If Labor’s Anthony Albanese spent much of today apologising for getting some basic numbers wrong yesterday, the fossil fuel industry was hearing all the right numbers from the Coalition: Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce announced a remarkable $1.5 billion handout to the gas industry to establish a new port facility in Darwin.
But wait, I hear Crikey readers cry, isn’t there already a port in Darwin? Like, the one that the NT government sold to a Coalition-connected Chinese firm in 2015 with the blessing of the feds? Ah, yes, but China has, in the manner of how we’ve always been at war with Eastasia — transformed since 2015 from the nation whose orbit we had to get closer to (thank you, Paul Kelly) and about which it was racist to suggest otherwise — to being the Great Satan in the cosmology of the Coalition and News Corp.
So now we’re building another port — especially for all the gas that we’re going to develop in the NT, adding significantly to the world’s CO2 emissions even if we don’t count them as ours because someone else burns the gas.
That’s why Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce today announced a $1.5 billion port development at Middle Arm in Darwin, being “the infrastructure needed to export more gas, including hydrogen, and critical minerals from Middle Arm”.
(Don’t you love the inclusion of hydrogen? But Joyce gives the game away later in his media release when he said: “Australians must embrace the fact that it is our resources sector that pays for the services and opportunities we all enjoy, and without coal and gas and iron ore, we would be weaker and poorer.” The citizens of Lismore and the victims of the Black Summer bushfires might quibble about being weaker and poorer without them, but you get the picture.)
Joyce says the gift to the fossil fuel industry “has been recognised as a nationally significant project by Infrastructure Australia”. In fact it is on the IA list of nationally significant projects because the NT government nominated it. But it has undergone no assessment of any kind by IA because the project hasn’t even been fully scoped yet to determine what funding is needed, let alone whether there’s a business case for it. Not that that stops the Coalition when it comes to “infrastructure” — none of the car parks needed a business case either.
There’s an electoral case for the spending, however — Labor holds the seat of Solomon by just 3%. We thus have our first truly substantial entry for Crikey’s Porkwatch 2022, and how fitting that it both targets a marginal seat and looks after the Coalition’s fossil fuel donors. The Nationals leader campaign is traditionally called “the wombat trail”; surely it’s time it was renamed the more apt Pork Trail.
At the other end of the country in Tasmania, Albanese was showering not dollars for donors but apologies for journalists anxious to keep reminding him of his mega-gaffe yesterday on the unemployment rate and the Reserve Bank’s interest rates. The Labor leader’s explanation is that he was thinking of the average level of unemployment (Labor, keen to neutralise the ultra-low level of unemployment currently, prefers to compare average unemployment rates during periods of government), but his strategy is also to almost ostentatiously own the mistake. “It was a mistake,” he said, over and over. “I accept it. I own up to it. I’m not blaming anyone else. I’m accepting responsibility. That’s what leaders do.”
Albanese hopes people will contrast that with Morrison’s refusal to ever acknowledge, let alone apologise for, mistakes (who can forget the time Morrison got Australia’s Hong Kong and Taiwan policies completely wrong and refused to admit he had, despite his own office saying he’d misspoken).
Morrison himself was in the seat of Parramatta where the very recently installed Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic is up against the slightly less recently installed former Rudd staffer Andrew Charlton in Sydney’s blockbuster Clash of the Late Arrivals. True to pre-election warnings that Morrison wouldn’t travel anywhere in his home city without the human shield of the slightly more popular (outside Kooyong) Josh Frydenberg, Morrison was joined by the treasurer and overexposed chatterbox and foreign minister Marise Payne to baptise Kovacic’s campaign at a Rheem factory.
Of course, Morrison was really there to refer repeatedly to Albanese’s gaffe, although even the prime minister appeared to flag on that subject before the assembled journalists had. After belting the opposition leader numerous times, he called last question, which turned out to be the forensic “What is your message to Anthony Albanese?”
Morrison actually did a verbal double take at that. Even he couldn’t believe he’d been asked to kick Albanese yet again. “What is my message to Anthony Albanese?” he said, evidently slightly stunned. “Yeah,” said the alleged journalist. “Following yesterday’s blunder.”
Morrison gave it another 250 words, though he was at least moved to conclude with the poetic “It won’t be easy under Albanese”.
If only all days on the campaign trail were as enjoyable for the PM. Although, with the current press gallery, maybe they will be.
It’s not just Murdoch. It seems *all* the mainstream media want to see another three years of life under ScoMo. Hardly surprising, given the Coalition’s super friendly stance towards media moguls, whoever they might be. I mean, even The Age is gleefully proclaiming Albanese’s memory block is practically terminal for his election campaign: he may as well throw in the towel now after yesterday. While the DT is saying it’s totally fine for Morrison not to be aware of the price of bread and milk as they apparently vary wildly across the country, whilst not knowing the cash or unemployment rates is definitely a capital offence. The right-wing bias is totally out of control. I’m so over it. Cancelling my subscription with Nine Publishing.
Yes. It seems having access to the ‘government’ is more important for most journos than doing their job.
I read The Guardian for the news but every time those pop up messages asking for money pop up I’m tempted to tell them exactly why they won’t be getting any from me, ever. And ABC’s political reporting is just depressing. I get that they’ve been beaten into submission but seriously…
If what’s happening here was happening in some third world country we’d be sending election observers.
Agree entirely. We have NO moderate news any more. 9’s gone into the Murdoch camp, ABC gone to water. I hear Zero critical stuff from them. The only places you find some balance is NewDaily, Guardian, and of course Crikey. But their batting weight no where near the MSM (yet)
Murdoch has been the eager recipient of tens of millions courtesy of the coalition. Money with no strings attached other than the tacit suggestion that with favourable coverage there may be more to come
All the mainstream media outlets received milions of tax payer dollars from the coalition, even the faux progressive Guardian…the media is big business,they are the coalition’s largest constituency, they have a vested interest in perpetuating conservative government’s.
The msm benefits greatly from all this garbage government advertising that is effectivly propping up a dying industry. We don’t know what they give this lot and how much is overcharged. Money that should be sent to the ABC is instead handed out to private industry so as we get to see knobs like David Koch and others who are overpaid dills on morning TV. No wonder they are all rooting for Morrison.
Albo should have just moved on…
Scomo gets so much mileage from deliberate lies, ignores his gaffes.
Albo back peddles, not great political strategy.
Back in 2010, Grog’s Gamut blog caused a stir with the opening paragraphs:
“Here’s a note to all the news directors around the country: Do you want to save some money? Well then bring home your journalists following Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, because they are not doing anything of any worth except having a round-the-country twitter and booze tour.
It is a sad thing to say but we could lose 95 percent of the journalists following both leaders and the nation would be none the poorer for it. In fact we would probably be better off because it would leave the 5 percent who have some intelligence and are not there to run their own narrative a chance to ask some decent questions of the leaders. Some questions which might actually reveal who would be the better leader of this country. ”
Has anything changed apart from the names of the leaders?
What a great idea.
Grog’s insights are greatly missed – this thin gruel here only emphasises the loss.
The won’t be easy/Albanese rhyme Morrison trotted out is the theme of a letterbox drop here in Melbourne suburbs today, and of course features on the Australian’s banner about the gaffe. Talk about being on message. I think it might backfire. For one thing, it fixes how to pronounce his name in even the most politics-shy mind.
I certainly hope so, Keith1, I don’t think many of are up for a 6 week campaign running the “gaffe” line at every stop along the way. However, it may turn more people off voting for the COALition. In that case, I suppose I could cope.
No mo Scomo.
I thought we were at war with Eurasia. So hard to keep track.