Most of what passes for politics in Australia is an utter snorefest, for a few reasons, not least is the very small pool of talent that thinks to itself, “hmm, what my life needs is the public scrutiny of national politics“. Other countries with larger populations enjoy the availability of more intelligent and capable politicians such as, erm, Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn,
The only really interesting moments in Aussie politics are when the tribes find themselves in internecine conflict. The source of such amusement is often a rude interruption of reality at the intersection of two deeply-held positions that are logically inconsistent.
One current example is the case of the proposed Carmichael coal mine, sometimes referred to by its owner, the Adani Group.
Those on the left are faced with a navigational conundrum; find a safe passage between jobs for their blue collar “base” and the all-powerful global religion of climate change.
The tofu-eating effeminates in the gentrified areas of Australia’s cities will be forced to virtue signal by voting Green if Labor show too much support for the mine while the burger-eating bogans in the rural areas set to benefit most from the new jobs will vote for any number of other parties if the support isn’t sincere enough.
The blogger and journalist, Tim Blair, summarises the leader of the opposition’s amusing bind and hilarious procrastination here. Bodes well for a decisive future Prime Minister, doesn’t it?
But then, we shouldn’t be surprised as he has a public track record of avoiding taking a position on anything as this bizarre exchange from a few years ago illustrates:
One of the most powerful forces on the side of the pro-Adani lobby is the unlikely-looking union bully, Sally McManus, a woman who never knowingly let her face register pleasure or delight:
One suspects the word “compromise” is not highlighted in her dictionary. “Frivolity” and “joviality“, also.
Bill is going to be providing those of us with a desire to see the world burn with huge amusement over the next few weeks.
Bill’s Opinion
As people as diverse as Scott Adams and Bill Gates are loudly pointing out, we have a solution to climate change already.
It doesn’t even matter whether you believe climate change is a problem either; there’s enough people in the world who do and are prepared to cripple the economy to combat it. We need to find a way to satisfy their desires whilst not killing the capitalism golden goose responsible for the modern miracles we’ve had in the last two centuries.
The answer is Generation IV nuclear energy.
Great news for Australians; you’ve got domestic deposits of uranium so could be completely self-sufficient in producing all the dirt cheap domestic energetic you’ll ever need.
Bad news for Australians; the only politician talking about it is Clive Palmer, guaranteeing it will remain outside of the mainstream political discussion for the foreseeable future.