Couldn't agree more.
When the mores of a society are debauched by weak and opportunistic leadership, the law is unenforceable.
Neither leader of our two Party Preferred electoral system (2PP) has the courage to shine a light on the cause of the rise in antisemitism; no surprise then that the disenchanted populace has gone to Pauline, our "straight-talking" messiah, in retribution and for a sugar hit. (Reminds me of the fomented anti-Chinese "riots" in past centuries and the officially curated Sinophobia in recent decades.)
The 2PP electoral system has degenerated into a winning is everything political culture, and a Lower House full of loyal combatants nurseried for one purpose only - to win, by hook or by crook, a la Graham Richardson or Peter Reith. Fear of losing in a 2PP duel is now the main driving force for our two political leaders. Unless we bring on Proportional Representation we will not get the infusion of blood - with integrity and courage - to rejuvenate the rotten foundations of our two Party Preferred electoral system.
Just imagine a Parliament with more Teals like Monique Ryan and Independents like David Pocock, sitting at a multi-Party Cabinet table.
It would be a new world. Have we the courage and imagination to embrace it?
As for Sussan Ley, she had no choice. Labor had caved in to the baying mob orchestrated by The Australian et al. It would have been her death knell had she not compromised.
Poor fellow my country.

The hard right, born to rule conservatives, still don't get it, the Australian people soundly rejected them, their so called policies, and their fraudsters of a leader Dutton at the last election. The truth is looking at the hard right in Australia, led by the likes of Ley, Littleproud, Hanson, Taylor, Hastie, Joyce, etc, they are a political joke! WHO WOULD VOTE FOR SUCH A COLLECTION OF DUMB CLUCKS? Except a few old conservatives on this forum.

What is a democracy without an opposition? Good question.

The decline of the LNP signifies a loss of attachment to the people that are needed to make it a useful voice for representing them, and thus popular enough to win elections for them.
They have found one though, the Labor Party does it.

And what is the it, that it does:
With the decline of the middle class, and the numbers of the aspirational in similar decline, social apathy of the proletarian majority clinging to a future-less job offering only low and stagnant wages as reward for perseverance in place of aspiration, has been totally ignored by the LNP.

Labor have continued adding value to the voter, replacing self drive with hand outs and authoritarian innovations against opposition.

Good news is, dumb people leave themselves vulnerable to capture; if the LNP are smart, they can capture this vote with a good dose of engineered popularism, and follow Pauline Hansons example, the expert at it!

A party whose core beliefs are advertised as “individual freedom and free enterprise” should be going gangbusters against Albanese, whose core beliefs are state supervision and government jobs.

Ley should have opposed the entire Hate Bill, instead of caving once again.

Yes Dan, the good old days back in Nuremberg, without a decent opposition who else would there be to imprison, torture, execute? So boring! What's left, trade unionists, commos, lefty's, gays, liberals, jurnos, teachers that all, run out of em', what's left, boy scouts, ice cream sellers, old guys wearing hats, left handed people, etc etc, soon run out of em' to, with plenty of ammo left over. You want a decent opposition, big fat ones preferred, don't want to miss when you shoot, waste of a bullet. AH! That's how a decent democracy works, at the point of a gun, right, ask the Cow Cocky Party, they prefer guns, they voted for em'? Davo from the Cow Cocky's wants to get rid of Miss Squeaky from the Noalition, how should he do that?

Ayatollah Paul, prayer mat No 1405, left wing, Grand Mosalla Tehran.

Donald Trump and Bibi there yet?

Thanks for the article GY.
I think at some stage we have to admit that Australia is not a multicultural country, we are an Anglo-Celtic country. I don't believe it's possible to have a perfect society, but it is possible for a people to manage their own nation, according to their own biased principles. Christianity is part of European society and that means that we need to protect it in spite of some faults. All societies are subjective, none are objective in my view. We need to favour Anglo-Celtics in Australia just as Muslims are favoured in Muslim nations. Every culture needs their own nation. Sovereignty. We can't be everything to everyone. As some has said "the constitution is not a suicide pact". I think it would be wrong to ban parts of the ancient bible in Australia on the basis of incitement, but I believe it is wrong to allow similar in Australia from Muslims. Because Australia is a Christian nation. The Australian people weren't asked about mass immigration. Different cultures formed different nations because the principles were incompatible, academics can't suddenly decide that they know better and force normal people to their ideology, because they want to get more money from foreign students. Academics will never have enough money, and therefore they will never stop the impact of foreign students on Australia.

If academics want more money they need to produce something of value, not take the easy path of bringing in more foreign students, like leftist governments raising taxes to solve their problems rather than finding ways to manage and invest their money better.

Hi Paul,

Before you go conflating conservatives with Nazis, remember that Churchill was staunchly anti-communist and anti-Nazi. Russian propaganda pulp fiction still portrays Churchill as an enemy of Russia, even uniting with the Nazis to lay waste to Great Britain in "Comrade Hitler".

Dutton tried to outspend Labor in the election campaign. I still haven't a clue what he stood for. And now Ley announces legislation unsalvageable then votes for it a few days later.

What support could a pack of stand for nothing blow in the wind clowns ever draw?

Hi Fester,

Then on the other hand the German conservatives were willing to get into bed with Hitler, believing he was the better alternative to communism, and that they would be able to control Hitler. How wrong they were. BTW I would agree with Churchill. A choice between Hitler and Stalin, that's no choice at all.
From my point of view, to me Hanson/Joyce and One Nation are a unrealistic alternative as a possible government, their leadership lacks intelligence and the skills required. I would much prefer moderate centre parties above radicals any day.

Hi Fester,

One danger with conservatives is when the far right gain traction, the conservatives tend to follow them politically, in an attempt to hold ground. In England where there was a clear class divide, with a pronounced distinction between the classes, and therefore voting patterns. Australia has been for most of its history fairly classless in many respects, and certainly today there is little distinction between the two major parties, they both are seen as centre moderates.

This New Australian Law Makes Your Private Chats a Crime (Lawyer Explains)
http://youtu.be/VskqOgr1OtU

ZOG

Hi Paul,

The conservatives in England passed laws to ban Nazis in the 1930s. The German conservatives who helped Hitler were useful idiots, not co-conspirators.

Those laws the Brits passed are the reason you can be arrested for saying "Who voted for him?" about the king in a public space.

Hi AC,

I'm onside with you on this, re new hate laws, James Glissan is right they have been rushed through parliament without due diligence being applied. I agree with The Greens when they said;

"The legacy of the appalling violence at Bondi cannot be the undermining of civil and political rights, or laws that can be used to weaponise racism and hate against everyday Australians who follow their conscience and speak out when they see wrong carried out here in Australia and overseas."

You see, there are times when I side with the Greens on certain issues.

But like all these parties I'll support a few policies but disagree with the rest of what they're saying.
And even that doesn't matter because once they get in they do whatever they want anyway, and go back on their promises
Prove once again that they're all self serving weasels.

Could anyone in their right mind seriously consider voting for the rag-tag halfwits that call themselves the "Coalition". More interested in whose in charge of the sinking ship, and what's in it for me, than doing anything for the Australian people. A bit of irony, Taylor and Hastie held a not so secret meeting in Melbourne to see who gets the job of picking over the bones of the Liberal Party fist. These clowns were supposedly at a funeral for a dead colleague, but were more interested in plotting the political death of Ditzy Ley. Thankfully we have a half decent Labor government running the country, and not these clowns!

The three ring circus continues with the Loony Liberal party in one ring, the Cow Cocky Party in another, and the Lovely Pauline Party in the middle. There's no Ring Master at this circus, the whole show is run by the clowns themselves. News flash, Australia's next Prime Minister, from the extreme right, some wombat named Colin, never heard of dear old Colin neither have I. Some old farts even want the Lovely Pauline for PM, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! HOW LUCKY IS AUSTRALIA, with a half decent Labor government running the real show in Canberra.