I remain sceptical until an election gets closer. I don't understand why the budget is being received so negatively, though. Is there something about it that is making people particularly concerned, or is just that there are no direct handouts or quick fixes so people remain entrenched in their doomerism? From everything I've read it does not seem to be at all deserving of this level of backlash.
People have left reliable reporting and information sources behind and only subscribe to brain melting propaganda feeds which trivialize and distort.
Emotional appeals such as ragebait and doomerism increase engagement and soc media platforms are all engagement farms. It is a combination of the algorithmic nature of those platforms promoting content that appeals emotionally and organizations taking advantage and creating content aimed at increasing societal division and undermining trust in government and institutions. As people are getting emotional manipulation in place of information it just naturally carries over into everyday conversation I guess as it fires them up.
I admit I don't follow the news like I did either. I would watch ABC/SBS news, longer form news/current affairs on the same platforms, multiple newspapers. I tend to just skim some web pages these days or find out about stuff because it gets mentioned here. I am much less informed than I was 20 years ago but with the media environment the way it is now I wouldn't want to consume as much as I once did.
I suppose I'm guilty of a lack of awareness regarding my own habits. I listen to longer form, discussion style podcasts about complex issues and I follow the ABC's coverage of Australian politics reasonably closely. Maybe this is having a bigger impact on my understanding of current affairs than I thought, which is why the (I assume) majority who don't share these habits are now in a completely different world to me.
I agree with that.
Many years ago, I had a paper subscription to both The Age and The Australian; and both were respectable publications at the time... Whereas now neither of them are. There is still good journalism happening, but it is no longer the norm. And so it isn't as easy to consume it as a routine, or talk about it casually to people in slightly different social circles.
I feel like almost every story is like "here is what some people with obviously vested interests say about such-and-such". Or the other flavour of story which is basically "shit's fucked. It sucks, right?" For politics in particular, I see so many stories about whether some policy is popular, and again opinions from vested interests... but very little objective comparison. Like, people aren't proposing policy changes because they are complete idiots. They have reasons. So I'd like the reporting on them to say what those reasons are, and look into whether or not the policy will meet the goals of those reasons.
Ok. I feel like I'm whinging and being a bit vague. Like I said before, there is still some good journalism going on - and I don't really put a lot of effort into looking for it. So I shouldn't complain too much about what I see. I guess I'm just bit a worried about what everyone else sees too. Rage-bait emotional manipulation, mostly.
good journalism going on - and I don't really put a lot of effort into looking for it
So, I have a list I've been slowly adding to over the last few years of independent media in Australia with journalists doing good work. There might be some in this you might be interested in.
If anyone has any ideas of what I should do with a list like this, except sharing it occasionally like this, I'd interested to hear about it.
No Betoota Advocate?
Maybe you could create a page on Wikipedia?
Hmm, maybe thats an idea. I know theres a few pages that have Music Journalism publications of Australia both current and past. I found it pretty invaluable when it came to finding links for c/rage sidebar, it really helped me find a whole bunch of those links.
Yeah, i did think about doing a satirical section, and that'd be a good section to have on a wikipedia page. It didn't suit my purposes at the time for making the list, which is finding other independent journalistic voices apart from the mainstream to link to in Posts on Lemmy (non-mainstream social media). For me, theres a natural alliance between these two and it could be a real point of difference for Lemmy over other aocial media places like Reddit.
I too would agree that the only poll that determines the government is the one on election day and we've seen that go one way or the other because of a few days propaganda (<3 the westminister system, so good).
I think it's mostly that:
a) very few people read any sort of long form analysis or really any news at all.
b) rich people are highly motivates to distribute propaganda against this budget and to downplay how rich they are
c) lots of people who are yolked wage-slave proles (almost all the population) don't understand how low down the economic ladder they are and aren't motivated to think about it since it's humilating in a culture that equated wealth with worth and worthiness.
d) shares are basically the only way you can (un)realistically dream of escaping your chains atm and "labour can tax you out of escaping" is easy propaganda for (b) to hit (c) with.
It’s probably just warped by social media, giving everyone a personalized version of One Nation while every little thing in Labor’s budget is peeled apart.
I hate to sound so cynical, but I’ve seen this movie before. You should read exit poll reporting of what voters think will happen after they vote in populist candidates.
Because the only decent visible thing in it are the tax concession changes, even those are weakened and they won’t come into true effect for a while.
The rest is either downright cruelty, a flat out cash giveaway, tax cuts coming from NDIS funding and that don’t help anyone anyway really…it’s garbage.
There are handouts by the way…a 2 billion handout to developers for infrastructure their DAs compel them to provide anyway, stolen from the Queensland LNP. The ‘$1000’ tax rebate.
It’s a shit budget, cynically covered by an overdue tax concession change on housing, a budget that’s likely to kill some of our most disadvantaged. We’ve already heard how some on the NDIS are considering assisted dying over social and community participation cuts. This government will see them pushed back to abusive church based groups.
I read your comment curiously but with no evidence included I did some research (google searching). I quickly discoverd miss-information (lies) in your words which makes the entire comment null and void to me. Thank you for your time.
Well, go ahead, share your discovery of miss-information rather than piss around.
Quick one is the hand out funds is for councils to build infrastructure to new housing developments. Not to developers.
Nope, it’s for developers…councils don’t supply this, developers do as it’s part of DA approval. The mileage varies but not by much and only in the sense of what’s needed; eg a rural residential development doesn’t have kerb and channeling.
Councils are funded separately for infrastructure purposes from government and they try to spend that separately, mainly on upkeeping current services or extending to outer suburbs. Subdivisions however are the responsibility of developers.
Speaking as a qualified surveyor who has worked on these subdivisions plus within LGAs. That’s why I know it’s bad.
You seem well versed in the ways of construction. But your information is contrary to EVERY other piece of information I can find on this subject. Everything, government statements and interviews, left wing media, right wing media, the actual budget documents. You are contradicting all of them... So yeah, I am happy to stand by my statement of miss information.
Well go ahead then, point me in the right direction
You’re talking big about what you find but a bit lacking in links to it. I just told you what I’ve engaged with in the past as a professional doing it and sometimes offering input to it.
I’ll take my input and towards it as a professional over anything you’re saying here until you evidence it.
Gawd. Prime Minister Pauline would make us long for the ScoMo era, I reckon.
She'd be better because she'd be worse at executing her agenda and any government electing her would be wracked by infighting
She'd embolden the racist pigs out there to try getting away with more stuff.
Im not willing to endure a pyrrhic victory here in copying the fucking stupidity of the US.
Yeah same. This isn’t worth rolling dice on.
That's true, but we'll also have the pleasure of having to listen to her blithering even more frequently.
Might make for some sweet singles put out by based drag queens?
I always doubt these reports. The news media has proven that they will bias conservative parties in their reporting, in order to sway elections.
By reporting that Hanson is a popular candidate, they make her seem like a viable option, thus self-fulfilling their prophecy. Watch the same outlets guilt the public for voting her in when she wins seats based on their own bullshit reporting.
By reporting that Hanson is a popular candidate, they make her seem like a viable option, thus self-fulfilling their prophecy. Watch the same outlets guilt the public for voting her in when she wins seats based on their own bullshit reporting.
I don't necessarily agree that it's a case of "the news media" trying to "sway elections', I think there's a lot more nuance here than you're suggesting. But I definitely agree that this constant fearmongering about One Nation in order to gain clicks is massively contributing to the mainstreaming of the party. I also agree that if One Nation finds success on election night, the panel of ABC journalists who have spent all their time discussing One Nation over the last few years will be predictably shocked and have absolutely zero self-awareness about the role of the national broadcaster here.
It’s a case of news media trying to sway elections toward the right, in the current case One Nation.
Ten minutes of watching Barr and Speers alone answers that.
The oligarch media are pushing One Nation hard because they want Trumpism here so they can continue to do oligarch stuff without interference.
The "first past the post" victory narrative is idiotic yet here we are being inundated, even in the ABC, by this bullshit.
We have preferential voting and Poorline will never be elected in Australia.
ON's primary vote RIGHT NOW (according to a single survey from a group I've never heard of) is higher than all other parties except Labor, and they're only leading by a few percent. The only poll that matters is election day - IF she can maintain / improve this in the next two years, her party will be a significant threat to progressive politics in Australia. Pauline HAS been 'elected in Australia' - and her party is growing distressingly fast.
Polling also claimed they'd win SA.
She's attacked the majority of Australians. And, especially with the new tax changes, fairly sure younger people in particular are going to find them a good thing. The claim it's a death tax definitely isn't being accepted lol
Every left wing person will put her close to the bottom
But a lot of right wing people don't want to wake up each morning to read about the stupid shit Pauline did yesterday too
I feel like ABC have only started sucking up recently, because they know if she wins enough seats she'll kill their funding otherwise.
polling also claimed they'd win SA
Um, thats not correct. Nobody thought Malinauskas wasn't romping it home. Predictions were pretty unanimous for Labor domination.
Antony Green's Election Blog, 2026 South Australian Election Preview
Edit: 's
It is inequity in the whole taxation system, housing is the major pain point but the system is unbalanced and favours those with assets (property, shares etc) especially the 1% which explains the volume of the squealing!
Well that's terrifying.
One Nation should not be anywhere near the reigns of power.
propaganda, obvs
We all better do what polling says then. It's never wrong. /s
I had Redbridge text me. I blocked the number
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