CBD retail reps, but not once have I seen a suburban Mayor or traders group quoted for the reverse view on increased business in local areas. Has anyone seen one for Melbourne, Sydney, or Perth? Brisbane might be covered in the same way, as its council covers nearly half the population, so its not so captive to CBD landlords.

    Firebrand Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has warned she could be bankrupted and removed from parliament if she loses a defamation case brought against her by the head of the NT’s Central Land Council. http://www.theage.com.au/national/jac... #auspol #auslaw this article is a plea for donations

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-08-02T03:12:52.583Z

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne…Just to be totally clear we asked those leading the charge "against net zero" whether they really meant we should abandon any efforts to reduce emissions, and the answer was….yes.

    — Lenore Taylor (@lenoret.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T22:23:43.806Z

    Ch9 Qld's nightly news is a lot quieter since the departure of human megaphone Tim Arvier. After years of spruiking David Crisafulli's crisis slogans he's secured a government role. Where else but the Crisis Communications Network. #qldpol tvblackbox.com.au/page/2025/07…

    — David Marler (@qldaah.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T22:08:17.175Z

    Exclusive: Australia’s largest superannuation fund has divested more than $26m of shares in poker machine giant Aristocrat from its “socially aware” option, after sustained criticism of its support for the gambling industry. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

    — Henry Belot (@henrybelot.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T08:05:33.617Z

    New, from me: Trump just fired the head of the BLS, accusing her of rigging data.The reality is that by shooting the messenger reporting on the negative effects of his economic policies, Trump pushed America further into banana republic territory.donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-shoo…

    — Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T20:41:17.727Z

    The right’s new cause, crime without punishment, and its new martyrs, the Ottawa hostage-takers web.archive.org/web/20250730… #cdnpoli

    — Leroy (@leroylynch.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T12:15:30.110Z

  38. Lordy, never thought I’d ever link anything from Tucker Carlson but here I am doing just that. A straight down the line talk with an ‘All American’ 25 year Green Beret veteran who went to Gaza. Pretty awful stuff going on and he calls out the USA and Israel. Bit hard for the US of A’s usual suspects to dismiss such a denunciation as being just some whiny ‘woke liberal’ or ‘antisemite’ ‘liberal’.

    Go to 57 minutes for a pretty powerful and sad story of a young child the guy encountered at a food distribution centre. Machine gunned down by the #%$#$%! IDF! as he was leaving. I remember the incident making it to the papers but it was just a very brief report , lost in a host of others.

    With the US being Israel’s enabler it could spell big trouble (I hope) for Israel if the ‘Tucker Carlson demographic’ turns against them.

  40. If Rowan Dean has active choice in the images of him uploaded for Sky News Australia youtube videos, ye gods, he should probably cut down on the bath salts.

    • From the Financial Times. Paywalled but I got some bits out of it. Enough to see that re Tucker Carlson, Israel is indeed losing the ‘Maga demographic’ as well.

      Crumbling US support from both sides of the political divide should see that #%%#% Netanyahu and his ilk in deep shit.

      But the Rupertarium has long been among the US of A’s most ardent ‘Israel first’ crew. No wonder Rupert’s outlets decided to rediscover their pre president Trump enthusiasm for Epstein after Trump started to call Israel out. Or was it the other way around ?

      Trump is openly calling bullshit on some of Rupert’s bullshit .One of Ruperts Fox ‘stars’ in his prime time op-ed piece declared people who thought Israel was starving Palestinians as being ‘filled with aniti-Semitism‘ and ‘fake conservatives‘. An hour or so later Trump tweeted that you’d have to be ‘pretty cold hearted‘ or just plain ‘nuts‘ to deny Israel was starving Palestinians. The ‘MAGA’ v ‘Rupert’ fight is on. May it be to the death ………….of both.

      Has Gaza tested the limits of Donald Trump’s support for Benjamin Netanyahu?

      “My people are starting to hate Israel,” Trump recently warned one prominent Jewish donor, according to a Middle East expert who speaks regularly with the administration.

      “Will there ever be a blow-up with Israel and Trump?” said the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I don’t think so. But there are people in the White House who are watching this narrative develop in the right wing, in the Maga world, that is very anti-Israel, very anti-Jewish.”

      https://www.ft.com/content/8d703b13-eefb-448d-933d-fa70e8e2dc78

    • It’s Sky after Dark so he probably has just shocked to have found his show’s viewing audience cracked the 2,000 barrier for the first time.

      Orrrr someone on his panel show had just admitted that they voted for Labor at an election once and Rowan had just realised he did not have a crucifix and holy water at hand .

  41. Missing the point, as usual

    The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has questioned the Pro-Palestine protest in Sydney due later today, saying it could have happened elsewhere without “massive diversion of police resources.”

    No it would not

    Talking to the ABC a few minutes ago, Ley said everyone wanted to “see the bloodshed stop” and said the war could end tomorrow with a Hamas surrender and the release of hostages.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/03/australia-news-pro-palestine-march-sydney-harbour-bridge-melbourne-nsw-wild-weather-sunday-ntwnfb#maincontent

    • Re Sussssssan’s “it could have happened elsewhere “. Preferably in Kiwirrkurra out in the Gibson Desert eh Susssssss ?

  42. Got a labour market problem ? Bureau of Statistics report says employment growth looking crappy ? Reality no to your liking ? Easy peasy to fix in the Banana Republic of Murica under El Presidente Agent Orange.

    Trump fires labour statistics commissioner after figures show poor job growth. Claims ‘numbers are rigged”

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/trump-fires-labour-statistics-commissioner-after-figures-show-poor-job-growth/SZMJZEBKIQWPKRC67MASZMT4PY/

    Trump must have read some of Stalin’s advice for fixing problems, “No man, no problem’. Trump probably disappointed he cant (as yet) implement the full quote. “Death solves all problems. No man. No problem. “.

  43. Amy gets it

    If there is one thing you can bank on, it is that conservative governments know how to use power.

    They never shy away from it.

    If a conservative government wants to change something, it will, and it won’t worry about who it is annoying, or the pushback, or whether or not it is the smart move. It will do it, knowing that it will very quickly become the new normal and people, more likely than not, will move on.

    John Howard did it for 11 years. Howard changed this country more in the last three decades than almost any other modern politician. While he eventually pushed the electorate too far with Work Choices, he would probably say it was worth it – because many of the changes he went to the wall for still exist today. Why?

    Because the left never uses power the same way. And conservatives know it.

    …

    https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/what-conservatives-do-better-between-the-lines

    • Too many in Labor are convinced that doing ANYTHING that may upset Rupert and or the BCA is instant electoral suicide. So its bread and circuses and looking non threatening as the people they were created for continue to have their share of the economy relentlessly reduced. 😦

  44. 😆 Well of course, otherwise there is a grave risk that North Shore people might have their views sullied and who knows what it might do to house prices.

    One of our reporters at the Sydney march, Jordyn Beazley, says that police are now attempting to manoeuvre the front of the march back across the bridge.

    ………..

    Compare the pair.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DMroRfYzDBf/

    • Three bags full, sir!

      Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna said police estimate 90,000 people took part in the protest.

      “At points today we were really concerned about a crowd crush,” McKenna said, noting the number of attended was larger than the 50,000 that organisers estimated would be in attendance in yesterday’s successful NSW supreme court bid.

      “We could not get those people, the number, the significant size of that crowd off that northern egress route without risking crowd crush. We could not allow those numbers to then egress into the northern side, into those train stations without again, that real risk of crowd crush.”

  46. Well done people of Sydney ! Especially on such a crappy day weather wise. And except for the brave few who spoke up a bipartisan FCUK youse pollies. Most especially those who offered mealy mouthed words for months and have suddenly ‘seen the light’.

  47. Minns said he would not criticise protesters’ right to demonstrate, but again said it was a difficult, abbreviated timeline to organise. He said:

    It’s just that it’s a logistically difficult thing to navigate because you’ve got a confined space and an overwhelming number of people. And when that happens at the football stadium or Home Bush, it’s pretty straightforward, it happens every week.

    When police have got a couple of days to organise it on the Harbour Bridge, usually a 7-lane highway, it’s tough, it’s difficult.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/aug/04/australia-news-live-flood-rain-nsw-warning-gaza-palestine-march-sydney-harbour-bridge-police-palestine-labor-coalition-ntwnfb

    So, there was NO planning till the judge gave the OK?

    Careless. Very careless.

  48. 😆 Ah,the utterly shamelessness of Rupert’s lackey’s. Lamentations about the awfulness of ”The Media” ,”that media, the one way over there” is a bit of a hardy annual over at Mordor Media. The LOL of it is their accusations are always that the offending media has been using the ‘Dirty Digger’s’ SOP..

    From The Australian.

    Fit to print? The newspaper that has trouble with the truth

    The New York Times stands ……………… Its editors and staff have a record of manipulating news through omission and commission and the paper sometimes publishes outright lies.

  49. Help ! Aliens have abducted The Young Liberals and replaced them with aliens. That is the only possible explanation for the following. Well that or today is International Opposite Day.

    Young Liberals urge Coalition to distance itself from Sky News and blame Maga ‘mirage’ for Dutton loss

    ……………..says ‘fringe right’ of the party membership had too much influence

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/04/young-liberals-urge-coalition-to-distance-itself-from-sky-news-and-blame-maga-mirage-for-dutton-loss

  50. Well he would, wouldn’t he.

    Co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said:

    Our national landmarks are there to bring Australians together. This march did not do that.

    Any genuine concern for humanity would have also included the forgotten people held against their will in Gaza, the tortured and broken innocents held underground for nearly two years.

    op. cit.

    Perspective is everything.

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