The web does not forget, Babet

MAY 28, 2022

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There’s a veritable tsunami of election coverage out there, so let us at Crikey highlight some of the best.

Such as Cam Wilson’s story on the rich internet history of Ralph Babet, a United Australia Party candidate who believed that the 2022 federal election was going to be rigged — until he looked likely to become Victoria’s newest senator, that is.

Plus, over these past six weeks, just how badly did News Corp’s attacks fail? David Hardaker counted the ways. And does Barnaby Joyce accept any responsibility for the catastrophe that befell the Morrison government? As Bernard Keane writes, no more than he accepts responsibility for anything else.

Plus Amber Schultz and Imogen Champagne report on how asylum seeker schoolchildren in Indonesia appear to have been the latest targets of Australia’s anti-refugee messaging.

Read these important stories and plenty more in today’s Weekender.

Have a great weekend,

Georgia Wilkins
News editor

Meet Ralph Babet, Clive Palmer acolyte and, maybe, Victoria’s newest senator

CAM WILSON 2 minute read

Babet has been quick to wipe clean his social media history, which displayed right-wing views and conspiracy theories.

Just how badly did News Corp’s attacks fail? We count the ways

DAVID HARDAKER 2 minute read

The Murdoch machine was not shy about its feelings towards Simon Holmes à Court and the teal independents...

When will the Liberals work out how toxic Barnaby Joyce really is?

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

Does Barnaby Joyce accept any responsibility for the catastrophe that befell the Morrison government? No more than he accepts responsibility for anything else.

Refugee children in Indonesia given anti-refugee cards with Australian coat of arms

AMBER SCHULTZ and IMOGEN CHAMPAGNE 4 minute read

The playing cards featuring the Australian government logo were handed out to more than 80 children.

Election dissection

Voter revolution delivers new politics

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

The major parties are looking at a new scenario — they can no longer hold urban seats while trying to keep 'mainstream Australia' happy.

Scott Morrison — liar, lightweight, loser. But did he secure one final victory?

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

The country’s worst PM leaves his party in ruins as nation turns to independents and Greens — and elects Labor.

One Nation, UAP and ‘freedom movement’ parties fail to make an impact

CAM WILSON 2 minute read

Despite a pandemic, tens of millions of dollars of advertising, and a swing away from major parties, far-right groups failed at the ballot box.

How WA went from stronghold to graveyard for the Coalition, and where it gets us

CHARLIE LEWIS 3 minute read

The Liberal Party has been decimated across the west, and will require some serious soul searching to move forward.

The Liberals’ anti-China rhetoric cost them votes and, likely, key seats

WANNING SUN 5 minute read

The Coalition's gamble with its 'China threat' stance backfired spectacularly. The question now remains, will Labor prove worthy of the Chinese Australian vote?

After-dark pundits want to push the Liberals further right. Let them

GUY RUNDLE 2 minute read

If the News Corp hacks had their way, the Liberal Party would never win back its heartland. Doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Dutton is a dud — Marise Payne would have been an ideal Liberal Party leader

AMBER SCHULTZ 4 minute read

The former foreign affairs minister has been overlooked to lead the Libs. A shame. She could have bridged conservatives and moderates.

News Corp comes over all green after Labor’s first boat turnback

CHARLIE LEWIS 2 minute read

The confected outrage in the Oz and the Herald Sun gives us a pretty good clue about the manure we'll see in the Murdoch stables.

Hated by the right, a cowed ABC is now killing off its support in the centre

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

The national broadcaster is hurting itself and losing its hard-earned trust by caving in to pressure from the Coalition and News Corp.

For the sake of his party, Tudge must go, and quickly

BERNARD KEANE 2 minute read

Alan Tudge should leave politics and allow Josh Frydenberg to take his seat. His party needs it and the nation needs it.

ScoMo cracks the whip one last time

IMOGEN CHAMPAGNE 2 minute read

At a final party at Kirribilli House, the prime minister gave us one more weird Morrison moment before he fades into oblivion.

A note to men seeking vindication through defamation: you might not like the reckoning

MICHAEL BRADLEY 4 minute read

A number of high-profile men have recently discovered that defamation litigation is not the straight path to absolution that they might have hoped it was.