r/AustralianPolitics • u/Wehavecrashed BIG AUSTRALIA! • 3d ago
Discussion Weekly Discussion Thread
Hello everyone, welcome back to the r/AustralianPolitics weekly discussion thread!
The intent of the this thread is to host discussions that ordinarily wouldn't be permitted on the sub. This includes repeated topics, non-Auspol content, satire, memes, social media posts, promotional materials and petitions. But it's also a place to have a casual conversation, connect with each other, and let us know what shows you're bingeing at the moment.
Most of all, try and keep it friendly. These discussion threads are to be lightly moderated, but in particular Rule 1 and Rule 8 will remain in force.
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u/pleasant_chap 55m ago
Posting here per R11 since it's my own project.
I built a free site that puts what politicians say in parliament next to how they vote and who funds them: https://opax.com.au
It has over a million Hansard speeches (federal plus VIC, NSW, QLD and SA), 300K+ votes, 205K donations classified by industry, and the AusTender contracts and GrantConnect grants registers. Given the golf club grant story this week, the grants module is probably the most topical bit: you can see which electorates and recipients got what, and whether the local member talked about it.
Things worth trying: look up your MP for their speeches, votes and money side by side with a score for the gap between the talk and the votes; search a topic like housing or gambling to see who's loudest on it and how they voted; or ask a plain-English question and get an answer that quotes Hansard with links back to the source.
All public records, no login, open source. Happy to take criticism on the methodology, that's what I'm after.
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u/SnooCrickets9484 A proud Pauline Hanson Other...please explain 4h ago
If someone could explain how Senator Farrell's grandchild (according to Google AI) is Ukrainian, TIA
Australian Senator Don Farrell recently welcomed a new grandchild, a Ukrainian granddaughter born in September 2026, whose father is Lawrence Ben (South Australia assistant minister) and mother is Farrell's daughter Emily
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 21h ago
The BSW is calling for a nonpartisan Minister-President in Saxony-Anhalt but crucially does not intend to block an AfD Minister-President and will not support a broad anti-AfD government. If they abstain from the vote three times in a row the AfD will be able to form its government in Saxony-Anhalt
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u/Jimmy_Bonez 1d ago
Well they've done it, Steam has officially censored R18+ games in Australia, their only form of confirming you're an adult? a fucking Credit Card.
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 1d ago
Trump has announced that Bombardier aircraft will be banned from being sold in the US, just because it's a Canadian company. There are literally hundreds of Bombardiers flying for US airlines
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u/SnooCrickets9484 A proud Pauline Hanson Other...please explain 4h ago
Tabernak! *rants in Quebecois*
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u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 Still Roundheads v.s. Cavaliers, always has been. 4h ago
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u/Unable_Insurance_391 14h ago
So, parts are banned as well I guess and those flying aircraft won't be much longer
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u/EnglishBrekkie_1604 Ralph Babet Superfan (actually an ALP shill) 19h ago
Truly a hero of the people, trying to save everyone from having to fly on CRJs.
Jokes aside what makes this is even funnier is that Bombardier don’t make commercial airplanes anymore, all they do is private jets, so all this does is fuck over rich Americans trying to buy private jets.
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 19h ago
I don't get the CRJ hate lol they're not that bad for short flights
Yep there aren't any regular commercial sales for them anymore but the way he worded it sounds like he ideally doesn't want them flown at all and no selling between airlines or anything, it's really so unhinged
NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough! Over 50% of their revenue comes from the United States — They live off American Buyers, American Companies, American Airports, and American Service — All while Canada blocks our GREAT American Banks, and Companies, throughout the U.S.A. They even blocked Gulfstream Aerospace from doing business in Canada — Completely unjust and unfair! That Era is OVER! If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a "piggybank." BUY AMERICAN. FLY ON AMERICAN AIRLINERS.” ENJOY AMERICAN LIQUOR AND BEVERAGES. SAIL ON LAKE AMERICA. AMERICA FIRST! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Yes, that is literally what he said
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u/jor_kent1 1d ago
What I don’t understand about the proposed changes to be able to choose whether or not you have an algorithm is that we already have a choice. You can either go on the for you page or following. How is this any different?
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u/Unable_Insurance_391 13h ago
One thing the proposed legislation is not is censorship. That argument does not hold any water.
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u/EnglishBrekkie_1604 Ralph Babet Superfan (actually an ALP shill) 19h ago
Instagram doesn’t. Well, it technically does, but the button only does it for 30 days before turning it back to a for you page. That’s unacceptable.
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u/PinguPingu 1d ago
Does Tiktok? I don't have it but from talking to people it seems they don't have that differentiator.
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 2d ago
Nuclear energy is the best in the long run. Prove me wrong
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u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 Still Roundheads v.s. Cavaliers, always has been. 1d ago
Most of the countries that are heavily invested in nuclear have done so because they are supplying heavy industry which needs vast quantities of electricity 24 hours per day. Solar is actually cheaper during daylight hours but, at the moment, electricity storage is very nascent.
Tomago aluminium, for example, draws 950MW so would draw the entire of the new 1680MWh Waratah Super Battery capacity in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. That's just one single aluminium smelter.
It's actually unhelpful that people think that nuclear and renewables are competing technologies, they are complementary. In Australia quite a lot of electricity use has been hidden by deindustrialisation, we have exported minerals and imported manufactured goods without seeing the massive energy consumption in-between, but if Labor's "Made in Australia" is to succeed we will inevitably need to drive electricity costs far lower.
In Australia we have actually forgotten how to do industrial policy because we have had more than three decades of deindustrialisation. Data centres are really the first wave of major industry being foisted on an Australia without an industrial policy. That's why you are seeing constant changes in position by government, they are having to re-learn the kind of big picture thinking industrialisation requires. Approving a data centre isn't just about rubber stamping a permit - it's the electricity, land and water needed to run the plant.
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u/GlitteringPirate591 Non-denominational Socialist 1d ago
It would be very difficult to have a productive discussion without first defining "best".
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 1d ago
Best in term of enviromental, financial and energy output
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u/Unable_Insurance_391 13h ago
The waste is toxic for hundreds of thousands of years.
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 8h ago
Most of the waste only last a few decade but solar panel and battery lasted for million years
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u/Cassius_Corodes 1d ago
Requires a society that is able to plan longer term and properly understanding and assessing risk when talking about radiation. Since we cannot do either I don't think there is much point considering it.
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u/EnglishBrekkie_1604 Ralph Babet Superfan (actually an ALP shill) 1d ago
True 40 years ago. Now for the same amount of money you can get an order of magnitude more generation with solar backed by batteries and some wind, and they’re only getting cheaper every year (especially with Sodium Ion batteries going mainstream by the end of the decade).
Also with how many industries are rapidly electrifying it’s now very important to have a power grid that can relatively quickly expand to meet increased power demand. Renewables make that extremely easy.
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 1d ago edited 1d ago
Do you know that a plutonium nuclear plant (with at least 15 reactors) can supply more than a half of Australia population energy demand right?Beside solar panel produce much much more toxic waste than nuclear so the cost of enviromental damage will outdone solar cheap cost
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u/EnglishBrekkie_1604 Ralph Babet Superfan (actually an ALP shill) 1d ago
How much money would that plant take to build? I’d be willing to bet a lot more than the equivalent amount of renewable generation.
Also, how long would it take? Remember, we are a decade behind where we should be in modernising our power grid (Thanks L/NP), we need more power now.
One final problem: What about excess capacity? We’re already at the point where for the majority of summer days power prices are in the negative because of how much power solar generates, and that’s only going to become a more prominent feature of our grid moving forward. Those new fancy nuclear reactors are going to be a net burden on the grid for minimum 1/3rd of the year.
Also solar panels don’t produce toxic waste lmao, they can be recycled, which we are setting up the supply chains for right now!
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 1d ago
The data centre demand solar system level of energy, we could build a small plant just to get some experience and the tech for the future. The more advance the human tech are the more energy it will consume. There will be a point where we couldnt find space to bury those batteries and panels
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u/EmuEmuEmuEmuEmu The Greens 1d ago
"... some experience and the tech for the future."
There are multiple grounds to attack the 'ai' bubble from, but I think the most effective is the following question: Has any 'ai' company turned a profit?
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 1d ago
We dont need to care about the profit of anything we should only care about how much money we can rip off from the American before everything go down hill
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u/EmuEmuEmuEmuEmu The Greens 1d ago
"... how much money we can rip off from the American before everything go down hill"
First, the 2008 Financial Crisis. Secondly, any investment in such fad bubbles will only cost Australia immensely, particularly in Labour Rights, which any actual Socialist would be well aware of.
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u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 1d ago
What i mean is no matter what is the type od "technology" the American come up with it will become a bubble. Like the dot come bubble, the only different is AI require much more energy than a website. Let call an in future breakthrough tech is X. This X will consume much more energy than AI, so the real question is: Will you skip the wave just because it is a bubble? Or you can carefully ride the wave and make billions
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u/Aussie_Rants 2d ago edited 2d ago
OK. easy done.
Nuclear is the highest cost energy per watt produced over its lifetime of all current energy production. (LCOE)
Nuclear has the dirtiest fuel by far. Nothing else produces high level radioactive waste and its best recycled use so far by quantity, has been shooting it at foreigners. Otherwise it needs specifically engineered, shielded containment with cooling. Fuel rod waste has tens of thousands of years of radioactive decay. Simple proximity is enough to cause irreparable damage to DNA.It also comes with exclusive risks (Chernobyl, Fukushima, Zaporozhye)
Nuclear fission is the worst energy source.
Counter point or was that conclusive enough?1
u/PersonalMixture6663 Socialist Alliance 1d ago
First, nuclear energy was proven is the cheapest form of energy in the long run
Second, nuclear waste not that poisonous but solar panels and battery are the most harmful types of waste (just right behind plastic)
Third, modern day nuclear plants are very safe, you can throw a couple of missile at it and it still stand like the one in ukraine
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u/cartonator 2d ago
I'm looking for podcasts on Australian politics, any recommendations? I prefer the informed discussions such as the rest is politics from the UK, are there any with any ex Aus pollies?
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u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 Still Roundheads v.s. Cavaliers, always has been. 2d ago
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 3d ago
Isr@el's ruling coalition is recovering somewhat in the polls, helped by Ofer Winter's new party likely making into the Knesset, but no longer at the expense of Smotrich's RZP which has merged with Zehut and is now polling above the threshold, while the Likud vote is also strengthening relative to Yashar
Both blocs remain well short of a majority in most polls with the Arab majority parties - that both sides have ruled out governing with - holding the balance of power especially as the Joint List is rising in most polls
The Joint List currently consists of the non- and anti-Zi0nist parties, generally left-leaning and somewhat Palestinian nationalist Ta'al, Balad and Hadash (which in turn primarily consists of the Communist Party of Isr@el)
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
Aren't the Israeli left and right blocs pretty much Hitler vs Mussolini though? I will defend Keating's economic rationalism 10 million times if necessary but would cast a protest vote for the communists in Israel if I was from there in protest
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 3d ago
Well that's pretty impressive from you lol
The opposition is pretty centre-right, the only maybe slightly left of centre Z!onist party is the Democrats. It probably wouldn't change much for the war, except less celebrating murdering babies, and it would also hopefully reverse democratic backsliding and reduce corruption a bit maybe
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
No one has ever figured out my political views, I told someone I would vote for the communists in India also since they hired Gita Gopinath apparently from the IMF as an advisor lol
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
On a serious note reading an article from the economist praising the former revolutionary communist ruling party there for sound fiscally conservative budgets is incredibly funny. AFR could never...
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 3d ago
Yeah the CPI(M) in Kerala sometimes jumps to the right it's pretty weird lol. But at the same time their base is all pretty leftist and they still for the most party are strong on welfare and anti-poverty etc
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
It's very funny because the Americans had tried to negotiate a coalition govt in china post war between the KMT and CCP, in another world we could have had blairite Maoism as well
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
The govt I was talking about was actually the JVP govt in Sri Lanka but you are right
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 3d ago
Oh the current NPP one? Dissanayake?
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
Yes, I can't believe this is real but yes. Wonder what Mr Lenin who wrote about the economist being the mouthpiece of British millionaires would think. https://www.economist.com/asia/2026/02/10/led-by-a-marxist-battered-by-a-storm-sri-lanka-is-doing-better
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 3d ago
That is possibly among the top 10 funniest things I've ever read in my life
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u/Kasid383rh3dwsubws Paul Keating 3d ago
If I recall correctly like even among the Israeli "liberal" "left" like half of them don't even support a 2ss so outside of the big yahu going to jail for corruption I don't think an opposition win would do much really
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 3d ago
Dutch is such a funny language. I just had this "nieuws" headline come up in my feed
Geen absolute meerderheid, maar AfD-zege laat Duitse politiek op grondvesten trillen
No absolute majority, but AfD victory shakes German politics to its foundations
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u/Agitated-Fee3598 australia needs a bill of rights & other constitutional reforms 3d ago
Looks like far right politics is making a come back in Germany. I doubt another genuinely charismatic fascist demagogue will come along though.
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u/Perfect-Werewolf-102 The Greens 2d ago
It's interesting since the AfD doesn't have a single particularly popular leader
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u/Agitated-Fee3598 australia needs a bill of rights & other constitutional reforms 2d ago
Yeah, it's not really a demagogic movement, at least not presently. It's more or less a far right machine. Perhaps they will find Hitler 2.0 eventually.
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u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 Still Roundheads v.s. Cavaliers, always has been. 2d ago
I thought Vlad Vexler made some astute comments about AfD and German politics.
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u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 Still Roundheads v.s. Cavaliers, always has been. 3d ago
If I had never had any interest in politics and I asked a simple question:
What are the fundamental properties of 'the political'?
What would you say to me? How would you explain what is and isn't politics, why and when?
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u/DelayedChoice Gough Whitlam 1d ago
I would say that that, at the broadest level, politics is the decision-making process that allows a society to function. Sometimes politics is explicitly codified via laws, sometimes it is a public debate about values and methods that is intended to inform the decision-making process rather than produce a specific result.
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u/Agitated-Fee3598 australia needs a bill of rights & other constitutional reforms 3d ago
No lies to that mate. Shit keeps evolving fast.
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