Boonta Vista - EPISODE 99: Meltdown May

Episode Date: May 21, 2019

RIP Tony! Please join Andrew, Lucy & Theo as we bid farewell to our weirdest political unit and conduct a post-mortem of the depressing election result from the weekend. *** Support our show and get exclusive bonus episodes by subscribing on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BoontaVista *** Merchandise available at: boontavista.com/merchandise *** Twitter: twitter.com/boontavista iTunes: tinyurl.com/y8d5aenm Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2DBCXGA Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/s?fid=144888&refid=stpr Pocket Casts: pca.st/SPZB RSS: tinyurl.com/kq84ddb

Tony, you're such a good man, an honest man, and we all love you, and we know exactly what you're going through. I know this sounds ridiculous, and I'm not religious, but they did the same to Jesus. You're a good man and keep going down, and we love you. Oh my God. They did the same to Jesus. I'm sorry, but that is possibly one of the most perfect pieces of audio ever committed to tape. Because as well as it being incredibly funny just as a sound, I think it just sums the entire reaction to that. You know exactly what that sound was and that was Tony hearing himself be compared to Jesus

and just deep in his soul hearing it and going, hmm. That's right. Wow. stunning stuff there. Stunning stuff there. Just to perk us all up before we get into this. Welcome to Wunterfista. I'm Andrew here with Lucy and Theo. Hi guys. Hi, hello. Hello. I think it's safe to say we're deep in the eyes of meltdown May. Mm-hmm. Oh, very much. I mean, yeah, the election results have come in right on the buzzer pushing one and all into meltdown May territory. We did.

I didn't even think of this. And thank you for bringing it to my attention, Theo, that effectively Australia has had a national meltdown. We have... We have nationalized meltdown, May. That's some kind of new records, just an entire country freaking the fuck out all at the same time, just before the end of May. Mm-hmm. Well, we heard just there, it was a talk back caller Heather ringing in to

speak to Tony Abbott on 2GB. Presumably to express her support I guess she did seem to think that Tony Abbott was literally being crucified. Well he is really, you know I lost his seat. It's just like what happened to Jesus. It's very, very much, very much like when after 26 years everybody eventually just said to Jesus, just go away. Just get out of here, man. Just get out of here. Scuddle. Take your big pension and go, Jesus. God. Jesus was famously voted out of being Lord of the Christians. I was just let to go and live his life. Famously that is what occurred. I mean in the context. It would be great if we had to nail outgoing politicians to a piece of wood. Oh.

So, yeah, but in the context of Tony, I feel like it's actually the opposite. So, yeah, Tony's lost his seat, the seat of Waringer. And, like, everything that I'm reading now is basically saying like he was he's one of the only outlies in the sense that he's one of the only seats that the government lost. Yeah, big time. It made gains in a lot of places. So he was the anomaly.

And you know, the word going around the party is that he was the, it's solely his pride and vanity that stopped in, like he knew, he knew he was going to lose. He said himself, by the way. He said himself during his concession speech, he was like, well, when we saw the Wentworth by election after Malcolm Turnbull went and we got stumped and everything we knew that you know we were probably gonna lose here but he said in his own concession speech I'd rather be a loser than a quitter and lose he did I think I'd rather be a quitter than a loser I would absolutely learn a hundred percent yeah how good would it be to just win a whole bunch of things and then see that you're about to lose and you go nope I'm actually taken tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak the the the tak the tak the the the the the the the the the the the the to to to to to the to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th tho' to thooo' tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo' to to to to to to their bunch of things and then see that you're about to lose and you go, nope, I'm actually taking the coward's way out and quitting before

that happens. Like, that's the perfect world. You get to completely cast it and you get to tell your own story. You get to go look after all of these years of successfully winning elections. It's time for me to step aside, make for some new blood, and then they lose the election and you go, oh, well, if only they had kept old election-winning Tony around. I can't imagine having the drive to do literally anything to the point where I have to be thrown out of it. Like I can't think of a single thing in my life where I've kind of done that to the point where everyone's like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thanks, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the the the the the the the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thrown out of it. Like I can't think of a single thing in my life where I've kind of done that to the point where everyone's like, hey, thanks Theo for years and years of effort in this thing, but actually we can do without you and we're like, you know, we've brought

in somebody else. Every single thing I do, as soon as I hit the peak of it, I'm out. That's it that's it. I'm done. I'm quitting this job. I've worked with people who were like the subject of loads of complaints and went through like the entire HR process of getting fired, you know, from like a corporate job. And number one, please don't let conservatives tell you that like, that, well, I mean, anybody who thinks that it's like, you know, too easy to fire people or whatever, it's a whole thing. It's a process. Unless, thanks to John Howard, you work in a place with, like, what is it, less than 15 people? If it's less than 15 people, you don't have to give people like notice, you don't have to tell them anything, you can just say, we've decided we're firing you now.

But if you're in a, if you're in a big place that generally has to go by the rules, then, you know, they've got to do all the normal stuff. They've got their tho, tho, th. th. th. T, th. T, th. T, th. T, th. T, th. T, th. T, th. th. th. th. th. that, that, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, that, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, their th. their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th. You, their, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, the. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, their,. They've got to take you aside and say please stop doing that. And then they have to you know do some like mediation and some probation type stuff and then they have to like put you on a performance management arrangement and all that sort of thing. I worked with this person who went through that whole process while people around them quit and said this is specifically because I don't want to work with you. Wow. And yeah, and they just, they went through like this six-month-long process of like everyone around them saying you shouldn't be here, you're a terrible person, you've been caught

outright in dozens of lies, you've like doctored all this all these emails and material at work and stuff and they just went, well let's see how long it takes. Let's see how long it takes you to get rid of me. And all I could ever think was like imagine coming in day after day just knowing that the only thing the only thing everyone around you wanted was for you to turn around and get the fuck out of their and stop th th th th th th th th th th th th th their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their their the. the. the. their the. their thea. their thea. their their their their their their their their their their their their the only thing everyone around you wanted was for you to turn around and get the fuck out of there and stop making everyone's life miserable. But instead, keep coming in day after day, going into your HR meetings where they say, well, for another six weeks straight, you have not done your job to even the basic level of competency

expected, until you are finally dynamited out of there at the end of a gigantically long process, and that's Tony. I actually now have a smidgen of respect for Tony. For writing that out. Every day, everybody comes, get out of here, you big dickhead. All the people in your own electorate walking around in shirts. Vote Tonya. So I kind of feel like we're front-loading the show with the good news.

Let's be honest. I did feel that way. We need something to poke us all up. That is literally the only good news. No. No? Fraser Ann also lost his seat. Yeah. That's pretty good. That's that's that's that's that's like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like. that's like like. that's like like like. that's like. that's like. that's like. that's like. that's like. that's. th. th. that's. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that. that. that. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. thoo. tho. tho. th.. Yeah. I kind of... Yeah. It could be worse. Yeah. It could be worse. Say wild conspiracy theory, sovereign citizen, gnome Malcolm Roberts could have been re-elected to his seat in Queensland. Oh wait. that's what happened.

Wild conspiracy theory, sovereign citizen, gnome Malcolm Roberts could have been re-elected to his seat in Queensland. Oh wait. that's what happened. Why is no one talking about this? This is... I don't even know what to do with this information. Wild, like, the guy is just... I don't even know what to say. Like he is very, very openly and clearly just an unhinged conspiracy theorist like by this by the same token I mean people are going to walk in to the booth and they're not going to number like all the way down

below the line you know gonna go one Pauline Hansen to two racist Macbubin and then like just avoid go around his box. to say the tho to the to say what to to to to to to to to to to to to the the to the the the the the to the the the the to the the the the to the to the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the to to to say. to say. to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the tho. tho. to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the same the same the same en, and then like just avoid go around his box and like onwards, right? They're going to vote above the line and then you're going to put a big old one against One Nation. And that's, and like, so I don't, I really don't think there's a huge critical thought process that can be applied to Malcolm Roberts getting back in beyond there was a swing towards one nation. Very small swing. There's all kinds of stuff happening in this election. There's a lot

lot going on. But people voted for One Nation presumably above the line and that's enough to get Malcolm Roberts in so I don't like want to fall back on the Mr. 77 votes or what have you it just counts the people voted above the line for one nation in the Senate. Yeah that's the fact of it. Yeah and as long as you can keep doing that you're gonna continue getting absolute freaks. and I guess yeah so this this brings us to the the the that. to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi thi. thi. thi. this thi. this this this thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. th. th. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th doing that, you're going to continue getting absolute freaks. And I guess, yeah, so this brings us to the larger issue, which is that somehow, somehow over the weekend, the Liberal National Party won their unwinnable election, just incredibly depressing stuff. It really felt a lot like it was our version of the 2016 presidential election in the states.

Absolutely, and I think the comparisons go deeper than we wanted this person to get in and they didn't. Right, like I think the real kind of thing out of 2016 was the failure of polls and the failure of expectations, the failure of statistical analysis to see what is happening and to be able to react to it. And the failure of campaigning as well, like the just putting the boots on the ground in the wrong place where, but we kind of saw coming into this election, obviously, a big swell of, of the just just putting the boots on the ground in the wrong place where but we kind of saw coming into this election obviously a big swell of of labor support with with news poll you know news poll reliably put them ahead 5248 with sports bit paying out early was it something like 1.4 million dollars? Hmm. One point something. Which is very funny by the way.

They lost like six, they lost like six million dollars, five, five point five. Yeah, yeah. But they paid out labor early, like two days early, going like, like, we're so confident of our political. There's some good news in all this. It is so funny to see a bookie lose at both hands. That's true. But with that, what's interesting is like you're saying, the polling, polling has been, you know, pretty inaccurate for a while now.

But one of the things I had read was like, oh, actually, like the sports betting agencies that let you bet on political outcomes, which I don't really think should be a thing, but that's just me. Sure. That's a separate issue altogether, I guess. He's saying I belong in jail? Not for that, but um... No, I'm, like, I just, I think it's a very strange thing like, because, you know, people can bet on the outcome of sports matches and what winds up happening? People fix the outcomes of sports matches. People all of a sudden have this big financial incentive to influence the outcome of a thing.

So all, like, and I'm not suggesting that that's happened here or anything like that. I'm just saying that as like a progression of, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, the, thi, thi, the, the, the, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, th, th, tho, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people people people people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, people, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, people thi, people thi- people thoo, people thi-a, people thi-a, people thi-a, people thi people th of a thing. So all, like, and I'm not suggesting that that's happened here or anything like that. I'm just saying that as like a progression of that same culture, it's very weird to me. There were rumors that it was Malcolm Turnbull's son, Alex Turnbull, who was the punter who placed a million dollars on labor to win? Oh my god, we absolutely, I forgot about that. And I think news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news news that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's that's that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's that's that that's that's that's that's to to to to to to to to forgot about that and I think news organizations as a whole to kind of collectively come to terms with what has occurred, absolutely have to chase this story to the end of the earth. I want to know who this fucking idiot is.

So I guess, million dollars. So yeah, there was the whole thing that like, you know, people people had sort of been saying that yeah the sports betting agencies had actually been more reliable predictors of who was going to win an election than the traditional methods of polling and as we saw in this case the coalition had not won a single news poll since the last election. And they still the last election. And they still won this election. Yeah.

So there was also apparently Labor's post-election. Labor commented on some of its own internal pollin, which said that apparently they had very tightly held their own internal polling, and that never showed them being above the point of being able to win. Right. So yeah even internally they weren't being shown any indication that they could actually win the election. Then you combine all of this with the eternal unpopularity of Bill Shorten. So and I guess this is like you're saying Theo this is where we start to get into the eternal unpopularity of Bill Shorten. So and I guess this is like you're saying, Theo, this is where we start to get into the parallels with like the

2016 election where much like Hillary Clinton just, just was never a popular candidate. But weirdly without that weird offshoot of cult of personality either. Or I would say projection, right? like so I think, I think, I think, um. I think, I think, um, um, I this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this is this is this is this is this is this is thi, this is thi, this is this is this is this is this is this is this is thi, this is this is this is this is this is this is this is this, this, this, this is this is this is this is this is this is this, this, this, this, this, this, this, thio, thio, thio, thio, thio, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, of cult of personality either. Or I would say projection, right? Like so I think Hillary, you know, obviously a very bland, very, you know, just extremely neoliberal. Of the machine kind of candidate.

And people projected all of these bizarre beliefs and actions on her that she had clearly no interest in in following up or doing, right? Like she had no real policies that were grassroots or interesting, but people still, you know, made her into this feminist icon with basically no evidence to go on. So Bill Shortens liked that, but without that weird offshoot of support as well. Except for the weird boomers on Twitter. Except for Shorten Sweet and the strange online people. Lucy, didn't they try doing like a hashtag on Twitter in the last week or two that was like hashtag I love Bill Shorten? Oh I didn't even see that.

That's really upsetting. It's depressing. Just sad. And like Theo said, it was just all like absolute hyper-rusted on labor rights that were like, yeah, we love him. Yeah. Vote one, vote one Chloe Shorten's husband. Oh boy, why did he have to wear that? I don he have to wear that? I think that changed everything.

I can't have a guy that wears a hot wife shirt. Going to vote for labor, then he thinks, no, fuck women. Yeah. Yeah, just. I think there are a number of parallels that you want to talk to about like broadly with this though. So one one one one one one one is is one one one is is one one is the the the the the the one is the the the the the the the the the the the th is th is th is th parallels that you want to talk to about like broadly with this though. So one is the is the failure of the polling, which is, you know, I think they have to really get down and look at like.

Statistically what's going wrong? Are they choosing the wrong people? Is it wrong to even poll people over the mobile phone as like a replacement of landline? Because they saying like like previously a decade ago, you know, or going back further obviously, you would just work your way through the phone book, right? And you would call landline after landline, and you would reach adults because every adult had a landline basically or effectively. So I don't answer my mobile phone if I don't know who know who's calling me because all I know I know is on the other end is spam callers. That's all that's never going to be. And I don't think young people do.

Whereas I think anyone above the age of like 42 is like they answer the phone it's a spam call and they're like, well, fool me once, shame on you, ful me 400 million times. Also still shame on you, I'm going to continue answering the phone phone also there's this real effect where people, I believe when you're talking to a real person on the other end, which is the case when I got polled. Oh, he's been polled. You didn't tell us this? Now, now. But, so, like when you're talking through these things to somebody on the other end,

you're at least semi-accountable for your beliefs. You know, I think there's a certain thing where you go, well, I'm a disgusting person and I probably shouldn't admit to voting for United Australia Party. In the polling booth, there is no such effect. Yeah, and people, people talk about the shy Tory effect. Don't they? Shy Tory effect, yes. Yeah. And although I will say, yeah, as well, the like, a friend of the show, Richard Cook was saying

that he was saying like the whole narrative about all of the polling being wrong in the in the states was wrong. Yeah, I was going to say it's also like the fact that, you know, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, thue thue thue th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin, th. th. thin, thin, thin, thi, the thi, thi, the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. I thi, th. I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. th thi. th th th th th th thee th th th the the the the thi. the the thi. th it's also like the fact that, you know, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote still here. You can point to all sorts of different flaws in the electoral system here that made that result happen, whereas Bill Shorten did not win the popular vote at all. Like the polls were completely wrong. That's right.

Although, I was, I think, isn't this more a preferences thing because... Yeah, definitely. I was, I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. I th. I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was th. th. th. th. th. I was, th. tho thoes tho tho thathea thoes the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. the. the an the an the an theananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananole.a.a.loa.a.a. thoes. thoes. tho isn't this more like a, isn't this more a preferences thing? Because, yeah, definitely. I was looking at an exit poll at the end of the whole thing, which was like the primary vote was higher for, the primary vote was higher for labor. But, um, but all the preferences. I'm not sure if it's still the case. It was really close though, and then, you know, the Greens got 10% of the vote.

And then all of the preferences from One Nation and the Parma Party all go to the liberals. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, so, I guess that brings us to that point as well, that obviously you immediately in the wake of this, saw a whole lot of centrist labor supporters saying, you know, the classic, the classic third-party spoiler thing of everyone who voted for the Greens, threw their vote away, and everybody who voted for... Who is saying them? I'll go and punch them in the stomach. Simply untrue. All the normal people you would imagine. God, it makes me mad. And well, like, sorry, let me, let me wheel back a few days then and say, I went on a friend of the show, Rob Rousseau's podcast just over the weekend which is the

49th Parahel which everybody should check out and I went on there and basically if you'd like to go back and listen to that and hear what it sounded like just before we all had the hope crushed out of our hearts we did talk about a lot of exactly what we're talking about now which is the parallels between like the US and here and Canada in terms of the the like nominally left-wing party, the theoretically left-wing party, saying, oh well you know we don't want to go too crazy, let's let's have some nice mild reforms and a boring unlikable leader and and we'll try to match the right-wing rhetoric around refugees and an th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th th th th the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the toe toe toe toe to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. the th. the the the the the the the the the the the toe toe toe toe toe toe toe tooeeeeeeeeeeeeaneaneaneaneauuu. teau. teau. toeau. toe toe toe try to match the right wing rhetoric around

refugees and around being war hawks and all this sort of stuff. And so it's just the classic issue. It's the classic issue of we're going to try and emulate all of the things that we think people like them for, but anybody who likes the hard right wing was never going to vote for you. So all you do is alienate any sort of hard left base. I don't think you get to complain that like, you know, someone voted like one for the greens. But again, like we're saying, that doesn't fucking matter because if, like a lot of people,

you voted like one for the greens and two for Labor, then labor got you vote anyway. Yeah, it's definitely not. I don't think it's a point that applies to Australia at all. Like, and I don't think, I honestly don't think, well Bill Shorten was a boring candidate from the, you know, absolute center. I don't think that's necessarily what has occurred here. Well, where I was going with that though, was to say, when people complain about the left in Australia and say, oh, by criticizing labor for not raising Newstart or for continuing to, like, make people self-immolate in torture camps,

you were helping out the right wing. It's like, well, like people on the fucking right weren't going to vote for them anyway. There's nothing wrong with trying to ask them to change some shit about their policies. But then if you look at across the country how all of the preference flows, across the country, how all of the preference flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow flow stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff whole bunch of seats were given to the liberals by preference flows from one nation and Clive Palmer. Yeah we and Clive Palmer went and spent fucking 50 or 60 million dollars of his own money on running all of that shit so that he could direct all of those

preferences to the liberals. He didn't win a single seat. He didn't win a single seat but he did get to return a government which is far more favorable to his business interests and that's what he was in it for. Yeah. So this sort of brings me to the next sort of parallel, which is to say that and probably you know people that are more insider than than us switches to say at all we'll probably vehemently disagree with this. But I think that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that the that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that is that is that is that is that is that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are that are their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. that are more. that are more. that are that are which is to say at all, we'll probably vehemently disagree with this. But I think that labor really have failed to understand where they need to campaign and on what. And I'll tell you why.

Which, you know, we saw in the US with, you know, battleground seats not visited by Hillary Clinton and blah blah blah. So I went so Caitlin and I went to Mackay over Christmas and we drove up right and this this really I think starts to speak to the heart of what what happened in Queensland where we saw a gigantic swing towards both the coalition and United Australian Party. Sorry, I mean, mostly towards One Nation and the UAP, right?

And so they've coalition have done very well in Queensland from those preference flows. And so driving up the coast and driving in Makai and all that sort of stuff, I would have seen maybe 30 or 40 billboards for, you know, mostly for United Australia Party obviously, you know, for One Nation and for the coalition which were attack ads on Bill Shorten and they are all attack ads that play to basic human instincts, which is tax bad, don't like Bill Shorten. And that's it.

That pretty much sums up the whole election. Absolutely. But I didn't see anything for labor. I did not see a single billboard. I don't think I had either. That I remember on the way up there, right? And honestly, I think when we're talking about, oh, well, you know, there's all this fighting amongst boomers with, you know, water droplets in their Twitter accounts that are like, when you criticize labor, you drive people towards the coalition.

That's why, I think so much of this is just beyond what normal people are talking about. And I don't, I don't believe that any of it is any more complicated than, I saw a United Australia Party ad. There was a, I, I, uh, some, the, some words, the, uh, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the to, the the the the the the the the the the the to drive, to drive, you the the to, you to, you to, you to drive people, you to drive people, you to drive people people people people people, you to drive people people people people, you to drive, you to, you to, you to, you to, you to, you to, you to, you to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their to, to, their, their, to, to, drive, drive, their, drive, drive, drive people, drive people, drive people, drive people, drive, their to, to, the I saw a United Australia Party ad, there was some words on it that promised me a thing and then they went and voted. Nobody knows anything about what the United Australia Party stands for. But they got 300... Stopping the insidious threat of China. Yeah, but they got 400,000 primary votes. More than one nation.

Yeah. You can define what One Nation is about. You can't define what United Australia Party is about. Because they're not for anything apart from saying words that will make people go and vote for them which will direct preferences towards the coalition. That's it. I saw some of their ads on TV and I saw some of their billboards.

Not many because I assumed that given where I live that there was probably considered like...I saw lots more in the country when I like visited my family. I saw the billboards. Same for me where I have obviously not seen anything of that sort anywhere in Canberra. But when we drove, where do we drive to? We drove to, yeah, Country Victoria. And so we saw billboards as soon as we were out in the rural areas. And like, yeah, and of the ones that I saw, they were just like,

you won't have to pay tax anymore. A car will cost half as much. They were just, they were just like, blatant lies, you know? This is like what won the election though I think this is what's most upsetting for me is realizing how much I am in a bubble, not just on a leftist bubble, but in the sense of people knowing and caring about whatever politics that whatever side they're on. Whereas every comment that I've read about why someone voted liberal is just, they won't raise my taxes. Like it's that simple. Yeah, so we're we're wea we're wea wea wea their. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. they they're th. th. th. th. th. they thee. they they're the. the. they they're the. the. the. the. the. the. th. th. th. they're't raise my taxes. Like it's that simple. Yeah, so we're sitting here and like and not just not just on the podcast but in our own personal lives and making real like thinking and trying to do the right thing, right? Like with what we're with what we're doing and I think people generally are as well but they're not necessarily approaching things in the same in the same terms. You can't, it's very difficult to write to write to write to write to write to write to write to write to write to to to to thiiii thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. thi. tho tho th. th th th th th th th. th th th th th th just not just not just not just not just not just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi the the the. the. thooooooooo. the. the. the. thooo. the. the. thoo. the. tho. th. th. th. necessarily approaching things in the same terms.

You can't, it's very difficult to write on a piece of paper like pros and cons for voting, you know, whoever, and go, well, you know, I kind of like the environment as well, but I don't like paying taxes. Like, there's not a real, um, a true objective process going on in most people when you kind of get to the polling booth and that's just part of compulsory voting. That is part of Labour's problem too I think is I would struggle to like name which policies Labour was bringing to this election directly. Which kind of brings me to, I've got a bit of a thesis which I think people will probably argue with in the end, but I think, I think it's lovely to talk about the possible groundswell

of like leftist kind of support in America, right, where we see these big communities of DSA members and stuff breaking out and starting to try and, you know, move things around and that sort of thing. But they're, like a lot of people are very desperate in America. A lot of people, you know, are suffering through, you know, tens of thousands of dollars of insurance fees and then still having to face a, you know, a massive bill at the end of a health crisis and all this sort of stuff and not having a lot of the guarantees that we have in Australia around job security and paid leave and all all this sort of stuff. I'm not saying that it's perfect in Australia and you know we've obviously talked a lot about the rights of the unemployed and the horrible things that are going

on and sentencing, but most of people in Australia are not in that category. They're reasonably comfortable people with. the the the the the the the the th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the the-a that the the the-a thea the-a the-a the-a the-a the. the the of the the. the the the the the the the thu. the the the the the th. th. th. the the th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the things that are going on in Centenely, but most of people in Australia are not in that category. Right, they're reasonably comfortable people with kind of ideas that are more around like, you know, well, if these are, if this franking credit thing comes in, I'll have to pay, you know, $2,000 more in tax, and I don't want to do that. Yeah. So there's no it's pure self-interest. It's pure self-interest and but there's no real like there's not a huge piece of that pie for radical thought to come in and say what if everyone had health care? Well it's kind of you know we're not perfect but we're most of the way there already.

Well, I saw somebody commenting on that and saying, you know, that the labor put forward that cancer treatment package. Yeah, and they said, yeah, but not many people have cancer. But they didn't try to do something like, say, include dental work in Medicare, something that affects everybody and costs everybody a bunch of money. You know, so again, just a thing that they could do that like everybody would look at and say this will help me and is something everyone should have access to. Instead, like I've definitely seen it put as like, you know, labor did try to try to introduce a bunch

of changes to different tax policies and all of their tax policies made a loser out of somebody. All of their tax policies were something that the coalition could point to and say, somebody is worse off out of this. And, you know, because, like, obviously the franking credits thing was total bullshit. And the way that they even framed that as laborers introducing a tax. You know, they're like... Just blatant lies too. Yeah, flat out lies.

But to the person at the end of the day, what in effect is occurring is that they are paying more tax. Right, we can rationalize that. Well, I suppose I suppose, I suppose, I suppose, I suppose, I suppose, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the, thue, thue, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho, tho, like, tho, like, like, that, and tha, like, like, and, and tho, and tho, and th. And, and th. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tha, tha, tha, the the tha, like, like, like, the tha. the the tha. the they they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're tha. thx. Right? We can rationalize that. Well, I suppose, yeah, if you want to bring it down to its absolute base elements, it is they are not receiving as much money back from the government. Therefore, they must be getting taxed in some sense. Yeah, but I mean, we're still, we're putting definitions and words around it. In the end, it is, I want money, gimme, gimme, gimme. Right? Like, as far as like, you do a difference kind of, it doesn't matter whether it's coming from, from credits or, you know,

whatever, or like, tax breaks or all this sort of stuff. It's immaterial, because in the end, someone's going to look at that, that, you know, that, you know, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, you, you, you know, you, you know, you know, the, the, you know, you, you, you, whatever, or like tax breaks or all this sort of stuff. It's immaterial because in the end, someone's going to look at that, you know, they're looking at their retirement. And I'm not saying that this is right, I believe that the frank and frank and credit should be abolished. But they're looking at their retirement, they're doing maths on it and going, well, I will get, because I've been set up in this fashion to produce more income, more passive income, and the maths that I've done around my lifestyle continuing on in the next 10 years requires this to be present because the whole thing's

structured in this fashion, if labor comes in and wipes this out, that's not possible anymore, therefore I'm going to vote for liberal. Now, this does lead me to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the thi thiiii their their their their their the more their their their their their their their their their their their more more more more more more their more more more their more more more their more more their more their more their more their more their more their more their more their their their more their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their theck. theck. theck. I theck. I theateateck. I theateateateck.eck. theateateateck. theateateck. theateateateck. theat possible anymore. Therefore, I'm going to vote for liberal. Now, this does lead me back to something that I have lamented many times before, probably on this show. Probably actually, every time a budget rolls around. Which is, and I think this is something that the media has a lot of culpability for. I think that the media does have a responsibility to, thi th, th, th, and th, th, and th, and, and th, and, thi, and thi, and thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if if thi, if thi, if thi, if if thi, if thi, if if, if thi, if thi, if th-if th- if thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, if thi, if thi, if thi, if if if thi, if if thi, if thi, if thi, if thi, if thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, this is something that the media has a lot of culpability for. I think that the media does have a responsibility to report on, you know, budgets that are being proposed as, you know, what does this mean short-term? What does this mean long-term?

How does this affect the populace at large, that kind of thing? What is fucking miserable to me to see is now, and I feel like it's, and I, virtually since John Howard was Prime Minister, now every time that there is a budget, what, like can either of you tell me, what is the way that every policy is phrased or the way that the coverage is always presented. Does this get us towards surplus? It's always phrased the same way, who are the winners and losers of this year's budget? They always frame every fucking policy as, oh if there's more money for school teachers, it's like, well the school teachers are winners because they'll get this much more money every year. And if they make a cut somewhere, it's, it's, it's, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th.e, th. thi, th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th...... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their teachers are winners, because they'll get this much more money every year. And if they make a cut somewhere,

it's these people are the losers of this thing, because they get less money. And it boils every single issue in terms of policy down to how much money are you personally getting out of this. And I feel like that's a thing that has been around since, you know, Howard and Kevin Rudd and all these. This is just a cultural thing in Australia. Well, like, I guess that's the problem we really need to address is, you know, I would

love to just say that, oh, labor screwed up and labor did all these things wrong, but I feel like the thing that makes me the most sad is just realizing how much self-interest is a huge thing in Australia. Yeah I mean I think I think you know we can ask is the system broken but as far as a representative democracy goes it's probably quite accurate. Yeah it seems pretty accurate in terms of what the general consensus is in Australia which is once I've got mine, fuck you all, essentially. And also, um, other places do more pollution, so we should have all of our nutes.

Right, because India does pollution. Because India does pollution. Yeah, just, yeah. Like, I do completely agree. I think that this is something that, I think this is something that's a symptom born of Australia's however many years in a row now of economic growth, of like uninterrupted economic growth, even though there has been wage stagnation.

Yeah, that's right. It shouldn't be confused with actual like, yeah, yeah, even though there has been weight like, you know, significant wage stagnation over time, there's been a complete failure to, you know, raise New Start or anything like that. Again, as you as you're saying, Theo, where we're sort of, if we're talking again about the electoral nature of it as opposed to you know people around the fringes in different demographics like you said the most people have what is one of the best living standards in the world and i think that for a lot of people

they go oh well you know my life's going okay sometimes uh... i struggle to get by sometimes don't and if the only thing i'm getting told over and over again is if this person gets elected you'll have less money. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. the. thi thi. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thin thin thin thin the thin the the the the the the the the theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the the I don't, and if the only thing I'm getting told over and over again is, if this person gets elected, you'll have less money in your hip pocket, then I'm not going to vote for it. I think Australians also have the problem of thinking that they're far worse off than they are. Yeah. I don't meet a lot of Australians that I make a comfortable living, you know I feel like I feel like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th. I th. I th. I thi thi th. I thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th most people in Australia think that they're battling all of the time when they're on $100,000 a year. And so anything that's threatens to like take more money is just a huge problem, you know? Oh, I think that's partly again that, that legacy of John Howard's of like, yeah, this romanticizing the idea of the Ozzy battler th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and, thioli, and, and, thioli, and, and, thioli, and thi, and, and, and, and, thioliolioli, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and, and thi, thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and, and, and, this romanticizing the idea of the Ozzy

Battler and and everything's about, you know, oh you're doing it tough and you deserve to be rewarded and like I guess yeah just what depresses me the most about that is like how little of the time the conversation in our public sphere is about what should we be doing that is for the greater good of our society? That is for the good of people around us. No we fucking don't. Like I mean nationally. I think Scott Morrison's victory speech was just he like specifically listed like families buying a house getting a job buying a house it was just that same rhetoric. Well and yeah

there is there is obviously like a thing that you know sort of it is it is just made very clear I think over and over through both the way politicians speak and and the policies that they come out with that there is there is one kind of person that matters more in Australia. Yeah and it's 100% the upper middle class. Yeah it's employed it's employed tax-paying homeowners and other people just kind of don't count. And it's all pretty depressing. So you know it does suck and it's it's really hard to not just feel extremely fucking depressed about it. It's really hard to, yeah, to not, like particularly

looking at labor, you know, it's really hard to not just kind of despair at the idea of will there ever be like a viable alternative to the liberals presented? Because at the moment it's not happening. Like, I don't know how many times they need to get stomped after presenting like the most milktoast, centrist, risk averse bullshit with nobody leaders. Like, yeah, before they say we need to actually differentiate ourselves on the nobody leaders front I think we should mention I don't think we have yet that Bill Shorten has immediately stood down as the labor leader

good for him better acquitted than a loser although he is both he's both got the worst of both worlds so so He's both. Got the worst of both worlds. So there is currently a bit of a power vacuum which, not quite sure how that's going to shake out. I think Anthony Albanese was going to challenge. Anthony Albanese has put his hand up. He's the only one in contention at the moment. So I guess we just have to wait and see how that plays out. Bring out Doug Cameron. Yeah. I just want to.

Yeah, why not? That's my only option. I guess I do have just another thought on Bill Shorten as well, which is, I guess, you know, I think it was probably also very easy for non-for. I, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that's that's that's that's that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that that that that that that that that that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that that's that that that that that that that that that that thought on Bill Shorten as well, which is, I guess, you know, I think it was, it was probably also very easy for non-liberal supporters to look at the way that the Liberal Party has conducted itself over the previous number of years. The leadership changes, the constant fighting, the inability to set any kind of policy agenda because the right wing and the moderates are constantly tearing at each other. I think it's been very easy for people who, you know, watch along with politics to look at that and go,

oh, well, by contrast, Labour have just had the same leader the whole time. And, you know, they've kept their leadership team together and stable the whole time.. th. th. th. th. the th. th. the th. th. their, th. th. their, their, th. th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, right right right right right right right right, thiiiiiauiauiauiauiauia.ea.ea.ea. their, their, their, the same leader the whole time. And you know, they've kept their leadership team together and stable the whole time. They've had a united front this whole time. Surely after all of this leadership bullshit of the last like, fucking decade almost. Surely after all of that, people will look at that and say, okay, we're ready for a return to a bit of stability. But the reality turned out to be something different. The reality turned out to be what was staring everybody in the face the whole time, which

is that the entire time that Bill Shorten has been the opposition leader, even while he was up against Malcolm Turnbull, and while he was up against Scott Morrison, is that he was substantially more unpopular than all of them the whole time. That's right. And I think that counts, that counts like way more than people believed it should. Again, this kind of comes back that people, you, there was this belief that you go, well, you know, people prefer labor over a liberal, but they don't like Bill Shorten, but they'll look past that, right? And I'll think about policy and I'll think about all this. Like hell they will.

It's just not true for a lot of people. It's just not true. You need somebody likable, or at least dynamic in the the seat, you know, you want a Kevin 07 moment and that there is absolutely nothing that that rhymes with Shorten. It's just not happening for him as far as like, you know, being any kind of personality that people respect. It's just, yeah, like, like I was saying, I mean, it's, it, it, that specifically is one of the issues that I can look at and immediately see my own, my own biases, pre-election, making me turn to one particular assumption, and then immediately post-election, I can look at it and say, of course. Don't we feel silly? Isn't there any on our faces?

How the fuck do you manage to be more unpopular than Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott? Like, I know that Malcolm Turnbull was popular, just not with his own voters. But like... Scott Morrison is truly very unpopular. That's the most fucked up part. Well, he, like, but yeah, Bill, Bill short, isn, isn't, thiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho tho tho tho tho the. thi. thpopular. That's the most fucked up part. Well, he like, but yeah, Bill, Bill Shorten just, just never got within like, yeah, you never got within like, you know, 10 or 15 points of the same popularity of,

like, Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott when they were at their most unpopular. I mean, both, like, both of them did like all of them sorry Tony Abbott he he lost whatever it was 30 news polls in a row and then and then Malcolm Turnbull lost 30 news polls in a row and then Scott Morrison didn't win a news poll the entire time since the last election. Oh wait. Was he wasn't the Prime Minister or the last election? Okay.

It's so hard to get track up. It's so hard to give track up. But so all of these guys were unable to get their party in a position of being more popular than Labour at the two-party preferred poll. And none of them were ever more unpopular than Bill Shorten. And so, from, you know, looking at it in retrospect, looking at Labor and saying, you just hung on to someone who was completely unable at any stage, anywhere in there, to cut through and connect with the electorate. Definitely a bad decision.

Yeah, they knew it the whole time. So, yeah, I guess... I wouldn't have to entirely blame that. I just, I feel very sad. I feel like there is just a lot of cultural things in Australia that I'm not sure are going to change any time soon. Yeah, and like, of course, all of the immediate kind of recriminations have begun, and while you may look and think to yourself, well, hey, maybe there will be a bit of reflection within the party.

Maybe some people will say to themselves, let's try and figure out, you know, who is our base, who we actually trying to appeal to, what kind of policies can we have the word actually energize our base? I doubt it. All that kind of thing. Or do we need to have our own version of like Russian bots? That's an idea. Clearly the answer is the second one. So we had a question, we had a question that popped into our mail bag. Let me see if I can find it. We had a question here from Friend of the Show, T-Bri. I'll just kind of say T. Can you lovely people give me some good conspiracy theories that I can turn to in this time of trial? I hate to think that people voted for stability in a time of fear again.

That would mean we never learn anything and are destined to repeat the cycle as things get more uncertain and chaotic. I would much rather think that a secret group of mining billionaires led by the ghost of Langhanco consp leading to decreased brain activity at a crucial time in the electoral cycle. Cheers to three more years of terror. And of course, a notorious Twitter widow Van Batham, who I believe is is a labor advisor at some reasonably high level. She is out there on Twitter talking about how she's down in. She's down into the whole like Cambridge Analytica type shit. Oh okay. Which is that yeah all all the all the polling was wrong but he's some some weirdo doing Cambridge Analytica type social media demographic targeting and that's how they stole the election. I see.

That's um hmm. Yeah I think there's we could come up with a better theory than that. I think that like the conspiracy theory about that Australia's not real it's that but like Queensland's not real. Queensland's state actors, all of them, Theo and Ben included. Do you have anything to say to that Theo? He doesn't. Silence. That's just interesting to me. Sorry, hmm. Had it on mute. I was busy putting my... Your silence condemned you.

I was busy putting my steam page into one of the things that calculates how long I have to beat games. I believe that fluoride gives you good political opinions. Mm-hmm. That's right. They're taking it out of a bunch of places in in Queensland and everything's gotten much worse. Then put it back in there. Just put it back in. Give people big throbbing fluoride brains. It's strong teeth. I think that probably you can take it further, introduce more fluoride until you know we have some sort of kinetic

psychic abilities ability to lift things with our minds and maybe you know tackle the big problems. A massive ossified skulls capable of magnifying your brain waves. I think that's what happens with encephalitis I'm not quite sure. Yeah it's just it's not great, none of it's great. I just, I'm feeling Lucy's sentiments at this time of... Everyone in Australia who owns more than one property just sucks. Doesn't care about anyone else. That's the gist of it. I don't know, like like you said, I think that we are a country of, you know, relative prosperity and means and everything. And I think that that in and of itself leads people to just being more protective of

their own comfort than looking to actually advance anything. And also there's just a lot of people who politics is just purely a background thing. It's meaningless to them. It doesn't affect them in any way. Or it affects them, but they're not equipped to understand the ways in which their life intersect with politics. Yeah, because it's not super detrimental to them, so, you know, it's background noise. Yeah, it makes me think of my father-in-law who's like, what is he semi-retired now?

But he's a big union guy, loves the old union organizing, and I remember him saying to me a while ago that he finds a lot harder to get younger guys into the unions now because they're all busy enjoying the conditions that all the other guys have fought for through doing strikes and yeah yeah right workplace action and everything and you know he would say to these guys oh there's you know there's something happening there's something like oh, there's something happening, there's something like, you know, there's something dangerous on the job side that we want to fix, you should come on strike with us and they'll go, oh, but I'm getting, you know, this much an hour. If I go on strike, then I'll miss out on a bit of that money.

And they're like, why do you think you're getting paid that much an hour to do it thrown. I don't know, like maybe once you get sufficient distance between the level of comfort you have and the hard work it took to provide that, then it's just very easy to lose sight of. It's very easy to lose sight of and say, well, like you said, I've got mine. Everything's going fine, nobody's bashing my door down and the climate apocalypse just yet. Getting a hit. But it is, it is extremely fucking depressing in 2019 and the country we live in that no nobody gives a fuck enough to vote for even having like a policy that relates to dealing with climate change. This government makes no pretense of the fact that like they're just doing absolutely nothing about it. I feel like they treat it with contempt, you know, they're like saying we will never do

anything about climate change. Yeah, very openly contemptuous of it. Should we jump in and take some more questions? Please, please. Questions? Let's see. Uh, wife of the show, Eric Stacey says, can I have a dollar? No. I don't have a dollar. I'm not going to mail you a dollar. Come on now. Let's see. Hard-hitting questions in the mail bag today. Friend of the show, Merza says, who ended up taking the kids to Oz kick on Sunday? And why was it Elna? Now, we. thanks? Well, the thi. the th? the th. the th. the the th. the th. the the th. the the the thi, thi, the the the the the the the the the the the the thiom, the the the the the the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? the show? th th th th th th th th th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th questions in the mail bag today. A friend of the show, Merza says, who ended up taking the kids to Ozkick on Sunday and why was it Elna? Now we did do an election coverage live stream and again to draw a parallel between the weekend and 2016 election. Much like the ChappoTraphouse live stream, I became the Matt Christman of the stream and accidentally became blackout drunk.

I'm surprised it was you, to be honest. What are other candidates? I'm surprised it was me. Well Ben tagged out. So there was a lot of opportunities for drinking to stupid stuff going on. I believe Ben got up at one point and went to the to to the toilet and he never came back back back back.... th. th. th, and the the the the th. the the the the th. And the the the the the the the th. I. I. I th. I th. I th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I I I I'm. I I I I I I I I I'm. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I'm th. I th. I th th th th th th th th th the. I'm the. I'm going on. I believe Ben got up at one point and went to the toilet and he never came back. He never made it back to the... RIP Ben. Repensed by the beautiful George who did an incredible job on the podcast,

by the way, Andrew, you may not know because you were blackout at the time. I was there for some of it. Basically carried the show at the time. I was there for some of it. I was there for some. Basically carried the show at the end. Oh, I missed a very... Along with your beautiful wife. Very good chunk of the end of it.

Thank you to the real wives of the show. All about wives. For, and Jesse, Jesse got on the show. Jesse counts as the wife of the show. Jesse counts as a wife of the show. That's true. So apologies to anyone that I, for anything that I may or may not have said during that. Somebody I can think of just one thing but I won't say it. Okay good. Email us if you want to know what that thing is. Email, hey you guys at Punta Vista.com. And and of course somebody on Twitter said oh I'm thi. oh. that. that I that I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. A th. A th. A th. A th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. A. I to. I to. A. I'm to. A. A. I'm. A. A. A. I'm th. A. A. A. A. I'm. A. I th. A. I th. I th. I th. what that thing is. Email, hey you guys at Punta Vista.com. And of course somebody on Twitter said, oh I came home and tuned in to see you

rolling around on the floor begging to be prescription drugged and it really made my night a lot better. So shout out to that person. Anyway, the answer is nobody took the kids to Ozkick because they were feeling unwell. And I was like, thank God because I'm not getting out of bed today. I was feeling unwell the next day also. I was feeling unwell until, well into the afternoon. I also, side note, while I was very hungover, I went on a different podcast called the Blue Hawaii Podcast, which is probably going to be out sometime this week when this podcast comes out.

I should definitely listen to it. The Blue Hawaii podcast. Mm-hmm. Friend of the show, Ben Wooler says, in Western Australia, weigh, weigh, the te'n'lain, says, in Western Australia, we use hot dog buns for democracy. What's the tho' Australia? What's with just to using a slice of bread you are all a bunch of savages? I feel like I've seen these pictures and I was very confused. Run me through the process. So you go to the store and you specifically, you already know

the amount of sausage sandwiches you're going to eat? Is that the case so that you go and buy hot dog buns specifically? This is a bad economic choice. They cost so much more than a loaf of bread. Yeah, the idea of the sausage sizzle is like that one dollar loaf of like coals or woolly's bread. Yeah, and you buy the big bulk tray of like the lowest quality like abattoir sweeping sausages. And you're extremely cheap dollar loaf of colots or culls bread?. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the th th th th th th th the th th th th th th th th th th th th th thoes thoes thoes th th th thoes thoes thoes they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they're they're they're they're they're th. thoes thoes thoes to to to to to to to to to to tos tos thoats thoats thoats thoats thoats thoes thoes thoes they're sweeping sausages and you're extremely cheap dollar a loaf what's or cauls bread. Yep and you wrap the sausage in the bread and it's a perfect solution it cannot be improved upon. That's perfect. And then I didn't get one this year and I will say that it's the perfect meal I miss it very much. And like just imagine how much that eats it. this like just imagine how much that eats it. Imagine

how much that eats into your sausage sizzle profit. It really does. Like significantly if you're like counting how much you're losing on each of those maybe people are willing to pay more. They're not compact you get like six in a pack. That thing's like half your freezer space. Ridiculous. Terrible trucks. Just juggling these hot dog buns everywhere. As I've said before, this country disgusts me right now.

Lover of the show, Divex Greg says who deserves all of our hot, sweaty blame? Labor. I just think it's the Australian people I think I think if you're gonna blame somebody blame the Murdox oh the Murdoch definitely that's a good one I didn't even think of the Murdox I think I really struggle with that one in particular because like on one hand I think it becomes the thin that the thi I think it be that one in particular because, like, on one hand, I think it becomes too much of an easy, an easy out for people mentally. Like, I think that, like you look at all the boomers on, um, you look at all the boomers on Twitter and shit, and they, they just all think that like, the, you know, Rupert Murdoch personally phones each politician in the morning and tel them what to say, and thi, and th say, and th say, and th say, and th say, and th th say, and th th th th th th th th say, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, thi, thi, thin, thi, thi, thi, I thi, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th th th in thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, they just all think that like, the, you know, Rupert Murdoch personally phones each politician in the morning and tells them what to say and then he phones all the editors from all of his newspapers and tels them exactly what to say and all that sort of shit. And like, yeah, this is the thing, like, don't get me wrong. I very, very, definitely believe that they run a very clear agenda that is extremely pro-business and extremely in line with his political beliefs and all that sort of stuff.

But like I don't think that they control fucking everything in the country like a bunch of people seem to. So I think the problem is that you have to assess it as a serious issue, which it is, without automatically letting it become your, oh, well, this is what's responsible for absolutely everything that takes place in our country, which a lot of people do let themselves get to the point of. People start to sound a little nutty about it, you know? But yeah, there is obviously a huge issue with the level of media control, like an ownership that the Murdoch's have in this country there is obviously... Especially in Queensland where

there is absolutely no viable print alternative. Yeah yeah and when when it is at a point where like if you are if you walk past a news agent if you go to a cafe anything like that and you see a stack of newspapers if you go to a cafe, anything like that, and you see a stack of newspapers there, and they all say, Bill Shorten, lying devil money thief man, like just constantly, just on constant blast, you know. Like- For reference to like foreign listeners, I feel like it's like having Fox News everywhere. Yeah, it's like... Like if every newspaper was distributed by Fox News. By Fox News, absolutely.

It's really bad. I feel like you don't realize until you speak to like a member of your family that doesn't go on the internet and reads just a newspaper and watches the Channel 10 Breakfast Show and that's 100% the only views that they're getting. Mmm. Carrie Ann Kennelly said said was was was was was th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi th thi th thi thi thi thi thi th thi th thi th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thus thus thus thus th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thus thus distributed thus distributed thus distributed thus distributed th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the to to the to the the the the the the the the thi thi thi thi 100% the only views that they're getting. Short and bad. Carrie Ann Kennelly said this morning that yeah, that's right. Just all that shit. I think yeah, it's a... There's a lot of blame to be had. I think that like... Yeah, I think that obviously... You can't blame the Liberal Party because they're just doing what they're going to do.

That's just what they do. It's by nature, horrible. I'll take some blame. I feel very naive. I feel very much like I missed a huge portion of why things are the way they are at this point. Yeah, just, just like we keep saying, it's that comparison in 2016 where just everybody was like, well, the the is, the, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, is just, just, like we keep saying, it's that comparison in 2016 where just everybody was like, well, there's no way that person's going to get voted in. This is going to be a slam dunk.

They're going to just sleepwalk through this. And Labor, we're talking about it like they were going to as well. And I just looking at it, I was like, after everything we've seen out of this government over the last several years, how can you imagine anyone voting for? Anyone voting for me? Like, just they didn't offer anything positive. No, well, not just anything positive, they didn't offer anything full stop. Like, the entire campaign was we weren't to take your money away. That's literally it.

The entire campaign was them saying, here's all the things that Labour want to do, and we're not going to do those things. I'm trying to remember who was... Not the Labour offered significantly more, but, you know. Well, I mean, like, I'm trying to remember who I was reading, the the the tha to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, the the to say, the to say, the the to say, to say, the to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say to say, the, to say, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th.a, their, their, their, their, their, their, saying, saying, saying, their, their,, I'm trying to remember who I was reading a piece by. It might have been like, uh, Ross Gittens or something, saying, um, like, you know, maybe this is, uh, maybe they'll wind up finding that, you know, oh, here it is, uh, Morrison's miracle election may turn out to be the easy bit. And, yeah, what, all he's saying is that, like, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they'd they, they, thi, they'd thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th th th th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thi, thin, thi, thi, to to thin, to, to, to, thin, th yeah, all these all he's saying is that like they find out that they didn't have to do anything. I'll just read it a little bit

from here. The first lesson politicians will learn is that disunity doesn't have to be death. Almost six years of fighting like kill Kenny cats can be forgotten during the eternity of a five-week election campaign provided you put all the focus on the latest guy and its predecessors are kept hidden. The second lesson the police will learn is that the only safe strategy for oppositions is to make themselves a small target with only a few popular policies so all the focus is on the failings of the government. Whatever policy changes you you may be thinking of making, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, the, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their...-s, and their.-s, and their.-s, their theateateateateateaseaseaseaseaseaseaseaseaseaseu.ea.eaugh, tho, tho, their thoeateateckeckecklea, and the, keep your intentions to yourself, and don't whatever you do seek a mandate for change. Almost 28 years of continuous growth have rendered Australians a timorous nation.

No national emergency, no need for change. As Kevin Rudd was the last Labour leader to understand, what voters crave is change without change. Promise it. Since such a thing is impossible, deliver something else. Expect a backlash. Politicians have understood all this since Dr. John Hewson, his PhD said knows more about economics and politics, used fight back, the longest suicide note in history to lose the unloosable election in 1993. Labour forgot this because it wanted to be seen as less negative and destructive than Tony Abbott, and because, knowing short and lacked charisma, it decided policy substance was the best substitute......... th. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be to be to be to be to be seen as less negative and destructive than Tony Abbott, and because, knowing short and lacked charisma, it decided policy substance was the best substitute.

As it turned out, wrong. That's it. That's it. That pretty good piece. That's pretty good piece. Morrison spent five weeks performing of all others and the electorate warm to what it saw. Perhaps what Labor needs is a casting director. The third lesson the Polis will learn is that the eternal reality of conflict between the

classes must always remain covert. Any overt attack on privilege does more to fire up the defenses of the well-off than to wet the appetites of those missing out. In this country, the only envy the jobless for that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that is is for that that is for the the the the the the the the the the the theuseuseuseuseuseuseuseuse ise isoese ise is the the the the the the the the the the poliolies is the poliolies is the poliolies is is the poliolies is. the polioliolies is is is the polioliolioliolioliolioliolioliolioli. I is is is is.oes is.oes is.oes isn.oes.oes wille isn.oes.oe isn.oe isn.oe isn.ozyn't isn't isn't isn't isozy. I wille isoe. the the the the t.0.0.0.a.auuu.a.a. the the the the the the the the the the the works is the downward variety. Envy the jobless for being able to eat without working, or the indigenous for the extra help they get? Sure. This government has spent its time beating up on boat people, public servants, and those on welfare, and in the process has gained more votes than it's lost. The well-off may have benefited from a lot more good luck than it suits them to admit, but they are adept at convincing the punters that an attack on my five dollars is an attack on your five cents. Phew, wow, plenty envy downwards, that is, that's, yep.

That kind of sums it up up all pretty nicely. But just to round out the piece, he does say, in this election it was the Morrison government that made itself a small target so all the focus would be on Labour's perceived policy losers. Believing he had nothing to lose, Morrison staked everything on offering the world's most expensive tax cuts. But did he lie awake in the early hours of Sunday morning wondering how on earth he'd pay for them without the budget, about the budget, about the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, the budget, toe, toe, toe, to bea, toe, the budget, and to bea, and, and, and, and, and, to bea, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their, their their their their toe growth used to bolster his economic record, about the requirement that there be zero real growth in government spending per person over the next four years? Morrison has no policy to control electricity prices, no convincing policy on climate

change, no policy to halt the rising cost of health insurance, no policy response to any downturn in the economy, no solution to cost of living pressures and no plan to increase to to to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to increase to No policy response to any downturn in the economy. No solution to cost of living pressures and no plan to increase wages except yet more waiting. The day may come when he decides that winning the election was the easy bit. And so we might as well leave it there on that bleak little note. Super bleak. Love it.

Everything sucks. Go! Ooh. Yeah. I don't know what to tell you this week, folks. And we'll not get better any time soon because everyone, a significant portion of Australia thinks that everything is mostly fine,

and that's the way it's going to go on for at least three years. I think there is a real problem in Australia of something things don't need to be addressed until they're affecting you personally. And yep so I wish I could tell people you know go and join the Labor Party and make a difference and tell them which policies that you vote for but it doesn't work like that. Doesn't work like that. They they have a big show of that the rank and file members get to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be the to be their their their their their their their the the the the the the the thi thi the a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a their their their their their their their their their their to be a to be a their their their their their their their their their their their the. the. the. the. I I the. I the. I thea.a.a.a.a. I thea.a. I thea. I thea. I thea. I thea work like that. Doesn't work like that. They have a big show of that. The rank and file members get to vote for stuff, but the things that you get to vote on are determined by the senior leadership before it ever gets to that point.

So, you know, try to that path if you like. Try joining a party and putting yourself through the mill and getting churned out out out out out out out another piece of the sausage that has to tow the line and not make any waves. You too could be get kerny. You too could lead a life of championing the rights of asylum seekers just to get into the Labour Party where you can really make a difference and then vote in line with continuing to not examine the Malaysia policy. That could be your life.. th. th. th. th. th. We th. We th. We th. We th. We th. We th. We th. We thi. We have thi. We have thi. We have thi. We have thi. We have thi. We have thi. We have tho you have thi. We have thi. tho. thoing thoing thoing thoing thoing thoing thoing thoing thoing tho. tho. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. th. I thi. I thi. thi. I thi. I the. I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to tho. the. the continuing to not examine the Malaysia policy. That could be... That could be your life. Do you have anything positive to end on?

I got nothing. Um... Hmm. The Greens did retain all their seats in the Senate, so they will have a significant balance of power. That's nice. Good on them. Everybody's mad at them nice. Good on them. Everybody's mad at them, but good on them. Good for them.

I was seeing it like on the ABC news site, they've got all their trending stories and it's sort of like, you know, this seat and that analysis and what have you. And I felt like right at the very end, there was one that maybe spoke to a few of our listeners. What does it mean to be a demisexual and are you one? So maybe if that interests you, check it out. They're people that have big brains, by the way, and their brains are directly connected to their gentle bits. Well I'm going to have to read this to figure out how it's different from

what I am a sapiosexual. Oh a sapio sexual so different it's so different. See I've betrayed the truth here if I was a real sapio sexual I'dxual, I'd be smart enough to know the difference between the two. And I'd find it sexy that I did. Hmm, you broke. That'll do us for this week, folks. Sorry that it's a bummer, but that's the way it goes sometimes. As always, you can get an extra bonus episode every week if you would liketo by subscribing over on Patreon.com forward slash Buonto Vista. You can I guess see me get blackout drunk and ride around on the floor like a dirty piggy over at Twitch. TV forward slash Buntavista. And yeah,

thanks to everyone for listening. Thanks for your support. I'm assuming you all voted the correct way but but it didn't help. And here we are. Thanks for trying. Cheers. Thanks for trying and let me just say on behalf of the whole podcast. We love you Tony. So, oh, we love you Tony. So, oh, we love you Tony. So, say, love me. They're try to kill you, today.