6 - # of Straya threads or # of times we've changed Prime Minister in a decade?

[Axver]

I have far too much of a sweet tooth. If dentistry doesn't become part of Medicare I probably won't have any teeth left in a decade.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I have far too much of a sweet tooth. If dentistry doesn't become part of Medicare I probably won't have any teeth left in a decade.

Haha, because as we all know, teeth are not part of the body!


Yeah, I'm amazed I've still got all my teeth (my only saving grace is I've not much of a sweet tooth, but apart from that I've spent years at a stretch doing all the wrong things, eg. blowing off brushing because it hit midnight and fuck it, I'm done). I'm riding one bad one but it'll have to wait till the next flare-up because a. it's money, and b. extraction brings with it its own promise of painful complications.

Frankly, dentists scare me. The last time I fronted up, the medical form asked if I have a heart condition. WTF are you guys planning to do back there?

PS I have a few comments on your earlier reply but I want to formulate my thoughts when I'm not busy for a moment.

 

[Axver]

Seriously, I do not get the "yeah fuck having dentistry in Medicare" thing one bit. When I finished high school (and, with it, the free dental care you get from those vans of barely-trained butchers that come once or twice a year [actually mine were generally OK]), I had very good teeth. Then I was a poor undergrad who also did the "it's midnight and that cleanses my teeth, right?" thing and by the time I next went to the dentist when I was 24 I needed heaps of fillings and a root canal. I haven't been in the last four years for a range of reasons, laziness perhaps uppermost, and I dread how much I'll have to fork out for necessary treatment whenever I do get around to it. I'm not even afraid of dentists! Only my wallet is.

I suppose it's a glimpse of how catastrophic the US system is.

 

[Axver]

Also, we haven't talked about the latest Senate results. Bob "fuckwit" Day somehow snuck back in for SA, causing a big upset by defeating the fourth ALP candidate. So SA has returned 4 Lib, 3 ALP, 3 Xenophon, 1 Green, 1 Fundies First.

Meanwhile Victoria has gone basically as expected, with the headline figures being the return of 2 Greens and the success of Hinch, who actually came tenth rather than the eleventh or twelfth that I forecast. Interestingly, the last party to be excluded in the race for twelfth was Fundies First, polling better than the Sex Party.

Now we're just waiting on NSW and Queensland, which ought to be known tomorrow.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Seriously, I do not get the "yeah fuck having dentistry in Medicare" thing one bit. When I finished high school (and, with it, the free dental care you get from those vans of barely-trained butchers that come once or twice a year [actually mine were generally OK]), I had very good teeth. Then I was a poor undergrad who also did the "it's midnight and that cleanses my teeth, right?" thing and by the time I next went to the dentist when I was 24 I needed heaps of fillings and a root canal. I haven't been in the last four years for a range of reasons, laziness perhaps uppermost, and I dread how much I'll have to fork out for necessary treatment whenever I do get around to it. I'm not even afraid of dentists! Only my wallet is.

I suppose it's a glimpse of how catastrophic the US system is.

Prior to an emergency bout of extreme pain last year, I hadn't set foot in a dentist's waiting room since a routine booking on the public system waiting list in the late nineties.

Yeah, the dentists' guild must have really had a heavy hitter at the helm when Medicare and its forerunner were being cobbled together. So far as I know the conservative doctors' union (AMA, like its British counterpart) weren't thrilled with socialised healthcare, but somehow they've gotten to live with it.

US healthcare seems to be essentially, picture how it is for teeth here, only for everything.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Also, we haven't talked about the latest Senate results. Bob "fuckwit" Day somehow snuck back in for SA, causing a big upset by defeating the fourth ALP candidate. So SA has returned 4 Lib, 3 ALP, 3 Xenophon, 1 Green, 1 Fundies First.

Meanwhile Victoria has gone basically as expected, with the headline figures being the return of 2 Greens and the success of Hinch, who actually came tenth rather than the eleventh or twelfth that I forecast. Interestingly, the last party to be excluded in the race for twelfth was Fundies First, polling better than the Sex Party.

Now we're just waiting on NSW and Queensland, which ought to be known tomorrow.

Seriously, Fundies First actually got back in? I take it Bob Day is their guy.

Hinch's success surprises me a lot more than Hanson's or whoever. He's a charlatan. Never voted in your life, then fuck off claiming to deal with the laws that govern us. That said, I must feel some mild schadenfreude at the dismal showing from the Pimps' Party. Fuck 'em (literally).

 

[Axver]

Prior to an emergency bout of extreme pain last year, I hadn't set foot in a dentist's waiting room since a routine booking on the public system waiting list in the late nineties.

Yeah, the dentists' guild must have really had a heavy hitter at the helm when Medicare and its forerunner were being cobbled together. So far as I know the conservative doctors' union (AMA, like its British counterpart) weren't thrilled with socialised healthcare, but somehow they've gotten to live with it.

US healthcare seems to be essentially, picture how it is for teeth here, only for everything.

I have a faint memory of reading something that argued the cost of adding dentistry to Medicare would be astronomical, but given literally everything else is covered I can't fathom how teeth could possibly be so much more expensive as to blow a huge hole in government expenditure. Hell, we're already paying for the social and long-term costs of terrible oral health anyway.

Seriously, Fundies First actually got back in? I take it Bob Day is their guy.

Hinch's success surprises me a lot more than Hanson's or whoever. He's a charlatan. Never voted in your life, then fuck off claiming to deal with the laws that govern us. That said, I must feel some mild schadenfreude at the dismal showing from the Pimps' Party. Fuck 'em (literally).

Hinch doesn't surprise me too much, he's pretty popular down here with the "tell it like it is" crowd who want people named and shamed before being found guilty, and for the prison system to essentially be a dank hellhole to which you are sentenced for 250 years for the smallest of crimes.

But the strange part about Hinch is that he's actually fairly left-wing on most other issues. The risk of him abusing parliamentary privilege is high, but I do not expect him to be as big a source of head-desking as Hanson & Co., Bob Day, Lambie, and the lunatic wing of the Coalition.

I was fucking confused to see something earlier calling Bernardi et al. the Liberals' "traditionalists". There is absolutely nothing traditionalist about Bernardi. Dump him into a 1910s parliament and everybody would ask who the crazy man is.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Yeah, it's not that Hinch is in any way an ideological rightwinger, for example. He's mostly a guy with pet issues.

As a blogger (an extremely ex-young-Lib) I follow likes to put it, Bernadi is hanging off the Liberal Party like a tick. When he's full, he'll drop off. Could be tomorrow, could be ten years from now. He's a radical reactionary.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Bernardi's Twitter account profile suggests he's definitely as unhinged as we think he is. As much as everyone in the Liberal Party is undeniably scum, Bernardi is on another level.

 

[Kieran McConville]

He's a dangerous motherfucker and it's probably for the best that he lacks that common touch that allows people to really connect with middle straya.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I must say, the more I hear about this census furore (the one I was blissfully unaware of the other day because, well, sometimes that's how I roll), the more suspicious I am of some of the motives behind it.

That's leaving aside that the same people freaking out about the Bureau of Statistics having their details for a few years probably don't even know what they're giving away to Facebook and care even less. But Facebook is nice, and cuddly, and Mark Zuckerberg is like your slightly Aspergers older brother who wants to rule the world everyone to share everything, unlike some faceless boffin at the department of abacuses... or something.

 

[Kieran McConville]

If I do have one gripe about the census this year - the online submission with a (one assumes, understaffed and overloaded) backup help line for people who need a paper form, it is this:

As Telstra's sorry history of endless outages this year should make clear, a reliable, uninterrupted internet service at any given time, let's say a specific time like Tuesday night, 9 August, is by no means something that can be assumed. Sad, but true.

I guess everything will be fine for me on the night, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. They really should allow people to go and complete it at any time after they get their login details. Spread the load out over a few weeks. Or maybe they do allow this? I haven't looked too closely into the matter.

 

[Axver]

I hate everybody today.

Not one but TWO One Nation senators from Queensland. Fucking HELL. Pauline is joined by a mate who thinks that the CSIRO and UN conspire together to produce corrupt reports on climate science.

Also Leyon-fucking-hjelm got back in too. Hilarious and sad that the two men who bleated about the new system killing the minor parties, him and Day, both got in, while the crossbenchers who took it on the chin like Muir and Lazarus were turfed out.

The new senate:
30 Coalition
26 ALP
9 Green
4 One Nation
3 Xenophon
1 Family First
1 Hinch
1 Lambie
1 Lib Dem

39 is a majority; 38 suffices on the casting vote of the senate president. The only path to 38 involving two distinct blocs is Coalition/Green. If the ALP and the Greens oppose something, the Coalition will need at least eight of the eleven crossbenchers. If Xenophon won't play ball, the Coalition need literally the rest of the crossbench. If One Nation won't play ball they can't pass anything even if they get the rest of the crossbench.

HAVE FUN PASSING LEGISLATION!

 

[cobl04]

Meanwhile, The Australian continues to publish straight-up racist cartoons.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I hate everybody today.

Not one but TWO One Nation senators from Queensland. Fucking HELL. Pauline is joined by a mate who thinks that the CSIRO and UN conspire together to produce corrupt reports on climate science.

Also Leyon-fucking-hjelm got back in too. Hilarious and sad that the two men who bleated about the new system killing the minor parties, him and Day, both got in, while the crossbenchers who took it on the chin like Muir and Lazarus were turfed out.

The new senate:
30 Coalition
26 ALP
9 Green
4 One Nation
3 Xenophon
1 Family First
1 Hinch
1 Lambie
1 Lib Dem

39 is a majority; 38 suffices on the casting vote of the senate president. The only path to 38 involving two distinct blocs is Coalition/Green. If the ALP and the Greens oppose something, the Coalition will need at least eight of the eleven crossbenchers. If Xenophon won't play ball, the Coalition need literally the rest of the crossbench. If One Nation won't play ball they can't pass anything even if they get the rest of the crossbench.

HAVE FUN PASSING LEGISLATION!

That's a very messy crossbench. Sadly, I could see Lib Dem / One Nation / Lambie and Family First making common cause on some matters such that they could be approached as a quasi-bloc. But Xenophon? Who the hell knows. Both and all of them? Even more so who the hell knows.

 

[Axver]

Wait, revise my post. I was mistaken - the senate president has not got a casting vote. A vote tied at 38-38 is declared lost.

So the Coalition must get THE ENTIRE CROSSBENCH on side to pass legislation if the ALP and Greens are both opposed. GOOD. FUCKING. LUCK.

And I'm still speechless the Australian saw fit to run that disgusting cartoon.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Meanwhile, The Australian continues to publish straight-up racist cartoons.

Par for the course with that rag. I see they've wheeled out the establishment's pet indigenous guru, Noel Pearson, to prop up the house style.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

There is no goodness.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Then that is a very fucked crossbench.

 

[cobl04]

Par for the course with that rag. I see they've wheeled out the establishment's pet indigenous guru, Noel Pearson, to prop up the house style.

Which is really odd, because they actually do some great Indigenous reporting.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Well there are decent reporters in the Australian (how many I can't tell), I think it's the editorial line that mostly stinks.

 

[Axver]

The Australian is very conflicted about whether it wants to be a Serious Newspaper that publishes on Important Topics, or a slightly more articulate Daily Tele.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I always assume that when it veers back to Middlebrow Telegraph territory, it's a sign that Rupert has been on the phone.

 

[Axver]

So I wrote some slightly more extended thoughts about the Senate over on ye olde electionne weblogge: Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews, The new Senate and how it will (not) function

 

[Kieran McConville]

And they said blogs were dead.

While I detest the assorted grab bag of cranks who invariably ride in on One Nation's coat tails, I'm not sure this whole result is so bad overall, as far as it potentially stymies any serious second-term Coalition agenda (if it has one, and yes, children, it does, but as always it dare not speak its name). The exception would be bills of a security-state/divide-and-conquer variety; there I'm a little worried that enough of One Nation/Lambie/Hinch/whoever else might all be brought to the altar.

There's also the point, worth making, that on past performance, what assurance do we have that Pauline Hanson's (as if they are her property) new senators will toe the line? You don't even have to look to the Palmer United Party for precedent, just look to the 1998 Queensland parliament. I'd be a lot more scared of One Nation if it could guarantee Liberal or Labor - style voting discipline.

 

[Axver]

One Nation, I expect, will be the new PUP. I'll be surprised if we get to 2019 without at least two defections. If that happens, it could give the Coalition some more paths to passing legislation - or just make negotiations even more chaotic.

I'm very curious to see what the crossbench actually can agree on. Day and Leyonhjelm agree on a deregulated economy, but Lambie and Xenophon are state-based protectionists. Then Leyonhjelm and Day fall apart on social issues - but Leyonhjelm can join with Hinch and One Nation in supporting euthanasia. I suppose Hinch could probably get up some of his bullshit legal reform garbage, since it appeals to the hard right and to populists more broadly defined?

 

[Kieran McConville]

I don't believe there would be much outside of - the aforementioned - further draconian security type legislation that every last one of them could be expected to maybe line up on. Other than that, a bunch of mini-blocs at best.

I suppose it depends on what great matters exercise this particular parliament. If it's trade deals and the like, well as you say, there may be common ground between Xenophon and One Nation (although they've become so completely absorbed into the Islam Panic that I regard most of their nominal 'concerns' as window dressing at best).

When I hear the words 'legal reform', I reach for my pistol.

 

[cobl04]

And today, Bill Leak is the victim.

But hey, Australia's not racist.

 

[Axver]

I don't believe there would be much outside of - the aforementioned - further draconian security type legislation that every last one of them could be expected to maybe line up on. Other than that, a bunch of mini-blocs at best.

I suppose it depends on what great matters exercise this particular parliament. If it's trade deals and the like, well as you say, there may be common ground between Xenophon and One Nation (although they've become so completely absorbed into the Islam Panic that I regard most of their nominal 'concerns' as window dressing at best).

When I hear the words 'legal reform', I reach for my pistol.

Leyonhjelm may be a total turd syrup, but he does apply his ideology consistently, so you would expect him to break on draconian security legislation. But by himself that's not enough. You'd expect that Hinch, Lambie, Day, and One Nation would jump on board so it would be a matter of persuading Xenophon.

Of course so much of the national security alarmism has been fostered by the ALP and Coalition working together, so this may be a moot point.

What intrigues me is how much the Coalition will try to work with the Greens, and whether this will prove beneficial for the Greens ("we stood up to the Coalition and extracted concessions") or detrimental ("sell-outs to the right"). Because you suspect that if Turnbull concedes too much ground to them, it will further erode his authority within the party and imperil him in the lower house.

And today, Bill Leak is the victim.

But hey, Australia's not racist.

#RacistCartoonistLivesMatter

 

[Kieran McConville]

Of course so much of the national security alarmism has been fostered by the ALP and Coalition working together, so this may be a moot point.

...and there you've just put your finger on the situation for quite a few votes. It only matters when it's not bipartisan Labor and Coalition stuff in the first place.

Fair point about Leyonhjelm.

What intrigues me is how much the Coalition will try to work with the Greens, and whether this will prove beneficial for the Greens ("we stood up to the Coalition and extracted concessions") or detrimental ("sell-outs to the right"). Because you suspect that if Turnbull concedes too much ground to them, it will further erode his authority within the party and imperil him in the lower house.

It's hard for me to imagine what the Coalition could (ie. would be willing to) give the Greens, that the Greens want. Maybe a beefing up of research funding now that the government has partly walked back its insane cuts to the CSIRO ('we take climate change seriously! We're only sacking 20 scientists!')