Wry & Dry: a cynical and irreverent review of the week in politics, economics and life. For intelligent Readers who disdain the trivial.
Eight stories you may have missed…
1. Testy Teals
An inconvenient truth of being a politician is that one’s daily bread depends on others. Sometimes it’s not the wicked whim of the voters; it’s the fickled finger of the Electoral Commission.
Y’see, the AEC not only runs elections, it also decides electorate boundaries. Which is why a sandpit fight has developed within a loosely-allied, single-issue political collective called Teals.1
Readers will recall that six Teals were elected in 2022, ousting ‘progressive’ Liberals in high income seats.2 But they have failed to have any impact on anything in Canberra, other than irregularly generate empty noise, as Albo has the numbers in the House. But, hey, you’re welcome for the $233,650 p.a.
Enter the nasty people at the AEC. They have decided to abolish Teal Kylea Tink’s seat (North Sydney). And also re-distribute Teal Zali Steggall’s seat (Warringah) to make it more marginal.
But in a fiendish move that has split the Teals into aqua and mint blue, Ms Tink, supported by Ms Steggall, has put an alternative proposal to the AEC. This would see Ms Tink’s seat retained, but two adjacent Liberal seats merged. But this would make another Teal’s seat (Sophie Scamp’s Mackellar) significantly more marginal.
The cat fight has begun.
Ms Tink’s submission to the AEC pleads, inter alia, that it was unfair to abolish a seat held by an independent. Of course. How rude.
Ms Steggall’s supporting submission pleads, inter alia, that the AEC’s proposal would cost her votes and is biased against women. Of course. How rude. Ms Tink is clearly female, as is the incumbent of a seat to be abolished in Victoria (Higgins).
Ms Scamp’s submission supported the AEC’s proposal, but not Ms Tink’s submission as it would cost her votes divide her community, that is “defined by coastal and forest lifestyle.” Oh, how lovely.
The end of the penny section is near. Or, rather, that the end of $233,650 p.a. is near?
1 The Teals are a group of House of Representative politicians who owe their electoral success to (a) massive funding from wealthy benefactors; (b) standing in ‘progressive’ Liberal electorates; and (c) Liberal voters who hated Miracle Morrison but couldn’t bring themselves to vote Labor in revenge.
The latter meant they split the centre-right vote, but many quisling Liberal voters weren’t smart enough to realise that following the Teal vote card meant preferencing Labor ahead of Liberals.
2 Not quite. Zali Steggall, as an independent, won Warringah from Tony Abbott in 2019.
2. Invade Russia? Really?
Does Tsar Vlad have a problem? For the first time since June 1941, when 3.8 million of Hitler’s finest and 3,500 tanks crossed his country’s borders.
That time, helped by an awful winter and 15 million lives, the Motherland was saved.
This time, in a brilliantly executed tactic, Ukraine’s soldiers have taken over 1,000 square kilometres of Tsar Vlad’s Motherland, near Kursk. Some 200,000 Russians have been displaced. So far.
But, within Russia, this is not the PR disaster for Tsar Vlad those outside Russia are making.
He is treating this as a pesky sort-of-terrorist attack. And in a Russia where the media is tightly controlled and Tsar Vlad’s word is not only law but also omnipotent, the average Ivan in the street is not worried.
To put the invasion incursion into perspective, the ground gained is less than the 1% of Ukraine that Russia has annexed and occupied since 2014. And the further Ukraine moves into Russia the longer its vulnerable supply lines.
What is Zelensky up to? Too early to say. But he knows that it would be folly to have his troops in Kursk in winter. The name Stalingrad would be imprinted on his mind.2
2 Stalingrad (now Volgograd) was the scene of a major battle in the Second World War, beginning when Nazi Germany attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over Stalingrad, in southern Russia. The battle was the largest and costliest urban battle in military history. The German Army was eventually surrounded and surrendered in the depths of a terrible winter. Over 1.5 million soldiers and civilians died in the battle.
3. Gonski cash went goneski
Where did the money go?
It was always going to be difficult to see if the $319 billion of ‘Gonski funding’3 spent on Australian education would be a success. But, if nothing else, some decent academic outcomes would be good start.
Well, now the results are in. The results of the latest NAPLAN4 testing are nothing short of appalling.
Some outcomes (these are approximate averages):
- Amazingly: one third of Australian students are below expected educational standards in literacy and numeracy. Readers may want to again read that sentence.
- Curiously: children of migrant parents who speak a foreign language outperform their classmates in English
- Expected: year 7 students with a university-educated parent are reading at year 9 level
- Problem: year 9 students whose parents didn’t pass year 12 have the reading ability a student in year 5
- Not surprising: at the start of year 7, boys are twice as likely to be functionally illiterate as girls
- Disgraceful: the average Indigenous year 9 student has the reading ability of a year 5 non-Indigenous student
The Gonski funding is one of greatest public policy failures in Australia’s history. In short, the performance of Australian school students in reading and maths – also compared to other countries (assessed by the triennial PISA tests) – has being going backwards for over a decade.
The problem is that not enough people in government take it seriously. The shocking outcomes passed without a murmur in parliament. There was one question to Education Minister Jason Clare. No outrage from the Opposition. Governments, state and federal, are more concerned with the level and distribution of funds. Witness the current haggling between them.
But at least the current federal Education Minister is making the right noises. To access further funding, the states have to sign up to “practical reforms like phonics checks and numeracy checks, evidence-based teaching and catch-up tutoring.”
Of course, he will be long gone from office by the time the success of the ‘practical reforms’ can be measured.
3 The Ruddster, when Prime Minister (first time around) appointed a businessman, David Gonski, to chair a review of educational funding. The cash started flowing in 2013.
4 National Assessment Program (sic) Literacy and Numeracy, an Australia wide test of students in years 3, 5, 7 & 9.
4. CBUS & CFMEU – the horse has bolted
The totally surprising revelation of unsavoury stuff happening in the CFMEU has caused all sorts of government bodies to galvanise into action.
And this week it was the turn of APRA, the government’s superannuation fund5 attack-Labrador.
APRA directed CBUS, the industry superannuation fund for the building industry, to undertake an independent review of whether its three CFMEU directors were fit hold those roles and if CBUS’ expenditure was in the best interest of its members.
Readers will be aware that industry superannuation funds must have equal employer and employee representation. Which is why seeming unqualified directors (from both sides of the fence) sit on industry fund boards.
Let Wry & Dry observe that as far as CFMEU directing CBUS investments into certain building developments, that horse has long since bolted. And the bulging saddlebags with it. In that regard CBUS directors now understand their responsibilities.
Whilst the CFMEU is guilty of an extraordinary number of crimes, Wry & Dry is absolutely sure that the CFMEU directors on CBUS are fit and proper persons.
But someone in CBUS media relations department has taken fright. This morning, whilst reading the Wall Street Journal on his phone, Wry & Dry saw a pop-up ad for CBUS. “I trust Cbus with my super” it shouted. The same also popped up on a UK classical music website.
The surprise was that the cookies of WSJ and Classic FM had identified Wry & Dry as a potential investor in CBUS. There are three problems with that.
5 But not self-managed superannuation funds. These are regulated by the ATO.
5. CBD vacancy rates
The below chart is presented without comment. The data is for July 2024.
6. New Zealand cuts rates
In a move that surprised a few, on Wednesday New Zealand’s Reserve Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% points to 5.25% (Australia’s is 4.35%). A further 1% points fall is expected within 12 months.
New Zealand’s latest inflation figure was 3.3% (Australia’s is 3.8%). Although slowing inflation helped the decision, the driver was a worsening economic outlook. The RBNZ forecast negative GDP growth in the both the June and September quarters.
This will be New Zealand’s third recession since the end of 2022.
Will Uncle Fester Dutton oppose any more refugee visas for fleeing Kiwis?
7. Proportionate response? Twelve years in a Russian slammer…
A Russian court has sentenced amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in jail for treason for donating $51 (£39) to a charity supporting Ukraine.
Karelina is a US citizen, who donated the $51 to a US charity when living in the US, was taking a short trip to Russia to visit relatives. She also holds Russian citizenship.
At the airport her mobile phone was confiscated, and she was held in custody whilst her phone was searched. The donation was found.
She was charged with treason. And sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony.
8. Global sign of relief
The 2028 Olympic Games, to be held in Los Angeles, will showcase a number of new sports. These are cricket, lacrosse, squash, baseball/softball and flag-football (limited contact American Football).
Breaking (aka breakdancing) has been cancelled. Wry & Dry cannot understand why.
Snippets from all over
1. Drugmaker turned down weight-loss drug
Swiss drugmaker Roche turned down a potential $14bn-a-year weight-loss pill now being developed by rival Eli Lilly that could have given it a leading position in the booming weight-loss market, according to company filings and people close to discussions. (Financial Times)
Wry & Dry comments: Just like the man who didn’t patent the wheel.
2. Stonehenge’s Scottish origin
Stonehenge’s circular monument’s so-called Altar Stone — once believed to have been transported from Wales — is in fact from north-east Scotland, researchers have found. (Financial Times)
Wry & Dry comments: Thereby suggesting that pre-historic Britons showed considerably more transportation ability than their descendants.
3. Trumpster wants a sentencing delay
Donald J. Trump, who has routinely sought delays in his four criminal cases, wants to use the extra time to fight his conviction on 34 felony counts in Manhattan. (New York Times)
Wry & Dry comments: Sentencing day is 18 September.
4. Taxpayers fund personal photographer
Gavin Newsom, the Democrat governor of California, has hired a $200,000 celebrity photographer to take pictures of him at California taxpayers’ expense. (UK Telegraph)
Wry & Dry comments: The Ruddster is envious.
5. Trumpster blames Iran
Donald Trump’s campaign has said a number of its internal emails have been hacked, blaming Iran for the breach and charging Tehran with seeking to “interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process”. (Financial Times)
Wry & Dry comments: Pot calling kettle black?
Data
- Australia: unemployment rose to 4.2% from 4.1%, but triple-the-expected new jobs were added.
- UK: inflation rose less than expected to 2.2% in the year to July.
- US: inflation fell to 2.9% in the year to July, the lowest in 3.5 years.
And to soothe your troubled mind…
“I love the English summer — it’s my favourite day of the year.”
Kathy Lette, London-residing Australian comedian, in an article (The secret to a longer, healthier life is … move to Australia) about how living in Australia will lead to a longer healthier life.
Wry & Dry comments: Ms. Lette has lived in London for 35 years.
Disclaimer
The comments in Wry & Dry do not necessarily reflect those of First Samuel, its Directors or Associates.
Cheers!