The Mortal Earth

Every story has a beginning and an end; so went the human interpretation. But it simply wasn't true. These things are infinite. There is no beginning and there is no end. 

These ancient, normally arid landscapes, held something else within themselves.

There had been a change of administration. 

Above, as if the underwing of some great stingray, the sky barely rippled; a timespan in the millions of years. 

The man showed him a fossilised tooth -- 110 million years old, he said. 

How little any of it mattered. 

Even he did not know why. 

The army had assembled for many days on the banks of the valley opposite; imperious, determined, patient, well not very, as if the time was ripe, even if he was not; and he was most certainly not.

It came in waves. They were determined. He was told there was no choice; but there was always a choice. 

Not that any of it mattered, in this infinite place, as they skipped, like skipping stones across a pond, between century points. 

He was determined not to begin again. And yet there was no choice. 

And so it was, and so it will be.

The infantry, kitted out with all their spears and medieval glory, perhaps not medieval but older still, flags of victory or conquest; and yes, below, there, way below, a change of administration. 

Those who engaged in this passionate dispute were vindicated or disillusioned, while all the talk now was of rising costs of living, of an economy in ruins, of the garbage that political debate had become.

Jess down at the Lakeview was telling the story of how she had ended up in hospital after her second shot; and was refusing to get the "booster"; this obscene con as there was vaccine failure worldwide, a failure being dubiously hidden from the Australian people. And yet, they had known all along. They must have. The evidence was clear.

This scandal, on an almost incomprehensible scale, barely sank through the leaves into any form of public consciousness; and all of it, all of it, as the birds wheeled and the eagle gripped its branch, as spirits stirred and mustered. 

And they took, in unison, those hundreds of ceremonially kitted soldiers, another step forward. 

And he tried to deny their presence. 

"You don't really think....?" said one of the Watchers on the Watch. 

The other shrugged; so absurd, so fantastical; these same people who would happily tell you that mankind stood on the edge of a massive evolution; that humanity, never united, would begin to break apart into different species. 

It didn't matter. None of it mattered. 

Man was unique in the animal world for their ability to cooperate in large numbers; and these large numbers were essential to carry another message. 

And yet, these people set out to make themselves as gods; to determine who would live and who would die, who had the cognitive capacity to deal with their version of a Brave New World.

As for Australia: yes, there had been a change of administration. 

Yes, the public square remained as dishonest as it had always been. Or long been.

Aspiration was a fool's errand. 

They could glory in this moment and be gone. 

Like fireflies on the banks of an ancient forest, here and gone.

Everywhere looked the same and everywhere was different; and what struck him, for reasons unknown, was how much the humans themselves reflected their landscapes; were anchored into place. 

And who were we, to decide who lived and died?

Times of crisis were coming; but for now, a peculiar honeymoon. 

Is it any coincidence that the agendas of Australia's new Labor government and one of the world's richest men Bill Gates was the same: climate change.

Fool the masses. Look up. 

The soldiers, restive after such a long wait, stirred in their ranks and stepped forward once again; through their shields, through the shield that was this time. 

Let it be.

MAINSTREAM NEWS

ABC

Trade bans a 'cautionary tale'

The ferociousness of China's trade war against Australia — which has affected commodities including coal, beef, wine, barley, timber and cotton — has gradually faded from the public's consciousness. 

And after federal Labor's ascension to government, hopes are growing for a reset of the relationship.

But experts caution the bitter experience of the country's lobster fishermen should serve as a warning to all other industries still reliant on exports to the Middle Kingdom.

Among them are the wool and natural gas industries, which have reaped high prices thanks in no small part to booming demand from the world's most populous nation.

But standing alone is iron ore – Australia's most valuable export industry, worth a staggering $126 billion last financial year.

Jorrit Gosens, a senior lecturer at the Australian National University's Crawford School of Public Policy, said Australia's iron ore trade to China was "the single most important trade relationship in global steelmaking".

THE SPECTATOR

In other words, in less than five months so far this year, despite world-leading vaccination rates, their respective Covid mortality tolls were 2.6 times higher for Australia and 18.5 times higher for NZ than in the 22 months until the end of last year.

If this is vaccine success, what would failure look like?

SKY

CIS research scholar Scott Prasser says the Liberal Party has “largely vacated the field” in the last nine years.

Dr Prasser said Morrison had a tendency of being a “pragmatist of the worst kind”.

“In the end he became a hollow man, and the party and the government became a hollow government which didn’t really stand for anything,” he told Sky News host Gary Hardgrave.

THE NEW DAILY

A week after Australia unceremoniously tossed the Coalition onto the opposition benches, an alternative vision for the party has emerged on the Liberal-National TV channel of choice, Sky News.

Its cast of “after dark” shock jocks, fresh from supporting Scott Morrison, have quickly turned carnivorous as the Coalition’s post-election bloodletting hits fever pitch.

Moderates such as NSW Treasurer Matt Kean and Senator Andrew Bragg – a “fool” in the view of host Andrew Bolt – are now nightly targets for derision as a stream of conservative leaders and party apparatchiks appear on the channel for polling post-mortems.

In the world curated by these Fox-News inspired talk shows, last week’s election drubbing (the worst result for the Liberals in 70 years) wasn’t a sign that the Coalition must finally get serious about climate policies.

Rather, despite being thrown out of every seat with a view of Sydney Harbour, conservatives like Mr Bolt, Peta Credlin and Paul Murray argue the Coalition must actually swing to the right and chase regional voters.

It’s a challenge to incoming Liberal leader Peter Dutton, who wants to reignite the “broad church” philosophy killed off in multiple leadership spills under the old government, despite Sky regulars such as Nationals Senator Matt Canavan and Liberal Alex Antic trying to scrap net zero.

The voters are to blame

Such a move, which Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce says is up for debate in the next Coalition agreement, would seemingly ignore the fast-growing climate vote across the national electorate.

But disdain for these voters in seats like Wentworth, Northern Sydney and Kooyong – where not even Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was spared – has been persistent on Sky After Dark all week.

Those who turned to independents were called “socially smug doctors’ wives” in a breakdown of conservative commentator Lillian Andrews’ election analysis on Peta Credlin’s Tuesday show.