Tag: politics

The Goon Show Goes On

A goon show. That’s what Paul Keating called it. ASIO chief Mike Burgess, a Marina Abramović in drag, runs political theatre dressed as national security, kneecapping the Albanese government’s China diplomacy with strategically timed intelligence bombshells. The pattern repeats, the press reports dutifully, and Australian foreign policy shifts without anyone deciding anything.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaking, illustrating post-election government scrutiny and accountability concerns

The Government That Isn’t: Labor’s Masterclass in Looking Busy

They gave him 94 seats and a mandate like no other. But barely five months after his landslide re-election, Anthony Albanese’s government is already disappointing voters. From FOI requests plunging to just 25% approval, to $1 million in climate travel in two months, to a housing policy that makes homes less affordable—the second-term complacency is real. As independent MPs note: “We couldn’t go any lower than Morrison, but we have.”

Alt text: *Cartoon illustration showing Donald Trump sitting at a desk using a laptop with the WordPress logo, while outside a drone launches a missile at a small Venezuelan fishing boat flying the national flag. The boat explodes amid smoke and flames on rough seas, symbolizing Trump’s aggressive foreign actions. The style is bold, satirical, and editorial.*

Trump’s Dirty War at Sea and Australia’s Silent Complicity

When Donald Trump’s America goes fishing, it doesn’t bring a net — it brings a drone. His latest outburst over “illegal Venezuelan boats” turns the Caribbean into a stage set for bluster and bombast. A small fleet of working men in open skiffs become props in a tragicomic rerun of empire, complete with digital spin and patriotic sound effects. Another performance of power — and another warning of what happens when showmanship replaces statecraft.

Alt Text: "John Howard during Tampa crisis and Pauline Hanson in fish shop representing political appropriation of One Nation rhetoric"

Ask Not What You Can Do for One Nation—But What Has One Nation Ever Done for Anybody?

If Helen of Troy had the face that launched a thousand ships, Pauline Hanson has the face that launched a thousand chips. But the real story isn’t about Hanson at all—it’s about Long John Howard, who stole her racism in the 1990s, laundered it through the language of sovereignty and security, and left both major parties trapped in a political theatre he built thirty years ago.
One Nation polls at 14% between elections but collapsed to 6.4% in May—the evergreen boost that never makes it to the ballot box. Yet even with Anthony Albanese’s historic landslide, Labor still governs within Howard’s frame, still talks tough on “border security,” still uses his language. The government changes. The script endures.
From Barnaby Joyce playing pantaloon to Hanson serving up warmed-over resentment with extra chicken salt, this is how we all ended up living in Howard’s Australia.

Handing Over the Till, Paying the Tab

Anthony Albanese flew to Washington to secure Australia’s critical minerals supply chains. He returned having signed away control of them. In the Cabinet Room, Trump publicly humiliated our ambassador moments before signing an $8.5 billion framework built on Letters of Interest, aspirational price floors, and submarines that may never arrive.

“Albanese’s side offers rare-earth ore across a Washington negotiation table while a neglected submarine model sits out of focus — symbolising minerals over missiles.”

The Real Deal: Why Critical Minerals Matter More Than Submarines

Nobody in Canberra gets the Trump 2.0 administration. When Albanese meets Trump on 20 October, Canberra will bang on about submarines. The real conversation should be critical minerals—where Australia actually has leverage and America has desperate need. China controls the supply chains that power everything from semiconductors to missiles. Australia can break that stranglehold. If we’re smart enough to see it.