Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Former Aussie Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has blamed “Climate Denier” Rupert Murdoch for the Rise of President Trump, the toppling of Aussie green conservative Malcolm Turnbull, Brexit and anything else he can think of.
Cancer eating the heart of Australian democracy
By Kevin Rudd
27 August 2018 — 12:15amBeneath the sound and light show that passed for Australian politics last week, there is a much deeper question of what underlying forces have been at work that have brought us this low. The uncomfortable truth is, since the coup of June 2010, Australian politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable. The core question is why?
There have been many factors at work. First, the histrionic politics of climate change dividing the nation for more than a decade – we have lacked the national political maturity to just get on with it, despite Australia being the driest continent on earth.
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But on top of all the above, while manipulating each of them, has been Rupert Murdoch – the greatest cancer on the Australian democracy.
Murdoch is not just a news organisation. Murdoch operates as a political party, acting in pursuit of clearly defined commercial interests, in addition to his far-right ideological world view.
In Britain, Murdoch made Brexit possible because of the position taken by his papers. In the United States, Murdoch’s Fox News is the political echo chamber of the far right, which enabled the Tea Party and then the Trump party to stage a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. In Australia, as in America, Murdoch has campaigned for decades in support of tax cuts for the wealthy, killing action on climate change and destroying anything approximating multiculturalism.
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So how did Malcolm Turnbull alienate Murdoch ? What we know is Murdoch visited Australia in the past few weeks. He called his editors in. And then each of the papers turned feral. Murdoch is a climate change denialist. Presumably Murdoch believed Howard and Abbott that Turnbull, on the legislative recognition of carbon reduction targets, was going too far. Murdoch wanted a Capital C Conservative. He may not have got Dutton. But Morrison is almost as good. Look at the Murdoch coverage of Morrison’s elevation the day after the ballot. Orgasm all round. Nothing on the orgy of political violence preceding it. Nothing to see here.
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I think Kevin Rudd is being a bit harsh in his criticism of Rupert Murdoch and climate skeptics. After all, WUWT wholeheartedly supported Kevin Rudd’s bid for the job of United Nations Secretary General.
Rudd would destroy the UN from within: Bernardi
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Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop told Sky there was only one reason to nominate him.
“If you have got a problem with the United Nations and you really want to see its powers lessened, send Kevin,” Mrs Bishop said.
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Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/kevin-rudd-cabinet-to-decide-on-un-top-job/7667250
While some of us were worried that Rudd might start WW3 if he tried his hand at international diplomacy, I think many of us were disappointed when Rudd failed to win the top job at the United Nations.
“to stage a hostile takeover of the Republican Party”…….says it all
He was perfectly happy when the “republican party” was leaning so far left you needed dramamine just to watch them
Wow Murdoch and Trump have some major super powers. They are more powerful than Merlin from ancient lore.
Plus 1
KRudd was overthrown by his party for a reason, only to get the even worse “no carbon tax” GIllard (who promptly brought in a carbon tax of some sort).
The Aussie parties have are building a reputation for regicide.
I think there is a case for term limits for politicians. Too long living in a surreal world seems to rot their brains.
One of the obsessions in Canada has been media concentration. It has been seen as a major problem for democracy if different opinions weren’t represented in the media.
Murdoch, rather than being a problem for democracy, represents exactly what people have been demanding for a long time. He’s an actual different opinion. He represents a large segment of the population which has been thus far ignored by the MSM. He has an audience, otherwise he would go broke.
Rudd clearly does not understand how US presidents are nominated & elected, nor how US political parties mesh into that process.
But he’s not alone. At least 80% of the US electorate and members of Congress also do not understand.
No Rudd comment when Turnbull back-stabbed Abbott…
So Murdoch is not a green, and has been successful in media. And Murdoch, given his prosperity, does not act as a press secretary for politicians. If Rudd really thinks Murdoch is a tool of his opposition party, if it is anything like the US, he should consider that a good many Republicans are quite unhappy with Fox and other Murdoch outlets.
It is just that the Democrats are even more unhappy with Fox that he gets the reputation as a fire-breathing right winger.
Progressives, with their top-down, total compliance, totalitarian solutions to literally everything, complaining about ‘destroying democracy’.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Same as usual. “Their” billionaires are only acting altruistically when trying to influence national and, lately, global politics. But apparently the billionaires on the other side of the house are only malevolent.
These days I actually have more respect for Murdoch than for the others because he doesn’t appear to want to pull up the ladder on the capitalism that made him so wealthy. Contrarily, the global-warming billionaires all seem to think that the system now shouldn’t be allowed to work for the proles like us because of muh planet. We allegedly might change the weather if we are not properly controlled and kept in our place like Medieval serfs.
Wow, the deep state is entrenched in Australia too. There, as elsewhere, they project their own evil intentions on those trying to fight them.
What a silly outburst of ignorance. Rudd is just so clueless. Murdoch and Trump aren’t friends at all, if only because Trump scuttled TPP, which Murdoch wanted. Suffice to peruse WSJ front pages and editorials.
The real reason for populations around the world, in EU, Britain, US, Australia, to lean right is the disappointment with both the Left’s and the Centrists’ mismanagement of economies, cultures, and security, within and without their countries’ borders.
“Climate Change” is a blindfold, of no relevance to anything, a propaganda device the sole purpose of which has always been to destroy oil companies. Yet, even here it is a failure, as the said companies have only made more money on the swindle by deflecting it towards coal and presenting themselves as saviours of humanity!
Kevin Rudd was part of the problem with his daft green energy policies while Labor was in power. Australian action on CO2 reduction is a tiny fraction of the world’s emissions by people and it’s been hugely expensive and achieved nothing. Australian coal fires up the new power stations China is building weekly (about 150 p.a) which negates everything Australia has done which has only damaged the economy of Australia and people’s jobs while the Chinese create more jobs and grow their economy using Aussie coal and iron and aluminium (cannot be cheaply smelted in Australia as electricity is too expensive – . http://theconversation.com/australian-aluminium-outgunned-by-cheap-coal-free-global-rivals-23135)
Wait I thought it was Donald Trump at the root of all evil. Now It’s Rupert Murdock? The problem with liars is that they have such a hard time keeping their stories straight. “It’s the end of days because of Man Made Global Warm…aahhh we mean Climate Change.” “You can’t conflate climate and weath…Aahhh all the nasty bits of our weather are evidence of Global Warm….damnit Climate Change.” “Donald Tr…Rupert Murdock is to blame for Climate Wa…all bad things.” Whatever!
… since the coup of June 2010, Australian politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable.
Before which, it was kind, healthful and predictable….
: >)
Rudd was knifed when the polls were so bad that it looked like the ALP would lose the 2010 election. He had also promised great things in the way of global warming action, – “the greatest moral challenge of our time”. This meant a CO2 tax. The Greens did not like it – it did not go far enough. The Coalition did not like it – it was recognized that the tax would harm our economy. Also, it argued that Australia should not adopt any firm policy before the Copenhagen conference. As both parties were against it Rudd dropped his proposal.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Australia_leadership_spill,_2009 for a history of the Abbott/Turnbull dispute.
In short, Turnbull lost the leadership to Abbott at the end of 2009. Rudd was knifed by Julia Gillard in June 2010. The following election was drawn, but Gillard remained PM supported by independents. She had stated “There will be no carbon tax under any government I lead.” Then to secure the support of the Greens, she installed a carbon tax. This was opposed by the Coalition. By 2013, her government was in such bad state that Rudd knifed her in June 2013. He went on to lose the September election, but not as badly as had been expected had Gillard remained as PM. See:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10143403/Kevin-Rudd-v-Julia-Gillard-timeline-of-three-year-battle.html for a history of the Rudd/Gillard dispute.
Abbott became PM, but Turnbull knifed him in September 2015. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Australia_leadership_spill,_September_2015
Turnbull failed to give Abbott a seat on his front bench, although he had praised Abbott in his appointment speech.
Now Turnbull has been deposed as PM through his obstinacy in adhering to the need for some sort of emissions reduction, and lack of understanding of the opposition to this in the Party.
Mr Murdoch had no hand in this. The “Australian”, our major newspaper, happily printed articles by ALP MInisters as well as Coalition supporters. The readers’ letters tended to be overwhelmingly favourable to the Coalition, with a very substantial input from those opposing Global Warming and any emission targets.
These lefties are so delusional that the reality can not penetrate. They project their feelings onto everything and everybody. So when they conclude that “politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable”, they are basically issuing a weather report on the status of their fevered minds.
Another case of psychological projection.
Oh Look! Another leftist scumbag wailing about their medias loss of their ability to control the narrative and public opinion. I like it. His claim about the omnipotence of media outlets that challenge the left wing meme seems to follow right along the lines of what the idiot Chuck Todd said earlier.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2018/08/27/deluded-chuck-todd-media-bias-campaign-creation-not-based-fact
According to the left, Democracy only works, when they win.
Can one say “dog whistle” to the Masters of the Universe to increase their censorship of conservative opinion? Na! Only conservatives has dog whistles. Right?
I wish these people would stop throwing around the word cancer.
And here was me thinking Doctor Evil, MisterAbbott was to blame listening to all our wise pundits when all along it was that sneaky Mr Murdoch plotting the downfall of KRudd and Spillary. Where is Superman or Batman when you really need them to save the World?
It’s the Hillary Clinton deplorables wave-off remark again. That has become a readily identifiable signal of low-rent deflection. The dog ate my homework excuse has been fully updated.