Not Good Enough

46 — Rough chuckles

We discuss the recently-settled class-action lawsuit against the Robodebt scheme, then dive into the media coverage of Australia's Afganistan war crimes, and why they should not be surprising.

 

Lockdowns

• South Australia went into lockdown for six days, and weren’t happy about it.
• The man who lied to contract tracers and was working multiple jobs is being hounded by the media and South Australian government.
• Migrant workers don’t receive any income support.

Robodebt

• The Federal Government knew the Robodebt scheme was illegal at least as early as 2017.
• Alan Tudge — one of the ministers responsible, threatened victims of the illegal scheme with prison.
• The government’s settlement payout to the victims of Robodebt comes to a total of… $280 per person.
• Gordon Legal knew the government ministers were personally responsible.
• Government Services Minister Stuart Robert used this settlement as a way to claim that the government are actually in good and in the right for ending the scheme, as if they weren’t forced.
• Peter Van Onselen points out that the Robodebt scheme was actually started by Scott Morrison, so don’t expect to see any consequences.
• “If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress” — Malcolm X.
• Alan Tudge claims his affair with a staffer was the biggest mistake of his life.

War Crimes

• We’ve known about Australian soliders commiting war crimes for a long time. This article from 2009 reports on an event in 2004 and says that we owe the Afagani people an apology. This commanding officer of this operation, Jim Molan
• Alleged war criminal Jim Molan is now a Liberal Party Senator
• Commando Kevin Frost in 2016 publicly confessed to covering up the shooting of a captive, and called for his own punishment. In 2019 he committed suicide.
• In 2017, the ABC released the “Afgan Files”, revealing leaked reports for war crimes.
• In response, the Australian Federal Police raided the ABC offices, and home of News Corp jounalist Annika Smethurst. The warrants were ruled invalid and no charges were laid.
• The Onion got it right again.
• Decorated SAS Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked a handcuffed Afgani prisoner off a cliff.
• Roberts-Smith sued the Age for defamation over this report, resulting in the court-ordered release of documents showing his involvement in the war crimes. Maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed.
• Even after these Allegations, the ABC had Ben-Robert Smith giving the Remembrance Day address.
• Labor’s shadow defence minister Richard Marles: “It would be a tragedy if Australians were to see our nation’s involvement in Afghanistan solely through the prism of these allegations”.
• Former PM John Howard, who sent these soliders to war, says the culture of the military is mostly fine. Just a few bad apples.

Gooood news

• Bendigo dairy workers at Lactalis went on strike, and got a pay rise and jobs guarantee out of it.
• Climate-change denier and general crank Craig Kelly is facing a grassroots campaign to be removed from office.

Actions

• Ask your local cafe to stop stocking the local Murdoch rag. Direct action campaigns can work. The Sun was kicked out of Liverpool after their their coverage of the Hillsborough Football disaster.

 

45 — Ghoul interrupted

We enter the Sexism Zone, then chat about coal-lover Joel Fitzgibbon leaving the Labor front-bench. For dessert we discuss successul petitions and a (hopefully!) big new push for social housing in Victoria.

 

Sexism zone

• Turns out government ministers Alan Tudge and Christian Porter are mega mondo sleazes.
• This is in violation of then-PM Malcolm Turnbull’s “bonk ban”, following Barnaby Joyce’s affair with staffer Vikki Campion.
• Rumours of Barnaby Joyce’s affairs were circulating for months before factional enemies provided evidence.
• Vikki Campion says the “bonk ban protects no-one”.
• Alan Tudge voted very strongly against gay marriage.
• He has also engaged in “criminal conduct”, not releasing a refugee in detention after being ordered to by court.
• Gladys Berejiklian called for changing the National Anthem from “we are young and free” to “we are one and free”.
• Scott Morrison mansplained an answer directed to Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston.
• Oh, Anne Ruston who says that the government’s budget is good for women, because women drive on roads?

Politics zone

• Joel Fitzgibbon has quit his position as Labor’s shadow minister for resources.
• Fitzgibbon is a fossil-fuel loving climate denier.
• Joe Biden’s election in the US is making Australians politicians consider that perhaps they should consider mentioning the existence of the climate.
• Or maybe Fitzgibbon is taking a swing at Labor leadership.
• Joel Fitzgibbon inherited the seat of Hunter from his father, Eric.
• The coal mines in the Hunter electorate produce terrible air quality for the residents.
• Georgina Downer absolutely cannot get elected in her father’s former seat.

Petition time

• Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young successfully tabled and won a vote on a Senate inquiry into Murdoch media.
• Rudd got into a shitfight with the Greens on twitter, then begrudgingly thanked the Greens tabling of the motion as “Labor and the minor parties”.
• In 2012, there was another review into media diversity, which was not acted on by Labor government at the time.
• Kevin Rudd is the godfather of the Australian’s former editor-in chief Chris Mitchell.

The only way to solve homelessness

• The Victorian state government has pledged to spend $5.3 billion on expanding social housing.
• The government has a track record of pledging to build things and not doing so.
• It’s possible to talk about two things at once (climate deniers hate this one weird trick).
• For the love of god stop this shit.
• Victorian Parliament voted for a Green New Deal… let’s see what happens.

Actions

• Read some pieces by friends of show:

  • Jim Malo on why white journalists need to STFU and stop platforming nazis.
  • James Clark of No Turning Back on Joel Fitzgibbon’s appeasement of the fossil fuel industry.
  • Nicholas Daniel on the Australian Labor party’s right-wing poltics.
• Include traditional place names if you send mail! After a campaign by Gomeroi woman Rachel McPhail, Australia post is now accepting tradition place names on envelope addresses. Find the country you live on here.

44 — Biggest hemisphere in the southern hemisphere

We reflect on the sad news from the recent Melbourne Cup, talk about the Only Election News, and why maybe putting fascists on TV is bad.

 

Horses

• In sad news, Anthony Van Dyke has died.
• The real heros stoically stayed home.

The only election news

• In Victorian local government elections, the Greens and Socialists have swept into power.
• Yarra council is the first majority-Green council in Australia.
• Some council elections are also dominated by cooked units.

Big battery bonanza

• Victoria is going to build the biggest battery in the southern hemisphere.
• Other bigger batteries exist in the world.

Da Latin Zone

• Coal mine Adani have rebranded to “Bravus”.
• Detention centre operator Transfield Services renamed themselves to “Broadspectrum” after the founding family withdrew the name rights due to bad publicity.
• Oat milk company Oatly was bought by Trump-linked investment firm Blackstone.
• NRL team Cowboys faced backlash after they launched their new jerseys with “Bravus” branding.
• People in Goa are joining the protest against Adani.

Platforming

• Former Trump senior advisor Steve Bannon called for a beheading, and was promptly banned from Twitter.
• In response to the banning, 4 Corners host Sarah Fergusun strenuously defended her decision to playform Bannon.
• Steve Bannon was formerly platformed on ABC’s 4 Corners program.
• It took a defence of the Christchurch massacre to end Milo Yiannopoulos’s career in Australia.
• Bannon doesn’t care if his points get through. The platform is the point.
• Friend of the show Jim Malo is ready for white journalists to shut the fuck up when it comes to “debating” those who think people of color should not exist.
• Annabell Crabb is party responsible for the laundering of Scott Morrison’s reputation.

Man of rubber

• Anthony Albanese wants to give the Government “space” to improve Jobseeker payments on their own.
• He’s willing to take a stand on a big issues though, like congratulating Joe Biden on winning the US election.

Thanks but no thanks

• Oh, we’ve got a new day! A day of thanks!
• Looks like a mirror of the pushes to Clap for Carers and to Bong Big Ben for Brexit.
• 2021: Cutting up a nurse Ooshie on TV.

Shoutouts

• Nationalise garbage collection.
• Make the Prime Minister uncomfortable.

Actions

• It’s NAIDOC week. Learn the country you live on, maybe put it on a letter.
• Pay the rent.

43 — Commission impossible

We dig into the details of the recently released Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements. Then we chat about the LNP freaking out about ANZ virtue signalling, and the company that was paid millions to not clean trains.

 

Royal commissions all the way down

• Australia’s latest Royal Commission into the 2019-20 bushfire season has been released.
• Australia leases most of our aerial firefighting aircraft from overseas.
• This is just the most recent inquiry. Since the year 2000, there have been over 200 inquiries into disasters, mostly bushfires.
• During the 2019-20 bushfires, the conservative media and politicians spent a much of their time trying to falsely pin blame on arsonists.
• David Littleproud, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, says the government will look into it.

ANZoinks, climate change is real

• Australian Bank ANZ (not the bank laundering money for alleged pedophiles) has released some weaksauce climate divestment policies.
• Ghoul of the week David Littleproud got mad, calling for a boycott of ANZ.
• Nationals leader Michael McCormack called the move “virtue signalling”.
• The National party position themselves as pro-farmer, but mostly value coal.
• Minister for Resources Kieth Pitt says the banks should paying attention to the banking royal commission instead of “playing eco-warrior”.
• Labour Shadow Minister for Resources Joel Fitzgibbon is talking from the same talking memos as the LNP.

Opposition party for the Liberals

• After an intra-party dust-up, Labor has caved to climate-change denier Joel Fitzgibbon.
• Labor MP Ged Kearney says “gas will be a transition fuel as necessary”.
• Labor Leader Anthony Albanese reckons the government should listen to the experts.

Not cleaning up

• An IBAC hearing has revealed that during the Covid lockdown, Transclean paid off V/Line executives to not clean trains.

Actions

• Tell the politicians responsible for the destruction of the Djab Wurrung trees what you think.
• Listen to interviews with Senator Lidia Thorpe on the Auspol Snackpod and 7am podcasts.
• Change your bloody bank.

42 — Blow up the horses (feat. Zac of Auspol Snackpod)

We're joined by Zac of Auspol Snackpod to chat about Scott Morrison's weird tint job, horse races for the rich and how the government (again) loves mining more than mining companies.

 

Getting tints

• Scott Morrison was supposed to attend a national cabinet meeting, buts turns out he was at a fundraiser.
• He probably could have called in, or taken another plane.
• Kevin Rudd on visiting a strip club: “Oh no, this won’t do”.

Pretty horsies

• The Victorian government okayed 500 horse owners to attend the Cox Plate race event, while the rest of Victoria is completely locked down.
• The decision to allow the owners to attend was quickly reversed, though the race still ran.
• The AFL Grand Final is the people’s game.
• A public holiday was introduced in 2015.
• Horse racing billionaire Jonathan Munz is funding a high court challenge to Victorian’s lockdown laws.
• Tom Waterhouse admits his sports betting brand was “highly polarising”.
• Australia has the highest gambling losses per captia in the world.
• Many football teams are supported by gambling revenues.

Big beautiful mines

• The government loves mining more than mining companies.
• In good news, all of South Australia’s power is coming from solar panels.
• Sun Cable is proposing the world’s largest solar power plant in the Northern Territory.
• The Queensland Resources Council claims that their industry employs 20% of the Queensland population.

Footy tipping

• The AFL has cut ties with Rio Tinto, after the company destroyed Juukan Gorge.
• Essendon player Joe Daniher has called on the AFL to cut ties with BHP and Rio Tinto.
• Yet you participate in society. Curious! I am very intelligent.
• The Wallabies refused to take a knee in support of black lives matter.

Actions

• Go kick a football in the park!
• Listen to Auspol Snack Pod!
• Listen to Evie’s wild theories on the film Brave.

41 — Nu Unions (feat. Holly Jones of the Renters & Housing Union)

We discuss whether you should get fired for quoting Mean Girls, then chat with Holly from the Renters & Housing Union about how they are helping to protect renters during the pandemic.

 

Good news

• Yelling at Scott Morrison is good. As is throwing fake blood on his car.
• The Greens won big in the recent ACT elections.
• You can’t waste your vote in Australia.
• Julia Gillard campaigned on not advocating for a carbon tax, but was forced into one by the Greens.
• Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand Labour Party won big in the New Zealand election. That’s good I guess?

She doesn’t even go here

• Quoting Mean Girls isn’t a crime, but the Labor party tried get someone fired over it.
• Labor party surrogates like Dee Madigan went in hard.
• Labor Shadow Environment Minister Terri Butler spent days on Twitter fighting about this.
• Amy McMahon’s response refused to fold and apologise.
• The Labor party responded by threatening to pull vote preferences from the Greens.
• It’s okay to delete your tweets.
• Labor Frontbencher and climate change denier Joel Fitzgibbon reckons the Green’s are his primary opposition.

RAHU

• The Renters & Housing Union
• Inspired by the Industrial Workers of the World.
• Landlord accidentally helping organise a rent strike by cc-ing all of their tenants.
• RAHU was able to defend members against eviction and $10,000 in rental debt.
• If you pay more that 30% of your income in rent, you can ask for a reduction from your landlord.
• Resources to help negotiating a rent reduction.
• RAHU’s ten demands for pandemic renting relief.
• Check out the National Higher Education Action Network for tertiary education workers.

Actions

• Join RAHU!

40 — Budget cu*ts

Alan Tudge re-instates the White Australia policy, Jacquie Lambie is a problematic fav, and we pick apart the big themes of this year's Federal budget.

 

Lidia Thorpe rules

• Lidia Thorpe is the first Victorian Aboriginal Senator.
• She entered parliament carrying a message stick with 441 marks, representing the First Nations people who have died in custody since 1991.
• Former Victorian Premier reckons Lidia should “walk before you run”.

The Tudge Report

• Australia partner visas take years to complete and cost more than $7,000.
• Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge is forcing through new rules that will require people on parter Visa to prove English Aptitude or take 500 hours of English classes.
• Australia has a long history of using language tests to enforce a racist immigration policy.
• The NT Government is appealing a supreme court decision that Ltyentye Apurte community had to be humane as well as safe.
• General stores in these remote communities are a monopoly and charge exorbitant prices.
• The federal government declares that they have no duty of care for people on welfare payments either.
• JSON may only be used for Good, unless you are IBM or one of it’s customers, partners, and minions.

A Lambie in wolf’s clothing

• After public consultation, Jacquie Lambie voted against a bill to take mobile phones away from people in immigration detention.
• One Nation’s Mark Ellis never technically kidnapped anyone.
• She voted against the Government’s cuts to university education, and gave a great speech explaining her vote.
• She also has a history of racism.

Budget time

• Winners: Taxpayers. Losers: Economy?
• As Greg Jericho reports, the Government is assuming that not only will we get a vaccine, but that next Australia will have it’s best economic recovery this century.
• Lidia Thorpe points out that the AFP is receiving 6 the funding of any efforts to closing the gap of Indigenous lifespans.
• This government really loves coal, even more than actual coal companies.
• National MP Matt Canavan drives a ute with “Back Coal Matters” to troll the greens.
• The government is offering “relocation assistance” to force job seekers into rural farm picking work.
• The budget is also the “most secretive ever produced”, with “Not for Publication” being listed 384 times.
• The budget is good for women, because women drive on roads.
• Anthony Albanese refuses to give a single detail.
• Correction: Mitch says that Albanese won’t give any details of Labor’s policy on nurse’s pay. Albanese was actually talking about childcare workers. I’m sure if pressed he would waffle on nurses too.
• Tony Abbott declared that he would make no cuts to the ABC and SBS (and promptly brought out the chainsaw after the election)
• Katharine Murphy scores the budget on a scale.

Royal petition commission!

• Kevin Rudd has a petition to have a royal commission into Murdoch media’s influence in Australia.
• Australia loves a good royal commission.
• Royal commission into banking corruptoon: Banks are still doing massive crimes.
• Royal commission into union corruption: not much found.
• Royal commission into indigenous deaths in custody: not going well.
• Royal commission into aged care: ignored.
• Royal commission into home insulation: fire incidence actually went down.

Actions

• Sign the petition, I guess.
• For better budget coverage, check out No Turning Back and Auspol Snackpod.

39 — Banana republic

We discuss big poultry news, the Centerlink workers who disagree with punitive government policy, and how the LNP wants to bring back indentured servitude on farms.

Poultry roundup

• Breaking: Chicken coop constructed.
• The ABC took down their article, very soon after publishing.
• Sam Niell’s duck (RIP) was called Charlie Pickering.

Centerlink

• Centrelink workers and and their union have released an open letter outlining their concerns with the government’s upcoming cuts to welfare and privatisation of welfare.
• The Morrison Government’s cuts to welfare have been warned against by basically everyone.

Bananaland

• Liberal MP John Alexander and Agriculture Minister David Littleproud have raised “conscripting” people to work on fruit farms.
• Working as a fruit picker is a visa condition for backpackers on working holidays.
• Deputy PM Michael McCormack, reckons workers should pick fruit for a “great instagram moment”.
• A year ago, Michael McCormack was cheering the climate crisis because more Pacific Island workers “would come to pick our fruit”.
• The media has been running puff pieces on people “finding love” while picking.
• There is a long history of abuse and sexual harassment of farm labour.
• …and a long history of literal enslavement of Pacific Islanders to work on Australian farms.
• A SEEK ad for farm workers: “Looking for FEMALE backpacker… open minded… psychically fit”.

Criminal activity

• Immigration Minister Alan Tudge engaged in “criminal” conduct, according to a Federal Court judgment.
• Alan Tudge also knew the robodebt scheme was illegal.
• The LNP paid ten times the value of a piece of land to Leppington Pastoral Company.
• They also hid the conflict of interest of staff involved in the deal.
• In 2015, the LNP sold a coal power station valued at $730 million for $1 million.

Discretionary fines

• Indigenous Australians and those born in Sudan made up 10% of all Covid fines in Victoria, despite being about 1% of the population.
• Dan Andrews says that Victorian Police will “rarely use discretion”, when issuing new $5957 fines for gatherings.
• Apparently no-one knows who authorised the use of private security for Victoria’s quarantine hotel security.
• Victoria Police refused to act as security for quarantine hotels.

Actions

• Listen to Auspol Snackpod’s most recent episode focuses on Maritime Union of Australia’s action.
• Listen to Tom Ballard’s interview with Kristin O’Connell.

38 — What's the go with the climate technology roadmap?

We dive into a detailed run-down of the Morrison government's new Low Emissions Technology Statement, and why it actually is worse than doing nothing.

Ghost of climate past

• Scott Morrison brought a piece of coal into parliament in 2017.
• The piece of coal was lacquered, and given to him by a Minerals Council lobbyist.
• Scott Morrison came to power after rolling Scott Morrison over the National Energy Guarantee.
• The Morrison government pushed for using “roll-over credits” to avoid action on climate change.
• 100 countries challenged Australia on this approach, and the UN accused us of cheating.
• Angus Taylor and the Morrison government have been trying to use the Clean Energy Corporation to fund gas projects, by re-classifying gas as green energy.
• The “Covid Recovery Commission” is packed with gas lobbyists, and keep recommending gas projects as a path to recovery.

Ghost of climate present

• The Morrison government’s new Climate technology roadmap is bad.
• Australia exports a lot of coal, but it doesn’t actually make us that much money.
• Hydrogen isn’t an energy source. It’s way to store and transport energy — eg. coal and gas.
• The best way to produce low-carbon aluminium or steel is to use renewable energy.
• Carbon capture and storage is grift. We’ve talked about the failed Gorgon Gas plant before in episode 25.
• Kiss the Ground, a documentary about regenerative agriculture.
• Nothing in the climate roadmap explains why these technologies were chosen.
• The roadmap isn’t based on any independent studies — it’s departmental and industry group guesses.
• The government has threatened to build new gas plants with public money, if the free market won’t fund it.
• Malcolm Turnbull kept money in Cayman Island accounts.

Ghost of climate future

• After last year’s disastrous bushfire season, Australia is still woefully underprepared for another one.
• Mitch on The Drum in 2019.
• Sydney’s gas network is constantly leaking methane. You can’t lie to the atmosphere.

Actions

• Divest your bank and superannuation.
• Support blockades of Adani.

37 — Renters write (feat. Jim Malo)

We're joined by journalist Jim Malo to talk race, renting and how Australia's media covers both. But before that, we talk about the desecration of sacred sites, and Jobkeeper rorts.

 

Freedom to be desecrated

• BHP and Fortescue have rejected a call from their shareholders to place a moratorium on “disturbing, destroying or desecrating” aboriginal cultural sites.
• BHP believes in freedom of speech for traditional owners.

Jobkeeper rorts

• Thousands of businesses have claimed JobKeeper payments, but still payed bonuses to executives and shareholder executives.
• Private universities were able to claim JobKeeper payments, but public universities have been explicitly excluded.
• Australian business Dick Smith was a victim of private equity stripping for parts.
• Government Minister Alan Tudge was warned by a tribunal that the scheme was illegal 76 times.

Chatting with Jim Malo

• Jim’s op-ed calling for journalists to do better when it comes to reporting on race.
• Convicted racist Blair Cottrell appeared on ABC’s Hack.
• Convicted racist Andrew Bolt still has his own TV show.
• Far-right hobgoblin Steve Bannon featured on a Four Corners ABC special.
• The Courier Mail labeled two Black women “Enemies of the State”.
• RAHU, the Renters and Housing Union is fighting for renters rights.
• How rent reductions have improved renters outlooks. (Follow Rose on twitter)

Actions

• Read Jim in Domain.
• Help get Jim over 3000 followers on Twitter!