Pacific Islanders Reject Socialist Proposal to Trade Sovereignty for Climate Change Safety

Former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd
Former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd. By Australian_Foreign_Minister_Kevin_Rudd_with_Foreign_Minister_Utoni_Nujoma_of_Namibia.jpg: Department of Foreign Affairs and Tradederivative work: 99of9 – This file was derived from  Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd with Foreign Minister Utoni Nujoma of Namibia.jpg, CC BY 3.0 au, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28236244

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Former Aussie Socialist Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has once again demonstrated his masterful diplomatic skills, by offering independent Pacific Islanders colonial status, to protect future generations from climate change and rising seas.

Tuvalu PM slams Kevin Rudd’s proposal to offer Australian citizenship for Pacific resources as neo-colonialism

Pacific Mornings By Anthony Stewart

A proposal from Kevin Rudd to address the impacts of climate change on the Pacific has been labelled as “imperial thinking” by Tuvalu’s leader, who lambasted the former prime minister’s suggestion to swap Australian citizenship for maritime resources.

Key points:

  • Kevin Rudd’s proposed arrangement would require the Pacific countries to give up their sovereignty
  • It would also require a rewriting of their constitutions, as well as Australia’s constitution
  • Tuvalu’s Prime Minister says his country “will not be subjugated” under a “colonial mentor”

Mr Rudd wrote in a recent essay that Australia should offer citizenship to residents of the small Pacific nations of Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru in exchange for control of their seas, Exclusive Economic Zones, and fisheries.

“Under this arrangement, Australia would also become responsible for the relocation over time of the exposed populations of these countries [totalling less than 75,000 people altogether] to Australia where they would enjoy the full rights of Australian citizens,” Mr Rudd wrote.

But the idea — which in essence would see the countries give up their sovereignty — has been strongly criticised by Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga, who warned it amounts to a form of neo-colonialism.

“The days of that type of imperial thinking are over,” Mr Sopoaga told the ABC.

We are a fully independent country, and there is no way I’m going to compromise our rights to fisheries resources, our rights to our immediate resources.”

Mr Rudd’s key proposal is to relocate citizens of Pacific Island nations to Australia once rising sea levels make these nations uninhabitable, pointing out that their populations combined is less than half of Australia’s total annual immigration intake.

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-18/tuvalu-pm-slams-kevin-rudd-suggestion-as-neo-colonialism/10820176

What can I say – Kevin Rudd’s impressive diplomatic skills made him WUWT’s pick for UN Secretary General. Sadly Rudd didn’t get the job.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
100 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Gary Kerkin
February 18, 2019 2:06 pm

This from the man who managed to alter the Queensland Dam policy from flood control to water storage because he believed climate change would reduce the amount of rain over southern Queensland. And the result? Disastrous flooding in Brisbane because the Wivenhoe dam was forced to spill water to prevent disastrous damage to the dam! No wonder the nicknamed him Krudd.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Gary Kerkin
February 18, 2019 2:47 pm

That’s because he listened to his English lit. qualified science adviser, Tim Flannery. But Rudd should butt out of stuff he should not be fiddling with. Just go away Rudd.

Krudd Gillard of the Commondebt of Australia
Reply to  Gary Kerkin
February 18, 2019 5:45 pm

Aye, that be his name.

Hivemind
Reply to  Gary Kerkin
February 19, 2019 3:35 am

All I can say is that it’s a good thing he isn’t PM anymore. We would be at war with the rest of the world, for a start.

Reply to  Gary Kerkin
February 19, 2019 9:06 am

Australia’s political kaste has officially reached peak stupid.

Don Andersen
February 18, 2019 2:22 pm

He should have consulted with Auckland Uni before going public:

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-pacific-nation-bigger.html

BillP
Reply to  Don Andersen
February 19, 2019 1:08 am

He probably did; he is calling the Pacific islanders bluff.

That say they are threatened by climate change, he offers them somewhere to move to when climate change floods their islands in return for fishing rights and other benefits now. I reality they are not threatened, so Australia would get the benefits now and no future liability.

ResourceGuy
February 18, 2019 2:22 pm

Clever tactic that one.

Getting to “No” is interesting at times.

AndyE
Reply to  ResourceGuy
February 19, 2019 3:08 pm

But the “No” is coming from a politician. It would indeed be interesting to see a people’s referendum on the proposal. I think that the prospect of full Australian citizenship would go down well with most individuals.

Albert
February 18, 2019 2:25 pm

“masterful diplomatic skills”

I think he threatened to drown them if they don’t accept assimilation.

Masterful diplomacy is giving Mr. Rudd the one finger salute.

February 18, 2019 2:26 pm

Kevin Rudd was the second worst Prime Minister of Australia after the all time champion bad Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Keven Rudd has a proven track record of insane decisions and adherence to mad Socialist/Climate schemes that have cost Australians billions of dollars of their money. If Keven Rudd wants to do something, then the sensible choice is the opposite of what Rudd proposes.

Barry King
Reply to  Nicholas William Tesdorf
February 18, 2019 5:29 pm

For Canadian readers multiply by a factor of 20 Trudeau’s ineptitude and you will be somewhere in the ball park for the clueless KRUDD.
The USA dodged a bullet when Hillary (of Mt.Everest climbing fame) Rodham Clinton fell at the final hurdle but we copped an artillery shell when Julia Gillard made it to the top job.
It has been all down hill for OZ land since.

JustTheFactsPlease
Reply to  Barry King
February 19, 2019 6:48 am

Is 20 times infinity not still infinity?

F1nn
Reply to  JustTheFactsPlease
February 19, 2019 10:38 am

You should try thinking like politicians.

Mickey Reno
Reply to  Barry King
February 19, 2019 7:32 am

I think I see a pattern emerging.

Politicians who want to control YOUR life become corrupt, even if they weren’t corrupt when they first entered politics. Of course with Trudeau, he was born corrupt, courtesy of his famous daddy. Clinton became corrupt while a callow yute, er, I mean callow youth, worshipping the likes of Saul Alinsky. Then she merely doubled down on her corruption every few years, as her political fortunes rose, attached to her corrupt, but to some, lovable husband who was (to those same some) NOT a rapist or sexual assaulter just because he felt he was due sexual knee-bending by all the women surrounding him. I’m too remote to understand when Rudd and his stupid bimbo successor first became corrupt. But I think it’s high time that Australian conservatives start voting for people who are actually conservative, instead of Progressivist nanny-state “fixers.” The bigger the level of government, the more government screws up everything it touches that might otherwise be solved by normal market forces. Public utilities are something of an exception, because big generators used to see efficiency, reliability and low-cost as desirable objectives, and so they very much sought those goals on behalf of their “customers” while enjoying monopoly protections from would-be competition. But somewhere along the line, the utility commissions that had watchdog style oversight of the operations and regulatory governance of those utillities became just another political football with which would-be socialists could control you and me. Now those same utilities have become cronyist lucre-pits and virtue-signalists for every stripe of climate Scientologist, eco-loon and CO2 bed wetter. People who think the government can or should solve climate change are, by definition, nucking futs. Vote them out! Be brutal. Don’t compromise. Vote them OUT!

commieBob
February 18, 2019 2:27 pm

If the various islanders actually believed that they were in danger of becoming climate refugees, they would welcome the chance of trouble free refuge.

It is clear that the islanders don’t think they’re going to be swamped any time soon. Any other blathering on their part is just an excuse to extort money from developed countries.

Latitude
Reply to  commieBob
February 18, 2019 5:06 pm

Tuvalu..is about 15ft….so it’s not going to happen

comment image

David lm2
February 18, 2019 2:28 pm

Why would they become sovereign when they stand to receive so much aid money for a non-existent problem.

Javert Chip
Reply to  David lm2
February 18, 2019 5:34 pm

Uhhh, the USA is no longer in the business of “donating”, “contributing” or “being extorted” regarding climate change money.

Bad business model to sit around waiting for a check. Just saying.

Bill in Oz
February 18, 2019 2:28 pm

Ruddles never did have a strong grasp on reality.
But it has become even worse in recent years.

So it’s reassuring to know that we gave him the big boot up the arse
out of political office way back in July 2013.

LdB
Reply to  Bill in Oz
February 19, 2019 2:41 am

No he is simply following the socialist left manifesto, the resources of the world belong to every person. The act of being born made you entitled to your share of the worlds resources. So it follows if a country takes in a citizen from another country it should take there share of the worlds resources, it makes perfect sense to a socialist.

The fact it comes across like a raving crackpot to us capitalist is fine we are not the intended audience of the message.

Bruce Cobb
February 18, 2019 2:38 pm

One would almost think these island nations were more interested in receiving “climate reparations” “climate aid”, and other forms of climate extortion than anything else.

James Fosser
February 18, 2019 2:41 pm

He was the worse Prime Minister we have ever had. His super ego got in the way of every decision he made (But Julia Gillard came a very close second).

J Mac
Reply to  James Fosser
February 18, 2019 6:08 pm

You can fix ignorance…. but you can’t fix stupid.

Hivemind
Reply to  James Fosser
February 19, 2019 3:38 am

I could never work out which was the worst Prime Minister. There wasn’t even a hair’s breadth between them.

Zig Zag Wanderer
February 18, 2019 2:41 pm

This article needs a trigger warning. I almost lost my breakfast on seeing that smarmy visage.

troe
February 18, 2019 2:45 pm

Sorry that our friends in Australia are burdened with idiots of this sort. Then again we all are.

Dean
February 18, 2019 3:02 pm

I think its a masterful stroke by Rudd.

He offers help, they say no.

Now any time they carp on about how Australia needs to save them we can say “but we tried”.

Well Done Ruddy! DFAT should immediately make this offer in a formal sense, unless we had a little bit of moonlighting?

Chris Hanley
February 18, 2019 3:16 pm

In speech our Kevin loves to use lots of plosive ‘p’ sounds that are intended to impress and convince his audience that his crackpot ideas are in fact the result of careful and measured consideration, for instance here we have a positive, proper and appropriately pertinent and propitiously presentable proposal.

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Chris Hanley
February 18, 2019 3:26 pm

Say it, don’t spray it.

Woz
Reply to  Chris Hanley
February 18, 2019 6:00 pm

…which proved preposterous!

Alan Ranger
Reply to  Chris Hanley
February 19, 2019 4:27 am

But he also likes to use arcane expressions (self created) like “natural complementarity”, “conceptual synthesis” and “programmatic specificity” to befuddle the ignorant peasants, who then think he must be the bee’s knees for being able to use such big, incomprehensible words.

Len Jay
February 18, 2019 3:27 pm

Oh so he’s piped up again, has he?

Tim
February 18, 2019 3:28 pm
Patrick MJD
Reply to  Tim
February 18, 2019 8:01 pm

“The premise of the paper that there has been a general decline in Commonwealth fisheries is not supported by the weight of evidence,” AFMA’s acting CEO Nick Rayns said in a statement.”

Evidence? They don’t need no sticking evidence, just feelings!

paul courtney
February 18, 2019 3:35 pm

IIRC he’s a progressive. If a conservative suggested this, Rudd would instantly see it as a white-supremacist neo-colonial racist alt-right plot. Yet he fails to see it in his own proposal, probably in his head he can’t understand why “those people” are objecting. Nothing quite like progressives for blindness to their own hypocrisy.

MarkW
Reply to  paul courtney
February 18, 2019 4:15 pm

Like most leftists, he knows for a fact that he can’t be racist, therefore the thought that something he said might come across as racist never occurred to him.
On the other hand, all leftists know for a fact that all conservatives are racist. The only problem is proving it.

Greg Cavanagh
Reply to  MarkW
February 18, 2019 6:43 pm

What does “proving it” mean? Sounds like a new concept to me…

MarkW
Reply to  Greg Cavanagh
February 18, 2019 9:06 pm

As one young socialist said to me. All whites are racist. The only difference is how well they are able to hide it.
But she assured me that if you dig deep enough, you will always find it.

“Proving it” for the most part consists of seeing what you need to see and ignoring any contradictory evidence.

Dean
Reply to  MarkW
February 19, 2019 12:03 am

Evidence?

No evidence is needed by these lunatics. Its a given.

Fenlander
Reply to  MarkW
February 19, 2019 12:53 am

Ethnic Europeans alone have been indoctrinated with racial guilt; other ethnicities naturally embrace their collective racial self-interest.

PaulH
February 18, 2019 3:36 pm

Well, at least he’s being upfront about the aims of the Green Blob.

Harry
February 18, 2019 3:39 pm

Its all about stopping China’s expansion into the Pacific if they are all Aussie citizens China has to deal with Australia. Not quite so easy I think

It does show though how Climate is used for everything now days

maarten
February 18, 2019 3:41 pm

They will get the western money without any strings attached via the green scam wealth redistribution, so why would they allow themselves to be patronized by someone like Rudd and his cabal…

Javert Chip
Reply to  maarten
February 18, 2019 5:38 pm

maarten

Exactly which “western money” are you referring to?

France?
Germany?
Britain?
Lichenstein?
Andrea Dora?
Greece?
Mexico?
Venezuela (sorry – couldn’t help myself)?

Bryan A
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 18, 2019 10:06 pm

Certainly won’t be any USA Western Money while Trump is in office

maarten
February 18, 2019 3:43 pm

Another example of the arrogant left wing politicians who are truly believing that they know best what’s good for anyone…

Craig from Oz
February 18, 2019 3:50 pm

Rudd is a prime example of how our Media Elites have managed to apply control over the democratic voting process.

Before Kevin we Australians had it pretty good. Budget surplus. Industry confidence. Relatively low cost of living. Good times. The problem was that Prime Minister Howard was a nasty evil CONSERVATIVE and our Ruling Elites didn’t like that. So Rudd crawled out of his underpants fuelled cave on the side of the road (paraphrasing, but basically his own claim) and the Love Media latched onto him. He was Kev. He was from Brissy. He was just like the other bloke, only different enough to be fun. He would be the low risk change guy because deep down, wasn’t everyone just a little sick of Little Johnny?

The Media sold him to us… then, once he proved to be a complete git that even his own party grew to despise, the sold him out on the glowing Feels of Our First Female Prime Minister.

(actually everyone except the Fems basically hated Our First Female Prime Minister and her own party ended up backstabbing her to bring back Rudd in a desperate attempt to save the furniture… then got rid of Rudd because they deep down still hated him.)

The Media invented Rudd. Told the voters he was this new exciting (but safe) guy who was the greatest thing ever and everyone should love him. He wasn’t. He was a vain angry man out of his depth with a vindictive streak and anyone with prior knowledge of him should have kept him completely hidden on the back bench where he could have done no harm.

What is scary is that not only was he once Prime Minister of Australia, is that he then became Foreign Minister and roamed the world in Australia’s name. And why? Because our Elites selected him as a suitable person to impress the masses and gain power. He is the AOC of Australia, but without the sane logic processes.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Craig from Oz
February 18, 2019 5:39 pm

He was a vain angry man out of his depth with a vindictive streak and anyone with prior knowledge of him should have kept him completely hidden on the back bench where he could have done no harm.

And get caught eating his earwax in the process. Maybe they should have pushed his desk into the car park instead.

https://youtu.be/_ipvdBnU8F8

Greg Cavanagh
Reply to  Craig from Oz
February 18, 2019 6:47 pm

Howard took a dive when he brought in that Workplace Reform. That’s what killed him, Rudd was just an opportune guy standing on the sidewalk doing nothing particular.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Craig from Oz
February 19, 2019 5:10 am

like Herpes
he never really goes away;-(

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Craig from Oz
February 19, 2019 5:12 am

excellent summation of krudd;-)
and demoted sideways as FM to remove him from public view as much as possible.
like the turd he is however he bobs up from time to time, to offend all around him

Dave N
February 18, 2019 4:02 pm

Good to see a response that rhymes with the name of their nation.

I expect that it is partially as a result of their true opinion (i.e. not their “public” one) on whether they really are in any danger anytime soon.

Tim
February 18, 2019 4:18 pm

Could this proposal be an opportunity for more Manus/Christmas/Nauru/ facilities.

Did they see a sign saying “Refugee Storage”?

WXcycles
February 18, 2019 4:26 pm

“I’m Kevin, and I’m here to help!”

Too much, “detailed programmatic specificity”, again Kevie?

No imaginary problem is too trivial to blow out of all proportion to reality, eh?

February 18, 2019 4:39 pm

The man is insane. Kiribati is 3,870 miles (6.227 km) from Brisbane. By comparison, Kiribati is “just” 1,345 mi (2,164 km) due south of Honolulu, Hawaii.

But given the state of Hawaii’s democrats with their raging case of TDS, Kevin Rudd should offer Hawaii the same deal. They’d probably take it.

WXcycles
Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
February 18, 2019 5:32 pm

No Joel, that would intrude on others virtue-signalling potential, a diplomatic no-no.

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
February 19, 2019 9:39 am

Even more so. The supposed rising of the ocean would endanger these islands, necessatating the removal of the entire population but somehow magically leave Australia undisturbed where they can then settle.

Interesting that.

John Endicott
Reply to  huls
February 19, 2019 12:41 pm

The supposed rising of the ocean would endanger these islands, necessatating the removal of the entire population but somehow magically leave Australia undisturbed where they can then settle

Australia is many magnitudes larger in size, what would be enough to swamp Kiribati or Tuvalu would at worse make peoples feet wet a little further in from the Australian beaches.

Barbee
February 18, 2019 4:45 pm

I wish more Americans felt the same way.

Reply to  Barbee
February 18, 2019 4:57 pm

We “own” American Samoa, a good part of the Marshall Islands (who could forget Bikini Atoll?), Guam and the Northern Marianas, and Palau. And then there’s the world’s largest preserve, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument covers 490,000 square miles (1.2 million sq. kilometers), making it the largest marine preserve in the world,

Ref: https://phys.org/news/2014-09-obama-world-largest-marine-sanctuary.html

* by own I mean the US constitution applies in those territories and coastal waters, and the US Coast Guard patrols those waters.

Steve Reddish
February 18, 2019 5:03 pm

Did Rudd think those islanders were so afraid of drowning that they would move to a desert?

SR

WXcycles
Reply to  Steve Reddish
February 18, 2019 5:30 pm

And more-or-less the hottest desert on earth.

When I was a kid we were told that Australia was the hottest continent on Earth. Everyone knew it, no one doubted it for a second. Only recent generations, bought up since about 1985, with air-conditioning and ceiling fans in every room, were not told that, and now act all ‘surprised’ when they find out that Australia is in fact the hottest continent. They call it ‘climate change’ because they were taught by schools with second-rate teachers, backed by BOM’s delusional ideologically motivated statistical fake-cooling of the past.

Alan Ranger
Reply to  Steve Reddish
February 19, 2019 4:55 am

Doubtful. All of the illegals who get into Australia via people smugglers NEVER settle in the outback. They enjoy the comfort of the cities where they can readily soak up the social security money the tax payers provide for them.

Sara
February 18, 2019 5:43 pm

Is he more delusional than Miss AOC? Or are they twins separated at birth? Just askin’, in a wish to be informed.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Sara
February 18, 2019 5:52 pm

They all read from the same playbook in a race to the bottom of the barrel. Their ideas are always the same – bankrupt the country and get their tax slaves to pay for it all, including their lifestyles.

Warren
Reply to  Sara
February 18, 2019 6:03 pm

Well Rudd is a communist megalomaniac narcissists.
Similar really . . .
But there’s worse coming down-under in the form of Bill Shorten who is a communist megalomaniac sociopath.

Warren
Reply to  Warren
February 18, 2019 6:11 pm

Not to be outdone by the current conservative Aussie PM Mr Scott Mmmm:
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2019/02/16/prime-minister-scott-morrison-his-best-mate-david-gazard-and-the-50-billion-submarine-scam/
Most AU politicians are on the take from unions, foreign entities or ‘mates’ at home.

Greg Cavanagh
Reply to  Warren
February 18, 2019 6:57 pm

I big document full of names and places. I wish I didn’t believe it. Sadly, I’m not at all surprised.

As for Labor and Unions, the two entities are the same party and they share the same money. Corruption is Labor’s middle name, Graft is it’s last name. Aliases; “Wasn’t Me”, “It was Him” and “Everyone Doesit”.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Sara
February 19, 2019 5:15 am

its was triplets i think
and juLiar g is the 3rd
she and AOC would get on so well
pray they never meet

JCR`
Reply to  ozspeaksup
February 19, 2019 10:12 am

They probably have met. They both run in liberal, progressive circles.

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
February 18, 2019 5:45 pm

Had this proposal been made by Juliar Dullard, the refusal would have offended her vindictiveness to a point where she might actually paddle off Tuvalu’s coast on a wake board, rock it back and forth and say “See..?”

Then again, let’s see how Kevvie deals with Tuvalu PM’s middle finger. Maybe he’ll use it as a cotton bud. If only there was ear wax on it.

Stan Sexton
February 18, 2019 6:19 pm

Which PM let the Muslims in?

ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N
Reply to  Stan Sexton
February 18, 2019 6:54 pm

Good question. Better one is which one’s going to bring an end to it.

Warren
Reply to  Stan Sexton
February 18, 2019 7:32 pm
LdB
Reply to  Warren
February 19, 2019 12:32 am

The answer is dead simple you can try to dribble and fluff around all you want but the graph at the bottom has two very big bumps 🙂

Linda Goodman
February 18, 2019 6:50 pm

How funny will it be if things shift in the alarmists’ favor? It won’t take much, they’ve already infected most organs of power, so they don’t need many hearts and minds, and they are RELENTLESS. Maybe now is the time to take a RELENTLESS hard line on this eco-fascist fraud, while we still can.

markl
Reply to  Linda Goodman
February 18, 2019 7:11 pm

Linda…. with all due respect the “denier” camp is both toothless and windless. But they have ‘science’ in their favor 🙂

markl
February 18, 2019 7:09 pm

And herein lies the #1 problem with any nation signing on to a “climate treaty”…… abdicating your sovereignty to a foreign entity. Besides who can or will tell who about the nations that meet or fail their promises? This is all nothing but a giant free for all liars contest.

Warren
February 18, 2019 7:35 pm

One of the World’s best out-takes . . .
Rudd goes f***ing mental on camera:

F1nn
Reply to  Warren
February 19, 2019 10:54 am

He´s so very convincing honest, I like that.

Bryan A
February 18, 2019 8:23 pm

Perhaps Tuvalu or Kiribati should return the favor and offer Citizenship to Australian residents instead. They might be able to show better governance

SMC
February 18, 2019 9:01 pm

Annexing other countries to save them from themselves sounds like a great idea to me. Maybe the USA should annex the rest of Mexico (finish the job we started in the 1830’s). It would sure go a long way toward solving our illegal immigration problem. Also, Mexico has a much shorter southern border than the USA currently has… a win win congress could save money while still building a much shorter wall. /sarc

Bryan A
Reply to  SMC
February 18, 2019 10:08 pm

Include Canada and the USA would include ALL North America

SMC
Reply to  Bryan A
February 18, 2019 11:25 pm

Nah. You still need El Salvador, Nicaragua, Belize, Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala… of course, the southern border of panama is really short.

tim wells
February 18, 2019 10:57 pm

Rudd has always been a bit of a dumbo. He was a failure as a Prime Minister.

Old Ranga from Oz
February 18, 2019 11:06 pm

He’s not known as KRudd for nothing. As our leftie Prime Minister, delusion and fantasy brought him undone, as well as being backstabbed by Julia Gillard.

Flight Level
February 18, 2019 11:59 pm

As complimentary diplomatic skills, they should have hired Mr. Hank Johnson to explain that alike Guam, Tuvalu could “capsize and sink”.

Maybe next time?

Patrick MJD
February 19, 2019 12:17 am

Shorten is the current ALP leader, and his “popularity” is failing (Well, what is an election anyway?). And the anit-LNP media HATE this as they felt sure the ALP would win this years federal election. Seems nothing is certain. So the typical response in the Australian MSM is to wheel out (Yes, they may have well have been in a wheelchair – No disrespect to those that need them) past “pretty boys” to sway voters.

This May, or earlier, will be an interesting federal election.

IMO, in my line of business, the job market is buoyant, which usually indicates NO CHANGE of Govn’t.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Patrick MJD
February 19, 2019 5:24 am

whats funnier is the recnt govt hack
and the immediate “worries” its election tamperin
how?
we have ID listed electoral rolls and so faking a votes close to impossible
hear of electronic system but as far as i know its NOT happening
and shouldn’t !

if anyone was snooping(apart from our “friends” UK usa that is…0
it would be for far more useful or damaging purpose than eletions
we’re not so hidebound we wont throw a pm out very fast
or do deals to stymie one we cant get rid of.
we mightnt have the old aus democrats as our 3rd wheel…but we can still keep the bastards honest;-)
or very worried at least

Sceptical lefty
Reply to  Patrick MJD
February 21, 2019 4:51 am

The present Government is discovering, to its dismay, that the arbitrary torpedoing of an incumbent Prime Minister who enjoyed a fair degree of electoral popularity is a net vote-loser. They could have usefully noted the result of the A.L.P. discarding the (then) popular Mr Rudd in favour of Julia Gillard.

Even worse, the Liberal Party had made the politically sensible decision to replace Mr Abbott (liked by the Party, broadly disliked by the electorate) with Mr Turnbull (uneasily tolerated by the Party, broadly acceptable to the electorate). The expectation of the parliamentary Party that a largely secular electorate would respond positively to replacing a popular centrist P.M. (at a time of relatively prosperous economic stability) with a Right-wing Pentecostalist was, at best, naive. At worst, a bunch of supposedly hard-bitten political realists were revealed as delusionally incompetent in their main trade.

There is a saying is Australian politics to the effect that Oppositions don’t win office — Governments lose office. The present Government is making a fair attempt to hand the reins of power to a lacklustre Opposition with a barely-effective leader.

LdB
February 19, 2019 12:27 am

The extension to this is if you take any refugees from a country then that country should give up resources or land. So Europe for example should be given land in Africa for compensation it all seems so logical 🙂

E J Zuiderwijk
February 19, 2019 1:16 am

Mr Rudd sees himself as a benevolent green Messiah bringing ‘liberation’. But the islanders see a privileged white man dictating what is good for them. There, the ugly green dynamics in two sentences.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  E J Zuiderwijk
February 19, 2019 2:16 am

He is also very wealthy, and his wife too, on the back of a Govn’t recruitment agency.

Adam Gallon
February 19, 2019 4:08 am

Nothing Socialist about this at all.
A pure Neon-colonial, Capitalist land grab.

Bryan A
Reply to  Adam Gallon
February 19, 2019 10:16 am

Usually Neo- but I like Neon better…you can’t deny it it is so brightly lit

Philip Schaeffer
Reply to  Adam Gallon
February 20, 2019 1:35 am

Indeed. I pointed this out, but I think my comment went in the bin.

Other issues aside regarding whether this is a good/bad/terrible/whatever idea, exactly what the heck is socialist about it?

John Endicott
February 19, 2019 6:19 am

“We are a fully independent country, and there is no way I’m going to compromise our rights to fisheries resources, our rights to our immediate resources.”

Of course you won’t, but you want other countries to compromise on their rights to fossil fuel resources to pay your climate extortion funds.

Sceptical lefty
February 21, 2019 4:14 am

Kevin Rudd does not now enjoy a status that permits him to make the offer described above. In fact, he didn’t. He is a retired politician who made a suggestion in an essay.

For Americans, try to imagine Jimmy Carter suggesting now that Brazilians be offered U.S. citizenship if they stop destroying the Amazon rainforest. It’s just a thought bubble from someone who lacks the necessary power to do anything. Big deal!

Beats me why this merited an article here.