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Tim Dunlop's avatar

Really agree with that last para in particular. In fact, it is interesting to think how this would work with an independent: even if journalist allowed them to comment anonymously, which I doubt they would, the small number of them renders the veil pretty see-through. IOW, you are exactly right to see it as an artifact of the two-party mindset we would all be better off moving beyond.

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Moz's avatar

I have wished since I first arrived in Australia that the media would decide whether The Coalition is a single entity, or whether it's two (or more) parties in coalition with each other. As it is those 2-ish parties pretend whichever version suits them from moment to moment and the media let them.

In this case why did the non-Murdoch media not say "the government refused repeated requests for comment, and since we can find nothing to recommend this policy we leave you the reader to draw the obvious conclusion (hint: Labor can't defend it)". I would not object even slightly to the parenthesised comment.

More broadly, I fear the Australian ALP will follow the Aotearoa Labour Party and try very hard to talk about nice things while doing soft right neoliberal things. They may have learned from the well deserved bollocking Ardern got for her "no capital gains tax, no wealth tax" guarantee.

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