Bought. Sold. Betrayed.
Bought. Sold. Betrayed. Australia today. That's how it felt. That's how it was.
Without having been officially declared the Australian election was on. Cruel. Insignificant. A wave, a great wave, and old eyes and ancient spirits. We gift to you eternal life. Imprinted into a phantasmagoria. How cruel, the insignificance of it all.
His letter box was cluttered with promotional material from the Labor Party. As usual the Liberal Party, born to rule, were missing in action.
But then, right now, perhaps it was better to play possum. To play dead. For we were being gaslit at every turn.
It was amazingly quiet, that was what he noticed. Restless, over thinking the situation, out walking the dogs in the evening, there was almost no one about.
The streets, driving down in the morning, were also quiet.
He couldn't have cared less, whatever game they played, whatever psyop they were playing, double crossed once too often. "We're on your side. We're here to help you."
He had heard that before. Perhaps all organics were beyond help. Steel flowers and armed bodies and a realm where time became insignificant, all of it flowered in a single heartbeat, and was gone.
THE BIGGER STORY
SKY NEWS
Louise Roberts: Speaking truth to Donald Trump is a lot harder than Malcolm Turnbull thinks it is
The last thing Australians need at a time of extreme strain in our relationship with the US is an old PM fearmongering because he is still bitter at being rolled from office, writes Louise Roberts.
I question the wisdom of Malcolm Turnbull, who this week presented his moral high ground argument that Trump is the equivalent of a kid who stole someone’s school lunch and refused to give it back.
As a former PM, Turnbull is in a unique position because - free speech aside - he genuinely has to weigh up the ego boost of pontificating on issues he has no jurisdiction over versus the potential damage those comments can cause.
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
Australian diplomats proposed a more reliable supply of critical minerals – which are essential for renewable energy, computer and battery technologies – as they sought exemptions from a 25% tax on steel and aluminium imports.
The offer was rejected by US officials and Australia was subjected to the tariffs along with all other nations on Wednesday afternoon. This is despite Malcolm Turnbull’s government securing an exemption from similar measures during Trump’s first term in office.
ABC
Anthony Albanese says it is in 'Australia’s national interest' to back Ukraine following virtual world leader summit
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said it is in "Australia’s national interest" to stand with the Ukraine following a virtual summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mr Starmer urged around 25 world leaders to sign up to a coalition willing to protect Ukraine and increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a ceasefire.
The call builds on a flurry of diplomacy between European and other Western countries to find ways to help Ukraine after US President Donald Trump up-ended Washington's supportive approach and launched peace talks with Russia.
SBS
Leaders criticised over absence from domestic violence rallies as hundreds urge more action
Political leaders have been criticised for failing to attend rallies being held around Australia to call for an end to deadly violence against women.
This article contains references to domestic violence.
Hundreds of people have rallied across Australia to call for more action to end violence against women, and honour those who have been killed.
A dedicated group of protesters braved heatwave conditions in many of the 14 cities and towns where rallies were held on Saturday.
But organiser Sherele Moody said she was disappointed many invited politicians had failed to attend and add their voices to the desperate plea.
"Leaders were invited, especially [Prime Minister Anthony] Albanese ... There's been no presence from him," Moody told AAP from Melbourne where she said 500 people had gathered.
NEWS
US President Donald Trump’s ‘war on woke’ escalates
Like a human wrecking ball, the US President has rolled out sweeping changes to tackle “wokeness” as part of a horrifying agenda.
Topics such as climate change, inclusivity and gender equality are no longer acceptable topics for federal agencies to address
And even once stoic institutions are bending the knee.
THE NEW DAILY
“I would urge Australians, if they’re in a local shop, to look to buy Australian,” the prime minister said on Thursday. “That’s one way that consumers can assist to create jobs here and to support our local industries.”
Despite the unfortunate circumstances in which it comes, this exhortation actually fits with the government’s pre-Trump policy of “Future Made in Australia”, with its incentives for projects especially in the clean energy area.
Critics thought the policy was too interventionist, indeed protectionist. The government argued it was securing Australia’s place “in a changing global environment”.
MACRO BUSINESS
Charting Australia’s world-record income collapse
Friday 14 March 2025
On Wednesday, I posted charts showing the record decline in Australian real per capita household disposable income.
Annual real per capita household disposable income fell for a record tenth consecutive quarter, down 8.1% from the Q2 2022 peak.
SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA
This anti-Semitic bomb plot was a hoax all along
In late January, Australians were convulsed out of their summer holiday torpor by what appeared to be an elaborate anti-Semitic terror plot. Following a series of vandalism and firebomb attacks on synagogues, and cars and private property in suburbs with significant Jewish populations, details of the New South Wales police’s discovery of a caravan laden with plastic explosive were leaked to the media.
This caravan was found parked in a street on Sydney’s rural fringe. The explosive had no detonators, but reportedly was accompanied by plans of Sydney’s Great Synagogue, which is located in a busy and narrow city centre street that would have magnified greatly the destruction and casualties caused by any blast.
The alleged hoaxer is a man named Sayet Erhan Acka, a Sydney businessman who had legitimate gym and childcare centre business interests, but with a criminal sideline. Authorities believe that in mid-2023, Acka fled Australia by boat while on bail for an alleged 600-kilogram drug importation, but from his overseas hiding place allegedly concocted and coordinated the ‘terror caravan’ plot. It is being alleged that Acka masterminded the caravan’s discovery to play an Islamic community supergrass, tipping off police of a possible terrorist attack in the hope of being rewarded by a lesser charge, a more lenient sentence, or both, and being free to return from being on the run to rejoin his wife and child in Sydney.