catriona gunn

Good morning possums 😊😊 And we are living the proof of that ..

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐒. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫, 𝐁𝐒. Labor has long understood the power of the 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭. Repeat a falsehood often enough & eventually people begin to accept it as fact. But there’s a fundamental flaw in that tactic. Eventually, reality catches up with the rhetoric, & people begin to question what they’ve repeatedly been told. Yet rather than acknowledge the evidence or concede that their policies may not be delivering the promised results, some Labor ministers simply continue repeating the same claims. And @ClareONeilMP appears determined to do just that. Despite evidence of weakening housing lending, O’Neil has claimed that more young Australians are buying their first homes as a result of the May budget. Yet June-quarter lending figures showed a decline in new loan commitments across owner-occupiers, investors & first-home buyers. And figures due to be released today are expected to show that weakness continuing. Of course, a decline in lending commitments does not, by itself, establish whether more or fewer young Australians are purchasing their first homes. But it certainly raises questions about the basis for O’Neil’s claim. Political assertions are not evidence. Repeating a claim does not make it true, & announcing a policy does not establish that it has delivered the promised outcome. At some point, govt’s must be judged not by what they repeatedly tell Australians they are achieving, but by what the evidence actually demonstrates. And then there’s O’Neil’s claim that renewables are bringing down energy costs. That assertion deserves equally close scrutiny, particularly when Australian households & businesses continue to face substantially increasing energy costs & we now have reports warning that those costs could double by 2029. There is an enormous difference between promising cheaper energy & actually delivering it. And that brings me back to the illusory truth effect. At some point, repeated political claims that cannot be reconciled with reality cease to be persuasive. They simply become excuses. And when politicians continue repeating them despite mounting evidence to the contrary, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish political spin from deliberate deception.

The most graphic literal example of taxpayers’ money going up in smoke. 🔥🔥 And judging by the figures, an extraordinarily expensive smoke at that. $545,000 for the celebration alone.

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧. You will recall that in September the High Court refused Sall Grover @salltweets special leave to appeal in the landmark Giggle for Girls v Roxanne Tickle case. A case of considerable importance to Sal, to biological women in Australia concerned about sex-based rights, & to the future interpretation of the Sex Discrimination Act in this country. However, today the High Court granted Pauline Hanson special leave to appeal a racial discrimination ruling arising from her long-running dispute with Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi. The dispute began following Queen Elizabeth II’s death, when Faruqi made comments about the monarchy & British colonialism that I considered appalling. Hanson responded by telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan.” Hanson’s appeal raises constitutional questions about the Commonwealth’s legislative powers & the implied freedom of political communication. I’m pleased Hanson has been granted the opportunity to have those questions heard by the High Court. But I cannot help reflecting on the contrast. Both cases raise significant questions about the interpretation & application of Australia’s discrimination laws, albeit on very different legal grounds. 𝐈𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐱-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 & 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. And I remain deeply disappointed that the High Court declined to hear her appeal particularly so given Hanson’s ruling.