Daily Insight

It was only a couple of weeks ago when Woolworths announced they would no longer be stocking Australia Day merchandise due to a “gradual decline in demand”, and a “broader discussion about January 26 and what it means to different parts of the community”. The backlash was swift. The media pounced and accused the retail giant of trying to cancel the national holiday. “Woolworths CEO denies serving up ‘wokeness in aisle three’”. Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton called for a boycott. A couple of stores were vandalised with pro-Australia Day graffiti. They should have just sprayed them with orange paint and claimed they were saving the planet. I don’t think Woolworths expected quite the backlash. Despite the failed Indigenous Voice referendum (which Woolworths controversially supported), ironically, everyday Australians are now starting to find their voice and push back against these corporations telling us how to live our lives. Woolworths is learning the hard way that you can’t just decide which holidays people should and shouldn’t be able to celebrate. Yesterday, Woolworths felt the need to start conducting some damage control in aisle three. South-African born CEO Brad Banducci did the rounds on breakfast television to try to explain his actions, spouting the typical lines, “Australia Day means different things to different people”. Yeah, just shut the f*** up mate! You could say that about any holiday, or about anything really. But you’re not cancelling Halloween, or Chinese New Year. It was funny, a lifelong Woolworths customer called in saying, “It doesn’t matter how well or not you’ve communicated the decision, it was a poor decision. You have stewardship, sir, of over 175,000 employees. You put their jobs at risk now by meddling in Australian politics. Stay out of politics, and stick to selling groceries!” When asked if he had regrets about what he’d done, he just said, “I think we could clearly have done a better job of explaining our decision, that’s why I’m here.” Woolworths even spent hundreds of thousands of dollars taking out full-page ads in newspapers trying to explain their position. Basically he just said that Woolworths are not trying to cancel Australia Day. Actually, news just coming out today reports that Woolworths consulted its Indigenous advisory board before scrapping Australia Day, noting that this advisory board, headed by Adam Goodes, was created in 2021 in response to a public relations disaster where the supermarket tried to open a giant liquor megastore close to three alcohol-free Aboriginal communities in Darwin, which resulted in a furious backlash. In a leaked letter earlier today, Mr Banducci addressed some of his staff’s concerns with one question addressing why stores have decided to display banners for Lunar New Year or Diwali but not our own national day. He replies, “Celebrations like Diwali and Lunar New Year are often centred around connection over food…” Is he insinuating that Australia Day has nothing to do with food? What a joke! Obviously many Aussies celebrate the day with barbecues, family picnics and parties. But what was most funny, after all this backlash, I received an email from Woolworths yesterday afternoon saying, “Hi Daily, enjoy great value for the Australia Day long weekend.” Suddenly Australia Day is back on the agenda? If you take a look at last week’s catalogue (dated 17th January), there’s not one mention of Australia Day (Australia Day being tomorrow). But yet they felt the need to wish you Happy Lunar New Year, not once, but twice! Noting that Lunar New Year isn’t till February 10th, more than two weeks away. But if you look at their latest catalogue (dated 24th January), on the front page, it says, “Great value for the Australia Day long weekend!” in green and gold Aussie colouring, with a couple of young tykes munching down on their Australia Day barbeque. It should be noted that Woolworths didn’t even mention the Lunar New Year once, and instead relegated the Asian food to the Pantry and Seafood section. That was a quick turnaround by Woolworths, wasn’t it? It seems like when Aussie’s push back, Woolworths are forced to listen. A small win, but a win nonetheless. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

A couple of weeks ago, Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton called for a boycott of Woolworths supermarkets after they made the call to not stock Australia Day merchandise. Soon after, YouGov conducted a survey to see how Aussies felt about this (I’ll talk about these results soon). But the headlines were pretty much all the same, “Only 20% of Australians back Dutton’s call to boycott Woolworths”. On the YouGov website, they wrote, “YouGov’s public data poll has found that only 20% of Australian voters back opposition leader, Peter Dutton’s call to boycott Woolworths and Big W.” At best, this is a very misleading statement. YouGov should know better. They’re a professional market research and data analytics company after all, which leads me to believe they’re intentionally misleading people here. Looking at the survey results, they asked recipients to “Please select the statement that most applies to you.” So let’s be clear, they didn’t ask, “Do you support Peter Dutton’s call for a boycott?” The options were, “I support the decision of Woolworths and Big W management (14%)”, “I support Mr Dutton’s call and will be boycotting Woolworths and Big W (20%)”, and, “My main concern with supermarkets now is excessive price rises rather than this issue (66%)”. Logically, is it not possible that both this statement and this statement could be true? That is, one could both think that supermarkets are overpriced, but also intend on boycotting Woolworths. It’s just that price rises are more important, and the survey doesn’t allow you to select both. To conclude that “Only 20% of Australians back Dutton’s call to boycott Woolworths” is misleading. They’ve just constructed the survey in such a way to sway the result. It would be like if I asked people, “Please select the statement that most applies to you”, and the options were, “Australia must transition to net zero as soon as possible (14%)”, “Nuclear power should be considered for Australia’s base load capacity (20%)”, and, “My main concern is high electricity prices (66%)”. And then concluding that, “Only 20% of Australians Support Nuclear Power”. No, the survey was worded in such a way that people were more likely to select the third option during a cost-of-living crisis. The first rule of surveys is that the response options must be mutually exclusive. If you have overlaps like this, then the results will be skewed and should be considered invalid. Anyway, who am I to tell YouGov how to run their polls? Also, it should be noted that not all the people who stated they will boycott Woolworths actually will. How you answer a poll question, and what you do in real life are two completely different things. Personally, I don’t care if people boycott Woolworths or not. I don’t particularly like what Woolworths have been doing regarding their divisive support for these political and social issues such as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, or their snub of Australia Day. Personally, I think they should stay the hell out of politics and stick to groceries. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll boycott them, but I certainly will only go to Woolworths as a last resort if I can’t find what I need elsewhere. YOUGOV POLL RESULTS – WOOLWORTHS BOYCOTT https://au.yougov.com/politics/articles/48416-only-1-in-5-australians-back-duttons-call-to-boycott-woolworths MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

In Australia, we’ve all experienced a Welcome to Country, or Acknowledgement of Country, possibly multiple times per week. They’re two different things, but essentially two sides of the same coin. They have their place in certain situations when welcoming foreigners to our land. But I think what Australians are starting to take issue with, especially after the long, drawn-out Voice referendum campaign, is being welcomed to their own country. When people welcome us to their land, it makes it sound like it’s not our land. It’s very divisive, is it not? Look, I’m not against individual dancers. For many of them, this is probably a job. Good on them! They’ve found their place in the world. But it’s the political messaging that starts to grate on people. Katrina Power, an Aboriginal Elder from the Adelaide region in South Australia. A couple of weeks ago, she gave a Welcome to Country at the Adelaide Convention Centre, which went somewhat off the rails. According to witnesses, she said things such as, “This event is being held on stolen land!”, “Seven in ten of you didn’t want me to have a Voice!”, referring to the Voice referendum defeat, and “King Charles should be dethroned!”. That was a nice Welcome to Country, wasn’t it? I feel rather welcome now, don’t you? In 2018, she called the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, “Malcolm Cows**t” at an International Women’s Day address. Perhaps Malcolm Turncoat would have been more fitting. In 2017, during her Welcome to Country at an Anzac Day Dawn Service, she made reference to “slavery” and “invasion”. Just as a quick note, the modern Welcome to Country is accredited to actor Ernie Dingo and musician Richard Walley. In 1976, they were members of an Aboriginal Theatre Troupe and were asked by a group of Polynesian performers to give them a Welcome to Country, as their spiritual beliefs dictated, so they did. Since then, Dingo has stated, “Before that occasion, we couldn’t do it to white people because they wouldn’t understand, and there was too much negativity.” Never fear! The ceremony has since become a very positive experience, hasn’t it? Another thing that perhaps some Australians are also getting a bit tired of are Acknowledgement of Country’s. Just so that we’re all on the same page, a Welcome to Country can only be performed by a Traditional Indigenous Owner of the land, while an Acknowledgement of Country can be delivered by anybody else, and is, very frequently. This is probably what is driving so many Australians crazy of late. For example, every Australian website now has an Acknowledgement of Country. This is Coles supermarket for example, “Coles Group acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia.” Blah, blah, blah. Universities are handing out Acknowledgement of Country palm cards. Sorry, I don’t mean to be so dismissive, but I’ve seen or heard these things at least a thousand times before. That’s the issue with these Acknowledgements, they’ve been overused, and now almost have no meaning with most people ignoring them. Whenever I attend a Zoom meeting for work, they inevitably start the meeting by saying, “Our meeting is being held on the lands of the [so and so people], and I wish to acknowledge them as Traditional Owners.” Because we’re online, we’re not even in the same state half the time. We’re using a satellite connection going to outer space. American comedian Bill Maher had something to say about all of this, from a North American perspective: “To all the people who start every public event now with one of those land acknowledgements where they say, ‘I’m standing on land that was stolen from the proud Indigenous people of the Chumash tribe’, I say, either give it back, or shut the f*** up!” I was at a tree-planting ceremony recently commemorating a person who had died in a local community group. It was on council land, and the council lady who was running the show of course began by saying, “I begin today by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather today… blah blah blah”, and then I thought, if you truly acknowledge that this is not your land, why the hell do you think you can just plant a tree in it? How do you justify council owning it? Did you seek permission from anybody? Did you ask the local elder if you could use this land? No, of course not. So why do you keep acknowledging that it’s not your land? It’s like you’re rubbing it in their faces. These people need to do one of two things (in the words of Bill Maher), either give the land back, or shut the f*** up! WELCOME TO COUNTRY OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY https://www.indigenous.gov.au/contact-us/welcome_acknowledgement-country ERNIE DINGO AND RICHARD WALLEY ON THE 40TH YEAR OF THEIR WELCOME TO COUNTRY https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/23/ernie-dingo-and-richard-walley-on-the-40th-year-of-their-welcome-to-country MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

The Labor Party in Australia are in trouble. Unfortunately for Australia, Labor have decided to start playing a dangerous game called identity politics. Instead of focusing on things that matter to all Australians like cost of living, they’ve been busy dividing us up based on people’s ancestry with their woeful Voice campaign. “PLEASE vote Yes!”, he cried. But Australians voted against division and voted No. But the identity politics game continues. Shannon Fentiman, Queensland Minister for Health and Minister for Women. Obviously as a Labor politician, she pushed for people to vote Yes. She’s a trained lawyer, having attained a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. The Courier Mail recently published a piece titled, “Will Shannon Fentiman save the Labor Party? The charismatic Health Minister is Labor’s last line of defence against the humiliating loss it faces in next year’s state election.” I would suggest that if she is the last line of defence, the Labor Party are in trouble. Sure, I’m mixing state politics with federal politics, but I think either way, the Labor Party are on the nose. Earlier this year, Ms Fentiman made comments regarding the definition of a woman. She would know, she’s the Minister for Women after all. Not to mention that she’s the Minister for Health as well, so she should know all about human biology one would expect. She said, “Anyone who identifies as a woman is a woman, and as the Minister for Women, all people who identify as a woman are a part of our policies and strategies to advance gender equality.” So according to the Minister of Women, anyone who identifies as a woman is a woman. I’ll get to that soon. She gave this announcement in response to a terrible, terrible sticker that was stuck outside her office. It read, “Woman. Noun. Adult human female”. On Facebook, Ms Fentiman replied, “Someone did this to my office recently. I want to be very clear – I don’t stand for these sort of views, our community doesn’t stand for these views, and Queenslanders don’t stand for these views.” Oh really, Queenslanders don’t stand for these views? I would suggest that the vast majority of Queenslanders and Australians do agree with that tiny little sticker stuck on the side of your office. Actually, even Google definitions, the Oxford Dictionary, agrees with that definition, and I quote, “Woman. Noun. An adult female human being”. Actually, even the leader of the Labor Party, the Prime Minister himself, seems to disagree with the Minister for Women both before and after he was elected. He said, “How do you define a woman? Mr Albanese. An adult female. An adult female? Yeah. What is a woman, Prime Minister? An adult female.” Yep, he seems to agree with the sticker. Isn’t it funny? We live in such a country free of war and terror where a sticker is treated like some kind of terrible atrocity. To be fair, some commentators have sided with the Minister for Women on this. Political reporter Amy Remeikis accused the Prime Minister of “legitimising” a “hateful question”. Let’s go back to the Minister’s definition, “Anyone who identifies as a woman is a woman.” Let’s run with that. So who does this entail? Well, 1. Actual women, as in, biological women. Of course. Tick! 2. People with Gender Dysphoria as per the American Psychiatric Association’s latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5-TR, which was released in March 2022. And the third category of people that would meet this definition are liars, tricksters, and conmen. How can you prove that somebody who says they identify as a woman, is not a woman? You can’t. That’s why this definition is so stupid and why the Labor party are playing a dangerous game. The point is, Labor in Australia have been playing this dangerous game of identity politics, and it hasn’t been sitting well with many Australians. It’s divisive, it’s foolhardy, and it hasn’t even been paying off in the polls. If Labor keep playing this stupid game, if they keeping playing with fire, they’re eventually going to get burnt. The Australian people will simply vote for somebody else, and rightfully so. ALBANESE AND LABOR SLUMP TO WORST POSITION IN NEWSPOLL SINCE 2022 ELECTION https://theconversation.com/albanese-and-labor-slump-to-worst-position-in-newspoll-since-2022-election-216819 HON SHANNON FENTIMAN QUEENSLAND PARLIAMENT https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Members/Current-Members/Member-List/Member-Details?id=21646119 SHANNON FENTIMAN FACEBOOK ARTICLE https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=773702430793396&set=a.326116422218668 GENDER DYSPHORIA DIAGNOSIS https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/diversity/education/transgender-and-gender-nonconforming-patients/gender-dysphoria-diagnosis DSM-5-TR GENDER DYSPHORIA https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787.x14_Gender_Dysophoria MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Australian pet products supplier, Petstock, has become the next in a growing line of companies to boycott Australia Day. Perhaps there was a time when you could purchase an Australian Flag dog coat for your spaniel, or a bandanna for your terrier, but those days are numbered. It should be noted that supermarket giant Woolworths has recently acquired a 55% stake in Petstock Group, obviously using their power to push their anti-Australia Day agenda. Interestingly, I went to their website, and discovered something a bit strange. If you search for “collar”, of course you get a wide range of cat and dog collars as expected. But, if you search for “Australia”, this is no joke, you get an error message – “Something went wrong”. I don’t know if this is intentional, or just some kind of bug, but it’s amusing nonetheless. In a statement from Petstock, the head parakeet said, “At the Petstock Group, we remain committed to being an inclusive organisation. It is at the heart of our mantra of People, Pets, Planet, that we show respect and make sure everyone who comes through our physical or digital doors feel like they belong.” Except if you celebrate Australia Day, then you can bugger off! When asked about these controversies, head parakeet, I mean Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese simply said, “I think we need to stop looking for areas in which we can be outraged – we need to come together.” That’s funny coming from him. In the first year-and-a-half of his term as PM, he lead the charge in dividing Australians with the massive, cash-wasting, Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. That ended up being very unifying, didn’t it? Cricket Australia Chief Executive Nick Hockley also is banning all references to Australia Day in the upcoming test match that will be played over Australia Day. He said, “We’re not in any way boycotting Australia Day… We’re just mindful that in our communication materials, it means different things to different people, and we’re respectful, and we just want everyone to feel welcome.” Australian Cricket Captain Pat Cummins has weighed in on the issue and stated, “I think we should have an Australia Day, but I think we can probably find a more appropriate day to celebrate it.” Ah yes. Just change the date! That will fix everything, won’t it? Do they think we’re stupid? No matter what date Australia Day is ever held, these activists will never come together to celebrate Australia. They hate what Australia stands for. They want Australia Day, and perhaps Australia, abolished. Although not all Labor politicians agree. Chris Minns, Premier of New South Wales, stated, “This is a day for us all to celebrate with your family and friends, and recognise that we live in the greatest country on Earth. I definitely will be doing that. Cricket Australia should revisit the decision. The idea that you would take a national day away from any country, particularly Australia, is a strange one. We should right now be trying to pull each other together, and this is the day that we’ve set aside to celebrate what it means to live in the greatest country on Earth.” Queensland Premier Steven Miles was a bit less enthusiastic. When asked about the Australia Day cricket controversy, he said, “I haven’t given that much thought… I suppose the Boxing Day Test starts on Boxing Day, whereas this Test will start the day before Australia Day. That might be their explanation, but you’d really have to talk to Cricket Australia.” He’s right. He hasn’t given it much thought. He’s trying to insinuate the reason for not mentioning Australia Day during the Australia Day Test match is that the five-day match doesn’t actually start on Australia Day. What a whole lot of rubbish! Some people are using the analogy that insisting on celebrating Australia Day against the wishes of a minority, is akin to not installing enough disability ramps and lifts for the relatively small proportion of people who are wheelchair-bound. I think that’s a really poor analogy. Cancelling Australia Day because a few people are upset by it, is more akin to removing all steps and stairwells because wheelchair-bound people are upset by watching able-bodied people use them. Furthermore, wheel-chair bound people are not going around rubbishing or attacking their own country, as per the anti-Australia Day fanatics. An online poll by the Courier Mail asked the question, “Should Cricket Australia be snubbing Australia Day?” An overwhelming number of respondents, 97%, said No. Cricket Australia, of course, should continue to recognise Australia Day, and stop playing this stupid, woke game. It just goes on. These people are just not listening to the majority of Australians and are set on their crusade to tear down Australian traditions. I don’t know what we can do about it except to keep calling them out. Hopefully, common sense will prevail. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

A couple of years ago, back when we were all “encouraged” to work from home, I was working at a university as an “assistant” academic. Perhaps academic “dogsbody” would be a more fitting name. Basically, it was my job to help the new teacher anyway I could for a particular course. His name was Cam and was from Vietnam, with a PhD in computing or whatever. I had only spoken to him via email, but he seemed nice enough. Boy, was I wrong (in more ways than one!). This is the ongoing nightmare that is my horrible boss and continues to this day. “Hi, I’m Cam. I’ll be your new supervisor this semester. You’ll be helping me with marking and forum posts. Glad to have you on board!” Sounds innocuous enough, right? Wrong! The First Meeting. I first met Cam online during a meeting. Nobody was allowed to meet anybody in person anymore. I connected to the meeting, and there was an IT lady there who was fixing something up. “Sorry, I’m just fixing up the connection.” “No worries.” I waited around a few minutes, but finally it looked like the lady had finished. “OK, the computer’s fixed.” “Uh, OK… Where’s Cam?” “I’m Cam!” For the more cluey of you out there, “Cam” is not a masculine name in Vietnamese, it is a girl’s name. It means orange fruit. Just in the name of openness, I’m not using her real name here, but the concept is exactly the same. Her real name is actually a Vietnamese feminine name, which I initially mistook as a masculine name, so it turns out he was a lady. I’m not trying to be offensive here. This is entirely due to my ignorance of Vietnamese names. Anyway, Cam is and always has been a lady. She speaks very softly. She’s very petite. She’s very pretty. Not that any of this matters, but I’m just giving my initial impression of her. Although first appearances were of that of an angel, the reality was much closer to the devil. Assignment 1. My first duty was to mark Assignment 1. I got an email from HR telling me that my pay had been reduced. I logged in and saw that they had taken $96 from my pay. I was like, what the F? This has never happened before. I have often applied for extra hours, knowing that many universities around Australia have been sued in recent years for underpaying their casual staff. The HR lady told me that my supervisor (Cam) had contacted them and told them that I had applied for too many hours. I couldn’t believe this. I did her a favour and finished the marking as quickly as possible. She had only assigned 12 minutes to each assignment, which was clearly not enough. I’m not new to this. I’ve been doing this for like 10 years now. If I can’t mark it in the required time frame, then nobody can. And then she had the nerve to go and contact HR and tell them that I applied for too many hours. And then they garnished my salary! It’s not like I was stealing from the university. This had all been budgeted for. I had a meeting with HR about it telling them 12 minutes is simply not enough per assignment, and they just said that I had to take it up with the faculty, with the Computing School. But I knew it had nothing to do with them. It was all on Cam. A couple of weeks went past, and I noticed that students were starting to complain that their assignments hadn’t been handed back yet, the ones that I had finished marking two weeks prior. It had been three-and-a-half weeks since they had handed their assignments in. I couldn’t believe this. Cam had asked me to finish these assignments early, garnished my salary in the process, and then delayed handing them back to the students. She actually didn’t hand them back until a few days later, the same day Assignment 2 was due. Understandably, the students were pissed off. Sick Leave. Due to sickness and other reasons, out of the 10 online lectures Cam was meant to run, she only ran four. With assignment feedback often being returned late, lectures being cancelled, rudeness by the examiner in the forums, understandably, the students didn’t rate her very well at the end of the semester and left her a few choice comments in the forum. “This was the worst course I’ve ever studied!”, said one student. The students hate her. She treats other workers like slaves. She treats me like a slave. She holds off paying people for some reason, when it’s not even her money and none of her business. I don’t know what’s she’s trying to achieve, but she’s surely going to lose her job again. She’s got a PhD, so she seems to be able to find these good jobs, but she’s hopeless. She’s by far the most horrible supervisor I’ve ever had to deal with. She’s a hopeless teacher and a hopeless colleague. Yes, it’s my fault, I admit that. I let her do this to me. But unfortunately, I don’t have many other opportunities for earning an income. Perhaps I’m just destined to work with this nightmare of a lady. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

When it comes to the economy, there are four ‘I’ words. Inflation, where prices become more expensive over time, which isn’t necessarily bad if wages keep up, but they’re not, as we’re seeing in Australia. The purchasing power of consumers is inevitably reduced, eroding people’s real income. Our second ‘I’, Interest rates. Obviously, with higher inflation comes higher interest rates. Although over time, interest rates have come down significantly, that’s not the issue. The issue is that rates have rapidly increased over the last year-and-a-half or so to the current rate of 4.35%, consequently, people’s mortgage repayments have increased dramatically. RBA Governor Michele Bullock has basically stated that interest rates are a blunt weapon that disproportionately affects different segments of society, particularly younger Australians who bought real estate in the past three years. She said, “I acknowledge the pain borrowers are feeling, but the bank’s statutory objectives are economy-wide outcomes, and our key tool — the interest rate — is a blunt one. The board must therefore set its policy to serve the welfare of Australians collectively.” So basically she’s saying, “If you’re struggling to pay back your mortgage, tough luck! This is not about individuals… This is about the collective!” Our third ‘I’ is Infrastructure. Obviously, without infrastructure, our economy falters. As our population increases, again, obviously, we need more infrastructure. Do you think Dancing Albanese is investing in infrastructure? F*** no! According to the Guardian, “50 projects to lose funding under Australian government’s infrastructure spending review. The Albanese government’s review of infrastructure spending was released on Thursday, with 50 projects worth $11.6bn to lose funding across the country.” And, “‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan” Yay! Another f*** up brought to you by the Albanese Government. And our final ‘I’, the one that the Government don’t want to talk about, Immigration. Immigration has become such an issue in Australia, that even the ABC are critiquing the Government’s actions. “The uncomfortable truth about record high immigration levels, rents and inflation”. Basically, they state that: We are in the midst of a full-blown rental crisis; Our immigration intake is running at record levels with up to 600,000 arrivals expected this calendar year; and, Excess immigration has put upwards pressure on rents, given the housing shortages. Obviously, when there’s not enough houses, but we continue to increase our population, there’s going to be a housing crisis. They conclude that, “Trying to pretend there is only a loose relationship between the huge lift in immigration and the sudden increase in rents — which is fuelling inflation — is likely to create more serious social problems in the future.” “Australia’s population to reach up to 46 million by 2071, ABS projects”. Depending on how future governments deal with immigration, Australia’s population is set to balloon. Almost 46 million according to their high series, 39 million for the medium series, and 34 million for the low series. It should be noted that if immigration was completely stopped, Australia's population would begin decreasing in 2037 before dropping to less than 24 million by 2071 due to Australia’s low fertility rate. Anyway, Immigration is fuelling inflation. Inflation is fuelling higher interest rates. And the Government are cutting infrastructure spending just when we need it the most. Is the Albanese government actively trying to destroy Australian prosperity? ANTHONY ALBANESE INSISTS INFLATION IS A GLOBAL PHENOMENON, RBA BOSS SAYING IT'S HOMEGROWN https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-23/inflation-anthony-albanese-at-odds-reserve-bank-michele-bullock/103142978 'HIGH-RISK' INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FUNDING AXED AS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTAINS SPENDING https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-16/high-risk-infrastructure-project-funding-axed/103111144 THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH ABOUT RECORD HIGH IMMIGRATION LEVELS, RENTS AND INFLATION https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-21/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-immigration-rents-inflation/103128424 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Last week, I made a video about former High Commissioner to West Africa Gregory Andrews. He was a keen supporter of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, and recently went on a hunger strike in front of parliament house in order to convince the Australian Government to end coal and gas exports. Obviously, that didn’t work, and would never have worked as I explained in the previous video. He was on Day 15 of his hunger strike and feeling pretty miserable, but he insisted he was going to continue until at least Day 42. He stated that he was willing to die for the climate, which I thought was a bit fanatical as he has a wife and two children. The next day, Day 16, he had lost a total of 10 kg, or about 12.5% of his body weight. He wasn’t looking or feeling so good. Later that day, he started to suffer from chest pains and shortness of breath, and was rushed to Canberra Hospital by a taxpayer-funded, fossil-fuel powered ambulance. He should probably have requested a human-powered rickshaw to cut down on his carbon footprint. He spent a couple of days in a taxpayer-funded hospital using fossil-fuel derived medical equipment. He said, “My body gave up but my determination hasn’t. Yesterday I had to listen to my body when it started to give out. I was losing control of my limbs and speech, and my brain got pretty foggy. Here in Canberra Hospital, the staff are amazing. They’ve hooked me up to all different drips and they’re doing six-hourly ECGs on me to check my heart.” I’m glad they had the free resources to treat him. Even though Mr Andrews quit the hunger strike, the hunger continues! On Day 17, Deputy Mayor of Shoalhaven Council, Evan Christen, took up the reins and continued the hunger strike while Mr Andrews was in hospital. On Day 19, he handed over to retired English-language teacher and member of Extinction Rebellion, Pam. It’s believed that not only did she miss lunch, she also had to miss afternoon tea with the girls at the Queanbeyan Bowls Club. And yesterday on Day 20, Xanthe took over to skip a couple of meals in the name of climate action. Although it may have started as a full-blown climate hunger strike, it has since evolved into more of a mild peckishness picket. As long as you’re willing to skip a meal in the name of the climate, all are welcome! In response to the Government’s inaction on ceasing the fossil fuel industry, Mr Andrews said, “I don't really understand the psychology of it, but the fact that our Prime Minister ignored me has made me more resolute than ever. I'm glad I saved my body for what's next.” And his next move appears to be to go and help out a group called Rising Tide. Remember back in 2006 Al Gore made a movie called An Inconvenient Truth saying that sea levels could rise by 20 feet in the near future flooding many parts of Manhattan due to melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica. But, it was probably a bit of an exaggeration. Even NASA are only predicting a 3 foot rise relative to 1995 by the end of the century, which is not nothing, but it certainly isn’t anyway near Mr Gore’s alarmist prediction of 20 feet. Although to be fair to him, he only ever stated, “in the near future”, which is open to interpretation, and he did say “could”. So he’s kind of covered himself there. It should be noted that over the last 22,000 years or so, since the last glacial maximum, the sea level has risen by more than 125 metres, or 410 feet! But over the last few thousand years, the sea level has remained relatively stable. Anyway, Mr Andrews has finished his hunger strike and is now going to help out Rising Tide. They plan to blockade the Newcastle Coal Port this Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 November by jumping in kayaks and canoes and getting in the way of the big ships. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s what he had to say, “Hey Australia. Gregory here again. You know we’re the biggest coal exported in the world? That’s a massive shame job, and I know so many of us are against that. I am. And that’s why this weekend I’m going to be at the Rising Tide blockade of Newcastle Coal Port. Newcastle Port is the biggest coal exported in the world. So come down on Saturday and Sunday and help tell the world that we’re sick of our government allowing Australia to be the biggest coal exporter in the world. Enough is enough. Come down to Newcastle and let’s block that coal port.” And news just in. Fiona is now a little bit peckish for climate action on Day 21 of the climate hunger strike. It’s believed that although she had a big breakfast, she skipped morning tea, and is starting to feel a bit peckish. Anyway, Gregory is not dead, despite it being a bit touch and go for a while, and he’s off to save the planet by getting on a Boogie Board and getting in the path of a giant coal ship. Wish him luck! MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Merit is required to go to or work at a university, right? Well, not anymore at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. “Queensland University of Technology defends removing ‘merit’ from hiring policy”. Via an internal email, Vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil told staff that they would be moving away from “the merit principle” towards a “more inclusive suitability assessment”. I don’t know if she’s lost her mind, or perhaps I’m not understanding this fully, but this sounds completely insane in my opinion. She told ABC Radio, “The suitability assessment will consider factors such as gender and ethnic backgrounds. Women, for example, are under-represented in science and engineering at QUT, whereas men are under-represented in teaching and nursing. It will also consider the current demographic breakdown of their various schools and disciplines.” So basically she’s saying that instead of hiring people based on their merit, based on their ability to teach a subject, they’re instead going to focus on whether you fit the prescribed gender or ethnicity or any other arbitrary factor that the university decides. She actually dismissed suggestions that the hiring process should be colourblind, saying that was impossible in practice. “When people say things like ‘We do this on merit’, they're actually reflecting the bias of their own experience. There’s so much data on this around selection, whether it’s recruitment into orchestras or into universities.” I’m not sure if she fully understands how orchestras recruit, but they use blind auditions where musicians perform behind a screen to take away any bias from the hiring process. The only thing the musician is judged on is how well they play – their merit. It’s only merit they’re being recruited on! What is she trying to say here? Is she saying that we shouldn’t have blind auditions, and recruit solely on gender and ethnicity? What an absurd notion! It’s funny, these people call themselves progressives, but they’re doing the very opposite. They’re regressive. They’re returning to a former or less developed state. This is insanity. Professor Sheil continued, “We need to access the entire talent pool, and we don’t want everybody to look the same.” What does that mean? Is she implying that people of a certain ethnicity and gender all look the same? What an incredibly racist and sexist thing to say! Actually, on the radio, she did mention that she was the first female professor of chemistry in Australia and has subsequently spent her entire life trying to get more women into science. Well I would suggest that she believes that she earned her place as the first female chemistry professor, not because of her gender, but because of her merit. But now she wants to turn all that on its head and just choose people not based on their merit, but on arbitrary university-decreed factors. If we take this to its natural conclusion, will surgeons now not be chosen based on their merit? Is that what society wants? When you go in for heart surgery, you’re not quite sure whether this person earned their place, or just happened to be the right combination of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality? Surely surgeons would agree with me on this and be fully against such an absurd notion. Luckily, some academics at QUT have been speaking out against this. One academic, who did not wish to be named, stated, “The policy to get rid of merit is bordering on embarrassing. It’s completely disrespectful to tell students who will be charged thousands of dollars for a program that they will be taught by people chosen not on merit, but suitability.’’ Another academic said, “Every academic colleague I have spoken to about the proposed changes has been left appalled and flabbergasted. They think it is a terrible signal to students and university donors. To students, it is saying you will not necessarily get the best professors when you pay tens of thousands of dollars for this course, you will get who the university believes is the most suitable.” There’s only one good thing about this change that I can think of. At least they’re being honest. Perhaps previously they were trying to conceal their depraved plans, but now, it’s all out in the open. They want to openly discriminate against people, and I hope the students and the academics see through this and either go on strike and demand that the vice-chancellor is replaced, or quit the university and let the university fail. As it should. QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY DEFENDS REMOVING 'MERIT' FROM HIRING POLICY https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-17/qut-defends-removing-merit-from-hiring-policy/103114562 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

If you look at the figures of the Overseas Search Report for October 2023, they state that interest from overseas property seekers is skyrocketing due to recent record migration. Their chart shows the annual change in buy and rent search volumes from overseas property seekers. I guess it’s no surprise that the biggest increase in buying interest was from China at 36.9%. Unsurprisingly, as the number of migrants increase, so does the number of people searching for a place to rent. The chart shows the number of permanent visa holders and student arrivals, which directly correlates with the number of rent searches. If you want to know why there’s a rental crisis, well, here’s one of the reasons. But for whatever reason, the Government refuse to reduce immigration. They obviously get some sort of economic benefit from it. If struggling Australians can’t afford a house or find a place to rent, “So what!”, they say, “Consequences be damned!”. “Australian homes are no longer for Australians”, “Chinese outrun other foreign buyers in dash for housing”, “‘Nuts’: Why millionaires are flooding into Oz”. It’s a good question. Here’s a map from Visual Capitalist. According to the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2023, more than 13,000 millionaires are expected to have left China by the end of this year, the most of any country, and guess where they’re going? You guessed it, Australia! Australia has reclaimed the top position for net millionaire arrivals. Wealthy Chinese love Australia. According to realestate.com, “Australia now top destination for cashed-up Chinese homebuyers”. But why Australia? And where’s all this cash coming from? Well it all started over a decade ago. In 2009, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, made the somewhat shortsighted decision to allow temporary migrants to purchase established housing resulting in a subsequent boom in temporary migration boosting demand for Australian homes. Secondly, apparently Australia has one of the weakest anti-money laundering laws in the world, which has made Australian property a great way for laundering dirty money, no questions asked. There are talks of reforming this, and Australia did agree in 2003 to introduce global ‘Tranche 2’ anti-money laundering regulation, but federal governments from both sides repeatedly delayed its implementation. A report from Paris-based Financial Action Taskforce from 2015 warned that Australian residential property is a haven for international money laundering, particularly from China with billions of dollars laundered in Australian property. Of course, many real estate agents do not want these regulations, because that would end their lucrative gravy train. Peter Li, principal at Plus Agency, is a self-described property guru who mainly deals with Chinese buyers, said, “Foreign buyer inquires have quadrupled from last year, and sales have doubled. International buying will definitely increase during the next year. There is more activity in terms of flights, so it’s increasingly easier to get in and out of Australia.” No, this is not a Giorgio Armani fashion catalogue, this is luxury property developer PB&Co in the affluent suburb of Toorak in Melbourne. Buyer’s agent, Alex Bragilevsky, recently said, “I have facilitated $135 million of real estate deals in Toorak in the past six months with 90% of my clientele from China. They come to Melbourne on a private jet, and I’ll meet them at the airport with a nice car. Then we go out and look at real estate.” David Morrell, director of Morrell and Koren, a top-end real estate firm, described the foreign buyer situation as “nuts”. He said, “We are seeing jumps of $2-3 million dollars on properties. We have a market place that is disproportionately being sold to Chinese buyers, relative to the rest of the population. What’s happening in Toorak is only a look at what is happening under the blankets, across the country.” And lastly, there’s also a special type of visa that essentially facilitates money laundering in Australia, the so-called ‘golden ticket’ visa, the Significant Investor Visa, which was introduced by former Labor Treasurer Chris Bowen in 2012, and requires the applicant to invest $5 million in Australia. It has operated for more than 10 years with almost zero rejections with Chinese citizens making up around 90% of successful applicants. Noting that at the time of recording, “Direct investment in residential real estate is prohibited. Indirect investment in residential property through managed funds is strictly limited.” This visa is not permanent, lasting five years, but you can bring your family with you, and you can apply for a permanent visa at the end. Basically, if you’re rich, even if the source of your money is questionable, you can come to Australia and buy a house, pumping up the property market, pricing locals out of housing, with Australia remaining a global magnet and shelter for dirty laundered money. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Back in my policing days during my time in the police academy, they taught us that as a police officer, your life is most important, then your partner’s, then members of the public. That’s not being cruel or mean. This makes perfect sense in that if you are incapacitated or killed, then you’re of no use to anybody. Obviously, you can’t help somebody if you’re dead. Two years ago, Gregory Andrews was the High Commissioner to West Africa, where he was responsible for promoting Australia's oil and gas projects. Now he is a climate activist on the lawns of Parliament House, 15 days into a hunger strike protesting the lack of government action on climate change. For the last two weeks or so, he has only consumed water with some salt. The reason for his protest, in his own words, “Climate change is no longer a future emergency. The science shows there's no more time left. The world is entering climate collapse and Australia needs to act.” He basically is demanding that the Australian Government ceases subsidising fossil fuels, and commits to phasing out coal and gas exports, among other things. In response to how his body handling it, he said, “My body is starting to deteriorate. I have a tight chest and my breathing is laboured. My brain isn't as good as it usually is. And for some reason my arms and legs are aching.” Despite this, he said he is planning to continue until at least December 13th, another 27 days away, to align with the UN’s COP 28 climate talks in Dubai. If he goes another 27 days, he will be dead. This is not an act of dissent. This is an act of fanaticism. And that brings me back to my police analogy. If as a police officer, you die, then you can’t help or save anybody. It’s of utmost importance that you stay alive. What does Mr Andrews hope to achieve in his death? He has to be pragmatic here. If his goal is to save the planet, he can’t do that if he’s dead. Some might argue that his death would bring awareness to the “climate emergency”, but isn’t everyone already fully aware of this? I mean, regardless of whether you agree or disagree, aren’t we all aware already? Secondly, again from a pragmatic standpoint, does he honestly believe that the Government will change its actions because of his hunger strike? I know what the Government’s line is on this. They will not negotiate with individuals. They will correctly point out that Australia is a representative democracy where decisions are made by Members and Senators in Parliament. If the Government capitulate, if the Government give in to his demands, well we all know the result. Every other fanatic in the country will pitch a tent on the lawns of Parliament House and go on hunger strikes for a whole host of other things. Make meat illegal! Ban cars! Free houses for everyone! No, the Government are simply not going to give in to his demands. Either Mr Andrews gives up, or he dies. I don’t want that, but if he keeps going, that’s what’s going to happen. The saddest thing of all this is that Mr Andrews has two dependent children and a wife. If he dies because of this hunger strike, he has just created a widow, he has just left two children fatherless, and he has not made a lick of difference to the climate. Is it really worth it? FORMER SENIOR LIBERAL GOVERNMENT ADVISER GREGORY ANDREWS IS 14 DAYS INTO A HUNGER STRIKE FOR CLIMATE ACTION https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-15/gregory-andrews-hunger-strike-climate-change-outside-parliament/103107416 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Earlier this month, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard spoke at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, the ARC forum, a new conservative conference in London. He commented on Australian multiculturalism stating that immigrants should adopt the values and practices of their host country. To me, that sounds fairly reasonable, as a person who’s lived overseas and had to adapt to Asian customs and so on, but of course, many commentators took offence to Mr Howard’s comments, and treated them as very controversial. Australian journalist Joe Hildebrand, for example, stated that Mr Howard is wrong. Joe basically argues that Australia doesn’t have a single set of values as Mr Howard seems to indicate, so it is impossible for immigrants to adapt to that fiction. I somewhat agree with Joe on this, however, the same argument could be applied to any country. I lived in China. It’s a huge country with many different cultures and customs. However, wherever you go, they still identify as Chinese (well, mostly). They find some sort of unity in their diversity. Just because they have many different customs and practices, depending on where you go, doesn’t mean I didn’t have to adapt to their ways. Of course I did! It’s the same in Australia. Every other country would expect us to adapt to their ways, even very multicultural countries like the United States. Tipping, for example, is very common in the US. Should we not tip because the US doesn’t have a single set of values and practices? Of course not! You should try to fit in as much as possible. That’s what brings peace and harmony. If I move to Saudi Arabia, of course, I’m going to try to fit in and respect their practices and customs such as not drinking alcohol, or dressing modestly. If I don’t want to do that, of if I’m not willing to do that, well, I don’t have to go to Saudi Arabia, do I? The same with Australia. If people don’t like our freedoms and tolerance towards others, and so on, well they don’t have to come here. Nobody’s forcing anybody. However, based on recent record immigration figures, many people do want to come here, so there’s something they see in Australia. There’s something they like about us, so I think it’s our right to have some sort of expectation that people behave appropriately here following our values and practices. And despite what Joe says, we do have common practices, for example, queuing, lining up. More and more of us might be needing to line up at Centrelink of late, but you don’t push in in Australia. Although in other countries, that does happen, and has happened to me. Our right to protest. We don’t always agree in Australia, so we accept that sometimes our citizens must protest, even if it’s something that we don’t personally support. You certainly don’t have that freedom in many countries. Respecting people’s religion without intimidation or threats of violence. That certainly doesn’t happen in every country. So there are some things that we all hold dear here in Australia, and I think as John Howard said, we should expect people who come here to abide by those practices. I don’t think that’s controversial, and it’s true of every country. If you don’t like a particular cultural practice of a particular country, you’re free not to go there. And other people agree with me. Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, tweeted a statement in response to the recent antisemitism in Australia. She wrote, “There is no place for violence, no place for antisemitism and no place for Islamophobia in Australia. People come to Australia because they want to live in a country that is peaceful, tolerant and respectful. We all must protect that.” So even our Foreign Affairs Minister accepts that there are some things that we hold dear in Australia – peace, tolerance, and respect. Of course we do! Even the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts, made a comment on television regarding the recent antisemitism. He said, “It is horrifying that in Australia, people come from all around the world to experience the freedoms of a democratic society, that people would feel fear about attending a place of worship or practising their religion.” So even he agrees that there is something in Australia that we should all hold dear – our freedoms – and people who come here should respect that. Perhaps John Howard was right after all. JOHN HOWARD SAYS HE ‘ALWAYS HAD TROUBLE’ WITH THE CONCEPT OF MULTICULTURALISM https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/02/john-howard-multiculturalism-comments-alliance-for-responsible-citizenship-conference-london Q+A PANEL MEMBERS CALL FOR VIOLENT PROTESTS HERE TO END https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-14/israel-gaza-war-violent-protests-end-q-and-a/103096502 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

I would suggest that women in Australia and in the rest of the Western world have already attained equality. They have every opportunity afforded to them, and more in some situations (I’ll show you some evidence of that later). However, certain commentators and the powers that be insist that women are still being treated unfairly, even when they’re not, and I know why they do it. The answer is obvious. To divide us. They’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Think the recent Indigenous Voice referendum. It was purely an exercise in division. Divide and conquer. Create or encourage divisions among the subjects to prevent alliances that could challenge the sovereign forces. That is, when the people are fighting each other, they no longer have the power to fight the government. Unfortunately for us plebs, the gender wars can never be won, because the world needs men, and the world needs women. Without one or the other, human civilisation would cease to exist – FACT. Men and women are equally important to society. And to be fair, I love women, at least the women in my life (sure, they can be a pain sometimes, you know what I mean, right?), but my intention in this presentation is not to attack women. The most recent front in this fabricated war is the so-called Gender Pay Gap. By the end of this presentation, I hope to have convinced you that it is not even a real issue, but as a gesture of goodwill, I’ll play along, I’ll humour you, and offer you one potential solution to this non-issue (even though the solution would be rather questionable). First of all, let’s take a look at the Australian Bureau of Statistics Gender Pay Gap Guide. Yes, there really is a difference in how much men are paid on average compared to women. But does this tell the full story? Of course not! “The gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay. Equal pay is where women and men are paid the same for performing the same role or different work of equal or comparable value. In Australia, this has been a legal requirement since 1969!” Okay, so women have been fairly compensated for more than 50 years! So if it’s not discrimination, why does this pay gap occur? Well, it’s pretty simple really. 1. Fewer women choose the most highly-paid careers. For example, the airline industry has a fairly large gender pay gap. This is because highly-paid engineers and pilots are mostly male, while the cabin and check-in staff are mostly female. Now this doesn’t mean a lady can’t become a pilot, and it doesn’t mean a man can’t become a cabin crew, but we’re just talking averages here. More men study engineering. More ladies become cabin crew. This is not discrimination. These are choices. And the second major reason the gender pay gap exists: Women take more time off over their careers (on average). This is not a bad thing. I’m not criticising anybody here. But women have a very important role in society… To have children. Now this is not me saying that all women have to have children, of course not, but at least some of them do. Otherwise, as I said earlier, human civilisation would cease to exist – FACT. Look, if women don’t want to get married, and don’t want to have children, that’s their right. If they want to pursue a career in engineering or whatever and make big bucks just like the men, go for it! There’s nothing stopping you from doing it, well not here in Australia. But you can’t have it all. You can’t work in a lesser paid job, and then complain that your salary is not as good as an engineer or pilot. That’s not discrimination. That’s your choice. Obviously, I think this is a non-issue. Of course men can be nurses, and of course ladies can be pilots and soldiers. You can do it right now if you want to. This gender pay gap that everyone keeps banging on about, yes, it exists, but it doesn’t exist because of discrimination. It exists because people have the freedom to make choices. And isn’t that a good thing? ABS: GENDER PAY GAP GUIDE https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/understanding-statistics/guide-labour-statistics/gender-pay-gap-guide WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AGENCY: WHAT IS THE GENDER PAY GAP? https://www.wgea.gov.au/the-gender-pay-gap MORE WOMEN BECOMING PILOTS BUT LACK OF SENIORITY PUTS THEM AT THE BACK OF THE QUEUE https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-16/coronavirus-might-delay-gender-equality-among-pilots/13063712 QUEENSLAND POLICE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST 200 POTENTIAL MALE RECRUITS IN FAVOUR OF WOMEN https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/12/queensland-police-discriminated-against-200-potential-male-recruits-in-favour-of-women-report-finds ADF INFANTRY SOLDIER https://army.adfcareers.gov.au/jobs/infantry-soldier CITY OF SYDNEY NAMED INCLUSIVE EMPLOYER BY DIVERSITY COUNCIL AUSTRALIA https://news.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/articles/city-of-sydney-named-inclusive-employer-by-diversity-council-australia MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

The Great Australian Dream, the aspiration to own a house on a modest block of land has been idealised as both the ultimate marker of success and a gateway to a better life. Since after the Second World War, waves of migrants have arrived on Australia’s shores in search of this promise. And many found it. The so-called “Ten Pound Poms”, British citizens who migrated to Australia and New Zealand in the 1940s and 50s who were charged a processing fee of £10 – around $900 in today’s money – as part of the Government’s “Populate or Perish” policy, they were promised employment prospects, affordable housing, and a generally more optimistic lifestyle. But for current generations, the dreams offered to their parents and grandparents are out of reach. Even renting a house has become a nightmare. The media is awash with stories of massive rent increases and images of desperate people queuing to inspect properties, properties often riddled with defects and mould. And you can’t complain, because the owners know that you’re desperate. If you move out, they can easily find some other poor sap to take your place. Dr Michael Fotheringham, Managing Director at the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, has said, “Almost everything that could go wrong with housing in Australia has gone wrong. The only thing that could make it worse is if banks started collapsing. It’s Grapes of Wrath stuff,” referring to the Great Depression-era novel. The crisis is tipping people into homelessness or overcrowded living conditions. Demand for housing support is so high that some charities say that people in need have been asking for tents and sleeping bags over food and toys. Every metric tells the same story. Although initially steady, the total value of housing stock in Australia is well above $10 trillion now. Here’s the number written out in full. It’s a number so astronomically huge, it just doesn’t mean anything anymore. Over the last few decades, the ratio of house prices as compared to household disposable income has more than doubled, along with it household debt. But it hasn’t always been this way. Up until the new millennium, house prices pretty much tracked wages. As house prices went up, your wages went up, and vice-versa. But after 2000, what do you think happened? Well, we all know the story. Dwelling prices skyrocketed much faster than wages. People aren’t lazier. People aren’t working less. It’s just that the average salary just isn’t buying as much real estate as it used to. 6% compound annual growth in the value of houses over the past 23 years versus 3% annual growth in average incomes has meant that household debt has had to increase from half average disposable income to almost double. The large amount of housing debt Australians carry means that interest rates have a much greater impact on their lives, and this in turn affects inflation, wages, employment and economic growth. But why? What happened around the year 2000 that made things go so awry? There are basically three reasons. 1. A sharp lift in immigration. Obviously, the more people there are in the country, the more demand for housing. 2. Capital gains tax breaks and negative gearing, which represent a $96 billion per year subsidy for buying houses. And 3. First Home Owner Grants, which essentially inject $1.5 billion into house prices each year. These grants are supposed to help us, but as with many things the Government do, they end up hurting us. And each of these are a direct result of the Government. Either the unintended consequences of misguided ideas, or deliberate policies designed to preserve the wealth of homeowners. Obviously, we can’t just blame one political party. Successive governments have continually fuelled this crisis. It’s just easier to blame the current leader, but it’s certainly not entirely his fault. As a bit of an aside, former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and former Liberal Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, both benefited from the Ten Pound Poms scheme mentioned earlier having migrated with their families at a young age. After decades of government policies that treat housing as an investment not a right, it has become politically easier to make an asset worth more than to make it worth less. If governments caused this crisis, then surely the Government can fix it, but it would require some real political courage to make housing more affordable in Australia. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

American cartoonist, Robert Crumb, is not a fan of humanity. Here’s one of his more misanthropic diatribes: “I’m such a negative person, and always have been. Was I born this way? I don’t know. I am constantly disgusted by reality, horrified and afraid. I hate most of humanity. Though I might be very fond of particular individuals, humanity in general fills me with contempt and despair. I hate most of what passes for civilisation. I hate the modern world. I hate the hordes, the crowds in their vast cities, with all their hateful vehicles, their noise and their constant meaningless comings and goings. I hate modern architecture. I despise modern music. I hate business, having to deal with money. Money is one of the most hateful inventions of the human race. I hate the commodity culture, in which everything is bought and sold. I hate the mass media, and how passively people suck up to it. I hate having to get up in the morning and face another day of this insanity. I hate having to eat, defecate, maintain the body – I hate my body. Nature is horrible. It’s not cute and lovable. It’s kill or be killed. How I hate the courting ritual. I was always repelled by my own sex drive, which in my youth never left me alone. I was constantly driven by frustrated desires to do bizarre and unacceptable things with and to women. My soul was in constant conflict about it. I never was able to resolve it. Old age is the only relief. I hate the way the human psyche works, the way we are traumatised and stupidly imprinted in early childhood and have to spend the rest of our lives trying to overcome these infantile mental fixations. And we never ever fully succeed in this endeavour. I hate organised religions. I hate governments. It’s all a lot of power games played out by ambition-driven people, and foisted on the weak, the poor, and on children. Most humans are bullies. Adults pick on children. Older children pick on younger children. Men bully women. The rich bully the poor. People love to dominate. I hate the way humans worship power – one of the most disgusting of all human traits. I hate the human tendency towards revenge and vindictiveness. I hate the way humans are constantly trying to trick and deceive one another, to swindle, to cheat, and take unfair advantage of the innocent, the naive and the ignorant. I hate the vacuous, false, banal conversation that goes on among people. Sometimes I feel suffocated. I want to flee from it. For me, to be human is, for the most part, to hate what I am. When I suddenly realise that I am one of them, I want to scream in horror.” MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn #misanthrope #misanthropy #misanthropic

It’s less than 11 months till Americans go to the polls, and only a fool would discount Donald J. Trump. Despite being impeached twice and facing a number of charges in multiple criminal cases, Trump has a real chance to return to the White House and become the next and 47th President of the United States. The Democratic Party and the media view him as unfit for office, but millions of voters disagree. Recent polling shows him leading his Republican rivals by more than 50 percentage points. Voters are unhappy with Biden. He says the economy is in good shape, yet the voters see otherwise. Their wages are not keeping pace with the costs of essential goods and services. People are worried about crime and nervous about the flow of illegal migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump is adept at channelling those fears, while also presenting himself as someone who comes from outside the political system. He declares the country is in chaos, and then deftly offers himself as saviour. Even if you don’t like him, Trump just may be the next president. #shorts #biden #trump

We should call out racism wherever we see it, and Boston mayor Michelle Wu, the first person of colour elected mayor of Boston (their words, not mine), held a party that can only be described as advocating racism. An email invitation was accidentally sent to the entire Boston City Council titled “Electeds of Color Holiday Party”. Apparently, this party has been going on for over a decade, but it certainly has come out in the open this year. Michelle Wu stated, “We’ve had individual conversations with everyone, so people understand that it was truly just an honest mistake that went out in typing the email field. It’s just one of many parties that will be held for Boston elected officials during this holiday season, but this one was only intended to go to the six minority council members. I think we all have been in a position at one point where an email went out and there was a mistake in the recipients, so there was truly just an honest mistake that happened in issuing the invitation.” So instead of calling out the obvious discrimination involved in hosting this party, she’s instead waffled on about it just being a mistake in the issuing of the email. It was simply a technical issue. How about the fact that you’re only inviting people of certain skin colours to parties. I mean, it doesn’t really need to be stated, but if a Caucasian-Only Party was held, people would be horrified, and rightfully so. And while I’m here, I may as well call out the racial term “People of Colour”. These people claim they’re against racism, yet they insist on using this racialised term. Not only does is not dissuade racism, it actively promotes it by continually referring to people’s skin colour. If you are truly against racism, well, stop using racial language and hosting parties where only people of certain skin colours are invited. Boston City Councillor, At-Large, Ruthzee Louijeune, who attended the party on Wednesday night, is described as, “A grounded, thoughtful, and inclusive leader”. Well, inclusive for certain people. Regarding the Party, she said, “It is not at all divisive. It is creating spaces for people, and communities and identities with shared experiences to come together. We are still breaking barriers and it is so important for us to carve out and create that space.” Again, would a Caucasian party be appropriate in the Councillor’s eyes? Obviously not. It seems like if it weren’t for double standards, these people would have no standards at all. I think that the people of Boston should call this out for what it is and demand that Michelle Wu do one of two things, either call out the party for its obvious racial undertones and ban it from ever taking place again, or step down as mayor. If she’s unwilling to do either, then she should be sacked. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

“Charles Bukowski, do you hate people?” “I don't hate them… I just feel better when they’re not around.” Bill Hicks: “I’m tired of this back-slapping ‘Isn’t humanity neat!’ bullshit. We’re a virus with shoes.” Molière: “Betrayed and wronged in everything, I’ll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart, Where I’ll be free to have an honest heart.” André Malraux: “What is Man? A miserable little pile of secrets.” Novala Takemoto: “Most people are full of themselves and speak only the obnoxiously superficial. In other words, they’re annoying as hell.” Emil Cioran: “The multiplication of our kind borders on the obscene; the duty to love them, on the preposterous.” Charles Bukowski again: “People diminish me. The longer I sit and listen to them, the more empty I feel. But I don’t get the idea that they feel empty. I feel that they enjoy the sound from their mouths.” Bill Hicks again: “I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck!” #shorts #misanthrope #misanthropy

In general, I think government should stay out of people’s lives as much as possible. Big government results in big problems. But when it comes to government making polices based on people’s ancestry or heritage, they should stay the hell out completely. Giving people of certain ancestry more benefits than those who are not of that ancestry is just plain morally wrong. But of late, governments like to tell us that it’s a good thing to do this “in order to correct inter-generational trauma caused by the harmful effects of colonisation”, or some other BS. The Sixth Labour Government of New Zealand under the leadership of Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins, introduced rules the were very much ancestry-based. Now the Sixth National Government, a coalition comprising the National Party, ACT Party and New Zealand First, under the leadership of PM Christopher Luxon, are set to reverse many of these ancestry-based policies, and I think that’s a good thing. The former government pushing ahead dividing New Zealanders by their ancestry was going to destroy New Zealand. Smoking. I suppose it comes as little surprise to many of you that the politics of smoking in New Zealand became a racial issue. Associate Professor of Public Health Andrew Waa, who identifies as Māori, has long spoken about the health inequity facing Māori people, which he says is rooted in New Zealand’s colonial history. 9% of New Zealand’s adult population are daily smokers, whereas more than double that, 22% of Māori are daily smokers (it’s even higher among Māori women). In a research report on tobacco usage, along with others, Professor Waa stated, “Colonisation is an underlying driver of ethnic inequalities in smoking behaviour.” Māori language. The new PM has stated that his government are planning to dial back the use of Māori language in government organisations. Fair enough. I mean, only about 16.5% of New Zealanders identify as Māori, and only about 4% of the population can speak Māori, so it doesn’t make sense to allow Māori language in the government if the vast majority of people can’t understand it. Sure, people can study Māori if they want to, but it shouldn’t be forced upon people. As with any language, forcing the Maori language on people causes them to resent it, Treaty of Waitangi, the country’s 180-year-old founding document. The new government have said they will review the Treaty and allow parliament to debate whether the nation should hold a referendum on co-governance with Māori, which in practice would give Māori a permanent seat in government, regardless of the norms of democracy. Privately, many New Zealanders see this as a Māori takeover, and without knowing too much about New Zealand politics, I think the results of the referendum would be a big fat NO. As we saw in Australia with the Indigenous Voice referendum, people don’t want others getting political advantage based purely on their ancestry. And the last one, Māori Health Authority. The new government has already announced it plans to close the Māori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora, set up during Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government in order to improve Māori health outcomes. Some commentators have claimed that this has simply created a two-tier system based on patients’ ancestry. It actually had real ramifications, as I mentioned in previous videos. This is from June 2023 from the Guardian, “New Zealand starts giving priority to Māori and Pacific elective surgery patients”. Basically, a new algorithm was implemented in some hospitals which meant Māori and Pacific patients were pushed higher on surgery waiting lists than those of other ethnicities. It was racist. It was discriminatory. It goes against all traditional triage principles, but yet it was allowed under a Labour Government. David Seymour, leader of coalition partner ACT New Zealand, a libertarian party, and future Deputy Prime Minister, was asked about these changes. He simply said, “Where will New Zealand be in 50 years’ time if the current path continues, where Kiwis are offered different rights based on their ancestry?”. It’s a good rhetorical question, one which I answered it at the start of this video. Pushing ahead dividing New Zealanders by their ancestry is going to destroy New Zealand. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. With regards to the Treaty of Waitangi, Mr Seymour said, “I acknowledge the Treaty of Waitangi is a national ‘taonga’ (Māori for treasure), but its principles are vague, free-floating ideas for activist judges and officials to divine.” Anyway, the new New Zealand Government are planning to do away with all these ancestry-based policies, and I think that’s probably the best thing not only for equality, but also for social cohesion. Putting others ahead of others because they happen to have the right bloodline is a recipe for disaster. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

In this presentation, I give you three steps how to destroy surf life saving. (These steps are actually being implemented as we speak). Step 1. Send out a draft document to all clubs titled “Diverse Gender Factsheet for Surf Life Saving Clubs”. Step 2. In it, explain to volunteers and members that in order to avoid misgendering people, they must “retrain their brain” to avoid calling people by their biological sex when they don’t identify as their biological sex, which may or may not be male or female. Obviously, your brain has been misprogrammed to think there are only two biological sexes, which is wrong, so your brain needs to be corrected. Don’t worry, you can practise when you are alone, or in your head. I recommend looking in the mirror, if you are a man, and repeating this affirmation over and over, “You are not a man. You are a little girl lifesaver.” Step 3. Force clubs to modify existing change rooms, bathrooms and showers to “gender neutral spaces” and build more unisex toilets. Despite clubs primarily relying on donations and scant funding, and despite only 20 people out of the total 76,000 members identifying as non-binary, the clubs should be forced to spend any remaining resources on rebuilding their toilets to accommodate less than 0.1% of people. It does not matter if parents do not want their teenage daughters getting changed in the same change room as an anatomically correct male who just happens to identify as female, that is just plain ignorance and parents just need to retrain their brains. If you follow these three steps, you are sure to destroy surf life saving as we know it as thousands of people cancel their donations and membership, and pull their children out of the clubs. Alternatively, you can just focus on the key objective of saving people from drowning. “We accept all people no matter their background. As long as you’re willing to rescue people from drowning without fear or favour, you are welcome.” Personally, if I’m out swimming in the surf and get caught in a strong current and need to be dragged out of the ocean by a surf lifesaver, I don’t care what you call me. Mr, Mrs. Miss. Instead, I will be eternally grateful that you saved me. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

In November 2021, then Labor leader and Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Michael Gunner blasted those who were against the mandates, even if they themselves had had the imposed medical treatment. “Stuff it, shove it!” Six months later in May 2022, he resigned as Chief Minister stating that his head and heart were no longer in the job. In December 2021, then Western Australian Premier and Labor leader Mark McGowan was having fun closing borders and dictating what medical treatment his constituents must receive in order to maintain their livelihoods. In May 2023, he stood down as Premier and announced his retirement from politics citing “exhaustion”. In mid-2021, then Victorian Premier and Labor leader Daniel Andrews was responsible for some of the harshest pandemic restrictions in the world, with his infamous Orwellian message, “Staying apart keeps us together”. Nighttime curfews, permits to work, yes, this was Dan Andrews dystopia. He also infamously banned golf. Three years on, karma has somewhat come back to bite him with many of Victoria’s elite golf clubs rejecting his membership. I suppose it comes as no surprise that in September this year, Daniel Andrews resigned as Premier, citing that he was “worse than a workaholic”, that “every waking moment was about work”, and that he didn’t “want to get to a place where he resented his job”. And the last pandemic premier still standing in my home state of Queensland, Premier and Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced her resignation as well just yesterday. Under her watch, Queensland notoriously had some of the strictest pandemic-related border restrictions in the country preventing desperate loved ones from reconnecting with dying family members and friends. She banned single-use plastic bags, brought in tougher land-clearing laws, and also legalised voluntary assisted dying. But now, the pressure has become a bit too much from within Labor’s ranks, and she has quit. Well, I’ve only got two words to say to the outgoing Premier… Good riddance! MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

I know a couple who are probably in their mid 40s. They both work in the public service here in Queensland. When they got married, they made it very clear to each other, and everybody else, that they’re not planning to have children. They’re reasoning is very clear. They don’t want to bring children into a world that is on the verge of cataclysmic climate change. That’s they’re main reason. They’re secondary reason is that they “enjoy their free time” and don’t want to give that up to look after children. Throughout human history, there have been hundreds of major disasters and calamities. Think World War II. If people just gave up and decided that they weren’t going to have children, then human civilisation would have ended, and we never would have saw the modern world. The second couple I know, also in their mid-40s, the guy is a university lecturer, while his wife (well, I presume it’s his wife), is a university administrator. At the very least, they’re in a de facto relationship. You know, they’re the type that always say “my partner” instead of “my wife” or “husband”. I’ve known them for over a decade as we work at the same university. They made it very clear a long time ago that they never intend on having children stating that “The world is already overpopulated. We choose not to have children to help future generations and the planet.” It sounds almost nonsensical, “We choose not to have children to help future generations.” Hate to tell, if you don’t have children, they’re won’t be any future generations. You’re literally breeding yourself out of existence. Well, while these well-to-do, Western academics and intellectuals are not having children, the rest of the world moves on. Africa has one of the highest fertility rates in the world with countries such as Chad having an average of six or more children per woman. Central Asian countries such as Afghanistan continue to average more than four children per mother. It’s largely people in Western and East Asian countries that are choosing to have so few children now. I have some interaction with the refugee community in my neck of the woods, and by and large, they have large families despite them having much less money than these people choosing to not have children. Paradoxically, these rich university professors who have plenty of resources are forgoing children. But the funny thing is, these largely Western, socially progressive academics often vote for political parties that are proponents of large scale immigration, not to mention proponents of certain medical procedures that make it easier to not have children, a procedure starting with ‘A’ that I’m not allowed to talk about openly on this platform for some reason. While they choose not to have children, the Australian Government continues to import hundreds of thousands of new people every year. It’s almost laughable when you think about it. When you choose not to have children, that just encourages the Government to increase immigration. They don’t care about your concerns, and to be fair, you voted them in. Statistically, according to the ABS Household and families: Census from 2021, Couples with no children make up 38.8% of all families, which is quite a large number. More and more people are choosing not to have children. When I was a kid, there were couples without children, but it was almost always due to their inability to have children, not an intentional choice. But even if these people’s concerns are completely valid — the world is on the verge of catastrophic environmental collapse — well wouldn’t it make sense to have children, pass on your genes, teach them your knowledge and values, so that they can grow up to be the next climate scientists, or whatever. But instead you take the easy way out and choose to end your lineage. Thousands of generations came before you. If any of those ancestors chose not to have children, you wouldn’t be in existence. By purposely choosing not to have children, you’re intentionally and permanently ending your genealogical line. It’s funny, only humans intentionally do this. I don’t know any other species that try to wipe themselves out as much as we do. So what can we say about these childless parents, at least the ones I know? Well, they want to save the planet by forgoing children. But it makes no sense. The population still increases thanks to other countries pumping out children, not to mention the Australian Government’s obsession with immigration. Thanks to massive population inflows, their childless existence isn’t going to make a lick of difference to the environment. The only thing these couples are actually achieving, as I mentioned before, they are breeding themselves out of existence. And perhaps some of you think that is a good thing. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

As with every political party, Labor made some promises before being elected. They promised to implement the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which was a complete flop, but I’m not holding that against them. They kept their word in that they held the referendum. It’s just that Australians weren’t having it and voted No. Despite this, the ABC continue to publish, “Overwhelming majority of Australians support a First Nations voice despite referendum defeat”. I wonder where they conducted that survey? I guess Canberra. But one of the biggest promises that Labor completely muffed up, was the promise of cheaper electricity prices. “An Anthony Albanese Labor Government will cut power bills by $275 a year.” Fat chance! The ABC actually published this chart earlier today. Estimated annual household power bills. Shown in red is Labor’s promise. Down, down, down, down, down. But what we actually spent, shown in blue, up, up, up, up, up! It’s kind of opposite to what they promised. Now I know some of you will say that there’s been a war in the Ukraine. But the ABC did address that, “But even after the war began, Labor repeated the pledge that supercharging clean energy would deliver cheaper energy in its first term in power.” To be fair to Labor, they still have a little bit of time left until 2025, but it would take a massive drop in prices to get to their promised amount. It just doesn’t seem possible at this stage, but you never know, may Albo has some tricks up his sleeve? “Powering Australia! Labor’s plan to create jobs, cut power bills and reduce emissions by boosting renewable energy.” Feel free to donate to the cause if any of you have any free money. Oh that’s right, most of you don’t. Another article published by the ABC today, “The GDP numbers explain why you are feeling broke and eating baked beans”. According to Australian National Accounts, released yesterday, Australia’s GDP grew 0.2% in the last quarter, which is not very good at the best of times, but since the population grew by 0.7% in the same period (thanks immigration), which means everybody’s slice of Australia’s economic pie just got half a per cent smaller. Nothing like a good graph to paint a picture. Household saving rates have plummeted to their lowest level in like 15 years as people have to spend more of their income just to pay the mortgage, the rent, and the inflated cost of groceries. “Aussie economy left behind under Albanese. While US and Europe bounce back from tough economic times, Australia is fighting a losing battle.” “The lucky country? Aussies preparing to live on the road as poor rental availability, cost of living and wage stagnation take hold”. And to keep things fair, one from the ABC, “Australia’s economic growth disappoints, as economy goes backwards per person over the past year” So what does Albo have to say when he sees electricity prices skyrocketing and people’s savings dwindling? “I promise”. It’s somewhat laughable when you think about it. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

There’s one delusion that we seem to accept in society. We not only accept it, we actively encourage it, we enable it, we provide opportunities for people to act out their fantasy. But you’re not allowed to speak out against it. I’m not even going to mention the disorder here, because it’s so politically charged. Anorexia Nervosa is a psychiatric disease that we are all probably familiar with. I’ve known people who’ve had this condition, and it’s certainly very serious. It involves a profound dissatisfaction with one’s body. Despite being dangerously underweight, many sufferers still see themselves as overweight or even obese. But society understands that this is a delusion. It’s a mental disorder where the person has a distorted mental image of their body. It doesn’t match reality. Yet, we would never recommend weight-loss surgery to these people to help with their body image. Physicians who go along with such irrational beliefs, by offering liposuction for example, would be up for medical malpractice or malfeasance. People with Body Integrity Dysphoria, a very rare mental illness where there is a mismatch between a person’s mental body image and their physical appearance, characterised by an intense desire for amputation or paralysis of a limb, or to become deaf, or even blind. Should surgeons willingly go along with this delusion and help the person become blind, or disabled? That would surely be immoral, and rightfully so. Instead, Body Integrity Dysphoria is treated as a psychiatric illness, as it should be. Schizophrenia, a chronic mental disorder involving delusions and hallucinations, with some people believing that aliens are trying to poison them. Should we go along with their delusions and help them stop the aliens? Of course not. It’s not real. It’s a disservice to pretend that their hallucinations are real. Instead we treat it as a serious mental disorder. I am actively employed at a university that is giving people the opportunity to receive permanent, life-altering, often irreversible surgery and other procedures in order for the their physical body to match their spurious mental body image. If you read about it in a book, it would read like some kind of Frankenstein experiment. Surgeons claiming they can change people’s biological identity. But it turns out no amount of cosmetic surgery can effect a biological change. To pretend otherwise is a masquerade. Many individuals who undergo this surgery realise that it doesn’t deliver the serenity they were once promised. Depression and anxiety, among other things, continue. But yet as a society, we have somehow allowed this cultural delusion. It seems like we have learnt nothing from the disasters of previous attempts to treat mental illness with surgery, for example, prefrontal lobotomy. This barbaric procedure was responsible for at least 490 deaths and left thousands of people in a vegetative state. Sadly, in many cases, that was believed to be an improvement in the lives of many mentally ill people as they were now easier to take care of. Thankfully, this horrible procedure has since been discredited, although at the time it was considered the apex of neurosurgical intervention. Unfortunately, the follies and foolishness of humankind are historically not uncommon. Epidemics of irrational groupthink are well-documented. Witch hunts have been a fairly commonplace practice throughout human history. Simply being labelled a witch was often enough evidence of witchcraft punishable in the most horrendous ways. The authorities at the time honestly thought they were doing a moral good. Alchemy, the attempt to change base metals such as lead or copper into silver or gold, and to discover cures for disease, or elixirs of immortality. The idea is considered ludicrous to the modern mind, but at the time was considered the peak of scientific research and discovery. Actually, the transmutation of base substances into gold is now known to be impossible by chemical means but possible by physical means, although not financially worthwhile. Why do I mention alchemy? Well, it is somewhat comparable to the current popular delusion that I mentioned previously, not to turn base metals into gold, but rather to transcend the laws of biology and transmute human nature. In a hundred years time, will this be considered another folly in human history? Time will tell I suppose. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

Many listeners of mine send in requests for particular video topics, and many of these topics I honestly want to pursue, however, I have a sword dangling above my head, placed there by the largest video sharing website on the internet. You see, a bit over a year ago, I published a video that spoke about a particular pathogen and its effect on a particular vital organ of the human body. I thought it was fact-based, but apparently not. The company removed the video and hit me with a warning, a warning that has stayed with me since October 2022. Every time I login to my account, I see this warning. “Channel violations. Active Community Guidelines strikes. Warning.” I guess they’ve done some research on the psychology of this. By dangling a warning over my head, it keeps me in line. And it’s worked to some extent. I tend to avoid certain topics now knowing that at anytime my masters can drop the sword upon me. For over a year, I had no way to remove this, until recently. Exactly one year later, they offered me an ultimatum. Clicking on the warning, “Your content was removed due to a violation of our Community Guidelines. You’ve received a warning. You can take a policy training which will remove the warning after 90 days.” So basically, take the mandatory training, or forever have this warning looming over your head. I took the training. It was on Medical Misinformation and I passed with flying colours on October 26. Consequently, my warning is due to expire next year, January 24. I’d like to show you the training, but some of the questions are pretty intense, and I’m worried just by showing you, I’m going to be accused of the very thing that got me here in the first place. But I’ll show you what I can. “While there are different types of medical misinformation, the one we'll focus on most in your training is V misinformation. The company doesn't allow content that poses a serious risk of egregious harm.” They mention things such as the “World Health Organisation’s guidance”. They talk about “Prevention misinformation, Treatment misinformation, Denial misinformation.” But they also note that “this training includes descriptions of medical misinformation, which could be upsetting or triggering to some people”. I won’t show you the questions, because I know that’ll get me into trouble. But, I will show you two questions that I created that are similarly structured. You’ll quickly see that you can’t fail this training. The answer is always obvious. Question 1. Sandra hosts a regular podcast inviting many astronomy experts and aficionados on as guests. One guest starts talking about the Apollo 11 spaceflight and incorrectly states that Buzz Aldrin was the first human to step onto the Moon’s surface. What should Sandra tell her guest? A. “Actually, Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon”. B. “No man has walked on the Moon. The moon landing was fake.” C. “No man has walked on the Moon. The moon is not real. It’s simply a projection.” Question 2. Serj uploads a video stating that mathematics is subjective and can result in various answers depending on the scenario. He offers one such scenario. (Please select the answer that is most appropriate and that does not spread harmful mathematical misinformation). Billy has thirteen apples, James gives him seven more apples. How many apples does Billy now have? A. 20 apples. B. 34,514 apples. C. Lemon. D. People who eat apples are being tracked by the government by special implants hidden in the core of the apple. Obviously, even if you are the biggest conspiracy theorist of all time, you could still answer these questions correctly and pass the training. So that begs the question, “What is the point of the training?”. Well I can only conclude that it is not training. It’s more of a game of, “Are you willing to answer these questions correctly?”, or, “Are you willing to pretend that you don’t believe in these conspiracy theories just to pass the training?”. It’s stupid. It’s not training. But here we are in 2023 with one company being the self-proclaimed arbiters of truth. And we just sit here and pretend that that’s okay. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn