I've always believed Federal politicians should be selected from and voted by members to represent Business groups, Unions, agraculture, mining, transport, education, national security, energy, citizens etc instead of an areas of just voters. That way all voices are heard and represented. The only ones voted on by everyone is the Citizens representative.

I caught a bit of Glady's daily confessional yesterday. A journalist, talking about the new measures to reduce the ability to go outdoors, asked if the Premier/advisers had any data to show that virus transmission occurred outdoors.
(I'm guessing this is following claims from experts in the US that there's no evidence of outdoor transmission, world-wide.)

Glady's agreed that she'd not seen any data that the virus or any variant was being spread while people are outdoors. So why have the rules?

Because, she said, it made the police's job easier to control movement. Get that? Liberties are infringed knowingly for no better reason than it makes enforcement of other rules easier.

Not quite a police state but closer than is comfortable.

The current Liberal party might still make the right noises about defending freedom and liberal values. But they no longer beleive it and jettison it as they see fit.

Its very true that they believe " that right of centre voters have nowhere else to go". In the main, in the end, the only issue is who you preference out of Labor and Liberal. But I decided years ago that the only way to get the Liberal PArty I want is to punish them for thinking they can dump liberal values for short-term electoral gain. So each election, I vote for any libertarian group or candidate and then, holding my nose, preference Labor

Our electoral system is by politicians for politicians. It is a cosy arrangement for both Liberal and Labor, and they all have more in common with each other than they do with the people they are supposed to be representing. They are all in it for themselves and the money they couldn’t get from a real job.

There is a Bill in the offing, thanks to a Liberal Minister, which, if successful, would see the number of members required for the registration of a political party raised from 500 to 1500. Small parties with fewer than 1500 members would have 3 months to bulk up.

Party names would be regulated - possibly to stop people from confusing the Liberal Party with the Liberal Democrats. The confusion is apparently being blamed for costing the Liberals votes; and the Libs are getting pretty sensitive about publicity surrounding ‘desertions’ from the them to the Liberal Democrats, including ex-politicians and high ranking party officials.

Labor would be likely to support the Bill. Labor politicians are just as interested in jobs for life as the Liberals are. And they might be thinking about the new-style DLP doing to them what the LibDems look like doing to the Liberals in the future.

It might not get through the Senate. I believe that the Greens have knocked back a similar trick in time gone by; but, in my humble opinion, the only way for we plebs to maintain democracy is via the upper house.

Dear mhaze,

Are you really at this again?

No transmission outdoors? Just like under 50s are safe?

What a crock.

We all remember your president holding a gathering at the Rose Garden at the White House. It was deliberately done outside for Covid reasons but a high proportion didn't wear masks. A dozen people including the president caught Covid.

It certainly is a substantially smaller risk but not zero by any stretch of the imagination.

"Glady's agreed that she'd not seen any data that the virus or any variant was being spread while people are outdoors. So why have the rules?"

This is what happens when you have incompetent fools running the show who aren't up to the job.
Is she not all there?
I mean was there not JUST ONE covid case in all 18mths of her states contract tracing she could've thought of at that moment, where the transmission was found to have occurred at an outdoor event?

Is contract tracing not data?
Or did every single person catch it inside?

I'm getting overwhelmed with the amount of stupid going on.
It's hard you know if you declare a 'war on stupid' things.

Gladys 'Pol Pot' Berejiklian.

We got out of it too easily in the beginning, and they were complacent.
Delta strain has shown just how ill-prepared, lacking of forward thinking and incompetent they all really are
- and have been all along.

The Liberal Party lost its way decades ago with the ascendancy of Howard, Murdoch and the IPA while its preferred base became NSW/QLD over the former 'jewel in the crown' Victoria/NSW (crawling with 'immigrants' etc.).

The IPA reemerged promoting radical right libertarian socio-economic ideology with a whiff of eugenics or pining for a return to 19thC master serf relationships and the pecking order; also part of Koch global Atlas Network.

Further, the LNP started replicating US 'owned' GOP eco-system of hollowing out memberships (while recruiting evangelicals, Mormons and committed Christians), branches and grounded policy to allow external actors and vested interests to lobby for policy friendly to their interests, often helped by media.

This strategy also includes IPA and the Nats (from inside the coalition) acting like the Koch 'bill mill' ALEC lobbying for libertarian policies to avoid constraints on fossil fuels, regulation in general and business costs; same policies are often unpalatable to normal voters.

Therefore, to form voter conservative coalitions there is need for much white nativism, targeting oldies in regional electorates, obsession with borders, fear of education (e.g. 'elites', 'climate science', men's rights, freedom of speech, CRT etc.), promoting xenophobia, border security, evangelical and other Christian 'values', prosperity gospel and otherwise encouraging us to 'amuse (or stress) ourselves to death' while being 'quiet Australians'.

No sense of irony that conservative libertarians cannot be open about what they want while relying upon a mixed 'conservative' coalition to win elections. In turn allows corporate supporters to gain access to state support or subsidies, then shouting down any real or imagined dissent, but promoting their own 'freedom of speech'; a form of autocracy masquerading as 'freedom and liberty'?