Upcoming Australian election thread.

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Greenmachine121

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Doogie

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So - the Solomon Islands agreement with China. General view is that the Solomon Islands had an agreement to build an internet cable with Huawei from Sydney to Honiara. Turnbull under advice from security did not want Huawei hooked into Australian internet so they agreed to use an Australian company and Australia paid for it. Which is interesting from two perspectives - 1) pretty obvious some SI pollies were on a gravy ride with Huawei and lost the kickbacks and were pissed and 2) Australia could ratchet this up by shutting down the internet.

So, not sure this is a policy failure per se but probably foreseeable and should have been managed better.
 
Hacky McAxe

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Greenmachine121 said:
That’s bizarre

was he in a fire or something because he doesn’t look that that anymore
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Dutton?

Yeah, unfortunately he was stuck in an oven at 220 degrees for 1 hour. The cooks didn't realise the mistake until they tried to add butter and sour cream.
 
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So did Scotty say he & Jenny are blessed to not have disabled children on tonight's leaders debate?
 
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Love Albo’s campaign pitch - “we plan to have a plan”!!
 
Cook

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ALX25 said:
So did Scotty say he & Jenny are blessed to not have disabled children on tonight's leaders debate?
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Pretty true though right. No disrespect to anyone that has disabled kids, I couldn’t think of anything worse
 
wendog33

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Doogie said:
So - the Solomon Islands agreement with China. General view is that the Solomon Islands had an agreement to build an internet cable with Huawei from Sydney to Honiara. Turnbull under advice from security did not want Huawei hooked into Australian internet so they agreed to use an Australian company and Australia paid for it. Which is interesting from two perspectives - 1) pretty obvious some SI pollies were on a gravy ride with Huawei and lost the kickbacks and were pissed and 2) Australia could ratchet this up by shutting down the internet.

So, not sure this is a policy failure per se but probably foreseeable and should have been managed better.
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fb.watch

ScuMo's National Security Disaster pt 1 | By The Liberal Muppet Show | Facebook | Flying into a country at the forefront of climate change. There was a highly symbolic welcome. Children submerged in water representing the nation's vulnerability to rising sea levels. Climate change is a serious issue in the Pacific. Last year Australia joint Pacific Nations declaring that it's the greatest security threat in the region. Australia is still facing pressure from Pacific leaders to do more domestically to tackle climate change. But the Morrison Government is pushing back intent to have any references to the phasing out of coal removed from the final communicate that forum leaders will sign following their retreat. The 18 member states failed to unconditionally agree to a declaration that calls for a rapid transition from coal and for countries to halt subsidising fossil fuels. The Prime Minister of Host Nation Tavalu blaming Australia. Fiji and Prime Minister Frank Binimarama a critic of Australia's climate change policies fired out this tweet following the retreat. We came together in nation that risks disappearing to the seas but unfortunately we settled for the status quo in our communicate. Watered down climate language has real consequences like waterlogged homes, schools, communities and ancestral burial grounds. The Prime Minister of Tavalu says his Australian counterpart went into the retreat determined to put his country's economy first. We stressed very strongly during our exchange as a though you are concerned about your saving your economies. I'm concerned about saving my people in Tobao and likewise the leaders of others are Pacific Small Island countries. That was the tone of the discussion. Please don't expect that we we come and you know we bow down. The Tongan Prime Minister has been reduced to tears. A Scott Morrison battle to ensure a statement from the Pacific Island Forum did not include a coal ban. Pacific leaders are angry at the watered down commitment to action on climate change. The Prime Minister of Tonga actually cried in the retreat. Tears shed over rising seas driven by climate change with the finger pointed at Australia's coal dependents. The great powers are now battling for influence in the Pacific and Australia wants the region's leaders to balance their carbon cutting demands. Beijing's representatives are at the forum and talked up their nation's commitment to action on climate change. The region is now dependent on China's trade and its cash. Miss Ardern has the Prime Minister to explain Australia's position on climate change. Climate change of course taking centre stage at the regional conference with accusations Australia is not doing enough. We all have to take responsibility ourselves. Will Australia resist or argue against any global agreement to put a limit a time date and expiration date on the coal industry? Ah this is critical to Australia's future and we'll keep on mining. Of course we'll keep on mining. Coal? We will keep mining the resources that we're able to sell on the world market. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister has come under fire for saying Pacific Nations will survive the climate crisis because quote many of their workers come here to pick our fruit. The Prime Minister of Tuvalu has threatened to pull seasonal workers from Australia has encouraged other nations in the region to consider doing the same. Prime Minister Soppawanga has also criticised the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for his a conduct and behaviour He has criticised what he describes as Australia's neo-colonial approach. It of course follows a comments by the Fiji and Prime Minister Frank Barney Marama who labelled Scott Morrison's behaviour at last week's regional summit as both insulting and condescending and suggested that it could actually push Pacific Island nations closer to China the last thing Australia wants. There's fresh concern on the country's doorstep. In the parliament in Honeyara today the country's Prime Minister formally confirmed he done a new security deal with Beijing. And it's a situation that has our allies deeply worried. China setting up a base in the Solomons is is a huge game changer. But the full details of the agreement yet to be released and a draft leaked last month allowed for the deployment of Chinese police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces to the Solomon islands. It also allowed for ships to stop over. Arrangements which the country's opposition believes would ultimately lead to a permanent military presence and base. It's already been done in other parts of the world. Um and for us here in the Solomons it's it's it's naive of us to think that this won't happen. Um I think there are wordings in the graph that I saw that allows for this to happen. So we can't just watch this and say oh this is somewhat concerning. This is really serious for our security. While that threat of a permanent military base remains hypothetical the ferocious battles fought in the island chain during World War two do loom large in the minds of military strategists. The first defensive against Japan and the Southwest Pacific comes by sea. As allied warships steamed to a surprise attack on the Solomon. US led allies wore down the Japanese in a major campaign of attrition that cost tens of thousands of lives, hundreds of aircraft and dozens of ships. Are the most important strategic areas of Australia's northern coast. The nation sits in a key location to the north east of Australia less than two thousand kilometres from the mainland. Governments change but geography doesn't. So the small islands of the Solomons and also New Caledonia are strategically important to China as they were to Japan. They control the sea lanes from the North Pacific all the way down to an tactic. The opposition claims Scott Morrison has simply bungled things labelling this the worst Australian Pacific foreign policy failure since World War two. This Prime Minister is complacent. He's always there for the photo op never there for the follow up never does the right planning to get ahead of issues. China's able if they follow this through to set up a military base there. That'll be absolutely that's a very bad day for Australia. Uh we don't want our own little Cuba off our coast and that is not what is good for the for this nation not what is good for this region. Senator Penny Wong is the Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister. Senator why is Labor attempting to blame this security deal on Scott Morrison? He's not responsible for the sovereign actions of the Chinese government or the Solomon Islands government. Uh it is true that the Solomon Islands is a is a sovereign nation but that doesn't absolve Mr Morrison of his responsibility as a Australia's leader and the fact is this is the worst foreign policy blunder that we've seen in the Pacific since World War two and despite Mr Morrison's tough talk on his watch our region has become less secure and the risks Australia faces have become greater. If you see it as a failure of Scott Morrison's leadership then logic dictates that you also must see it as a failure of US leadership in the region. The the United States is the nation when it comes to security in our region and obviously in the world. But let's be clear Australia's always had a particular role here in the Pacific. We have always been the country to whom Pacific Island Nations looked as a partner of choice. We have been part of the Pacific community or the Pacific family. That has historically been our position. And what has occurred here on Mr. Morrison's watch is that we are no longer the nation to whom the Solomon Islands looks to. Uh Now this is ah a failure of Australian foreign policy under this Prime Minister. A man who as I said talks tough but goes missing when it really counts. Just like he did on bushfires and vaccines and rats. It's not just about ah the Solomons it's also about China. How would you attempt to reset the relationship with China if you became Australia's foreign minister. Well the first thing we have to do is recognise that our region is being reshaped in great part by the strategic competition between the US and China and most relevantly by China's increased aggression and assertiveness and how we deal with that is very important for Australia's security and one of the key things we have to do is to secure our region. That is why what is occurring in Solomon Islands is you know such a a failure of Australian foreign what I what I would say first in relation to the Pacific and we will have more to say about. There's there are a whole range of things we wouldn't have done. You know we we wouldn't have reduced development assistance which on average compared to when we were lasting government for for this region or for the Solomon Islands is 28% less per year we wouldn't have mocked Pacific leaders by joking about water lapping at their doors as Mr Dutton did with Mr Morrison standing next to him. But let's not this is but I I I'm I'm happy to come to that. We would we would have been incredible on climate we would not have mismanaged the Pacific Labor scheme. So all of this adds up to a failure of diplomacy, a failure of strategy and a failure of leadership and that there is a direct responsibility that Mr Morrison has not taken. What you should expect from us if we are elected is more resources and more energy and more focus on securing our region. Uh with a lot of focus from Mr Morrison on you know fighting Labor fighting the domestic fight when his focus really should be on making sure Australians are more secure in our region.

5,597 views, 189 likes, 3 loves, 87 comments, 207 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Liberal Muppet Show: ScuMo's National Security Disaster pt 1
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DinkumDog

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Cook said:
Pretty true though right. No disrespect to anyone that has disabled kids, I couldn’t think of anything worse
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More’s the point I don’t think he meant any offence in the say he said it. But haters gonna hate and there’s always someone lining up to be offended these days.
 
DinkumDog

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Thought it was a decent debate.
Certainly not the farce the Trump/Biden one was.
Albo held his ground and no howlers from Morrison either. Pretty vanilla overall.
 
Bazildog

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DinkumDog said:
More’s the point I don’t think he meant any offence in the say he said it. But haters gonna hate and there’s always someone lining up to be offended these days.
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Its the sad reality of politics these days, its just one "gotcha " moment after another with jounos and political fanatics chasing each others tales. No real policy, just what is least likely to cause me grief and get me elected or re- elected...
 
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wendog33

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CroydonDog

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Hacky McAxe

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Cook said:
Pretty true though right. No disrespect to anyone that has disabled kids, I couldn’t think of anything worse
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Definitely no malice from ScoMo but it was very poorly worded. If you listen to the full statement it can come across as, "we are blessed because our kids aren't like yours"

Definitely wasn't intentional though. Just didn't think about how it would be interpreted and as such, he ended up pissing people off. But if a politician isn't pissing people off then they're not a politician.
 
CroydonDog

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Hacky McAxe said:
Definitely no malice from ScoMo but it was very poorly worded. If you listen to the full statement it can come across as, "we are blessed because our kids aren't like yours"

Definitely wasn't intentional though. Just didn't think about how it would be interpreted and as such, he ended up pissing people off. But if a politician isn't pissing people off then they're not a politician.
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I don't think it was intentional either (even he's not that stupid), but words can matter to people. I'm not drawing from a big sample size but every one of my friends who has autistic or otherwise disabled kids is pretty pidsed off. Tbh his comments were much worse than albo forgetting a BS figure.
 
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