In which the pond surveys the hive mind scene, and stays loyal to "Ned's" hysterical natter and the bromancer's taste for the impending apocalypse ...

 

Let's get straight into it (welcome, stray vulgar youff) ...

Want to pack it with Ben? Feel free ...

Beijing scores a win in Vanuatu, as $500m deal hangs in balance
Anthony Albanese says he is confident an agreement will be finalised soon. But he’d be wise not to hold his breath.

Want to match it with Matchett? Please allow the pond to indulge you ...

Time rich, money poor: Why graduates are abandoning flawed PhD system
Australia’s future scientific capability hangs in the balance as doctoral students abandon research careers, with most earning below minimum wage for years of study.

All the pond will say as an aside there is perhaps they can get a job in the lizard Oz graphics department, or what remains of that shattered ruin ...

Pitiful, and the pond abandoned the read immediately.

What's happening away from the extreme far right?

The pond is glad you asked, here it is, early in the mid-week morn, as a sodden Sydney begins to stir...

Ho hum, just another sociopathic, genocidal, ethnic cleansing government on the path to pieces of this and that as the lead ...

Middle East
Israel strikes at Hamas senior leadership in Qatar
Washington has criticised the attack on a US ally after the strike targeted Hamas leaders Al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin and killed a member of Qatar’s security forces.
By Dov Lieber

There was an EXCLUSIVE too, full of resentment and bitterness, as the reptiles slog away in the Murdochian coal mine ...

EXCLUSIVE
Snowy 2.0’s wage storm: renewables workers to earn $300k
Workers on Australia’s biggest renewable energy project secure astronomical pay rises, in an agreement without any explicit productivity trade-offs.
By Ewin Hannan

Want to indulge in a matter that seems likely to set Dame Slap off yet again? Sure thing, just don't involve the pond ...

Court orders Brittany Higgins to pay 80pc of Linda Reynolds’ costs
The former Liberal staffer offered to issue a ‘mutual statement of regret’ that would have seen Linda Reynolds acknowledge Ms Higgins believed she was not given adequate support after being raped.

While dealing with legal matters, want a quiet chortle?

Legal
Stokes hit with $13m bill over BRS’s failed defamation case against Nine
Billionaire media magnate Kerry Stokes has been hit with a bill of more than $13m in legal costs for Ben Roberts-Smith’s failed defamation case against the Nine/Fairfax newspapers.
By Stephen Rice

Annoyed that this stunning reptile EXCLUSIVE has already dropped way down the page?

EXCLUSIVE

PM accelerates UN COP31 planning despite dicey bid

Labor launches massive planning operation for 52,000 to attend UN climate summit in Adelaide, despite Turkey refusing to abandon its rival bid for hosting rights.

By Geoff Chambers and Greg Brown

Prefer a pun in your header? Easy peasy ...

PM plans giant UN event despite possible COP out

Laugh? The pond laughed so hard it pounded the keyboard to shreds ...

Want to balance the gaiety, want to shed a tear, a sorrowful oyster sigh? Sure 'nuff ...

Politics
‘We were united under Dutton’: Liberal infighting growing headache for Ley
Liberal MP Sarah Henderson has praised the party’s unity under Peter Dutton as pressure mounts on Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to apologise for comments about Indian-Australians.
By Noah Yim

Wondering where the "very" went in that header? It was there in the archive ...

Liberals were ‘very united’ under Peter Dutton, leading conservative says amid Jacinta Price infighting

And then in very quick time it verily disappeared.

Very, very mysterious ... but very, very droll ...

Now please, stand back and allow the pond to frolic with "Ned" ...

The header: Cultural alienation poses a threat to Libs’ survival, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments on Indian migrants have exposed the strains within the Coalition.

The caption for an image that evoked an eerie sense of déjà vu in the pond, Alex Hawke, Sussan Ley and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Pictures: News Corp

The reptiles assured the pond this was no Everest, just a five minute stroll, a kind of Mount Kosciuszko climb, and that no commentary would be required, just a Cheshire cat smirk ... 

The Liberal Party needs to shake itself from the shadow of doom. There are two certainties at the 2028 election – the Labor Party will run hard on Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s criticism of Indian migrants and it will highlight the bevy of Coalition attacks on net zero by 2050.
The Liberals are now fuelling Labor’s next election campaign – doing Anthony Albanese’s job for him. Unless there is an injection of discipline and tactical clarity, the party will face complete obliteration in urban Australia. The Liberals are falling hostage to the rising insurgency: a populist, right-wing radicalism, influenced by the follies of Donald Trump.
The Albanese government is far from unassailable. It faces immense policy challenges that will offer the Coalition golden opportunities, with excessive immigration and a flawed energy transition being prime exhibits. But the Liberals risk turning potential gains into self-imposed defeats.
The Coalition’s tragedy is captured in the plight of Price, whose brilliant campaign against the Indigenous voice made her into an influential national figure. But Price blundered badly post-election in planning to run as Liberal deputy on a conservative ticket with Angus Taylor after having defected to the Liberals. She wasn’t ready or equipped for such a post. This followed her election remark that “we can make Australia great again”, inviting an invidious Trumpian comparison.
Price is now doubly exposed: making disastrous comments about Indian migrants and then displaying a stubborn reluctance to extricate herself.

Poor "Ned", always deep into a Chicken Little routine, poor reptiles, desperate for any kind of illustration to act as a distraction, Angus Taylor speaks with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in a video in May about rebuilding and regrouping the Liberal Party. Picture: Instagram

As a whole, that illustration is deeply weird ... while "Ned" kept rubbing his paws in sublime consternation ...

The tension between leader Sussan Ley and Price is on public display, along with the ideological divisions that threaten the party.
Price should be an invaluable asset for the Liberals. But she needs advice and guidance. Last week in the interview with the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, Price made a sound case about the demise of social cohesion but then blundered: she praised the weekend anti-immigration demonstrations and, while condemning the neo-Nazis, she hailed these demonstrations with their racist elements as a “pro-Australian march” that was “a march for our identity as a country”.
This is a misconceived and damaging statement. With most Liberals shunning the demonstrations, Price hailed them – then worse was to come. She criticised the large number of Indian migrants, saying the community voted for Labor and this was a reason the government backed Indian entry. Price misjudged the insult to the Indian diaspora and the trouble she was creating for the Liberals.
The Coalition is fired up about immigration levels. Its claim that recent numbers are too high is justified, but below the surface it has a deeper worry: namely that many migrants, notably those in pro-Palestinian protests spilling into anti-Semitism, don’t subscribe to Australian values. This is a complex brew. The politics can cut either way. The task for the Liberals is to argue the case for more modest immigration without blaming migrants and without singling out ethnic communities.
Price has failed this test. She could not have picked a worse community to offend. In recent years India has been the top country by birth for overseas migrants, followed by China. The number of Australian residents born in India is now close to one million people.
Indian migrants tend to be hardworking, family-oriented, business savvy and committed to education – a natural Liberal voting constituency. But they don’t vote Liberal.

At this point the reptiles interrupted with a sense of persecution, Redbridge Group director Kos Samaras says Indians feel the Liberals “don’t like us”. Picture: Martin Ollman

No disrespect, but the pond was feeling the strain of all this infighting, and wondered why it couldn't enjoy the pleasures of a family united around a love of loot?

Belatedly, the pond realised it had already been there and done that in a late arvo posting, and so pressed on with the "Ned" natter climb...

RedBridge Group director Kos Samaras says his recent surveys show Indians voting Labor at 85 per cent in two-party preferred terms, an extraordinary finding.
Samaras told this column: “On paper they have all the Liberal traits. But they don’t want to vote Liberal. Why? The answer is ‘that they (Liberals) don’t like us’. The issue isn’t class. If it was class, they’d vote for the Coalition.”
The issue is culture. Ley and her shadow ministers are working furiously to try to repair ties with the Indian community. “The comments were wrong, they were not correct, they should not have taken place and corrections have been made,” Ley told the ABC last Sunday. Price has admitted regret and praised the community.
But she won’t apologise. Manager of opposition business in the house Alex Hawke said “there was a lot of criticism building” and he asked Price to apologise, feeling an apology would “fix it quickly”. But, he said, Price “disagreed with me”.
Since then a range of shadow cabinet ministers have called on her to apologise. She won’t – and this issue now impinges on Ley’s authority as leader. Ley, in turn, was in error not directly contacting Price sooner. But Price has brought this criticism on herself. She should apologise and move on. Her refusal prioritises her personal obstinacy over the party’s interest. Hawke said some of Price’s supporters were emailing him saying too many Indians were coming into Australia. Such sentiment on the party fringe is electorally deadly.
The problem isn’t confined to the Indian community. The Coalition has faced difficulties with the Chinese community at the 2022 and 2025 elections. Samaras said his surveys showed that among ethnic communities Labor’s two-party-preferred vote was at 60 per cent.
On display is the cultural alienation of the Coalition and Liberals from influential centres of the country – the ethnic communities, female voters, educated professionals and the under-40 voters. The Liberals will not govern again without major repair on these fronts. The party is locked in a cultural crisis – and net zero is prominent in this malaise.
The Liberals and Nationals have different views on net zero by 2050 and that will become critical to future Coalition arrangements.

Is it wrong to note that it's actually the reptiles at the lizard Oz, sundry reptiles in the Murdochian tabloid factory, and assorted reptiles in the hive mind of Sky Noise down under after dark that have created the climate change vibe that bedevils the coalition, what with so many of them eager to join the Canavan caravan? Nationals senator Matt Canavan has extended an olive branch to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price despite her widely condemned comments about Indian migrants voting Labor.

Well of course the attention-seeking Canavan caravan would be front and centre, stirring away, is his wont.

There's no necessary reason for climate science denialism to be coupled with trouble-making bigotry, but why not?

It all left "Ned" in his usual tizz ...

But the mission of the Liberals is obvious: they need a coherent energy policy that reduces emissions, limits price increases, provides system reliability and permits all sources of energy into the investment mix. The worst blunder for the Liberals is a binary rejection of net zero by 2050 – making themselves the issue and giving Albanese a “get out of jail” card on accountability for his energy policy at the 2028 election.

Hang on, hang on, credit where credit is due ...

The worst blunder for the reptiles in the lizard Oz hive mind is a binary rejection of net zero by 2050 – making themselves the issue and giving Albanese a “get out of jail” card on accountability for his energy policy at the 2028 election.

Fixed, and so to the stroll to the peak of despair and then on to the slough of despond ...

Every poll shows the public supports climate action; some polls record support for even faster emission reductions. Any move by the Liberals to ditch net zero would be an act of electoral suicide. It would be rejected by most of the population and would be depicted by the Albanese government, the teals, the Greens, the unions, the finance sector and progressive media as an abandonment – bordering on denial – of the need for climate change action.
Nothing would more delight Albanese, except perhaps attacks on Indian migrants.
The claim that net zero by 2050 is likely unachievable misses the point. This is a remote target. The task of the Liberals is not to wage a binary campaign about a 2050 target that means nothing to most Australians while pretending this is the key to the climate battle in this country. The climate battle should be about what Labor is doing to households and businesses now in terms of price, competitiveness and reliability and in the run-up to its 2035 pledges.
When the author raised the net zero issue with Tony Abbott several weeks ago, he said it was best to avoid theological issues. Very sound. Any conclusion by the Liberals that the response to their 2025 election wipe-out in urban Australia should be a fatalistic decision on stronger opposition to climate action – riding the Trump bandwagon – would be ideological folly and cultural self-sabotage.
It would testify to a party hijacked by populist-right radicals and vulnerable to a related populist media echo chamber that actually threatens the viability of the Liberal Party. Attitudes towards ethnic communities and climate change transcend policy – they go to core beliefs. These beliefs brand and define parties. If the Liberals get this wrong they will be exposed as a party that has lost its way and cannot govern modern Australia.

Really, "Ned"? 

You have the cheek to scribble about "related populist media echo chamber" while sublimely unaware of your surroundings and your circumstances?

Remember "Ned", it isn't just Faux Noise you have as kissing cousins, you also have the Sky Noise down under after dark mob as your companions.

Still, it was good for a mid-week chuckle ...

And so to the bonus, there's always the need for a bonus, however pitiful, and the bromancer helped out by blathering on for just a couple of minutes ...

The header: Albanese’s European path looks like a road to ruin, As France’s government crumbles over attempts to cut spending, Australia races down the same path that’s bringing Europe to its knees.

The caption for the snap accompanying the fear monger and doomsayer-in-chief, We have seen the future, and it doesn’t work, writes Greg Sheridan. Pictured: Civil unrest on the streets of Paris. Picture: Getty Images

This is minor bromancer, more charcoal sketch than full apocalyptic rapture, but all the same it's a fine lathering of fear ...

The fall of the government of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is a disaster for Europe, but also a very bad sign for the Albanese government.
Bayrou’s failure demonstrates the absolute inability of the European political establishment to repair the failing European model. This model – growing debt, growing deficit, progressive politics all round, eye-watering social spending as far as the eye can see – is the failed social democratic model the Labor government has embraced and enthusiastically implemented.
With apologies to Lincoln Steffens, we have seen the future, and it doesn’t work!
Bayrou commented to his parliamentary colleagues with justifiable bitterness: “You have the power to topple the government, you don’t have the power to erase reality.”
France has a budget deficit of just under 6 per cent of GDP. Its debt-to-GDP ratio is 114 per cent, higher than Britain’s. Bayrou wanted to cut €44bn euros of government expenditure by 2026. He also wanted to abolish two public holidays. As a result, he was thrown out by the parliament in a vote of 364 to 194.

Is it wrong to suggest that this entire episode is very French, and this latest iteration has been, in one form or another, a feature of French politics for decades? 

Never mind, a visual distraction if you please, The National Assembly votes to bring down the government led by PM Francois Bayou over its plans to cut about $52bn to reduce national debt.

Once the bromancer gets on an apocalyptic jag, there's no stopping him, except of course when he's writing about King Donald's United States, and then there's good people on both sides ...

Here it's doom all the way, a dire malaise for which there is no cure ...

History teaches us, however, that if a situation is unsustainable, it won’t be sustained indefinitely. It will blow up. France is blowing up. Strikes, demonstrations, protests under the beguilingly nihilist banner “Block everything” threaten to make the country all but ungovernable. It is of course true that France is in a far worse fiscal position than Australia, but we are heading as fast as we can in the same direction, with federal government spending rising from 24 per cent of the economy to more than 27 per cent under the Albanese government and no sign of serious fiscal restraint or turnaround.
Like France, we need to spend a lot more money on defence. Like France, there’s little indication that we can.
France is by no means the worst-governed nation in Europe. But all over Europe, the old fashioned, regulationist, hyper-Keynesian, welfarist model simply won’t work. Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently declared his country can no longer afford its welfare state. On what the economy produced, he said, it could not afford to pay for all the social spending its population wanted. It’s not a question of not being willing to tax the rich more.
As Bayrou said, when Britain decided under Keir Starmer’s government to very heavily tax the very rich, they moved in huge numbers out of Britain. He drolly observed that property prices in Milan went through the roof.
Britain has left the EU but is fully afflicted by the European malaise. Despite his huge election win, and giant parliamentary majority, Starmer has become intensely unpopular as has his government. On numerous occasions it has announced modest fiscal consolidation measures only to have to reverse them after they generated opposition, not least within the governing Labour Party itself.
The three traditionally strongest nations in Europe – Britain, Germany and France – are all demonstrating that electorates will not take seriously any request by government for even the most modest sacrifice. There is no significant political constituency in any Western nation for a balanced budget. As a result, as Bayrou argued, today’s politicians are “enslaving our youth”.
Excessive, deadening regulation of the EU itself is part of the supply-side knot that afflicts the European economy generally, but only part of the story.
The failure of the European political establishment has given rise to strong support for populist parties. The only one of these that has translated into coherent government is that of the formidable Giorgia Meloni in Italy.
None of the populists anywhere in Europe, from Britain’s Nigel Farage to the Alternative for Germany, is campaigning seriously on a balanced budget and reduced national debt.
The European path Labor has chosen for Australia looks like a road to ruin.

Giorgia Meloni? Of course, the bromancer has an authoritarian streak a mile wide, and loves himself a good authoritarian, but what of Viktor Orbán, the onion muncher's favourite? 

How could the bromancer cut him dead, without a single mention of the many splendid ways he's set Hungary on the road to glory?

Never mind, at least King Donald has shown us the path ... and we have followed in his foosteps gladly, and so the infallible Pope can close business for the day by celebrating our very own ICE triumph ...