Friday, July 31, 2026
In which it's just a dose of Our Henry and a vax of Killer, same same, same as it ever was...
Thank the long absent lord, the lizards of Oz have briefly got over their comrade Dan obsession.
Golding provided a faint echo of those golden days ...
Instead the reptiles reverted to an ancient and revered jihad, a traditional bashing of the federal government in the lead story of the day ...
The only notable thing about Brownie's EXCLUSIVE was the dreadful collage at the top of his piece, attributed to a certain Debbie Schipp.
The pond refused to make a Schipp joke, and shipped the lot to the intermittent archive.
EXCLUSIVE
Senior moment: States rebel over Labor’s health insurance plans
Three state health ministers have publicly revolted against the plan to scrap higher private health insurance rebates for over-65s.
By Greg Brown
Senior moment: States rebel over Labor’s health insurance plans
Three state health ministers have publicly revolted against the plan to scrap higher private health insurance rebates for over-65s.
By Greg Brown
Anyone wanting real cockroach fun, namely mad Xian fundamentalists at play in NSW, would have to head off to the opposition ...
Exclusive Operation Rosny
Liberal frontbencher captured on ICAC wiretap tipping off Reformers (*intermittent archive link)
Liberal frontbencher captured on ICAC wiretap tipping off Reformers (*intermittent archive link)
The "Reformers"? Anything but ...
Operation Rosny: What we know about the blockbuster ICAC inquiry (*intermittent archive link)
That's the trouble with getting fitted out with the blind ideological blinkers worn by members of the lizard Oz hive mind, you miss out on a bigly part of the fun, and the set-up for Wilcox:
Over on the extreme far right at the lizard Oz, there was the usual assortment pursuing the reptile agenda ...
Indigenous hopes have fallen into Canberra’s credibility gap
Anthony Albanese is on annual leave but, to be honest, I would not have attended Garma if I was the leader of the nation facing that report.
By Megan Davis
Contributor
Anthony Albanese is on annual leave but, to be honest, I would not have attended Garma if I was the leader of the nation facing that report.
By Megan Davis
Contributor
Odd that the reptiles should turn to an out of town prof ...Megan Davis is Bok Visiting International Professor, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School ... but there you go, it's well known that anyone locally based outside reptile circles are completely clueless.
Megan was backed up by the lesser Leeser, with the reptiles still insisting on the diminutive lower case for the Voice.
In post-voice world, PM goes MIA on Indigenous affairs
Since October 2023, the government’s policy on Indigenous affairs has been adrift.
By Julian Leeser
Since October 2023, the government’s policy on Indigenous affairs has been adrift.
By Julian Leeser
Should there be a rule about not pandering to those who refuse to give a Voice to the Voice?
The pond also put aside Cameron pretending that AUKUS was still a 2032 thing ...
Submarine warning shot at Washington
Australia has used US submarine visiting rights in Perth as quiet leverage to pressure Washington into delivering its first Virginia-class submarine on time in 2032.
By Cameron Stewart
Chief International Correspondent
Australia has used US submarine visiting rights in Perth as quiet leverage to pressure Washington into delivering its first Virginia-class submarine on time in 2032.
By Cameron Stewart
Chief International Correspondent
The pond suspects it won't be around in 2032 - any interest in another six years of herpetology studies waned long ago - but otherwise would have bet the house on the notion that the first sub wouldn't be around either, and turned up to collect...
As for the usual suspects, Our Henry was in full Australian Daily Zionist News mode ...
It was only by chance that the pond could preface Our Henry's outing with yet another example of ethnic cleansing at work ... Gaza's babies suffer deadly chickenpox outbreak
Okay, the pond is distressed, now for Our Henry to add to the distress ...
The header: Hypocrisy, duplicity and Islamophobia: A toxic mix; Despite pairing ‘Islamophobia’ with antisemitism in the ALP’s national program, the government refuses to tell us what the term means or what legislation to ‘combat’ it would prohibit.
The caption for the snap of a man always the target of reptile jihads: Anthony Albanese delivers the closing address to delegates during day three of the 50th National Labor Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Picture: NewsWire / Brenton Edwards
Our Henry showed just how to do hypocrisy and duplicity ...
It took the Bondi massacre for the government to dare mention antisemitism without immediately pairing it with Islamophobia. But only seven months after the deadliest terror attack in Australian history, the ALP national conference reverted to form, behaving as though Bondi had already been forgotten and its stain on the national conscience washed away.
How could anyone forget the massacre? The reptiles bring it up daily, making of it a baseball bat with which to pummel the country into never-ending shame and guilt.
Such things are never easily forgotten in any case.
It was with great pleasure that the pond noted that the fundamentalist who'd shivved Salman Rushdie copped another sentence, and the prospect of an even longer jail term ... Man who stabbed Salman Rushdie in 2022 convicted of federal terrorism charges
But before the pond could both sider Our Henry, the hole in bucket man came out with a classic billy goat butt ...
To say that is not to downplay anti-Muslim animus or condone the louts who harass young women for wearing a hijab. But there is a world of difference between despicable behaviour and the cold-blooded murder of people whose only offence is to be celebrating a Jewish holiday.
And what of the cold-blooded murder, by an Australian no less, in Christchurch, that saw 51 killed and 89 others injured?
Sure, it happened across the dutch, but it has to count as despicable behaviour and cold-blooded murder, and the way that the Murdoch press rabbits on about how dreadful Islamics are has been a daily incitement to violence...
For once a little 'both sidering' wouldn't go amiss, but Our Henry is never for swaying ...
It would be easy to dismiss Labor’s wilful blindness to that difference as merely another instance of the opportunism Anthony Albanese calls “balance”. However, the incessant repetition of “Islamophobia” also reflects its ever-growing role in the rhetoric of the left, where it serves both to minimise the extreme gravity of the attacks that have targeted the Jewish community since October 7, 2023, and to deflect attention from the left’s now deeply entrenched antisemitism.
But much more than rhetoric is involved. “Islamophobia” is the organising principle of a far-reaching policy program set out in the government’s response to the report submitted last year by the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik.
That response, issued immediately before Malik’s submission to the antisemitism royal commission, is organised around four themes. Most amount to little more than handing out yet more taxpayer funding to Muslim organisations. It is the last – “accountability and responsibility: holding individuals and institutions accountable for hate speech, discriminatory actions and policies” – that goes to the heart of the matter.
But much more than rhetoric is involved. “Islamophobia” is the organising principle of a far-reaching policy program set out in the government’s response to the report submitted last year by the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik.
That response, issued immediately before Malik’s submission to the antisemitism royal commission, is organised around four themes. Most amount to little more than handing out yet more taxpayer funding to Muslim organisations. It is the last – “accountability and responsibility: holding individuals and institutions accountable for hate speech, discriminatory actions and policies” – that goes to the heart of the matter.
When dealing with Gaza and Palestine, it's always important to have an image to hand that terrifies the hive mind, Pro Palestinian protesters march towards Elizabeth Street in the Sydney CBD. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw
Our Henry was shocked, neigh startled, that anyone should blather on about Islamophobia, but it was a handy distraction from definitions of anti-Semitism that shut down criticism of the current government of Israel, and its sociopathic "from the river to the sea" Messianic greater Israel approach...(is Benji really the earthly king from the line of David who will usher in an era of global peace?)
In practice, ensuring “accountability” means extending the e-Safety Commissioner’s take-down powers to “Islamophobic material”, reinforced by a legislated digital duty of care; convening a meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General to consider co-ordinated national responses to “combat Islamophobia”, with appropriate legislative frameworks “under ongoing consideration”; and creating Australia’s first Islamophobia Index.
The commonwealth, in short, proposes to measure the thing, police its expression online, and legislate against it. Yet while the government’s response uses the term “Islamophobia” 96 times, it never tells us what it means. Nor do Malik’s reports, which are barely less prolix in throwing the term around. And there isn’t the skerrick of a definition in the submissions Muslim and Palestinian organisations made to the royal commission.
The shyness is not accidental. Leaving “Islamophobia” undefined makes it an all-purpose weapon: easy to deploy, impossible to rebut. Any definition would also have to specify the conduct it captures – and, in particular, whether mere criticism of Islam (as distinct from hatred of Muslims) is “Islamophobic”.
That ambiguity is why the Swedish government has dropped the term from its official vocabulary. Our government lacks the courage to address it. However, in his submission on the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill, Malik obliquely reveals what prohibiting “Islamophobia” would encompass.
Malik’s submission does not say what should be forbidden. Instead, it identifies what would remain permissible: “rigorous debates on complex elements of theology”, undertaken by competent authorities “on matters that require a thorough understanding of such religious texts”. The reason, Malik explains, is that “ill-equipped individuals who lack any bona fide credentials misinterpret the Koran and hadith” and thereby “betray the authentic teachings of Islam”.
Who, then, decides what is rigorous, which elements are complex, or whose understanding is sufficiently thorough? Ultimately, a court would – measuring the accused’s words against Islam’s “authentic teachings”.
Figuring out the consequences does not require enormous insight. Theology seminars led by Islamic scholars would be exempt from the prohibitions on “Islamophobia”. Arguing in a newspaper column that ISIS’s murderous hatred of Jews and Christians was not unrelated to contemporary Islam would, by contrast, be risky at best, illegal at worst.
The commonwealth, in short, proposes to measure the thing, police its expression online, and legislate against it. Yet while the government’s response uses the term “Islamophobia” 96 times, it never tells us what it means. Nor do Malik’s reports, which are barely less prolix in throwing the term around. And there isn’t the skerrick of a definition in the submissions Muslim and Palestinian organisations made to the royal commission.
The shyness is not accidental. Leaving “Islamophobia” undefined makes it an all-purpose weapon: easy to deploy, impossible to rebut. Any definition would also have to specify the conduct it captures – and, in particular, whether mere criticism of Islam (as distinct from hatred of Muslims) is “Islamophobic”.
That ambiguity is why the Swedish government has dropped the term from its official vocabulary. Our government lacks the courage to address it. However, in his submission on the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill, Malik obliquely reveals what prohibiting “Islamophobia” would encompass.
Malik’s submission does not say what should be forbidden. Instead, it identifies what would remain permissible: “rigorous debates on complex elements of theology”, undertaken by competent authorities “on matters that require a thorough understanding of such religious texts”. The reason, Malik explains, is that “ill-equipped individuals who lack any bona fide credentials misinterpret the Koran and hadith” and thereby “betray the authentic teachings of Islam”.
Who, then, decides what is rigorous, which elements are complex, or whose understanding is sufficiently thorough? Ultimately, a court would – measuring the accused’s words against Islam’s “authentic teachings”.
Figuring out the consequences does not require enormous insight. Theology seminars led by Islamic scholars would be exempt from the prohibitions on “Islamophobia”. Arguing in a newspaper column that ISIS’s murderous hatred of Jews and Christians was not unrelated to contemporary Islam would, by contrast, be risky at best, illegal at worst.
And what of the deep flaws in definitions of anti-Semitism that are doing the rounds?
Why Australia’s public broadcasters were right not to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism
Inter alia ...
...The blurring of the categories of antisemitism and criticism of Israel acts as a brake on public debate. It narrows the language Australians can use to describe what is happening in Gaza, where they have watched entire neighbourhoods destroyed and tens of thousands of civilians killed. It tells Palestinian Australians and Arab Australians, many of whom have family members killed by the Israeli military, that to describe their own families’ experiences is to commit a hate crime. It tells all Australians that the sermons, vigils and protests through which their communities have processed mass civilian death are presumptively antisemitic. It tells students at Australian universities, where critical scholarship on Israel and Palestine is now described by some as creating a “hostile environment”, that there are subjects on which inquiry is not welcome.
This message carries an echo of the post-9/11 securitisation of Muslim communities, when entire populations were positioned as a “fifth column” whose loyalties had to be policed. We have spent more than twenty years trying to undo the damage that framing did to Australian multiculturalism. To recreate it now, with Palestinians and Muslims as the suspect community and criticism of Israel as the disloyal speech, is to repeat a mistake we should have learned from.
This message carries an echo of the post-9/11 securitisation of Muslim communities, when entire populations were positioned as a “fifth column” whose loyalties had to be policed. We have spent more than twenty years trying to undo the damage that framing did to Australian multiculturalism. To recreate it now, with Palestinians and Muslims as the suspect community and criticism of Israel as the disloyal speech, is to repeat a mistake we should have learned from.
But if you just keep on demonising the Islamics, no need to worry about any of that ...
Cue a snap of the subject of Our Henry's ire, Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik speaks to the media at the Sydney Commonwealth Parliament Offices. Picture: George Chan
How to distract from the outrageous limitations proposed by various definitions of anti-Semitism doing the rounds?
Forget Thucydides for the moment and keep on bashing the Islamics, in a way that made the pond pray for a pox on all religious houses...
We have, of course, been there before. Blasphemy in English law did not prohibit all criticism of Christianity. It prohibited words “so scurrilous and offensive as to pass the limits of decent controversy”. The offence lay not in disagreement but in crossing a threshold of permissible discourse, policed by judges against an accepted orthodoxy.
Malik, in proposing to revive that long-defunct offence, has merely shifted the threshold from decency to official accreditation. And the other Islamic submitters would go further still.
The formulation advanced by the Australian National Imams Council – whose members would be both the proposed prohibition’s primary beneficiaries and, on the envoy’s own test, among the few with the “bona fide credentials” to express a view – seems designed to silence criticism of Islam in any form.
When it comes, however, to ensuring that the definition of antisemitism leaves criticism of Israel and Zionism entirely untouched, these same organisations are positively obsessive. Their submissions mention the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition 150 times – nearly twice as often as they refer to Islamophobia – and attack it on six distinct grounds: that it is vague, that it conflates criticism of Israel with hatred of Jews, that it chills academic freedom, that it suppresses legitimate speech, that it is unfit as a policy instrument, and that a better definition exists.
Thus, the Imams Council demands “a clear distinction between antisemitism … and legitimate criticism of governments, political ideologies such as Zionism, or international conflicts”, while the Alliance Against Islamophobia insists that public policy “should define antisemitism clearly and robustly”, preserving “space” for “lawful criticism of states, governments, military action and political ideologies”. They have strong views, then, on why a definition matters, and exactly what a carve-out must do. Yet they invoke Islamophobia 83 times and define it not once. Nor in their 190,000 words of text does a single line protect criticism of Islam. And it is this undefined term they would have parliament write into the criminal law. What is unacceptable for Jews is, it seems, absolutely permissible for Muslims.
Malik, in proposing to revive that long-defunct offence, has merely shifted the threshold from decency to official accreditation. And the other Islamic submitters would go further still.
The formulation advanced by the Australian National Imams Council – whose members would be both the proposed prohibition’s primary beneficiaries and, on the envoy’s own test, among the few with the “bona fide credentials” to express a view – seems designed to silence criticism of Islam in any form.
When it comes, however, to ensuring that the definition of antisemitism leaves criticism of Israel and Zionism entirely untouched, these same organisations are positively obsessive. Their submissions mention the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition 150 times – nearly twice as often as they refer to Islamophobia – and attack it on six distinct grounds: that it is vague, that it conflates criticism of Israel with hatred of Jews, that it chills academic freedom, that it suppresses legitimate speech, that it is unfit as a policy instrument, and that a better definition exists.
Thus, the Imams Council demands “a clear distinction between antisemitism … and legitimate criticism of governments, political ideologies such as Zionism, or international conflicts”, while the Alliance Against Islamophobia insists that public policy “should define antisemitism clearly and robustly”, preserving “space” for “lawful criticism of states, governments, military action and political ideologies”. They have strong views, then, on why a definition matters, and exactly what a carve-out must do. Yet they invoke Islamophobia 83 times and define it not once. Nor in their 190,000 words of text does a single line protect criticism of Islam. And it is this undefined term they would have parliament write into the criminal law. What is unacceptable for Jews is, it seems, absolutely permissible for Muslims.
As always, the reptiles wheeled out their trump card ... Mourners gather by floral tributes at the Bondi Pavillion in memory of the victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney. Picture: Saeed Khan / AFP
But the actions of a couple of fundamentalist loons shouldn't be the reason for any religious group to seek special privileges (don't get the pond or the NSW police started on the notion that vigilantes should be armed and allowed to roam the streets, NSW police deputy commissioner says letting Jewish security group carry guns could be seen as ‘favouritism’. It's bad enough having the odd trigger happy cop in the streets, let alone Jewish groups and then Islamic groups demanding equal time and an equal right to a Glock).
Back to Our Henry, and yes, he wants that IHRA definition ...
The same permissiveness applies, apparently, to blatant inaccuracy. Three of the submissions describe Kenneth Stern, who is now a critic of the IHRA definition, as its “lead” or “principal” author, which he demonstrably wasn’t. Even more important, in attacking the definition for its breadth, they carefully refrain from quoting the phrase the IHRA’s drafters inserted to limit its reach: whether statements are antisemitic depends “on the context” – a carve-out none of the sweeping prohibitions they propose provides for criticism of Islam.
Meanwhile, Malik’s own submission asks that protest against “what the International Court of Justice has deemed a plausible genocide” not be characterised as antisemitic – footnoting the court’s order, which, in reality, held only that the rights South Africa asserted were plausible, not that the allegation was. As Judge Joan Donoghue, the court’s then president, bluntly stated: the ICJ “did not decide that the claim of genocide was plausible”, leaving that question to be determined in the court’s final judgment on the merits.
Misleading a royal commission should be an extremely serious matter. But the silence around the grievous errors, inconsistencies and contradictions speaks for itself. For this much was clear at the ALP national conference. There are, in today’s Australia, protected species. And then there are those who simply don’t count.
Meanwhile, Malik’s own submission asks that protest against “what the International Court of Justice has deemed a plausible genocide” not be characterised as antisemitic – footnoting the court’s order, which, in reality, held only that the rights South Africa asserted were plausible, not that the allegation was. As Judge Joan Donoghue, the court’s then president, bluntly stated: the ICJ “did not decide that the claim of genocide was plausible”, leaving that question to be determined in the court’s final judgment on the merits.
Misleading a royal commission should be an extremely serious matter. But the silence around the grievous errors, inconsistencies and contradictions speaks for itself. For this much was clear at the ALP national conference. There are, in today’s Australia, protected species. And then there are those who simply don’t count.
Not plausible?
How's this for plausible?
...battling an outbreak of a debilitating skin disease in Gaza has been made harder due to a lack of sanitation, summer heat and overcrowding.
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes throughout Israel's bombardment of the strip.
They have been forced to relocate, some multiple times, and find new places to live in tent camps in the shrinking area in Gaza not under the control of the Israeli military.
Israeli strikes on some of those camps continue, despite a ceasefire technically being in force since October last year.
Gaza's health authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israeli attacks during that period, although it does not specify which are Hamas fighters and which are civilians.
The chaos has all combined to create a perfect storm of conditions in the areas for such diseases to spread.
"This is alarming and a red flag," Dr Ahmed Al-Farra, head of paediatrics at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told the ABC.
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes throughout Israel's bombardment of the strip.
They have been forced to relocate, some multiple times, and find new places to live in tent camps in the shrinking area in Gaza not under the control of the Israeli military.
Israeli strikes on some of those camps continue, despite a ceasefire technically being in force since October last year.
Gaza's health authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israeli attacks during that period, although it does not specify which are Hamas fighters and which are civilians.
The chaos has all combined to create a perfect storm of conditions in the areas for such diseases to spread.
"This is alarming and a red flag," Dr Ahmed Al-Farra, head of paediatrics at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told the ABC.
And so on, and then came an invitation the pond could easily refuse ...
Henry Ergas will be speaking at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney on Thursday, August 13.
After that it was time for a break with the infallible Pope, going where the reptiles hadn't gone...
Meanwhile, poor old Killer had been triggered.
Some might think it was shameless simpering Sharri, full disrespect, wot set him off ...
COVID
‘He clearly has a lot to hide’: Markson slams Fauci’s silence
Anthony Fauci pleads Fifth 111 times in fiery US in
Anthony Fauci’s congressional appearance, where he refused to answer a single question, shows he is ‘disinterested in accountability or transparency’, says the Australian journalist.
By Georgia Palgan
‘He clearly has a lot to hide’: Markson slams Fauci’s silence
Anthony Fauci pleads Fifth 111 times in fiery US in
Anthony Fauci’s congressional appearance, where he refused to answer a single question, shows he is ‘disinterested in accountability or transparency’, says the Australian journalist.
By Georgia Palgan
Or maybe he was trying to avoid an actual criminal trial, maybe he thought jolly Joe's "autopen" pardon might not be enough if mad King Donald's minions went at him full tilt.
Sadly Will Saletan's effort for The Bulwark was behind a paywall, Here Are the Republicans’ Biggest Lies From Their Fauci Show Trial, In their retelling of the COVID story, the doctor was the bad guy, the vaccines were deadly, and Trump did everything right.
But the bit on public view was more than enough to set the tone...
Yesterday’s Senate hearing on COVID—which saw Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the government’s response to COVID, subjected to hours of lies and insults—showed that the GOP has now fully embraced the other revisionist story: the one about the pandemic. In this twisted narrative, the villain isn’t Trump, China, or even the virus. It’s Fauci.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), the second-ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, insisted that the COVID vaccines were “experimental gene therapy.” (They aren’t.) As evidence of their putative lethality, he cited a poll in which 24 percent of Americans supposedly claimed to know someone who had died from the vaccines. That’s 82 million people. Hiding such a colossal death toll would be, to put it politely, impossible.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), claimed that Fauci’s advice to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people—or tens of thousands of people.” Paul referred to the elderly, making it clear that he was talking about Cuomo’s disastrous practice of sending infected patients back to nursing homes. Paul’s numbers were wildly off—the real death toll was about 6,400—and his attempt to blame Fauci was completely backward. Multiple reports found that Fauci had no role in the nursing-home policy. In fact, Fauci had recommended the opposite.
Paul accused Fauci of having denied the plausibility of the lab-leak theory, which holds that the COVID virus developed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That’s not true, either: Fauci didn’t buy the theory, but he routinely said it was plausible. Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida repeated another Republican talking point: that Fauci’s change of advice on masks—first opposing their use in the general population, then encouraging it—was based only on the availability of masks, not on evidence that they worked. In reality, Fauci has consistently explained that such evidence was a major factor in his decision.
Meanwhile, Johnson spewed conspiracy theories. He suggested, with no apparent basis, that a pulmonary infarction suffered by Fauci in 2021 was caused by COVID booster shots. The senator also claimed that harm from the vaccines was vastly undercounted because a government “algorithm” systematically hid the evidence. But Johnson’s vigilance was selective: He dismissed the known risks and side effects of his favorite drug, hydroxychloroquine.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), the second-ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, insisted that the COVID vaccines were “experimental gene therapy.” (They aren’t.) As evidence of their putative lethality, he cited a poll in which 24 percent of Americans supposedly claimed to know someone who had died from the vaccines. That’s 82 million people. Hiding such a colossal death toll would be, to put it politely, impossible.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), claimed that Fauci’s advice to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people—or tens of thousands of people.” Paul referred to the elderly, making it clear that he was talking about Cuomo’s disastrous practice of sending infected patients back to nursing homes. Paul’s numbers were wildly off—the real death toll was about 6,400—and his attempt to blame Fauci was completely backward. Multiple reports found that Fauci had no role in the nursing-home policy. In fact, Fauci had recommended the opposite.
Paul accused Fauci of having denied the plausibility of the lab-leak theory, which holds that the COVID virus developed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That’s not true, either: Fauci didn’t buy the theory, but he routinely said it was plausible. Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida repeated another Republican talking point: that Fauci’s change of advice on masks—first opposing their use in the general population, then encouraging it—was based only on the availability of masks, not on evidence that they worked. In reality, Fauci has consistently explained that such evidence was a major factor in his decision.
Meanwhile, Johnson spewed conspiracy theories. He suggested, with no apparent basis, that a pulmonary infarction suffered by Fauci in 2021 was caused by COVID booster shots. The senator also claimed that harm from the vaccines was vastly undercounted because a government “algorithm” systematically hid the evidence. But Johnson’s vigilance was selective: He dismissed the known risks and side effects of his favorite drug, hydroxychloroquine.
The pond has never pretended Fauci is a saint, see Gal Beckerman in The Atlantic for evidence, The Revelatory Cringe of Anthony Fauci, The private notes of the man who oversaw COVID policy are deeply embarrassing—and surprisingly instructive. (*intermittent archive link)
...I can’t claim that Fauci’s thoughts (both serious and silly) will have any lasting literary merit. In fact, I’m definitely not claiming this. But his now not-so-secret musings do tell us something about the reality of the pandemic that he, and the rest of us, lived through—the frenzy and panic of it, and even the nervous exhilaration of living through what we all understood to be a sudden rupture in time. One day, historians might use this diary to help figure out what happens to a society under such pressure. They might see more clearly the way that people can become desperate for a savior, and realize what a fantasy it is to imagine that such people exist.
Even as vaccines and other preventative measures kicked in - not useless horse pills - some 1.2 million + lost their lives in the United States, producing the kind of hysteria and panic and conspiracy theories befitting medieval times ... and they're still going down.
You might think some lessons would have been learned, yet here we still are, with Ron and Rand ...and Killer ...
The header: Anthony Fauci was no ‘voice of science’, Whatever damage the CFMEU has done, it’s minuscule in comparison to the damage wrought by the nation’s wannabe Faucis.
The caption for the snap of a man designed to make the hive mind have a mask-burning bonfire, and rush out in search of horse pills: Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci listens during a hearing with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Picture: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
The pond was surprised that Killer could only manage a three minute rant on the matter of Fauci.
The pond has many times recorded Killer's deep fear of masks, and his anti-vax curious ways, and his notion that Covid was a minor blip that should have been treated as a severe cold or a mild flu, or whatever.
Let's do it yet again ...
The question of which government official has caused the most socio-economic destruction in history appears to be resolved: Anthony Fauci, the disgraced former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who pleaded the Fifth Amendment 111 times during a US congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Fauci, who became the most influential health bureaucrat in the world during the Covid pandemic, wouldn’t even answer what day it was in Washington.
His silence suggested he doubted the autopen pardon delivered by Joe Biden’s staffers in the former president’s final days – for anything Fauci did since 2014 – would protect him from perjury charges given the vast gulf that’s emerged between his public and private statements.
The 1000 pages of his private diaries, released this week by Republican senator Rand Paul, have only added to the mountain of evidence that his carefully curated reputation as the selfless voice of “science” was always a joke.
He has emerged as a vain, manipulative apparent liar who whipped up global hysteria about a new coronavirus that prompted governments to unleash the most socio-economically destructive peacetime mandates in history.
The volume of references to favourable media portrayals in his diaries is genuinely shocking. The word “press” appears a staggering 641 times, “award” 80 times and “hero” 49 times, while “peer review”, “meta-analysis”, “risk-benefit”, “learning loss” or “mental health” never got a mention at all, according to Grabien Media founder Tom Elliott’s analysis.
“It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous … person in the country,” Fauci beamed in May 2020. Yet far more incriminating was his February 2020 diary entry that he and a former CDC director both agreed the new virus was “acting like a bad influenza” and “had a case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 per cent rather than 2.0 per cent”.
Yet only a few weeks later in March 2020 he told the House Oversight Committee under oath the mortality rate was “about 3 per cent”, which would have been far worse than the early 20th century Spanish flu, which killed millions. Mass global panic ensued.
Fauci, who became the most influential health bureaucrat in the world during the Covid pandemic, wouldn’t even answer what day it was in Washington.
His silence suggested he doubted the autopen pardon delivered by Joe Biden’s staffers in the former president’s final days – for anything Fauci did since 2014 – would protect him from perjury charges given the vast gulf that’s emerged between his public and private statements.
The 1000 pages of his private diaries, released this week by Republican senator Rand Paul, have only added to the mountain of evidence that his carefully curated reputation as the selfless voice of “science” was always a joke.
He has emerged as a vain, manipulative apparent liar who whipped up global hysteria about a new coronavirus that prompted governments to unleash the most socio-economically destructive peacetime mandates in history.
The volume of references to favourable media portrayals in his diaries is genuinely shocking. The word “press” appears a staggering 641 times, “award” 80 times and “hero” 49 times, while “peer review”, “meta-analysis”, “risk-benefit”, “learning loss” or “mental health” never got a mention at all, according to Grabien Media founder Tom Elliott’s analysis.
“It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous … person in the country,” Fauci beamed in May 2020. Yet far more incriminating was his February 2020 diary entry that he and a former CDC director both agreed the new virus was “acting like a bad influenza” and “had a case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 per cent rather than 2.0 per cent”.
Yet only a few weeks later in March 2020 he told the House Oversight Committee under oath the mortality rate was “about 3 per cent”, which would have been far worse than the early 20th century Spanish flu, which killed millions. Mass global panic ensued.
Killer and the reptiles then turned to Brittney... Independent Journalist Brittney Hopper says the revelations in Anthony Fauci’s diary entries should be a wake-up call to the media. “I hope this is somewhat of a wake-up call from news organisations around the world,” Ms Hopper told News24 Digital Presenter Gabriella Power. “There are so many questions left unanswered.”
Brittney? Now there's a piece of work ...
Speaking to Australia’s News24, Hopper reflected on her time "on the front lines" of pandemic reporting.
She claimed, "I remember after a couple of years of dealing with hearing this man and interviewing this man, and having to wear masks and having our kids out of school for years, I remember questioning what he was doing. And I got in trouble and pulled off air for a couple of days because I started questioning him."
After she allegedly "apologized," Hopper was allowed back on the air. However, she left the news organization permanently in 2022. "As I've mentioned before on here, I was their puppet on mainstream media for so many years," she claimed. (AOL)
She claimed, "I remember after a couple of years of dealing with hearing this man and interviewing this man, and having to wear masks and having our kids out of school for years, I remember questioning what he was doing. And I got in trouble and pulled off air for a couple of days because I started questioning him."
After she allegedly "apologized," Hopper was allowed back on the air. However, she left the news organization permanently in 2022. "As I've mentioned before on here, I was their puppet on mainstream media for so many years," she claimed. (AOL)
She was a puppet and now she's seen the light, and should immediately be a Bari re-hire?
And it's that mask thingie again, and it always makes the pond recall the first time on a Japanese train, long, long before Covid, where it was considered polite to wear masks to avoid air borne transmission ...
(It's not just the reptiles that can do stock shots).
The pond thought it had stumbled on a kind of nirvana of civilisational politeness and care for fellow travellers.
But back to Killer, rabbiting on about how many should die, and if it was under 1%!, wot the hell Archy, that was a more than reasonable culling of the herd ...
This was the same month Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya, whom Donald Trump appointed head of the National Institute of Health last year, showed the actual mortality rate was indeed around 0.2 per cent. It was the same month John Ioannidis, arguably then the world’s top epidemiologist, said he’d reached the same conclusion from the Diamond Princess ship.
Even President Trump publicly said in March 2020 the rate was “well under 1 per cent” once those cases not presenting at hospital were factored in, according to his own conversations with experts. None of that mattered to Fauci, who recorded how he personally “convinced” New York mayor Bill de Blasio and California health officials on March 15, 2020, to shut down schools, bars and restaurants before claiming on TV in July 2022 that he “had nothing to do” with any school and business closures.
Almost all nations took Fauci’s lead, causing unprecedented disruption and destroying the lives of a whole generation who weren’t even remotely at risk of dying.
Even President Trump publicly said in March 2020 the rate was “well under 1 per cent” once those cases not presenting at hospital were factored in, according to his own conversations with experts. None of that mattered to Fauci, who recorded how he personally “convinced” New York mayor Bill de Blasio and California health officials on March 15, 2020, to shut down schools, bars and restaurants before claiming on TV in July 2022 that he “had nothing to do” with any school and business closures.
Almost all nations took Fauci’s lead, causing unprecedented disruption and destroying the lives of a whole generation who weren’t even remotely at risk of dying.
And at this point Killer's fear of vaccines kicked in ...
Fauci was also a powerful advocate for Covid vaccine mandates too. Yet a diary entry from July 2021 suggests he suffered some sort of vaccine injury but “kept it buried while aggressively pushing mRNA mandates on millions of people”, according to American epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher.
Enough already, the vaccines worked, and kept the multitudes, including the pond, out of trouble.
As for conspiracy theories and unresolved (and likely forever unresolvable when it comes to Covid's origins, not helped by the Chinese government), trust Killer to revel in them ...
We already knew that Fauci aggressively played down the Wuhan lab-leak theory, which was always the most likely and reasonable explanation. He sought to destroy the reputation of doctors and scientists who dared criticise a totalitarian health response that was never part of standard public health practice even for far more deadly viruses.
Richard Ebright, a professor of chemistry at prestigious Rutgers University, repeated on social media this week that Fauci had been indirectly responsible for 20 million deaths globally because he allowed and funded dangerous gain-of-function research in China, which ultimately led to a likely accidental leak of SARS-Cov2.
We already knew that Fauci aggressively played down the Wuhan lab-leak theory, which was always the most likely and reasonable explanation. He sought to destroy the reputation of doctors and scientists who dared criticise a totalitarian health response that was never part of standard public health practice even for far more deadly viruses.
Richard Ebright, a professor of chemistry at prestigious Rutgers University, repeated on social media this week that Fauci had been indirectly responsible for 20 million deaths globally because he allowed and funded dangerous gain-of-function research in China, which ultimately led to a likely accidental leak of SARS-Cov2.
Just as he was hitting top gear, Killer decided to slam on the brakes.
Fauci deserves condemnation and humiliation but not prison. That his shoddy analysis and obviously ridiculous mandates were so enthusiastically embraced by the vast majority of supposedly educated voting publics and other so-called experts illustrates how primal humans can remain when scared.
Between Killer and the flawed Fauci, a trip maskless in a train, and a serve of horse pills the pond will take Fauci, and still occasionally wears a mask on public transport, if only to lessen the impact of some loon sneezing in the pond's direction, if only to reduce the chance of transmission by a modest amount ... and let the germs fall on Killer how they may ...
At least the US has had a debate. It’s highly unlikely as many US states would imitate their previous response should a similar virus emerge again. In Australia I’m not so sure. Our health officials and political leaders parroted the same nonsense yet sailed off into retirement with national honours and even state governorships!
The new Premier of Victoria, Ben Carroll, is being rightly praised for calling a royal commission into the state’s corrupt construction sector. But whatever damage the CFMEU has done, it’s minuscule in comparison to the damage wrought by the nation’s wannabe Faucis who all remain comfortably in their sinecures.
The new Premier of Victoria, Ben Carroll, is being rightly praised for calling a royal commission into the state’s corrupt construction sector. But whatever damage the CFMEU has done, it’s minuscule in comparison to the damage wrought by the nation’s wannabe Faucis who all remain comfortably in their sinecures.
Tell that to the millions that died. A shoddy building might kill you in an earthquake, but that's a longer shot than Covid in its hey day ...
And this medical advice, brimming with ways to respond to a pandemic, was brought to you by a man who passes himself off as an economist ...
Adam Creighton is chief economist at the Institute of Public Affairs.
He's not much of an economist, so heaven help those in the hive mind who follow his medical advice.
And with that dose of Our Henry and Killer, both offering up ancient jihads, the pond feels inclined to moan yet again how it's over reptile jihads, how it yearns for the reptiles to revert to the kind of quality entertainment the disunited states is offering these days ...
So many ways to avoid the Epstein files.
And now how are the sociopathic Ruskis of state regime media going? Must order what they've been drinking from Wildberries...
Thursday, July 30, 2026
In which the pond does much reptile winnowing, and ends up chambering a dismal round ...
So the war in Iran lurched back to life yet again, despite the complete obliteration of the Iranian military, and displaying the same interest as they do in climate science, it disturbed the reptiles of the lizard Oz not at all.
Sure, you could find Cameron in full war monger mode buried away from the front page, several clicks away from the hive mind action...
Onus on Trump to act with conviction
Iran has launched an unprompted ballistic missile attack on US forces in the Middle East, intensifying pressure on Donald Trump to respond.
By Cameron Stewart
Chief International Correspondent
Iran has launched an unprompted ballistic missile attack on US forces in the Middle East, intensifying pressure on Donald Trump to respond.
By Cameron Stewart
Chief International Correspondent
In typical fashion, he could only mount a two minute outburst, though possibly that's more than mad King Donald can reliably manage these days ...
Come on Cam, what's really going down?
Forget all that nonsense.
What was really top of the digital edition early this morning?
No prizes for guessing.
That unshakeable comrade Dan obsession, with the lizard Oz jihad on full parade ...
EXCLUSIVE
Labor braces for Dan Andrews inquisition
Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan face being hauled before Victoria’s royal commission as Ben Carroll vows no political figures will be shielded from the probe.
By Damon Johnston and Anthony Galloway
Labor braces for Dan Andrews inquisition
Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan face being hauled before Victoria’s royal commission as Ben Carroll vows no political figures will be shielded from the probe.
By Damon Johnston and Anthony Galloway
The pond quietly cursed the intermittent archive, which had only saved an earlier iteration of the yarn, but decided the beat up was only notable for the awesomely awful collage provided by a new name, a certain Matt Cotton, at the start of the show trial.
All that - there was a full five minutes - for a possible appearance before a yet to be formed Royal Commission?
The pond knew that this jihad was on in earnest because just below petulant Peta made an appearance ...
Commentary by Peta Credlin
You’ve got to take pity on Victorians, don’t you?
Whether Ben Carroll can shrug off his history or be forced to own it will all come down to how well Liberals can frame him.
You’ve got to take pity on Victorians, don’t you?
Whether Ben Carroll can shrug off his history or be forced to own it will all come down to how well Liberals can frame him.
Here the intermittent archive came good and all the pond needed to offer suffering Victorians was a teaser trailer for yet another burst of insufferable cockroach-laden condescension ...
Five minutes of petulant Peta slagging off?
The infallible Pope tried to help ...
Nah, sorry, infallible Pope, if you're on the right side, you can always consider scribbling for the reptiles.
The pond quickly moved over to the extreme far right of the digital edition, only to discover Jack had joined the jihad.
Jack began with an awesomely awful - and uncredited - collage, which reeked of AI, while Jack reeked of standard jihad platitudes ... and his use of "pike" only spiked the pond's interest, Jacinta’s band of loyalists have already marched on, Freshly minted Premier Ben Carroll is attempting the technically demanding reverse Kirner with Carmen Lawrence pike.
Hapless Victorians wanting an alternative read? Why not cross state lines? And change publications ...
Dark arts and dirty tricks: How the ghosts of ICACs past haunt Libs (*intermittent archive link)
A sickening feeling of deja vu from the ghosts of ICAC past is likely to be haunting some Liberal Party figures tuning in to the daily drama of the Operation Rosny corruption inquiry.
For the second day in a row, Dylan Whitelaw, 25, a former member of an ultra-conservative right-wing faction of the party called the Reformers, had difficulty recalling crucial events.
When shown a “sh*t sheet” on then-Liberal police minister David Elliott, which Whitelaw was allegedly involved in compiling, he replied, “It doesn’t refresh my memory. There’s components in there that I have zero recollection of.”
For the second day in a row, Dylan Whitelaw, 25, a former member of an ultra-conservative right-wing faction of the party called the Reformers, had difficulty recalling crucial events.
When shown a “sh*t sheet” on then-Liberal police minister David Elliott, which Whitelaw was allegedly involved in compiling, he replied, “It doesn’t refresh my memory. There’s components in there that I have zero recollection of.”
Or lie back and enjoy a cartoon ...
Not to worry, the same ability to ghost and disremember and discombobulate afflicts the lizards of Oz, and with the usual blather about respect, the pond also had not the slightest interest interest in the latest contribution to the Australian Daily Zionist News...
I was shot at Bondi. Then my attack turned into fodder for conspiracy theorists
Today, a lie doesn’t simply travel faster than the truth. It travels at the speed of an algorithm.
Today, a lie doesn’t simply travel faster than the truth. It travels at the speed of an algorithm.
By Arsen Ostrovsky
How do you help talk of conspiracy theories? Best done by failing to pay attention. That usually turns the logarithms off ...
But all that winnowing and culling left the pond in a truly dire situation.
Had the pond come to this?
Had the pond arrived at Geoff chambering yet another round, offering sage advice for the beefy boofhead?
Yes, it was time for Geoff to urge the beefy boofhead to go full Pauline, and embrace Gina's pampered pet ...
There wasn't even a question mark in the header, which was more an order than a commentary: Time for Angus Taylor to invite Pauline Hanson for tea and unite against Anthony Albanese; Angus Taylor faces mounting pressure from colleagues to engage with Pauline Hanson as the Coalition’s primary vote languishes at 19 per cent.
The caption for the snap, a feeble uncredited collage (Matt? Matt? where are you) which co-joined a triumphant bright red and orange Pauline, and a downcast, downtrodden, grey and despairing beefy boofhead: Angus Taylor needs to have a cup of tea with Pauline Hanson.
What was truly remarkable was the way the reptiles tried to inject some life into this two minute proposal to run up the flag and surrender was the way snap after snap kept appearing to try to add some weight:
The longer he refuses to pick up the phone and chat with the One Nation leader, the more pressure he faces from colleagues and supporters who want clarity over how he intends to forge a working relationship with Hanson.
With the federal Coalition’s primary vote languishing at 19 per cent in Newspoll and core support for One Nation sitting equal with Labor’s at 30 per cent, many conservatives believe Taylor needs an open dialogue with Hanson.
With the federal Coalition’s primary vote languishing at 19 per cent in Newspoll and core support for One Nation sitting equal with Labor’s at 30 per cent, many conservatives believe Taylor needs an open dialogue with Hanson.
Open dialogue? Is that what the chambering one calls embracing Gina's pampered pet, and her embrace of the most far right lizard Oz policies? Pauline Hanson. Picture: NewsWire/Philip Gostelow
Get it on, beefy boofhead, the reptiles of Oz have spoken and the hive mind is on board ...
The weekly news cycle featuring Coalition MPs and party figures talking about whether or not the Liberals and Nationals should work more closely with One Nation is untenable. There are those in the Coalition who believe a tight conservative bloc is required to defeat the second-term Albanese Labor government at the next election. Others, mainly moderates in metropolitan areas, want to tip-toe around the question.
Anthony Albanese is banking on the three conservative parties, and others such as Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, not getting their acts together.
While One Nation and the Coalition play predictable political games, Taylor late on Wednesday finally replied positively but vaguely to Hanson’s good faith offer about working with the Coalition on strengthening national security laws.
Anthony Albanese is banking on the three conservative parties, and others such as Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, not getting their acts together.
While One Nation and the Coalition play predictable political games, Taylor late on Wednesday finally replied positively but vaguely to Hanson’s good faith offer about working with the Coalition on strengthening national security laws.
Time now for fear mongering of a patented lizard Oz kind, Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh calls for violence in an ISIS video.
The Islamics, the Islamics! Quick, rush to the side of Gina's pampered pet ...
Public anxiety is rising about the returning ISIS brides, and potentially fighters, in addition to ongoing concerns about Islamic extremist threats following the Bondi Beach terror attack targeting Jewish-Australians. This feeds into the broader debate over immigration and its impacts on housing, infrastructure and taxpayer-funded supports.
Hanson’s move for One Nation to draft its own Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill and lobby support from crossbenchers ahead of parliament returning on August 11 indicates the right-wing party won’t stand still and wait for the Coalition.
Hanson’s move for One Nation to draft its own Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill and lobby support from crossbenchers ahead of parliament returning on August 11 indicates the right-wing party won’t stand still and wait for the Coalition.
Eek, even more Islamics, ‘ISIS bride’ Janai Safar arrives at a Sydney police station after being escorted from the airport on her return to Australia. Pictire: Will Seitam
Quick now, a preference swap! Maybe even a coalition? Thought about having Pauline as the new minister for immigration?
She'd put those damned Islamics in their place.
At the end of the day, even if One Nation’s primary vote slips ahead of the next election, the Coalition will desperately need preferences from Hanson’s party. That scenario will play out at the November state election in Victoria. For Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson to win, she will need strong preference flows from One Nation.
Time to bring in a nobody, Outgoing opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones
But what of that terrifying dragon, evoked by the immortal Rowe?
No time for that, time for another reptile anxiety attack.
Leading on national security matters should be bread and butter for the Coalition.
It is a concern that Jonno Duniam remains in the role of opposition home affairs and immigration spokesman almost seven weeks after announcing he was quitting politics. Duniam, who is expected to remain in the role until the end of the year, is ready to leave the parliament and his other job as manager of opposition business in the Senate. Taylor will need to replace him and appoint an acting finance spokesman when Claire Chandler goes on maternity leave within weeks.
It is a concern that Jonno Duniam remains in the role of opposition home affairs and immigration spokesman almost seven weeks after announcing he was quitting politics. Duniam, who is expected to remain in the role until the end of the year, is ready to leave the parliament and his other job as manager of opposition business in the Senate. Taylor will need to replace him and appoint an acting finance spokesman when Claire Chandler goes on maternity leave within weeks.
Quick, drag in the beefy boofhead, Angus Taylor. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard
And now for the reptile orders.
Quick step, march, look lively now, you must follow the orders, you will obey ..
Taylor must take control of the critically important portfolios and lead the narrative around the Coalition’s national security and immigration policies. While the Coalition and One Nation tout similar policies, One Nation currently has greater cut-through with conservative voters.
The Liberal leader has waged a strong case on the economy and warned about the perils of One Nation leading a government, but he needs to strengthen his messaging on immigration and national security.
The Liberal leader has waged a strong case on the economy and warned about the perils of One Nation leading a government, but he needs to strengthen his messaging on immigration and national security.
A brief promo for the Vics, so that the hive mind will recognise more than a snap of Moira Deeming in a headlock.
Come on down Jess, you're lucky snap number seven in a two minute chambering, Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson. Jason Edwards
Now for the wrap.
Follow orders and there's redemption. Fail, and there's only doom ...
Wilson, who followed a long list of failed Victorian Liberal leaders, has shown her federal colleagues there is a pathway back through hard work, grit, ruthlessness and consistency. David Crisafulli and Lia Finocchiaro did the same in Queensland and the Northern Territory, respectively.
The Coalition needs to present as a viable and credible alternative government. The Liberals and Nationals must keep repeating messaging that connects with voters who are seeking real action and support in their lives, rather than “pie in the sky” slogans and Canberra-driven policies.
The Coalition needs to present as a viable and credible alternative government. The Liberals and Nationals must keep repeating messaging that connects with voters who are seeking real action and support in their lives, rather than “pie in the sky” slogans and Canberra-driven policies.
Just do it ... just get into bed with Gina's pampered pet and all will go well. What could possibly go wrong?
As for those European wildfires?
Again the pond can proudly boast that there's not a single mention of Europe or wildfires on the front digital page of the lizard Oz.
Correspondents know where to go, anywhere but the lizard Oz ...
And while travelling enjoy a Wilcox ...
The pond apologises for producing such a dismal outing, but is always unnerved when petulant Peta makes a return.
She'd last been sighted in the lizard Oz way back on 4th June, and the pond had almost forgotten she existed ...
Speaking of reprobate, deplorable, reprehensibles, it would be remiss of the pond not to note a guest appearance by shameless Sharri, full disrespect, with her come hither look designed to stimulate the loins of the aged hive mind demographic ...
Dr Fauci’s journals show he followed reports by The Australian about Covid
Diary entries of America’s top pandemic adviser reveal he was angered by an investigation in The Australian that exposed his funding of risky research in Wuhan.
By Tia Clarkson-Pascoe
Diary entries of America’s top pandemic adviser reveal he was angered by an investigation in The Australian that exposed his funding of risky research in Wuhan.
By Tia Clarkson-Pascoe
Again the pond failed the test.
The sight of this unholy visual conjunction, Fauci up against the simpering one was simply too much ...
And in any case, for that, there was this ...
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
In which the pond can only cope with a "Ned" natter and a serve of reheated Dame Groan, and of course we'll all be rooned...
The pond woke this morning determined to step around the shark-feeding frenzy the reptiles were destined to offer ...
CARROLL'S POLL SCRAMBLE
Victorian ALP’s bold new vision: clean up its own mess after Ben Carroll replaces Jacinta Allan as Premier
New Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has been sworn in, pledging a royal commission into CFMEU corruption and declaring he is ‘not Daniel Andrews’ and ‘not Jacinta Allan’.
By Anthony Galloway and Lily McCaffrey
New Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has been sworn in, pledging a royal commission into CFMEU corruption and declaring he is ‘not Daniel Andrews’ and ‘not Jacinta Allan’.
By Anthony Galloway and Lily McCaffrey
Who could blame them for there ongoing comrade Dan fixation when Ben himself mentioned the ogre?
What a feeding frenzy it was ...
FANTASY VICTORIA
The truths behind Jacinta Allan’s delusional farewell
Jacinta Allan failed to mention corruption, debt and crime in delusional farewell speech
It’s what the outgoing Victorian premier chose not to mention that reveals her farewell as a giant episode of self-serving delusion.
By Damon Johnston, David Tanner and Lily McCaffrey
The truths behind Jacinta Allan’s delusional farewell
Jacinta Allan failed to mention corruption, debt and crime in delusional farewell speech
It’s what the outgoing Victorian premier chose not to mention that reveals her farewell as a giant episode of self-serving delusion.
By Damon Johnston, David Tanner and Lily McCaffrey
INSIDE STORY
Bad blood: the Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan era is over
Ben Carroll dumps on Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan, seizes the leadership
New leader Ben Carroll says it’s a fresh start. Make no mistake: this was a brutal Labor reset. The Andrews-Allan show ended with a political execution.
By John Ferguson
Bad blood: the Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan era is over
Ben Carroll dumps on Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan, seizes the leadership
New leader Ben Carroll says it’s a fresh start. Make no mistake: this was a brutal Labor reset. The Andrews-Allan show ended with a political execution.
By John Ferguson
Over on the extreme far right, the baying of the hounds - or should that be the chomping of the reptiles? - continued apace ...
Can Carroll survive the Allan-Andrews retribution?
Jacinta Allan, Daniel Andrews and their dwindling band of loyalists will make Kevin Rudd look like a saint based on Tuesday’s events.
ByAnthony Galloway
Victorian political editor
Jacinta Allan, Daniel Andrews and their dwindling band of loyalists will make Kevin Rudd look like a saint based on Tuesday’s events.
ByAnthony Galloway
Victorian political editor
The reptiles tried to inveigle the pond into the storm by proposing a flicker of hope, as if the pond remotely cared a jot or a whit...
Can Ben Carroll save Victorian Labor? It’s possible
Victorians aren’t pleading for a grand vision. Grand visions are how governments end up buying tunnelling machines and hosing money at mates.
By Toby Ralph
Contributor
Victorians aren’t pleading for a grand vision. Grand visions are how governments end up buying tunnelling machines and hosing money at mates.
By Toby Ralph
Contributor
The reptiles even dragged in the craven Craven as a way of tempting the pond ...
For departed Allan, the only real question now is legacy
Will she be dismissed by history as Andrews’ untalented sidekick who failed to keep the show on the road? It’s unlikely.
By Greg Craven
Columnist
Will she be dismissed by history as Andrews’ untalented sidekick who failed to keep the show on the road? It’s unlikely.
By Greg Craven
Columnist
But the pond could have written the craven Craven's offering in a hive mind sleep, as this excerpt shows - spoiler alert, it's the last few lines:
...For the now departed Allan, the only real question left is her legacy. Will she be dismissed by history as Andrews’ untalented sidekick who just could not keep the show on the road?
Unlikely. Allan will benefit from Labor’s female sacrifice theory. Failing Labor governments certainly have a record of putting in female leaders once a government is in its death throes.
This includes Joan Kirner in Victoria, Carmen Lawrence in Western Australia, Kristina Keneally in NSW and now Allan in Victoria. The argument goes that after the men had stuffed it up, innocent and compassionate women were forced to carry the can. This is complete rubbish.
Take Kirner. She was no bystander in the Cain government. She was its long-term deputy premier and education minister. She was as much mired in the disasters of that administration – the forced sale of the State Bank of Victoria, the Pyramid Building Society disaster and the catastrophic misinvestment of government funds – as John Cain. She also was a vicious and effective political operator. She may have worn frocks, but she always had a knife up the sleeve. Yet she now is remembered by Labor groupies as some sort of progressive angel.
Allan falls into the same category. She was chief facilitator of the Andrews government. Her hands have as much dung on them as Dan the Man. But doubtless she will be remembered by many progressive Victorians as a feminist martyr. The truth is, she was just as complicit.
Greg Craven is former vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University.
Unlikely. Allan will benefit from Labor’s female sacrifice theory. Failing Labor governments certainly have a record of putting in female leaders once a government is in its death throes.
This includes Joan Kirner in Victoria, Carmen Lawrence in Western Australia, Kristina Keneally in NSW and now Allan in Victoria. The argument goes that after the men had stuffed it up, innocent and compassionate women were forced to carry the can. This is complete rubbish.
Take Kirner. She was no bystander in the Cain government. She was its long-term deputy premier and education minister. She was as much mired in the disasters of that administration – the forced sale of the State Bank of Victoria, the Pyramid Building Society disaster and the catastrophic misinvestment of government funds – as John Cain. She also was a vicious and effective political operator. She may have worn frocks, but she always had a knife up the sleeve. Yet she now is remembered by Labor groupies as some sort of progressive angel.
Allan falls into the same category. She was chief facilitator of the Andrews government. Her hands have as much dung on them as Dan the Man. But doubtless she will be remembered by many progressive Victorians as a feminist martyr. The truth is, she was just as complicit.
Greg Craven is former vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University.
Joan Kirner? John Cain? If he's into ancient history, why not John Bannon and notables of the Bob "Slippery Sam" "run the bastards over" Askin kind?
Is it any wonder that the pond settled for a few 'toons so it could move on ...
Sheesh, Mr Golding, you're as bad as the craven Craven.
Does anybody remember having a good lie down, let alone taking a Bex, except perhaps for the pond's dead uncle's failed kidneys?
As for those wildfires in Europe?
The pond can proudly report that there wasn't a single mention on the top page of the digital edition early this morning.
Not one. Zilch, nihil, nada ...
They'd been disappeared, and anyone interested in the world would have had to turn to the Graudian to read Almost 4,000 people evacuated from tourist sites near Bordeaux as wildfires rage in France and Spain and Past fires suggest effects of Europe and North America wildfires may linger for years.
Inter alia: ...Lara Schwarz, an environmental health scientist at UC Berkley who led the research, said: “As wildfires become more frequent and severe in the context of climate change, with California being at high risk, understanding how these harmful wildfires will affect us in the long term is critical to informing better public health action and response.”
Fergetit ... is it any wonder that the pond settled down to the quiet life with a dose of "Ned's" natter?
The header: One Nation is a thing of beauty for the Labor Party; One Nation will give Labor the electoral exemption it needs to dodge proper accountability for its flawed agenda.
The caption for the collage for which there was at last a credit, though the pond didn't linger long looking at it, so wretched it was: “Pauline Hanson is a political gift to Labor with the government now enshrining One Nation at the heart of its re-election pitch,” writes Paul Kelly. Artwork by Frank Ling.
"Ned" spent a bigly five minutes moaning about Gina's pampered pet and her implications for the beefy boofhead ...
How does Anthony Albanese view the eruption of support for Pauline Hanson? Hanson’s surge is a threat to Labor, as its tacticians recognise. But she is something else – Hanson is a political gift to Labor with the government now enshrining One Nation at the heart of its re-election pitch.
Outgoing former ALP federal president Wayne Swan’s speech told the party the mantle on the conservative side had now passed to One Nation. Hanson’s party was the new enemy. Swan said Labor’s history had been a series of battles – against Malcolm Fraser, John Howard, Tony Abbott and now “a new battle awaits” against Hanson.
His contempt was undisguised: the conservatives had chosen to “confer legitimacy on a charlatan who walks into the Senate wearing a burka for shock value”. Warning that “the stakes are high”, Swan said Labor was now engaged in a new struggle, aware Hanson directly threatens some Labor seats. Indeed, Labor’s loss of primary votes has flowed heavily to Hanson.
Outgoing former ALP federal president Wayne Swan’s speech told the party the mantle on the conservative side had now passed to One Nation. Hanson’s party was the new enemy. Swan said Labor’s history had been a series of battles – against Malcolm Fraser, John Howard, Tony Abbott and now “a new battle awaits” against Hanson.
His contempt was undisguised: the conservatives had chosen to “confer legitimacy on a charlatan who walks into the Senate wearing a burka for shock value”. Warning that “the stakes are high”, Swan said Labor was now engaged in a new struggle, aware Hanson directly threatens some Labor seats. Indeed, Labor’s loss of primary votes has flowed heavily to Hanson.
The reptiles for some reason inserted a snap of the Cold Chisel man ...Outgoing ALP President Wayne Swan
Perhaps unable to discern the social relevance of Don Walker's lyrics, "Ned" kept on brooding, determined to play down the impact of Gina's pet ...
Like dude, get real, the way that "Ned" gets real, a real Fonz, or mebbe, in the Craven spirit, a real Kookie, eh daddy-o?
Disclaimer: the pond didn't co-join Gina's pet, and the beefy boofhead, the reptiles did, and it was the reptiles that selected the snap that showed him looking like a startled ferret...
But let’s get real. Hanson is not a Fraser, a Howard or an Abbott. She doesn’t have the authority of being a PM with a proven record of electoral success over a sustained period. Making Hanson the prime threat has many consequences – it vests Labor with a new demonic opponent unacceptable to a majority of people; it highlights and perpetuated the fracturing of the centre-right; and it helps to solidify the unity of Labor as a fighting force seeking to hold its wavering voters inside the ALP tent.
In Albanese’s keynote address to the national conference he offered a startling account of Labor’s strategy to win the 2028 election: “In every way that matters, the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are already a coalition. It’s not just that they need each other to form government. They agree with each other about what they want to do in government.”
Albanese said the differences between Labor and its political opponents were now greater than ever. It didn’t matter who led the Liberal Party; it didn’t matter that One Nation would be plagued by “personality clashes, policy confusion, conspiracy theories and candidate chaos” – the Liberals and One Nation were tied together.
Albanese seizes the logic from the current opinion polls. With the centre-right vote fracturing, neither the Coalition nor One Nation has a sufficiently strong primary vote to form federal government in their own right.
For Labor, this polling situation is a double bonus – not only can’t the Coalition win but it can be depicted as needing One Nation to govern.
No imagination is needed to predict Labor’s 2028 election message: “A vote for the Liberals is a vote for One Nation – and a vote for One Nation is a vote for the Liberals.” The more that message resonates, the more forlorn is the Liberal prospect of winning votes in urban Australia.
In Albanese’s keynote address to the national conference he offered a startling account of Labor’s strategy to win the 2028 election: “In every way that matters, the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are already a coalition. It’s not just that they need each other to form government. They agree with each other about what they want to do in government.”
Albanese said the differences between Labor and its political opponents were now greater than ever. It didn’t matter who led the Liberal Party; it didn’t matter that One Nation would be plagued by “personality clashes, policy confusion, conspiracy theories and candidate chaos” – the Liberals and One Nation were tied together.
Albanese seizes the logic from the current opinion polls. With the centre-right vote fracturing, neither the Coalition nor One Nation has a sufficiently strong primary vote to form federal government in their own right.
For Labor, this polling situation is a double bonus – not only can’t the Coalition win but it can be depicted as needing One Nation to govern.
No imagination is needed to predict Labor’s 2028 election message: “A vote for the Liberals is a vote for One Nation – and a vote for One Nation is a vote for the Liberals.” The more that message resonates, the more forlorn is the Liberal prospect of winning votes in urban Australia.
Just to rub salt into "Ned's" bleeding wounds, the reptiles flung in another snap, Anthony Albanese during day three of the ALP national conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Picture: Matt Turner.
That only compounded "Ned's" grief at the unfairness of it all ...
The real role of One Nation is more obvious than ever – as Angus Taylor almost daily rebuts any suggestion the Liberals would govern with Hanson’s party, Albanese invokes this as an inescapable reality. The bottom line is apparent. Both Taylor and Albanese work from the same assumption: the more One Nation is inexorably tied to the Liberal Party, the more damage is done to the Liberal-National election winning prospects.
There is a further devastating consequence. As Labor’s economic policies are increasingly seen to fail the country over the next 18 months, One Nation can deliver political immunity for Labor from full electoral accountability for its failures. The more the centre-right looks illegitimate, the more Albanese can purchase an exemption from a public backlash at the 2028 poll.
The extent to which Labor has already redefined the next election was revealed by ALP national secretary and campaign director, Paul Erickson, in his interview last week with News24. Erickson said: “At the next election, the choice will be between a Labor government that’s delivering real change … or an alternative of a chaotic and divided Coalition-One Nation government. That’s the case that we have to build and set out over the next two years.”
Albanese is busy on the job. He contrasted Labor’s commitment to practical action and social cohesion with a Hanson-driven agenda that rages against the system, blames people who can’t defend themselves, but represents a movement that can’t build anything, can’t change anything and doesn’t help anyone “find a job, pay their bills or put a roof over their heads”.
This is now the embedded Labor mantra. What justification did Victorian deputy premier Ben Carroll offer when challenging Jacinta Allan for the premier’s post? It was no surprise he said: “The stakes at the upcoming election are simply too high. The prospect of a Liberal-One Nation government that will cut schools, health and frontline services is simply too high a risk to ignore.”
There is a further devastating consequence. As Labor’s economic policies are increasingly seen to fail the country over the next 18 months, One Nation can deliver political immunity for Labor from full electoral accountability for its failures. The more the centre-right looks illegitimate, the more Albanese can purchase an exemption from a public backlash at the 2028 poll.
The extent to which Labor has already redefined the next election was revealed by ALP national secretary and campaign director, Paul Erickson, in his interview last week with News24. Erickson said: “At the next election, the choice will be between a Labor government that’s delivering real change … or an alternative of a chaotic and divided Coalition-One Nation government. That’s the case that we have to build and set out over the next two years.”
Albanese is busy on the job. He contrasted Labor’s commitment to practical action and social cohesion with a Hanson-driven agenda that rages against the system, blames people who can’t defend themselves, but represents a movement that can’t build anything, can’t change anything and doesn’t help anyone “find a job, pay their bills or put a roof over their heads”.
This is now the embedded Labor mantra. What justification did Victorian deputy premier Ben Carroll offer when challenging Jacinta Allan for the premier’s post? It was no surprise he said: “The stakes at the upcoming election are simply too high. The prospect of a Liberal-One Nation government that will cut schools, health and frontline services is simply too high a risk to ignore.”
Well yes, after all, Gina's pet is just espousing the policies that have been at the heart of the lizard Oz these past few decades, and it's a bit rich for "Ned" to try to row this back ... and blame the Labor party for seizing the moment ... Labor national secretary Paul Erickson
In desperation, "Ned" reverted to a litany of despair about wayward lefties...
This pitch won’t work in a politically bankrupt Victoria where Labor has run and controlled the state for too long. Labor has governed for nearly 12 years, defined by its left wing, its trade union movement, its institutional corruption courtesy of the CFMEU, its massive state debt, fiscal profligacy, high taxes and economic mismanagement. No distractions or scare campaigns deserve to save Labor.
But there is a wider lesson for the Labor Party from its crisis in Victoria. The longer this state government survived the more it was exposed as dishonest, incompetent, obsessed with state power and governing in the interests of the party, not the Victorian public. Herein is the trap for modern Labor.
Across America, Britain and Australia the parties of social democracy are moving decisively to the left, often driven by activists who seem to replicate the tactics of Donald Trump.
Consider the ALP national conference. While Albanese was proud of its unity, this conference was a trip into a grassroots Labor fantasy land where activists promoted their pro-Palestinian obsessions, public ownership in the energy sector, strategic distancing from the US, extending euthanasia provisions and backing even more powers for the union movement. At a time when Australia is facing unprecedented national challenges, the conference operated as a left-wing fringe pressure group, an insight into the Labor heartland.
But there is a wider lesson for the Labor Party from its crisis in Victoria. The longer this state government survived the more it was exposed as dishonest, incompetent, obsessed with state power and governing in the interests of the party, not the Victorian public. Herein is the trap for modern Labor.
Across America, Britain and Australia the parties of social democracy are moving decisively to the left, often driven by activists who seem to replicate the tactics of Donald Trump.
Consider the ALP national conference. While Albanese was proud of its unity, this conference was a trip into a grassroots Labor fantasy land where activists promoted their pro-Palestinian obsessions, public ownership in the energy sector, strategic distancing from the US, extending euthanasia provisions and backing even more powers for the union movement. At a time when Australia is facing unprecedented national challenges, the conference operated as a left-wing fringe pressure group, an insight into the Labor heartland.
Palestine?
There's been some action of late.
A reading from Haaretz ...
Trump's Irritation, Netanyahu's Desperation: White House Smiles Mask Growing Rifts
At yet another meeting, Trump and Netanyahu – both facing critical elections – found themselves indispensable to each other, even as their visions for the Middle East increasingly diverge (*intermittent archive link)
At yet another meeting, Trump and Netanyahu – both facing critical elections – found themselves indispensable to each other, even as their visions for the Middle East increasingly diverge (*intermittent archive link)
And another one, as the ethnic cleansing goes on apace ...
Israel's Defense Minister Orders IDF Takeover of Refugee Camp, Expulsion of Palestinians
Defense Minister Katz's statements followed Friday's clashes in the village of Tell that left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead. Earlier on Tuesday, Palestinian media reported that the IDF carried out raids in several West Bank communities, including Nablus, Hebron and Bethlehem (*intermittent archive link)
Defense Minister Katz's statements followed Friday's clashes in the village of Tell that left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead. Earlier on Tuesday, Palestinian media reported that the IDF carried out raids in several West Bank communities, including Nablus, Hebron and Bethlehem (*intermittent archive link)
And so on and on, and there's nothing like an ethnic cleansing to be way more interesting than "Ned", especially when it's a reminder that there are many areas of the world ghosted by reptile coverage, as they keep insisting the hive mind, and the pond, should stay focussed on Gina's pampered pet, and the beefy boofhead ... One Nation leader Pauline Hanson; Liberal leader Angus Taylor
Disclaimer: the pond didn't co-join Gina's pet, and the beefy boofhead, the reptiles did, and it was the reptiles that selected the snap that showed him looking like a startled ferret...
Why are they always so cruel? Easy to be hard, easy to be cold. How can reptiles have no feelings?
"Ned" granted himself one last sob into his teacup ...
Albanese Labor looks trapped between adverse global events and its stubborn doubling down on flawed ideological attachments. Labor now owns a low-growth economy, persistent inflation, weak productivity, falling real wages, high social spending, rising taxes and a deep faith in state power. Unless the situation is reversed, the evidence points to the failure of Labor’s economic model.
The Liberals now see rays of hope coming from Victoria, where party leader Jess Wilson is gaining votes and stature, now leading One Nation 31 to 19 per cent, with the One Nation vote expected to fall further before the state election.
This highlights, yet again, the conundrum for the pro-Hanson political, cultural and media warriors still calling for more co-operation, even a coalition or partnership of sorts, between the Liberals and the Hanson party. This is the perfect message for Albanese and Erickson. It plays seamlessly into Labor’s song book and declared strategy to win the next election.
It is a truly beautiful and rare thing when your opponents validate your strategy.
Its deeper beauty lies in giving Labor the electoral exemption it needs to dodge proper accountability for its flawed agenda at the next election.
The Liberals now see rays of hope coming from Victoria, where party leader Jess Wilson is gaining votes and stature, now leading One Nation 31 to 19 per cent, with the One Nation vote expected to fall further before the state election.
This highlights, yet again, the conundrum for the pro-Hanson political, cultural and media warriors still calling for more co-operation, even a coalition or partnership of sorts, between the Liberals and the Hanson party. This is the perfect message for Albanese and Erickson. It plays seamlessly into Labor’s song book and declared strategy to win the next election.
It is a truly beautiful and rare thing when your opponents validate your strategy.
Its deeper beauty lies in giving Labor the electoral exemption it needs to dodge proper accountability for its flawed agenda at the next election.
Oh I know, I know ...
And that's almost a wrap.
The pond will be aware some might be outraged at the pond passing by yet another manifestation of the Lehrmann matter (always re-labelled by the reptiles as the Higgins affair), especially as it had the Rice boiling over yet again ...
The 55 times Labor told Fiona Brown: ‘We don’t know’
The Albanese government fought Fiona Brown every step of the way
Labor’s treatment of Brittany Higgins and Fiona Brown could not have been more different. Higgins got $2.4m. Brown was forced into the fight of her life.
By Stephen Rice
The Albanese government fought Fiona Brown every step of the way
Labor’s treatment of Brittany Higgins and Fiona Brown could not have been more different. Higgins got $2.4m. Brown was forced into the fight of her life.
By Stephen Rice
Sydney Bureau Chief
The pond has always avoided the Lehrmann matter, even when Dame Slap hasn't teamed up for another frying of the rice ... even when there's an easy chance to take a snip at SloMo, who started the government mayhem surrounding the mess (as if Liberal staffers were worth all the fuss).
Instead the pond thought it should offer up Dame Groan, a day old and reheated to a tepid level of squawking ...
The header: Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock warns further interest rate rises needed to tame inflation, Australia’s economy has shrunk per capita for eight of the past 11 quarters – yet the Labor conference celebrated its economic record as if the good times were rolling.
The caption, without any kind of credit for that masterly visual concoction. Come on down AI, let the planet die so you can perform miracles for the reptiles and keep mad King Donald in meme heaven: The economic conundrum that now faces economic policymakers such as Treasurer Jim Chalmers and RBA governor Michele Bullock is how to fix the problem of unacceptably high inflation
Dame Groan only spent three minutes explaining that we'd all be rooned, but there was some fine entertainment to be had in the rooning ...
As the triennial Labor Party national conference wound up last week, it occurred to me that there was probably more debate in the meetings of the Politburo in the heady Soviet Union days than during those carefully stage-managed sessions.
Rose-coloured glasses were universally in use as the Labor Party congratulated itself on achieving better outcomes for everyone, as well as unravelling the evil effects of the unfortunate time when the Coalition was in government.
Here’s the thing: it requires the verbal gymnastics of Jim Chalmers to cherrypick the data to show that the Australian economy is travelling well. Concentrating on absolute economic growth – enlarged by excessive immigration – only gets you so far.
The real facts are that per capita GDP has declined in eight of the past 11 quarters, and real wages are more than 4 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2021. Bear in mind that some other economies have been enjoying higher real wages – Korea and the UK, for example – and the average for the OECD is slightly positive. Living standards in Australia are clearly slipping, even if the Treasurer prefers to deny this.
Rose-coloured glasses were universally in use as the Labor Party congratulated itself on achieving better outcomes for everyone, as well as unravelling the evil effects of the unfortunate time when the Coalition was in government.
Here’s the thing: it requires the verbal gymnastics of Jim Chalmers to cherrypick the data to show that the Australian economy is travelling well. Concentrating on absolute economic growth – enlarged by excessive immigration – only gets you so far.
The real facts are that per capita GDP has declined in eight of the past 11 quarters, and real wages are more than 4 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2021. Bear in mind that some other economies have been enjoying higher real wages – Korea and the UK, for example – and the average for the OECD is slightly positive. Living standards in Australia are clearly slipping, even if the Treasurer prefers to deny this.
Here the pond must interrupt to note that reference to the "real facts". Some might think this tautological, but in reality, it's important to distinguish "real facts" from "unreal facts" or even "alternative facts" of Kellyanne fame ... and perhaps only Humpty Dumpty has the time to explain "surreal facts".
The reptiles interrupted with an AV distraction, and all the pond could wonder was when the Sky Noise down under rebranding might come to pass ...On tonight’s episode of Paul Murray Live, Sky News host Paul Murray discusses the RBA’s warning of government spending, political polls, Iran war and more. Mr Murray said RBA Governor Michele Bullock “spoke truth to power” about government spending. “She’s not afraid of displeasing the government in order to keep her job.”
For a moment the pond thought Dame Groan might mention EVs - for some reason she thinks that we're less dependent on oil - but no such luck ... her reasoning must remain arcane and mysterious ...
The major economic conundrum that now faces economic policymakers, including Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, is how to fix the problem of unacceptably high inflation in the context of an increasingly sclerotic economy in which supply constrains the feasible rate of growth lest higher inflation emerges.
In her speech to the Annika Foundation Fundraising Lunch, Bullock outlines the impact of supply shocks on the economy and the way in which inflation can be controlled. She makes the obvious point that in days gone past, external shocks often made a strong impact through the economy, particularly before we had a floating exchange rate.
Our lower dependence on oil also means that we are less susceptible to oil price shocks than we once were – although we shouldn’t assume that we are immune. We are potentially about to enter a new round of higher oil prices, with countries’ reserve supplies partly depleted and the trick of lower excise rates unlikely to be repeated.
The key message of Bullock’s speech came at the very end: “It’s important to remember that inflation and capacity pressures in the domestic economy were already too high prior to the recent shock … Against a backdrop of ongoing capacity pressures, the board remains focused on preventing elevated cost pressures from entrenching inflation. This does mean that some further easing in the growth of demand is likely to be required.”
In her speech to the Annika Foundation Fundraising Lunch, Bullock outlines the impact of supply shocks on the economy and the way in which inflation can be controlled. She makes the obvious point that in days gone past, external shocks often made a strong impact through the economy, particularly before we had a floating exchange rate.
Our lower dependence on oil also means that we are less susceptible to oil price shocks than we once were – although we shouldn’t assume that we are immune. We are potentially about to enter a new round of higher oil prices, with countries’ reserve supplies partly depleted and the trick of lower excise rates unlikely to be repeated.
The key message of Bullock’s speech came at the very end: “It’s important to remember that inflation and capacity pressures in the domestic economy were already too high prior to the recent shock … Against a backdrop of ongoing capacity pressures, the board remains focused on preventing elevated cost pressures from entrenching inflation. This does mean that some further easing in the growth of demand is likely to be required.”
At this moment the reptiles inserted a series of Bullock moments, a bit like inserting a Hitchens speech on atheism into a sermon from the groaning papal mount:
Those dire intrusions forced Dame Groan into dot point form.
How else to explain the complete and utter ruination of the country no later than Xmas?
Stand by for a kicker or four ...
And here’s the kicker: “The board is prepared to act as required to achieve its mandate, including increasing the cash rate further if needed.”
The bottom line is this:
The bottom line is this:
- The Reserve Bank can’t do anything about the supply side of the economy but is very worried about the low/zero rate of productivity growth.
- Demand continues to grow too quickly given the spending activities of the federal and state governments – OK, this is written in invisible ink but it’s a clear implication.
- It’s not clear whether the three increases to the cash rate implemented this year have done enough to slow the economy and dampen the rate of inflation.
- The board will not hesitate to further raise the cash rate, which will quickly flow into higher mortgage rates.
Four kickers, four bottom lines!
That must be something of a bottom line record, as Dame Groan wrapped up with a final word on the country's utter roonation ...
Whether Anthony Albanese and Chalmers take the hint and address sluggish productivity and restrict the growth of spending is uncertain, but it would be unwise to bet the house on it.
The one area that should be carefully watched is the current wealth effect on the economy. Falling house prices and lower real estate activity can have quite widespread negative economic consequences as people become spooked by the uncertainty.
The combined effect of higher interest rates and the budget tax changes may end up spreading well beyond the real estate market. The end result could be the dreaded stagflation – rising unemployment with unacceptably high inflation.
The one area that should be carefully watched is the current wealth effect on the economy. Falling house prices and lower real estate activity can have quite widespread negative economic consequences as people become spooked by the uncertainty.
The combined effect of higher interest rates and the budget tax changes may end up spreading well beyond the real estate market. The end result could be the dreaded stagflation – rising unemployment with unacceptably high inflation.
Yep, it's a disaster, and even worse for the pond, there's no escaping the Victorian saga by way of a relieving 'toon ...
Hang on, hang on, the pond knows where the infallible Pope is going with that one ...you just have to look at the small print down in the bottom right corner.
Fond, fond memories, back in the days when the ABC was what saved Tamworth folk from running down Peel street in a foaming frenzy of madness ...
It's a tribute to the Goodies and to the ecky thump man ...
And this one's an "in memoriam" for anyone as old as the pond and who can remember the good times when the Goodies offered a cross between Python and Benny Hill ...
It seemed funny at the time ...
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