I hate our pathetic electoral laws...

#AusPol #Greens #VoteGreens #ProgIndies #WeAreTotallyFscked #WeAreSelfishCruelBastards #Misanthropy #FsckOffDutton! #ShitParty1 #ShitParty2 #ComeOnTanya! #WhyIsLabor #NatsAreNuts #NoNukes #racism #FuckRacists #OzElection2025

Albo's f*en dog...'s arse!

#ABC #7pm #News #CharliePickering

https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/15/2025-election-peter-dutton-collapse-liberal-party-future/

quote

If the polls are right, the Coalition is headed for defeat. Where does that leave the Liberal Party, which has abandoned so many of its traditions to get here?

Peter Dutton is in heaps of trouble. Three polls were put out in the past 24 hours, all showing a growing swing to Labor. They’re just the latest in a growing list of polls indicating that at first the Coalition’s momentum had halted and then, point by point, has gone into reverse. When Anthony Albanese talked about kicking with the breeze in the last quarter, he wasn’t wrong.

Worse, Dutton’s own personal numbers are declining while Albanese’s are improving. It’s almost as it, as voters have paid more attention to the leaders as the campaign got under way, they’ve decided that they don’t like what they see in Dutton.

And Dutton has fired his big guns: a revamped low and middle income earner tax offset, and tax deductibility for mortgage interest, announced at the campaign launch on Sunday, added to the petrol excise cut from the budget reply.

But Dutton’s pal Donald Trump has sent the oil price plummeting with his policy chaos. Unlike 2022, no-one is lamenting how much it costs to fill up at the bowser. And the tax offset and tax deductibility were announced at the same time as Labor was offering its own (further) tax cut and 5% deposits for mortgages. Your average disengaged voter would only have noticed both sides throwing money at them on the weekend — or Jacinta Nampijinpa Price channeling Trump. And economists have spent the past 36 hours bagging both sides for wasting money and further buggering up the tax system.

So after nearly three years, and with just an Easter/ANZAC break and a week of campaigning to go, there’s a non-trivial chance that Labor could actually increase its tiny majority, leaving the Coalition in an even worse position for the 2028 election than Scott Morrison left it in three years ago.

While Dutton and his campaign team think about how they can turn the campaign around and pull Labor’s lead back, and hope for a 2019-style polling error in their favour, others within Liberal ranks might be reflecting on where such a result might leave them.

Failing to win back teal seats (or, in the worst case scenario, failing to win them back and losing more, like Bradfield and Wannon) would lock in those independents and make a medium-term return to government for the Coalition much more difficult. Likely, the Liberals would have to wait until the current incumbents decided to leave politics to have a crack at regaining their seats.

If the loss of teal seats was offset by success in outer suburban seats, that would be some comfort that Dutton’s strategy had been partly effective. But what happens if the latter don’t swing to the Liberals? Does that mean the strategy was right, but the execution flawed? Or is the whole strategy of refocusing away from what used to be the Liberal heartland in favour of lower-income, more multicultural communities never going to work?

That mirrors the Liberals’ ideological dilemma. If Dutton entered the campaign having tossed aside some fundamental Liberal beliefs, with his big-government nuclear power plan and using divestment against big corporations, it is the Liberals’ core competence of fiscal discipline that has been thoroughly trashed in the past few weeks.

However ill-deserved the Liberals’ reputation for good fiscal management might be — they have long been the party of higher spending and higher taxation, as measured by proportion of Australia’s GDP — voters have until recently assumed that the Liberals would always balance the books. But in the face of voter disenchantment with the benefits of fiscal discipline and the need to combat a fiscally reckless Labor government, Dutton has gone for broke with handouts galore (with more to come on defence spending as well). Unlike John Howard in 2007, however, Dutton is doing so while the budget is mired in deficit, with no return to surplus on the horizon.

Angus Taylor, desperately trying to fly the Liberal flag in an outfit run by a Queenslander, can insist the Coalition will have a better fiscal outcome when they release their full costings — at this rate, presumably one minute before polls open on May 3 — but a Dutton government would still deliver deficits into the 1930s, like Labor.

When voters clock that endlessly running up bills on the national credit card only leads to spending tens of billions a year on bond interest rather than, say, health or education, will they remember the now-distant Howard years when achieving surpluses seemed easy (chiefly because Costello taxed us so much?) Or will the Liberals just be Tweedledee to Labor’s profligate Tweedledum?

A win, or a narrow defeat, would vindicate Dutton’s strategy and his abandonment of Liberal traditions. But a loss along the lines currently suggested by the polls would leave them ideologically and strategically bereft. For Liberals — including the last remaining actual liberals in their ranks — there’s more at stake than merely who forms government on May 3.

unquote

#AusPol #Greens #VoteGreens #ProgIndies #WeAreTotallyFscked #WeAreSelfishCruelBastards #Misanthropy #FsckOffDutton! #ShitParty1 #ShitParty2 #ComeOnTanya! #WhyIsLabor #NatsAreNuts #NoNukes #racism #FuckRacists #OzElection2025

https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/14/getup-ceo-departs-group-missing-2025-election-campaign/

QUOTE BEGINS

The once-mighty progressive group is barely running digital advertisements, hasn’t put out a media release this year, and has reported a significant drop in donations since 2022.

GetUp!’s CEO has quietly left the organisation just weeks before the federal election, as the once-mighty progressive advocacy group reports a drastic fall in donations and has so far been missing in action during the campaign.

This apparent turn in fortune comes amid the ascend of the group’s right-wing counterpart ADVANCE and the emergence of other progressive grass-root campaigning groups like Climate 200.

GetUp! chair Glen Berman confirmed that Larissa Baldwin-Roberts resigned as CEO last month. “We want to thank Larissa for her hard work and dedication to GetUp! and its members. We wish her all the best in her future work,” he said in an email.

GetUp!’s chief operating officer Dr Lachlan McKimmie has stepped in as the group’s acting chief and “myself and the rest of the board are taking a more active role in supporting our team,” Berman said.

Baldwin-Roberts was appointed CEO in late 2022 after stints as the group’s 2022 election campaign director and First Nations justice campaign director, according to her LinkedIn. She remains involved with Common Threads, a First Nations summit that is “delivered in partnership” with GetUp!.

Her departure from GetUp! and McKimmie’s appointment in the crucial weeks before this year’s federal election was publicly announced. Baldwin-Roberts updated her LinkedIn to show that she had finished at GetUp!, but without it alerting her network that she had done so. Her X profile still lists her in the role. She did not respond to LinkedIn or Instagram messages from Crikey seeking comment.

GetUp! has been notably absent during the 2025 election campaign. The once formidable digital campaign juggernaut has spent as much as $768,000 on Facebook and Instagram political advertisements since 2019 (Meta’s Ad Library gives a range of spending when data is pulled from its service, which is why this isn’t a precise number).

But in the past 90 days, GetUp! has spent a grand total of $3,615 on 15 total ads. For context, political parties, candidates and groups spent more than $11.38 million during that same period.

Similarly, the group hasn’t spent a cent on Google ads in that same period (although the group has never been a big spender on Google, only running $10,000 worth in 2021).

GetUp! remains active across social media platforms, doing organic posts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

However, the group has not put out a media release since November last year, nor has it released any new reports. It’s also closing its petition platform, Campaigns by Me, at the end of the month.

Berman said GetUp! is set to unleash an online advertising blitz across eight electorates before the election. “We’ve delayed this compared to previous years to ensure it’s as impactful as possible.” The group is also doing billboards and street advertising in Melbourne and Brisbane electorates, he said.

Nevertheless, GetUp!’s finances look increasingly grim. According to the group’s real-time tracker, it has received $4,269,574 in donations in the past 365 days. This is a significant drop off from its last reported receipts of $6,703,280 in donations for the 2022-23 financial year, and far less than the last election year of 2021-22 where it reported $10.05 million.

Berman alluded to this reduced war chest: “Our plans this election are focused on centring our members’ priorities and maximising the impact of our member donations. Over 7,200 members have already donated to our election campaign.”

He pointed towards GetUp!’s involvement with the Yes campaign during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum as disrupting the organisation’s preparations for this election.

“This election cycle is unique for us because of the impact of the Voice referendum — effectively we ran a national election-scale campaign in 2022 and 2023, which means that we’ve not had as much time as usual to renew the organisation and rebuild our financial resources before embarking on this year’s election campaign,” he said.

In 2023, The Sydney Morning Herald reported “mass redundancies” at GetUp! following the organisation’s decline in influence.

The University of Glasgow’s head of division for political and international studies, Professor Ariadne Vromen, who has published research on GetUp!, said the group had changed approach after being criticised for a “failed” campaign in the 2019 election. She said that it had pivoted to doing more local electorate work in 2022 — which could explain some of the difference — and that Climate 200 had somewhat “outgunned” the group that election. Still, Vromen is surprised by GetUp!’s lack of digital campaigning and profile in 2025.

“They have always had leaders with a public profile so it seems very strange to be mid-election without a spokesperson,” she said.

Berman said that the progressive group remains a political threat.

“GetUp! remains member-driven, focusing on empowering members and mobilising for change. We know that progressive advocacy is more critical than ever, especially in light of shifting political landscapes, and support from our members and donors will be key to securing a future where GetUp! continues to be an impactful force in Australian democracy.”

QUOTE ENDS

#AusPol #ClimateCrisis #WomensRights #ShitParty1 #ShitParty2 #FsckOffDutton #WhyIsLabor #NoNukes #VoteGreens #ProgIndies #OzElection2025 #GetUp!

https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/15/2025-election-party-machinery-squashes-independent-campaigns/

QUOTE BEGINS

In 2022, independent Jo Dyer unsuccessfully contested the seat of Boothby. A member of her team explains just how heavily the odds are stacked against grassroots campaigns.

Running an independent campaign for federal office is terribly hard. They need $100,000 to get the foundations in place, create a full campaign team out of nothing, find hundreds of volunteers, and as many people with election experience as possible. Every volunteer has to letterbox, attend rallies and functions, morning, noon and night. They have to be willing to openly canvass for their political preference.

I didn’t know any of that when I volunteered to help Jo Dyer in Boothby (SA) in 2022.After my spirit was broken in that campaign, I thought I’d never get engaged in politics ever again.

I was wrong.

2022: Harsh realities

We had a team of about a dozen people working on the foundations of Dyer’s 2022 campaign: getting websites set up and phones connected, registering with the electoral authorities, building media contact lists. And we started letterboxing as soon as we could get the pamphlets printed.

Dyer was up against the ALP’s Louise Miller-Frost and Liberal candidate Rachel Swift. They were all seeking to replace sitting member, Liberal Nicolle Flint, who’d resigned saying politics was too personal.

On one hot, dusty day I went to Plympton to letterbox (hoping to hit 1,000 homes). The letterboxes were full of material. Flint had used her parliamentary allowance to create a final “newsletter” to the constituents, despite not running for reelection. The party machine had clicked into gear, producing a multi-page newsletter paid for by the taxpayer.

With letterboxes already stuffed, I had to force our little flyers into the slot.

It was physically exhausting, and as the day wore on and I got further behind schedule, I became mentally deflated. How was our cottage campaign supposed to compete?

Later that day, I accompanied Jo to a public event at a bowls club in Glenelg.

A woman in a Liberal t-shirt was protesting about transgender rights, and the team from the Liberal Party showed no embarrassment. I filmed the woman.

No-one at the event asked candidates about transgender rights. Most were elderly and worried about their pensions.

As I was leaving, a snappily dressed chap asked me what I planned to do with the video. What interest did he have in it? “I am a policy adviser for Penny Wong, I’m running Louise’s campaign.”

That hit me like a clenched fist to the jaw. A full-time staff member from Wong’s office was running a Labor candidate’s campaign. More party machinery.

Just then it seemed to me the forces marshalled against Jo were overwhelming.

I went home delighted with Jo’s performance in public, but wondering how anything we did would make a difference. I told her about the video and she made it clear we’d never release it: “The transgender community doesn’t need this bullshit”. A few nights later, at a candidates’ forum in Mitcham, the same chap asked me about the video. I explained Jo didn’t want it released. “Give it to me, we’ll release it and no-one will know,” he said.

In the end Jo received 7,700 first preference votes — about the margin that Swift lost to Millar-Frost. We consoled ourselves that we’d done valuable work in keeping Scott Morrison from winning reelection.

I felt I had run my last campaign race, but I did doorknock for the Yes vote during the Voice to Parliament referendum. The campaign in my area was run by full-time ALP staff who showed me how NationBuilder [a database management software] works. I was flabbergasted by the detail we could collect and save.

We lost, badly. The meanness of spirit against Indigenous peoples was devastating.

I was done.

2025: This could be our last chance

Earlier this year, when Labor’s Don “The Godfather” Farrell colluded with Peter Dutton to create new legislation that will make it nearly impossible for independents to run in future elections, I started to feel the need to get back in the ring — no matter the size of the opponent. Does anyone care about grassroots democracy anymore?

Candidates from the most prominent parties — ALP, Liberals, the Nationals and Greens — don’t have to spend hours drawing letterbox maps, or beg for corflutes to be erected, or decide which areas of an electorate are a campaigning priority. It’s all in a file on some software like NationBuilder, ready to be dragged out each election. They know names, addresses, religious preferences and which people will vote by mail. They practically know how you think and vote.

The parties know their budgets before they start campaigning, and can book out billboard sites months ahead. But the independents start from scratch.

I’ve dusted myself off and am volunteering again in 2025 for Dr Verity Cooper in marginal (0.5%) Sturt, South Australia.

This time around, the letterboxes contain an “annual report” from Liberal incumbent James Stevens. A frisson of outrage ran through our campaign office when we got wind of an (unconfirmed) rumour that Labor has printed 6,000 corflutes, and the Libs 100,000. Verity can afford about 400 — good luck trying to find them in the lead-up to polling day.

Unlike Jo’s 2022 run, Verity has financial support from Climate 200 for this campaign, although it’s only enough to put the campaign into action. We must fundraise relentlessly to be able to truly compete.

So I donate a bit harder, walk a bit faster, attend more trivia and film nights. The deck is stacked against us, but we’re in the game — and it might be the last hand.

QUOTE ENDS

#AusPol #ClimateCrisis #WomensRights #ShitParty1 #ShitParty2 #FsckOffDutton #WhyIsLabor #NoNukes #VoteGreens #ProgIndies #OzElection2025

https://citynews.com.au/2025/flu-shots-covid-boosters-what-to-do/

#flu #covid #boosters #healthcare #Straya

https://theshovel.com.au/2023/02/01/peter-dutton-to-start-using-chatgpt-to-bring-more-human-touch-to-speeches/

Saying he wanted to bring a warmer quality to his speeches and media appearances, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has confirmed he will start using the AI-generated robot ChatGPT to assist him with developing communications from now on.

“I just want to show Australians that I’m not a robot. I’m actually a loving, compassionate human man and illegal immigrants are not literate or numerate,” a ChatGPT-generated statement, read by Peter Dutton, said.

The Liberal Party leader said he had asked the chatbot to write a series of speeches in the style of a Peter Dutton, but with a human bent.

“Time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to have water lapping at your door. And my door is always open for you,” he read out.

“To Australians doing it tough right now, I want you to know that I’m here for you and that people in Melbourne are too scared to go out at night due to the proliferation of African gangs. Am I right peeps?”

If successful, the technology will be rolled out to other members of the party.