56 — Hogwhistling

We discuss bad rocks, the Award for Services to Homophobia, and try to figure out what on earth the Labor Party is up to.

 

We’re on fire

• Adelaide had a massive bushfire south of the city, described as like a firestorm or a volcano.
• Two-year-old packs bad rocks.
• Meanwhile in Melbourne, on Monday a mean and menacing “tip fire” managed to motivate 17 municipalities to move a “major alert” across most media.
• In good news, South Australia met the entirety of it’s power demand with solar for a few hours.

Order of Australia

• Margaret Court, outrageous homophobe and anti-gay activist was given an Australia Day honor.
• Shoutout to the many Australians who are returning their Order of Australia honors: Dr Clara Tuck Meng Soo (AO for her LGBTIQ+ advocacy), Dr Rodney Syme (AO for his work on dying with dignity & human rights campaigning), Alistair Macrae (AO for religious work).
• Shoutout too to Journalist Kerry O’Brien for rejecting the award this year.
• Who did take their award? Malcom Turnbull, for his services toward marriage equality.

Musical chair party

• The Labor party has reshuffled their shadow cabinet, replacing Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy. It was Mark Bulter, now it’s Chris Bowen.
• Mark Butler was fairly solid on Climate Change, despite being a Labor party suit.
• Labor are pursuing a “small target strategy” for the next election, not revealing any plans.
• Labor sees climate change as an “economic portfolio”.
• Joe Biden is actually doing good things for the climate? John Kerry, Biden’s new climate envoy makes allusions to Australia’s bushfires as a reason to act on climate.

Joel Fitzgibbon

• Climate denier Joel Fitzgibbon is still pushing Labor to refuse action on climate change.
• He was the shadow resources minister, but quit to spend more time building support within the right-wing faction of the Labor party.
• On Radio National, Fitzgibbon called Mark Butler “over-enthusiastic” about climate change.
• Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Joel Fitzgibbon’s comments were “wrong”.
• The Iron Law of Institutions states that “The people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself”.