Not Good Enough

87 — Beetaloo Advocate

JobSeeker was a massive corporate handout, Tasmanian Liberals don't want to frighten the kids, and the government gives millions of dollars to gas miners (with Labor's help).

 

Politics of envy

• The 2020 JobSeeker program handed out millions of dollars to prop up record corporate profits.
• Scott Morrison is “not into the politics of envy”.
• Independent MP Rex Patrick pushed for a bill to force companies to reveal information showing if they really needed the Jobkeeper grants. Labor backed down.
• Jaquie Lambie accused the Labor party of “slapping the little person”.

Don’t frighten the children!

• The Tasmanian Liberals voted down declaring a climate emergency, saying it was “scaring the children”.

Flooding the sub-basin in cash

• The Liberal party have granted $50 million for gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin.
• Two of the companies funded have links to tax havens and Russian oligarchs.
• The third company, Empire Energy, received $21m. Empire Energy has close ties with the Liberals.
• Complained the the grant process was corrupt, but still voted to allow it.
• Traditional owners were cut out of the grant processes.

Meanwhile, in the private sector

• BHP is slashing value from it’s coal assets.
• Origin Energy is trying to get out of coal.
• Angus Taylor’s “CoalKeeper” plan is going to increase electricity prices by $400 per household, per year.
• For the first time, Australia generated more solar energy than coal.
• Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has been gagged from talking about climate change.

Shoutouts

• Support the fundraiser for Beyond Bricks and Bars — a trans and gender diverse decarceration project.
• Solidarity with the truck drivers striking against uberisation of the industry.

86 — Might as well face it, you're addicted to soup

The cops shut down food banks, people are snitching on kids, and everyone is at breaking point. Also Australia abandons Afghan people.

 

Bad times…

• Police are helping by shutting down food banks.
• In South Australia, the DHS chief executive is trying to shut down a communist soup kitchen.

…vulnerable people

• Massive lockdown protests in Melbourne and Sydney over the weekend.
• Tom Tanki’s coverage of the lockdown protests is excellent.
• White supremacists are using the protests as a recruiting ground.

Give parents a break

• Playgrounds have been closed in Victoria.
• Childcare has been shut down for all except essential workers.
• During the 2020 lockdown, childcare was made free.
• Stop snitching on kids.

VCAT fucked it

• The eviction moratorium is over, and now landlords can kick people out of their homes in advance of October 25th.
• The Real Estate Institute is out there to defends the landlords though.

Abandoning Afghanistan

• Coalition troops have pulled out out Afghanistan, and the situation is bad.
• Canada and the UK are taking 20,000 Afghan refugees.
• Scott Morrison says that no Afghan will be permanently settled in Australia, unless they come the “right way”.
• Peter Dutton says Afghan people might be Taliban now, so they won’t be welcome in Australia.
• After the Vietnam war, Australia took in 55,000 Vietnamese people.
• Even Tony Abbot took in 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Actions

• You can have a look at my game if you like :)

85 — Have you tried shooting the fire?

NSW is LITERALLY at war the with virus. We discuss the IPCC report and what to do about it.

 

It’s WAR

• It’s WAR! NSW is LITERALLY at WAR with the virus.
• Berejiklian has said that the police will receive more power and resources than they “needs and want”.

Oh dear I left the gas on

• The 6th IPCC report into the effects of climate change has been released.
• It’s saying mostly what we knew already, just more so.
• Deconstructed podcast on the IPCC report.
• Even the International Energy Agency say we must build no new fossil fuel energy.
• Scott Morrison has made no commitment to net zero emissions.
• Angus Tayor has made changes that allow fossil fuels to be funded by the renewable energy fund.
• And increased funding by using tricky methods that only apply to gas or coal.
• Taylor has also interfered in energy company board structures to keep Australian energy away from clean sources.
• Barnaby Joyce doesn’t know who’s going to come up with a plan for an energy transition.

Strong opposition

• QLD Labor Environment Minister: “match the Palaszczuk Government’s investment in renewable energy, water quality and land restoration” (bad)
• WA Labor approved massive new gas projects.
• VIC Labor Environment Minister: “We need to act on climate change. Quickly and decisively.” (but gas drilling a okay)
• While… the ALP pledged to re-open Callide Power Station (which exploded)

Hot takes

• Oil execs posting their Ls.
• Lawyers posting their horrible Ls.
• The idea of a “carbon footprint” was created by the fossil industry to push blame away from themselves.
• 100 companies are responsible for 71% of emissions.

Actions

• Read Heated
• Listen to Drilled
• Follow Ketan Joshi
• Read Warmth by Daniel Sherrell.
• Change your bank and super. It’s really easy.
• Join your union. Push them to take action.
• Environmentalist Bill McKibben: “Don’t be an individual…”
• Call and write your MPs. The lower-level, the better.
• Donate or volunteer at green orgs. Tomorrow Movement, Friends of the Earth, 350, Stop Adani.
• Speak up, don’t pull punches.

 

 

84 — How dare you give us $300?

Pros and cons of chucking a sickie. Should the government should pay us $300 or give it to Tabcorp? TERF madness is spreading in Australia.

 

Sickie for the boys

• 60% of Australia is back in lockdown.
• A NSW Tradie chucked a sickie, saying he had Covid.
• There’s Covid in the Flemington housing towers again. But the response has been a bit more humane this time.
• People in Victorian public housing have had access to on-site vaccinations.

Fuck you, pay me

• The ALP have suggested that people should be paid $300 to encourage vaccine uptake.
• Scott Morrison called it an insult.
• …but is in talks with Tabcorp to run a lottery.

Fortress Australia

• The walls of Fortress Australia keep getting higher.
• Some people will need to wait up to four years for Centerlink support.

TERF wars

• Laurel Hubbard is one of first openly transgender athletes to compete in the Olympics. The TERFs went mad.
• Tracy Holmes’s interview with Laurel shows that the media are only interested in her as a spectacle, not about women’s sports.
• Tasmanian Senator Clair Chandler is bringing the bathroom wars to Australia.
• Gold medalist Quinn, is a non-binary transgender athlete who plays for the Canadian women’s soccer team.
• Hormone levels are used to discriminate against black women. There’s nothing scientific about it.

Actions

• Go get your bloody vaccine.

 

83 — Who grifts the Griftmen?

The NSW Government almost got scammed out of half a billion dollars, and who knows what McKinsey are up to? At least we have a strong opposition to keep things in check.

 

Please stop making us do this

• Origin Energy is writing down a bunch of their fossil fuel assets.
• Origin Energy is Australia’s most polluting corporation, and Angus Taylor has worked hard to make sure they stay that way.

NSW Mask watch

• The NSW Government almost paid $430 million to a scammer, for 50 million N95 masks that didn’t exist.
• He also scammed investors out of $1.2 million dollars in oil and gas deals.
• NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been involved with corrupt individuals for some time.
• She’s now dating her ICAC lawyer though, I’m sure he’ll keep her on the straight and narrow.

Grifting goes national

• The government has paid McKinsey $2.2 million for two months work, but won’t say what it was for.
• McKinsey was also paid $1.89 million for “strategic supply chain support services”.
• They were also paid $600,000 to tell the government to not do anything.
• Dave Chappelle’s friend didn’t know he couldn’t do that.
• Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor, and his brother Charlie, both previously worked for McKinsey. Check out Episode 20 for more fun facts.
• Only 25% of the JobKeeper fund was passed on from companies to their workers.
• McKinsey says Australian governments need to “Build trust with citizens”.

At least we have a strong opposition

• The Labor party has agreed to keep the Liberal’s massive tax cuts.
• They’ve also dumped their plan for cancer care & dental coverage.
• Murdoch rag the Australian gave the policy changes a small thumbs-up.
• Labor leader Anthony Albanese has taken some very serious profile pictures.
• The tweets are bad.

Shoutouts

• Workers at Better Read Than Dead have reached an agreement with management in historic industrial action.
• New Renters Union dropped in in Queensland! Join SEQUR, if you’re in the area.
• Citations Needed did a great episode on the Olympics and why they’re bad.
• Listen to Auspol Snackpod with Tom Tanuki on the lockdown protests.

Actions

• Chuck us a review on Apple Podcasts.
• Change your power provider, if you’re still buying power from a polluting company like Origin.

 

82 — Smoking the Reef

FM radio hosts are sick of Morrison's shit. The reef is fine, guys, don't even worry about it. Gronks go wild across Australia.

 

Grilling the PM

• Scott Morrison went on KIIS FM and got grilled.
• He then doubled down.
• He finally apologised in the most petulant way possible.
• Horrifyingly, Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan have a podcast.

Paying for the pleasure of digging our own graves

• Australia is shoveling shit-tonnes of cash into fossil fuel companies.

Reef madness

• Sussan Ley is back from a whirlwind lobbying jaunt to convince the world to not list the Great Barrier Reef as in danger.
• The lobbying worked!
• The Government has been fighting against any suggestion the reef might be in trouble for years. Unesco tried to list it in 2014, and australia has been successfully fighting to pretend everything’s fine ever since.

Ring cycle

• Brisbane has won the hosting rights for the 2032 Olympics.
• Japan’s Olympics have become an incredibly expensive boondoggle for the host nation.
• Australian Olympics Commission President John Coates told QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk what to do in a very weird, condesending manner.
• He has has long presided over a culture of bullying.

Gronks gone wild

• People around Australia protested against lockdowns, vaccines, Q, whatever.
• The government has abandoned vulnerable people by continuing to lock down, while refusing to give support.
• When you’re the victim of a grift, it’s hard to admit it.
• To help people out of their belief systems, you need to “cool the mark”.
• The man didn’t punch the horse.
• Horses are weapons when used by the police.
• Emma Alberici just making things up in her head about Black Lives Matter marches.

Actions

• Get a vaccine! It’s annoying but you gotta do it. Here’s a website that can help. Our brains are not wired to understand very rare risks.
• Support the strike fund for workers at Better Read Than Dead.
• Listen to Evie’s interview with Dr Susie Allanson and Lizzie O’Shea on the fight for safe access to abortion.
• Chuck us some stars on iTunes.

81 - uwulympics

Santos isn't bighting, Australia is sending furries to the Olympics, and we're back in lockdown and cooking our brains.

 

No bighting

• Santos has decided not to drill for gas in the Great Australian Bight. (because it’s not profitable)

The first Furry Olympics

• The Australian Mint commissioned an artist to create Australian Olympic fursonas.
• You can get them as stickers at Woolies.
• Go check out their art!
• Olympics fuckin suck though.

Shitting yourself at the Engadine Maccas

• Scott Morrison went on Kyle and Jackie O with a burning hot topic: He didn’t shit himself at the Engadine Maccas.

Lockdown again again again again

• NSW abandons it’s “common sense” plan, and put in new “essential workers” restrictions.
• It’s “so, so difficult to have a precise rule for every single thing”
• Everyone’s snitch glands are going wild.
• Covid support payments are slightly better! They still suck though.
• Businesses should “honour their commitments” to workers.
• Nationalize the supermarkets (From friend of the show James Clark).

Actions

• Draw our fursonas

80 — Listen To Auspol Snackpod

The Labor party are really sad without anyone to play with, the government has a new Vaccine ad, Questacon made a bad video.

 

The Labor party wants Scott Morrison

• Anthony Albonese really wants Scott Morrison.
• Julian Hill is worried about Scott Morrison missing.
• Tanya Plibersek is bored without Scott Morrison to play with.
• Stephen Jones drew a little cartoon about his mate.
• Michelle Rowland just wants to see her little friend.

Good news!

• The Government is scrapping their plans to force independent assessors onto people with disabilities.
• The pilot of the project was a disaster.
• The NDIS is still underfunded and still makes access difficult for the people who need it most.

NSW is fine I guess

• In late July 2020, Victoria was seeing 700+ Coronavirus cases a day.
• Now in July 2021, NSW is expecting 100+ cases.
• NSW Police performed a “compliance blitz” in Sydney’s Western Suburbs, while ignoring wealthy areas.
• …repeating the pattern established in 2020.

Vaccine watch

• But it’s okay, the vaccine rollout is only 2 months behind!
• Morrison announced a “flood of Pfizer doses”.
• Pfizer says actually nah.
• General JJ Frewen has be placed in charge of the vaccine rollout logistics.
• The ADF isn’t actually so good at logistics.
• But don’t worry! The government has a great new advertising campaign to encourage vaccine uptake.
• Make the ad more horny!
• Boooooo alcopop tax.
• Listen to Eye of the Enemy, they’ve got a clever bass player.

Questacon con

• Australian Science museum Questacon is spouting fossil fuel propaganda.
• The video series was funded by Japanese fossil energy company Inpex.
• Questacon claims the company had no input in the content.
• Climate change is being normalised by media.
• Why aren’t we using more renewables and batteries? Because we need to use gas as a transition fuel!
• Inpex emitted excess carbon, enough to cancel out the savings from 1.7 million rooftop solar panels.

Actions

• Go back and listen to Episode 74 — Care of Duty: Modern Lawfare, for context on Sussan Ley’s appeal of the case.
• Go listen to Flood’s interview with Cam Coventry on Bob Hawk being an informer to US intelligence in the 70s.

 

79 — Springtime for ScoMo

We chat about Scott Morrison's accidental-on-purpose vaccine rollout, the reckless and deadly actions of Victoria Police, and the $660 million thrown at car parks in Liberal seats.

 

 

Cooked Generation

• Greenpeace posed as corporate recruiters, and got Exxon lobbyists to admit that they only supported a carbon price because they knew that it would never happen.
• The Gulf of Mexico is on fire.
• Australia is ranked dead last in the World on climate action.

Vaccine Kings

• Scott Morrison maybe accidentally allowed people under 40 to get vaccinated.
• The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation’s advice on AstraZeneca remains the same.
• The National Cabinet has outlined a four-step plan out of Covid restrictions.
• Channel 9 ran a vaccine ad.
• Australia’s vaccine performance is the worst in the OECD.
• Watch the Hbomberguy’s Vaccines: A Measured Response.
• Friend of the pod Kristina Kerscher Keneally proudly said she would wait for Pfiser.

Strongarm tactics

• NAIDOC Week is running from 4-11 July 2021.
• Raymond Noel Thomas was killed after being aggressively pursued by police.
• At the inquest into his death, the Coroner blasted the police’s disrespect.
• As a ten-year-old Raymond was handcuffed by police, and told “if you move I’ll shoot you”.

Carport rort

• The government keeps porkbarreling, pledging to spend $660 million on car parks.
• Alan “kidnapper” Tudge was the minister for Urban Infrastructure at the time.
• “There were no evaluation plan or performance indicators developed for the projects. No records were properly kept”

Actions

• Pay the rent.

78 — Oh THAT Barrier Reef

We spend about half an hour yelling about lockdowns. Sorry. Then we chat about what Australia's Environment Minister has been up to.

 

Lockdown again again

• A limo driver at the center of the Sydney outbreak was eligible for the vaccine, but didn’t get one because he was afraid to. Police are trying to pin something on him.
• Gladys Berejiklian admits to pork-barrelling.
• Richard Pusey filmed dying police officers.
• Prime Minster Scott Morrison says the outbreak is NSW’s fault.

Ssussann Ley

• Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley added an extra “s” to her name because of a misunderstanding of numerology. Maybe just so she could add an extra cool S?
• Check out episode 74: Care of Duty: Modern Lawfare.
• Sussan Ley vetoed a massive new renewable energy hub, quoting “environmental impacts”.
• …while approving 21 offshore gas drilling sites near Victoria’s Twelve Apostles.
• She also put the solar power industry “on notice”, saying they need to sort out recycling.
• Australia has very little actual recycling infrastructure.
• Ley is also considering allowing a banned poison to deal with NSW’s mouse plague.
• She was “blindsided” by UNESCO recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on a list as in “great danger”.
• Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson forced the Audit Office to admit that the Government’s $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation was to avoid the very same UNESCO listing.

Shoutouts

• Shoutout to the workers at General Mills who struck and won a pay rise and bonus!