Stephen Darby :ma_flag_aus:

@Baku
on mastodon, it’s an emoji of a shark

@Baku
That would allow James Bond type espionage at the poker table. No Martini :BlobHajMlem: will blow your cover.

@Aussiemandeus @Baku
#australianpolitics
Municipal councils in Broome, Karratha, Geraldton and Carnarvon held closed meetings to promise various amounts in millions of dollars toward continued Qantas services during lockdown. In Geraldton, the amount was three hundred dollars for every member of the population, even though only about ten percent are ever likely to use it. No consultation. Appalling plutocratic governance. Thank goodness for road coaches.

@dgriffith @Affidavit
#australia #passport
Our record on international relations isn’t squeaky. Papua is basically an Australian mine. We essentially invaded east Timor. We routinely ignore obligations to less fortunate island nations. Our indigenous situation is a source of international shame.

Good passport though.

@unionagainstdhmo @Zagorath
That is very insightful. obviously if the greens had more power, they would also end up having to strike more deals to get their bills passed. I understand that some compromise is how party politics works. Very sad that senator Payman had to go.

Still allowed to voice my dissent over issues that bother me. The anti-protest laws suck. In WA the fines are $15,000 for disrupting normal activity. ‘Republican’ is a confusing word. the anti-protest laws are downright Cromwellian

@Zagorath
I love most things about the labor party, but the anti-protest laws passed on their watch. The law is undemocratic and does not represent my rights as a worker. Democracy under attack https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2024/07/03/protest-peril

@Zagorath @unionagainstdhmo
Allow me to focus on the anti-protest law.
How did that arise from the workers?
Isn’t industrial action a fotrm of protest?

@unionagainstdhmo
I was being sarcastic. I meant republican in the American sense of being reactionary. The Labor party seems compromised by the mining lobby.

@unionagainstdhmo
I’m not about to vote liberal, but feel disappointed by some Labor decisions. The anti-protest law in particular seem to have bipartisan support despite democratic resistance. Protests over freedom of association were once the backbone of union membership and strength.

@unionagainstdhmo
I’m not accusing the Labor party of popular sovereignty.