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Clive Palmer and the Rise of Populism in Australia
Clive Palmer, Australian business magnate, is at it again. Yesterday morning, I was sent a bright yellow pamphlet in the mail from the United Australia Party, the one that you can see on your screens right now. I’ve gone ahead and added a picture of Clive Palmer with his classic thumbs up, just so that everyone knows who the pamphlet was from. But first, let’s talk about populism.
What is populism? Google defines it as, “A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups”. On the surface, it seems like a fairly common-sense approach. Ultimately, in our system of democracy, you need to be able to appeal to the ordinary person to get voted in. I don’t think populism is anything new, but certainly of late, it’s been going through somewhat of a resurgence.
In recent years, populism has often been associated with right-wing politics, although it can, and has been used, by the Left. The late Hugo Chavez, former president of Venezuela, is perhaps the most famous example.
US President Donald Trump has used populism to appeal to all the dissatisfied voters in middle America. He famously said that he would “drain the swamp”, a phrase that alludes to the historical draining of swamps to keep mosquito populations at bay to combat malaria. He used it to indicate that he would fix up the problems plaguing the federal government, taking care of the mosquitoes and the parasites while he’s at it. Anyway, it worked. He got voted in.
In academic circles, there’s a bit of a debate over what populism actually is. Is it a strategy? Is it an ideology? Is it a style, or a way of speaking? However, most researchers tend to agree that populism is comprised of two core principles:
1. It must claim to speak on behalf of the common people.
2. The common people must stand in defiance of an established elite.
So why does populism get a bad name? If its goal is to help the masses, then how can that be bad for society?
Well in recent years, it has been used by the radical right to prey on people’s fears of unrestricted immigration. Leaders preyed on the collective anxiety of their supporters by highlighting issues of violence and extremism in the immigrant population.
The second reason why populism gets a bad rap is that populists are typically seen as disruptive to the status quo. They see themselves as vastly different from the existing order, and in turn, push for many changes to the established political and social structures. They often promote a sense of crisis (regardless of whether there is any actual crisis or not), and state that they have the solution to that crisis.
In his pamphlet, Clive Palmer uses classic populist rhetoric. He makes a number of statement
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKuGqZwytZ0
What is populism? Google defines it as, “A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups”. On the surface, it seems like a fairly common-sense approach. Ultimately, in our system of democracy, you need to be able to appeal to the ordinary person to get voted in. I don’t think populism is anything new, but certainly of late, it’s been going through somewhat of a resurgence.
In recent years, populism has often been associated with right-wing politics, although it can, and has been used, by the Left. The late Hugo Chavez, former president of Venezuela, is perhaps the most famous example.
US President Donald Trump has used populism to appeal to all the dissatisfied voters in middle America. He famously said that he would “drain the swamp”, a phrase that alludes to the historical draining of swamps to keep mosquito populations at bay to combat malaria. He used it to indicate that he would fix up the problems plaguing the federal government, taking care of the mosquitoes and the parasites while he’s at it. Anyway, it worked. He got voted in.
In academic circles, there’s a bit of a debate over what populism actually is. Is it a strategy? Is it an ideology? Is it a style, or a way of speaking? However, most researchers tend to agree that populism is comprised of two core principles:
1. It must claim to speak on behalf of the common people.
2. The common people must stand in defiance of an established elite.
So why does populism get a bad name? If its goal is to help the masses, then how can that be bad for society?
Well in recent years, it has been used by the radical right to prey on people’s fears of unrestricted immigration. Leaders preyed on the collective anxiety of their supporters by highlighting issues of violence and extremism in the immigrant population.
The second reason why populism gets a bad rap is that populists are typically seen as disruptive to the status quo. They see themselves as vastly different from the existing order, and in turn, push for many changes to the established political and social structures. They often promote a sense of crisis (regardless of whether there is any actual crisis or not), and state that they have the solution to that crisis.
In his pamphlet, Clive Palmer uses classic populist rhetoric. He makes a number of statement
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKuGqZwytZ0
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DODGY
dodgy-vote-counting-(✅-good,-❌-bad)
“Tick means Yes! Crosses are ignored!” – “That sounds kind of dodgy…” – “TOO RIGHT!”. Australians will be voting in a referendum in a couple of months time to determine whether there’ll be an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. According to the Prime Minister, if you’re a good person, you’ll vote Yes. The No vote has no chance, right? Well just in case, they’ve made it a bit easier for you to vote Yes.
Here’s a sample ballot paper from the Australian Electoral Commission. (Link below – It even lets you practise online – just in case you can’t write Yes or No). “DIRECTIONS TO VOTER: Write "YES" or "NO" in the space provided opposite the question set out below. Do you approve this proposed alteration? Write "YES" or "NO"”.
It couldn’t be clearer, right? You either write Yes, or No. But obviously, the Prime Minister would prefer that you write Yes, right? I mean, it’s right there on his shirt! But just in case you don’t write Yes and do something a little bit strange, never fear! You’ll still get a chance for your Yes vote to count!
In a recent interview, Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers was asked whether scrutineers would accept other types of marks inside the box. He replied, “Make sure you write on that box ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in English. Now there are some savings provisions, but I need to be very clear with people – when we look at that, it is likely that a tick will be accepted as a formal vote for yes, but a cross will not be accepted as a formal vote.”
So it sounds like that if you put a tick in the box, it will count as a Yes vote, but if you put a cross in there, your vote just won’t count at all. Does anybody else think that sounds dodgy? It seems like they’re giving one side an advantage. Look, I doubt many people would be going in there ticking and crossing the box instead of writing Yes or No, but there certainly might be some, and to think that only one side of the vote will count in that situation.
Mr Rogers continued, “We’re being very clear with people, part of our education campaign will talk about this, the materials in the polling place so people can look at it. But please, make sure you write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ clearly on the ballot paper in English. That way you can assure yourself that your vote will count.”
When pressed about the tick/cross controversy, he replied, “The no side might say, well hang on, it’s a lower bar for the yes side. No not at all. That’s why we’re spending a lot of time talking to the community about what constitutes a valid vote. When the voter’s intention is clear, those votes are included.”
When asked whether a Y or N would count, Mr Rogers responded, “Again the legislation says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is a formal vote. There are some things called savings provisions and given the fact we’re trying to give effect to the voter’s intent, it is likely that a ‘y’ or an ‘n’ would be counted under the savings provisions. But I get nervous even talking about that because then people hear mixed messages. It’s just important to write either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on that ballot paper.”
When asked if any other symbols will count, he said, “A thumbs up?? symbol will count as a ‘yes’ vote, but a thumbs down?? will not count as a ‘no’ vote. Similarly, a smiley face? will count as a ‘yes’ vote, but a frowning face? will not count as a formal vote. Actually, the following symbols will all count as ‘yes’ votes: lips?, balloon?, Christmas tree?, rainbow?, men holding hands?, and bunny rabbit?, but everything else will not count as a formal vote.”
According to the AEC’s official Referendum 2023 website, Completing the ballot paper, Yes and No are the only formal ways to vote, however, they do have a question further down, “Can you use a tick or cross to vote in a referendum?”. “Please don’t. Clearly write yes or no, in full, in English. We expect the vast, vast majority of voters to follow those instructions. The formality rules for referendums has been the same for a long period of time – this includes ‘savings provisions’ (the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear). Since 1988 the AEC has followed legal advice regarding the application of savings provisions to ‘ticks’ and ‘crosses’ on referendum ballot papers. This is not new.”
Anyway, I think you get the idea. Tick means Yes! Crosses are ignored! That sounds kind of dodgy… TOO RIGHT!
REFERENDUM 2023: COMPLETING THE BALLOT PAPER
https://www.aec.gov.au/referendums/vote/completing-the-ballot-paper.html
‘SOUNDS DODGY’ – VOICE VOTERS CONFUSED BY TICKS AND CROSSES
https://www.2gb.com/sounds-dodgy-voice-voters-confused-by-ticks-and-crosses/
‘TICK WILL BE ACCEPTED, CROSS WILL NOT’: AEC BOSS SLAMMED FOR CONFUSING VOICE REFERENDUM RULE
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/tick-will-be-accepted-cross-will-not-aec-boss-slammed-for-confusing-voice-referendum-rule/news-story/b8c6e57e6c7d4e9564ce32d183460bb2
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YOU
you’re-the-voice,-try-and-understand
You’re the Voice! Um… NO! Anthony “Vote YES” Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, has made it his mission to convince you to vote Yes in the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. Tens of millions of dollars has been spent on advertising to try to make you vote Yes (not tax payers’ money, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney assures us). But the latest addition to the Yes campaign is a song from a 74-year-old British-born, former mullet-wearing pop singer, John Farnham, who has apparently gifted his song “You’re the Voice”, to the Yes campaign. Apparently, Australians are so easily persuaded, the simple inclusion of a song will make us change our vote.
JOHN FARNHAM'S HIT SONG YOU'RE THE VOICE THE OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE 2023 REFERENDUM YES CAMPAIGN
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-03/john-farnhams-youre-the-voice-for-referendum-yes-campaign/102806260
NO PUBLIC MONEY FOR 'YES' OR 'NO' CAMPAIGNS IN INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT REFERENDUM, BURNEY CONFIRMS
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-29/no-public-money-for-yes-or-no-referendum-campaigns-burney-confir/101712992
I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying it. I don’t think Australians are so easily manipulated, are they? Well, I’m certainly not. It might be a good song. It might have some catchy lyrics, but it doesn’t change what we’re voting for. Some commentators have pointed out that the first line of the chorus is an apt description of the upcoming Voice, “You’re the voice, try and understand it”, in that, many voters still don’t know what exactly this Voice will entail. For me, what we’re voting on is very clear: The inclusion of a federal advisory body that can only be made up of people from a particular ethnicity. And that just sounds wrong to me. You don’t eliminate racism by excluding 96% of Australians because they don’t happen to have the appropriate ethnicity.
According to the Voice website, “The Voice will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people based on the wishes of local communities”, and, “The Voice will be accountable and transparent”. That’s interesting, because the Guardian is reporting this week, “Albanese government accused of ‘blatant hypocrisy’ as more than 2,000 Senate questions go unanswered. So are we just supposed to have faith that the Voice will live up to its transparency promises as well?
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER VOICE
https://voice.gov.au/
ALBANESE GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF ‘BLATANT HYPOCRISY’ AS MORE THAN 2,000 SENATE QUESTIONS GO UNANSWERED
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/04/albanese-government-accused-of-blatant-hypocrisy-as-more-than-2000-senate-questions-go-unanswered
Not only has Johnny Farnham been raked in in an attempt to sway your vote, so have many big Australian companies who are also calling on you to vote Yes. Qantas have famously stuck Yes23 badges on their planes publicly affirming their support. For some strange reason, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has since departed, not on a plane, but he did suddenly quit Qantas. According to Aviation Australia, flight crew have been seen celebrating with high fives after learning the fateful news, with hero pilot Captain Richard de Crespigny describing a “collapse of the brand” under Mr Joyce.
HERO A380 PILOT SAW QANTAS CREW ‘HIGH FIVE’ JOYCE EXIT
https://australianaviation.com.au/2023/09/hero-a380-pilot-saw-qantas-crew-high-five-joyce-exit/
Not only are singers and massive companies telling you to vote Yes, so too are Australia’s biggest sporting codes. “More than 20 Australian sporting codes unite in support of Indigenous voice to parliament”. So famous singers want you to vote Yes. The Government want you to vote Yes. Kmart wants you to vote Yes. An entire f***ing airline wants you to vote Yes. All the sporting codes want you to vote Yes. You’d be kind of the odd man out if you voted No. Well…
MORE THAN 20 AUSTRALIAN SPORTING CODES UNITE IN SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/26/australia-sport-codes-unite-in-support-of-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-sports-yes-vote-referendum
According to the most recent polling, the Yes vote is collapsing, with the No vote now taking the lead. Apparently, Australians aren’t listening to their corporate masters.
VOICE TO PARLIAMENT POLLING RESULTS TRACKER: HOW MANY PEOPLE SUPPORT OR OPPOSE THE REFERENDUM
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2023/sep/04/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-poll-results-polling-latest-opinion-polls-referendum-tracker-newspoll-essential-yougov-news-by-state-australia
But anyway, none of that matters anymore, because Johnny Farnham is onboard with one very clear message: “Vote YES!!!”. Remember, “You’re the Voice”. Well, depending on your ethnicity, only about 3 or 4% of you will be the Voice. So my response is, and will always be, a resounding NO!
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identity-crisis-who-am-i
Who am I? What is my purpose? Why do I exist? These are questions that I have yet to answer successfully. Some would say that these are the questions of a person who is lost. A person who does not know who they are. A person who is struggling with their own identity. A person in the midst of a so-called identity crisis. And that is me. Unsure of my place in the world. Unsure of how to find my one true self.
When I was a boy, people taught me that I am my job. I am an engineer. I am a doctor. I am a priest. I am a financial planner. But are these really one’s identity?
Others mistakenly seek status and wealth to define themselves. A new luxury car! A giant house! A tennis court! Playing golf on the most expensive courses. Expensive clothes and an over-priced handbag. Television would have us believe that these things define us. They mould our identity. But they are just material possessions! They do not define one’s self. They are at best, illusory. With time, the latest handbag becomes old and unfashionable. The expensive clothes become dated. The luxury car needs replacing as there is a newer model. These material objects are temporal. They are but an illusion of one’s self.
So if identity is not my job, and it’s not my possessions, then what is it? Perhaps it is one’s actions? When I am with my friends, I tend to be the larrikin, the joker, the court jester. I am there to amuse my friends. But this is not me. When I am at home, I tend to be more neurotic. I worry. I am moody. I envy my colleagues and peers and wish that I too could afford the new house with the two bathrooms and double garage. However, when I am at work, I am confident and empathetic. I help students through their own worries and concerns. I show kindness and compassion.
When I am in public, I am a stoic warrior. I help those in need without a moment’s thought. I will run into battle to save a damsel in distress. I will play the role of the hero. But if I am asked to speak in front of a crowd, I am a trembling coward. I show no such heroism. I am lost for words in front of an audience. My mind goes blank.
When I am by myself walking in the park, I stare off into the distance. A feeling of calm washes over me. I am free of worry. I have time to ponder these wandering thoughts that emerge in my mind. I ask these big questions, but the answers seem ever so elusive. I am a truth-seeker that never arrives at his destination.
So who am I? Am I a joker? Am I a cynic? Am I a pessimist? Am I a philanthropist? Am I a brave warrior, or a trembling coward? Am I calm and rational, or nervous and confused? Or am I a mix of all of these things? Which one is my real self? Who am I?
With regard to identity, we are taught from a young age to lie and deceive. Put on a brave face! B
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qXYT1OLX3A
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No matter how you look at it, YouTube is a dictatorship. Sure, they’ve got flashy colours and bright lights and they at least outwardly look like they’re trying to be good corporate citizens, hence why we could perhaps call them a benevolent dictatorship, but a dictatorship nonetheless. Now I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad, but their actions are that of dictators. To be fair, there’s a bit of a balancing act from YouTube’s point of view. Too many rules, and YouTube becomes a full-blown dictatorship. Nobody will want to upload videos because the rules are too strict. People will start leaving and therefore YouTube will lose its major source of income — its creators. Obviously it’s not in YouTube’s interest for this to happen. If they become too dictatorial, this goes against their only aim — to make money. Too many rules will be the death knell of YouTube. But what about the opposite situation? What if there were no rules? Well that would result in chaos! People would be able to upload anything they wanted to. I’m sure you could imagine the result. Every community guideline would be broken in a matter of moments. YouTube would descend into a dark place that is no longer fit for human consumption. Advertisers would flee. Family-friendly companies would not want to tarnish their images by advertising on such a corrupt platform. Of course, all of this would directly go against YouTube’s one and only goal — making money. It is not in the interest of YouTube for you to have complete freedom. In the end, YouTube have no other option but to dictate the rules. It’s their only way to continue being profitable. Unfortunately for us, we have to put up with these rules and accept that we have no power in this relationship. It’s fair to say that YouTube don’t want us to leave, but they also don’t want us uploading anything we want to. Hence, YouTube IS a dictatorship, perhaps a benevolent one, but a dictatorship all the same. Either you accept the rules and play nice, or you leave.
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DOWN
down-down-property-prices-are-down
Down down prices are down in the property market in Australia. Thousands of houses that should have sold last year are still unsold in early 2019. Just looking at the local real estate market here in Queensland, I can see that there are so many more houses on the market with lower prices than last year. Makes sense, right? Supply and demand. The official figures for 2018 are as follows. Sydney home prices dropped 8.9%. Melbourne prices dropped 7%. Perth dropped 4.7%. etc. As a nation, including regional centres, Australian house prices fell 4.8% in 2018. A new term, FONGO, is being bandied about, which stands for Fear Of Not Getting Out. It’s the phenomenon where homeowners wishing to sell start to get anxious when they can’t. They worry that this time next year, prices will be even lower, so they tend to lower their asking prices to try to get out sooner rather than later. This is the normal consequence of a falling market.
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This video will probably get taken down, but oh well! Over the last few weeks, my family and I have been watching the hit TV show Lego Masters on Channel Nine. The show pits eight teams of two against each other in a series of Lego challenges for the chance to win $100,000. Of course, the show is just a blatant promotion of the Lego brand, and that’s fine. I’ve got nothing against that. However, one thing that I do question, is the judging. There is a lone judge who goes by the name Brickman. He is apparently the only LEGO Certified Professional in the Southern Hemisphere. I’ve got nothing against him. I’m sure he knows his stuff. But on Lego Masters, he is the judge, jury, and executioner. He has the power to send teams home when they fail at a challenge, or at least, that’s what the shows producers would have us believe. So my criticism of the judging is threefold. 1. There is only a single judge; 2. The producers (probably) have the final say; 3. The final challenge was (probably) rigged. Is Lego Masters rigged? Of course! But did any of us suspect otherwise?
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SOUTH
south-oz-forges-ahead-with-voice
South Australia, which got the second lowest Yes result in the nation at 35.2%, is going against its electorate and forging ahead with a state-sanctioned legislated Voice. Apparently they don’t seem to care how South Australians voted and are pushing ahead nonetheless.
These are the ten federal electorates in South Australia, and every one of them voted No. It’s hard to imagine that the constituency are okay with pushing forward with this new state-based Voice.
Despite the resounding objection to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Premier Peter Malinauskas remains confident that residents “know the difference” between the rejected federal Voice and the his brand new, shiny state Voice. Apparently, they’re completely different. He said, “South Australians are pretty smart… I think they know the difference between a constitutional change and a piece of legislation, so I’m not too concerned about that. It’s very different by nature. It’s also a proposition that’s had bipartisan support from a state Liberal party in the past. So it’s not an extreme proposition. And like I said, it doesn’t involve constitutional change. So I think they’re very different. I think most people appreciate that.”
If you’re South Australian, do you appreciate that? Do you think this is completely different, and therefore, you have no objections with it? Personally, I think he’s playing word games. Perhaps he should stick to Boggle.
Although the Queensland Opposition are not against the Queensland treaty, the South Australian Opposition are certainly questioning Mr Malinauskas.
South Australian Opposition leader David Speirs said given the proportion of people that have voted No, he’d like to reassess whether the Voice should go ahead. He said, “We’ve got a state-based Voice here in SA. I’m not sure we really know what to do with it now. SA has overwhelmingly rejected our interest in having a mechanism such as a Voice to the federal parliament and there are clearly going to be misgivings around a Voice to state parliament as well. I’ve always said we were very open to amending this legislation, should it be deemed not to be working, or should we conclude that South Australians don’t want this state Voice. They clearly don’t want a federal Voice. Do they want a state Voice either? I think they’d be immensely surprised that we have a legislated Voice.”
One Nation’s Sarah Game, Member of the Legislative Council, posted a tweet calling for the First Nations Voice Act to be repealed. She said, “An overwhelming majority of South Australians voted no to The Voice. The division caused by The Voice Referendum has been sad to watch and experience. There is no place for the remnants with the legislated South Australian Voice. I’ll be introducing my Bill for an Act to repeal the First Nations Voice Act 2023 this week. It’s time for a plan for needs-based support, not race or heritage-based support.” I’m not South Australian, but I wholeheartedly agree with her on this one.
Mr Malinauskas responded, “I think it's important that politicians honour their commitments. It'll demonstrate that a non-binding advisory committee can occasionally make representations to the parliament on various matters. It'll be up to the parliament to determine whether they accept or reject that advice. It's not particularly controversial and will roll out as planned.”
Basically, Mr Malinauskas is saying, “I don’t care what South Australians think, I’m going ahead with the Voice NO MATTER WHAT!”
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S FIRST NATIONS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT FOLLOWING REFERENDUM DEFEAT?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-16/what-happens-to-sa-voice-to-parliament-after-referendum/102977318
THIS STATE HAD THE SECOND-HIGHEST NO VOTE, SO WHY IS IT INTRODUCING ITS OWN VOICE?
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/this-state-had-the-second-highest-no-vote-so-why-is-it-introducing-its-own-voice/qxrasyk03
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...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYTasJcBN-A
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VIDEO
UNI P
uni-professor-threatens-to-spear
I work in a university, so I get all these higher education news emails, and this story stood out: “James Cook University professor allegedly threatens staff member to meet targets”. The professor in question is Professor Martin Nakata. If you look at his bio on JCU’s website, he is the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Indigenous Education and Strategy, and he was the first Torres Strait Islander to graduate with a PhD. So obviously, he’s a very smart guy. According to the news story, a senior female worker alleges Professor Nakata would “spear her” if she failed to dramatically increase Indigenous enrolments, which he later claimed was just a “joke”. Apparently this was said in front of a staff meeting.
Okay, so my first thought before delving deeper, was that it probably was a joke. I’m not saying it’s a good joke. Some would say it’s in poor taste. Due to the recent Indigenous Voice referendum, and so on, where everyone is a bit on edge regarding Indigenous relations, you could also argue it was poor timing to make such a joke. A similar joke might be if a German professor jokingly threatened his staff by saying, “If you don’t meet the targets, I’ll send you to Auschwitz!”, in reference to something that happened 80 years ago. I think that’s kind of along the same lines of dark humour. I can’t imagine Professor Nakata literally meaning he was going to grab a spear and spear the staffer if she didn’t meet her targets. That would be a rather stupid thing to insinuate in front of other people. But as I said, this is just my first thought.
Now of course, the lady on the receiving end of this ‘joke’ certainly has a right to say something, if she felt that it was said in a harassing sort of way. The Australian newspaper also published a story about this yesterday indicating that it wasn’t exactly the threat in itself that the staffer was upset by, but rather that the university did very little about it. “James Cook University accused of ‘doing nothing’ in response to bully claim”. In the article, they state that Professor Nakata had told her she needed to increase Indigenous enrolment from 670 to 1000, a target she felt was unrealistic. She said, “He’s a Torres Strait Islander man and because of that and because we’re the Indigenous centre, we have things on our walls, and one of the things is the spear. He points to the spear and says if you don’t reach that target, I’m going to take that spear off the wall and I’m going to spear (the lady’s name). On the Friday he repeated the same comment, and later that day he repeated the same thing in front of a student.”
Okay, so it wasn’t just a one-off comment, it appears he repeated it at least three times, which I understand could be taken as bullying. Although, the fact that he said it in front of a student makes me think that he honestly believed it was some sort of joke. If your intent was to literally spear the lady, why would you broadcast it to the world? I think he just thought it was funny. Maybe that’s a classic Torres Strait Islander one-liner.
The lady continued, “It flabbergasted me. Everybody felt very uncomfortable … they sat there in silence, I think in shock. I felt totally humiliated, and I was also quite dumbfounded.” A JCU spokesman said: “The university is aware of the alleged incident. All such allegations are taken seriously and handled in accordance with the university’s policies and procedures.”
The woman said she had worked with Professor Nakata for more than five years and they had previously had a good working relationship. She said she tried to resolve the matter unofficially, by emailing Professor Nakata and telling him she “respectfully requested him” to stop making the comments. He said he was sorry and it was just a joke. The woman said she had accepted his apology and was keen to work together as normal, but her relationship with him had deteriorated to the point where he did not speak to her.
“I went to HR and they’ve basically done nothing. He’s a very respected Indigenous academic and he’s very high-profile and I think they don’t know what to do. If it was somebody at a lower level, they would have been suspended or sacked. They are trying to work out how to make me go away.”
The woman has been on stress leave and annual leave.
Okay, so obviously from the lady’s perspective, this turn of events has had a really profound impact on her life. If what the article says is true, then the university are essentially trying to protect the professor and/or their reputation, although, now that it’s out in the media, they have to address this. As far as I can tell, the police have not been called, so nobody’s treating it like an actual threat, but that said, what if the opposite happened? What if it was a staffer or a student who had threatened Professor Nakata with a spear? I somehow suspect things would have played out a little differently.
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Over the last 30 years, interest rates have been drastically falling in Australia. As a result, house prices have been skyrocketing upwards. At the end of 2020, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe reduced interest rates to a record low of 0.10%. In early 2021, Dr Lowe indicated that these record low rates would stay until at least 2024. Australians raced out and bought more houses fuelling the property boom creating one of the world’s most unaffordable markets. Household debt levels continued to rise. Then in May 2022, Dr Lowe broke his promise two years early and started raising interest rates. They have risen every month ever since costing young Australians hundreds of dollars per month in mortgage repayments, not to mention massive cost of living increases. Dr Lowe induced hundreds of thousands of Australians into taking out mortgages by saying that interest rates would not rise until 2024. He is now hurting them. Should Dr Lowe go?
#Shorts #interestrates #mortgagecrisis #mortgagerates #interestrate2022 #interestrates2022 #rbanews #rba
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