Dear Paul,

I apologise for not responding to you earlier.
I had to wait because I'd used up my quota of posts.

Thanks for explaining things from your point of
view. I understand your frustration.

There are a couple of facts (truths) that need to be
made clear:

That ICAC in not a kangaroo court. That accusations of
dishonesty are not sledging. That Rules and Laws are
not red tape. That bribery, influence peddling, cronyism
and pork barreling are all forms of corruption and need
to be weeded out of our political system.

The difference between the major parties is that Labor
offered to govern for all Australians while the Coalition
was heavily invested in a different product. A government of
the people by the factions and vested interests.

The federal election was a test of the integrity of the
Australian people. And the voters made their message clear.
Australians did not choose a group of self-interested
bullies with little interest in maintaining the integrity
of the democratic process.

" The CCP make plenty of mistakes, and are oppressive, but is there a creditable alternative for the Chinese people, I think not, western style democracy is a luxury not possible yet."

Its the standard claim by the authoritarian apologist to say that, while they personally support democracy (oh gracious me, yes!), it is, regrettably not quite right for these other people. Those other people are of coarse a diverse range but all united by two things - (1)democracy isn't (yet) right for them, and (2) communist oppression is right for them.

It is a crock. Its just a way to excuse communist dictatorships while suggesting its really just for the good of the oppressed. ("“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive...." C.S.Lewis).

It is also highly racist. Basically it says that, while we are smart and moral enough to exercise the 'luxury' of freedom, those brown and yellow fools just aren't up to it.

But the justification has been around for a century or more, so it must work for the apologists - at least in their own mind.

" I also support "self determination" for both the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong."

Tibet?

Xinjiang? The home of the Uighurs who are currently experiencing a genocide at the benevolent hands of Xi and his (totally moral!!) henchmen.

In the 20th century, up to 200 million people died of the benevolence that is communist oppression. That some still fell it is possible to defend that oppression is both surprising and, rather evidently, unsurprising.

Dear Paul,

Thanks for setting your record straight.

The record needs to be set straight. Especially
regarding our former PM Scott Morrison and his
government. They have purposefully fostered
divisions within Australian society.

They have
promoted misleading media content, made false
accusations and stirred up moral outrage wherever
they could regardless of whether it was dealing
with genuine issues and with no care who it
damaged along the way.

Whether it was gender. race, religion, sexual
orientation, place of birth, wealth or lack of it
the Coalition and Morrison have been eager to
weaponise any issue to appeal to the worst in
human nature and garner a few votes.

Unity, forward planning, addressing community needs
and good governance meant nothing when a desperately
incompetent political party was willing to sink so low
under a leader how revels in his cleverness of
tapping into politics of hate, moral outrage, and
division.

"Whether it was gender. race, religion, sexual orientation, place of birth, wealth or lack of it the Coalition and Morrison have been eager to weaponise any issue to appeal to the worst in human nature and garner a few votes."

Wow! What's next? Accusation of child sacrifice and witch burning?
Just thinking up a list of everything you consider bad and then attributing to your foes, is somewhat fraught when you don't have the slightest attempt to link any said accusation to anything approaching evidence.

I find it passing strange that those expressing (fake) moral outrage at the supposed lies of their foes manage to whistle past the most egregious example of political lie in this country this century....
"There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead".

All governments lie, although I'd call it massaging the truth. All politicians massage the truth. All PM's put the best spin on their views and actions. Only the truly dishonest express outrage against some such massaging of the truth while utterly ignoring other such examples.

I don't know what it is that the government hopes to achieve - apart from revenge - against its defeated enemy.

"They (Morrison & Co)have purposefully fostered
divisions within Australian society". (Foxy).

I think an explanation is required there. I can't recall such a thing happening. Was it anything as bad as the divisiveness of the proposed 'Voice', which will divide people by race - proudly in the Constitution. No mucking about trying to hide it.

" ….misleading media content, made false
accusations and stirred up moral outrage wherever
they could regardless of whether it was dealing
with genuine issues and with no care who it
damaged along the way".

Any examples, Foxy. Did I miss something? Or are we talking about the shonky media, not shonky politicians?

" …the Coalition and Morrison have been eager to
weaponise any issue to appeal to the worst in
human nature and garner a few votes".

Gee. That sounds awful. It's a wonder that I missed that.

Look: the Morrison government wasn't a good one. Morrison was a very bad PM. There is a review on why they lost to be published this week. But the main reason that the Coalition lost was MORRISON.

The electorate (including me) has punished Morrison and his government and, given the totally unaware comments from what is left of the Coalition, we will not see them back in power any time soon.

Therefore, the Albanese government is making itself look petty and vengeful with its pointless show trials about a man and a party who have been dealt with in the usual democratic way - by the only people who can punish such people, and always do, the citizens of Australia.

ttbn,

Australians were put to the test and they voted in
favour of Labor and integrity-minded Independents.
which did justice to the nation. You may not have
seen the lies, corruption, economic ruin, and misogyny
that made the case for the Coalition to be voted out.
For 9 years
the LNP government dismantled,
corrupted, outsourced or sold off the public institutions
that we relied on (public sector). Or that Morrison did
not silence Craig Kelly's COVID misinformation (utterly
irresponsible) - which undermined the health advice.
And the list went on.

The strategy of the current Coalition in Opposition has
not changed. It's to continue its campaign of deliberate
malicious lies. Dutton's reply to the Albanese government's
first budget speech had 15 falsehoods.

The thing is these tactics no longer work. And the sooner
the Coalition realizes it - the better their chances of
winning voters.

" Mirror, Mirror
Standing straight
Who excels at
Fear and hate?"

"Dutton, Dutton
Truth be told
Fear and hate
Are getting old!