The Marrickville Brawler and the Leader of the Opposition.

I want to take you back to election night 2022 when @Albomp stood up and, among his (as it turned out) hollow promises, swore to bring respect back to parliament. As we have witnessed over the past three years, he delivered the complete opposite of that.

Now, after his extremely long taxpayer-funded bludge following his win in May, we have been given the first opportunity to witness his commitment to respect this term. And it is on this point that Simon Benson has made a very astute observation, and one that hasn’t escaped me and others. And that relates to how Albanese intends to treat @sussanley. Remember Albo’s now infamous “smash her” statement from some years ago when referring to Sussan?

Albanese and Labor can’t treat Sussan the way they treated Peter Dutton. And he certainly couldn’t invoke the “smash her” tactic. Nor could they resort to the disrespectful labelling and attacks on her appearance as they did with Peter. If they did that to a female, they’d be hammered. So it appears Albanese, as Simon points out, is adopting Bob Carr tactics and treating Sussan as if she didn’t exist.

In QT this week, Albanese barely looked at his opponent across the chamber. He refused to address her on occasion as required and, when answering questions, turned his back to speak to his troops.

Albo wasn’t labelled the Marrickville Brawler for nothing. And Albo will keep up his dismissive charade unless starts to adopt some of the “Thatcher Tactics’.

• Being better informed and tougher than them

• Using authority, not apology

• Turning their condescension into political strength

• Dominating with preparation, poise, and conviction

Thatcher out-prepared everyone in the room. She knew the figures better than anyone, and she used that to devastating effect.

She had voice coaching to lower her voice to sound more authoritative. Her delivery was very deliberate, firm and on point.

When dismissed as “just a housewife,” she used it to her advantage. She framed herself as a practical, no-nonsense economic manager — someone who balanced budgets and made tough decisions, just like a household must. Albo has never balanced a budget in his life!!

Thatcher was not afraid to challenge men directly, even those who tried to patronise or bully her. She often interrupted or corrected senior male colleagues if they were wrong. This will be harder to do given the Speaker patronises Sussan as well, but she could use the media to better effect.

Thatcher rarely emphasised her role as a “woman in power” and rejected modern feminism, preferring to be seen as a leader, not a female leader. This helped her navigate spaces where overt gender solidarity might have backfired. This is where Sussan could introduce a real difference to great effect. Whilst I love pink, she needs to drop the pink and white pants suits. Those who study the art of colour know that people treat you differently if you wear pink when taking issues head on. 

Conviction. Come out strong in support of biological women and against child gender experimentation. Drop NetZero and stand firmly behind nuclear. So many opportunities to differentiate and stop asking everyone for their opinion.

Leaders determine what needs to be done, select the best people to deliver on it and constantly remind those whose support you why it’s necessary.

Until Sussan adopts this, the Marrickville Brawler will continue to treat her as irrelevant.

The intolerance of the smug elitist left leaning dog owner - Phillip Adams

Phillip Adams wrote a column published in the Oz yesterday under the headline “As a dog person, I reckon cats are catastrophes.” 

He stated, “Forgive me if you’re attracted to very small dogs like chihuahuas or, shudder, those other lap-dogs, pekinese. But to me pekes are not so much dogs as pussies in disguise. And as a dog person, I reckon cats are catastrophes. I understand that some members of our human species prefer the feline to the canine, just as some prefer the rat-baggies of religion to the simple sanities of atheism. Just as some prefer LNP to ALP. And I look forward to the day when science finds a cure. But cats? Effing cats? Bird-killing cats?”

As an animal lover and a cat person, my observation of @PhillipAdams_1 is that he is the epitome of the arrogance of those who consider themselves to be superior to others. 

And I would remind Mr. Arrogance Adams that cat owners, many of us, believe there is more to our existence than just birth and death. We believe in the conservative values of self-sufficiency, family, and freedom as opposed to socialists, union-controlled Labor. As for science finding a cure for us, that really sums him up. 

And I would point out to Mr. Arrogance that dogs DO kill birds, like pigeons, ducks, or small garden birds. And that cats don’t bark incessantly, as far too many living in suburban areas that cats bury their droppings, dogs just leave theirs for poor unsuspecting walkers to tread in. Even worse, as one did last week right outside of the door of our local supermarket!! Cats don’t kill and main people, but dogs have frequently done that. 

And according to psychology studies undertaken by the University of Texas and Carroll University, cat owners have consistently been found to be more independent, which explains why we are conservatives, tend to be non-conformists and open-minded. Often more laid-back and selective. 

Cat owners also score higher when it comes to creativity, curiosity, and tolerance of different perspectives. The complete opposite of Phillip Adams, it appears particularly when it comes to open-mindedness and tolerance. 

Where are the traditional feminists? Why are they silent?

I’m questioning whether I’m transgender. And before you fall off your chair, I will preface this by stating the below before I move on to the absurdity that goes unquestioned.

I am an affirmed traditional feminist as opposed to the woke feminists of today.

Traditional feminists believe in and fight for equal rights and opportunities for women within existing social structures. Many of us follow in the footsteps of our female ancestors, who fought for legal and political reforms to address gender inequality, particularly in areas like suffrage, property rights, and access to education and employment.

Traditional feminists work within a framework that acknowledges biological differences between men and women, and we continue to fight for the right to women’s only spaces and to keep biological men out of these places and out of sport. We wish no harm to those who struggle with dysphoria and mental illness. But we will not stand by whilst our hard-earned rights are eroded. And we are dogged in our fight against the new social constructs and power dynamics that is leading back to biological women’s subordination today.

Now, to the absurdity that goes unquestioned.

Many of you will know the legal battle (Giggle vs Tickle) between Sall Gover and Roxanne Tickle. Many of you are also aware of the satirical mug that has been selling on Etsy containing a satirical comment based on a disclosure Tickle made in an interview on SBS. And that Sall was fined $10,000 for a natural human response of a brief giggle over the statement on the mug that was presented in court. I also laughed because it comes back to the absurd statements that are made but never questioned.

In the interview on SBS, Tickle talked about her love of hockey and the years she spent playing hockey. She spent 10 years playing hockey with four teams. She went to university, travelled overseas and returned to Australia and, following an epiphany (after 20 years) she was finally able to admit to herself how uncomfortable she was playing with a men’s hockey team and being in the men’s change rooms. She stated, “The sounds, the smells, the language, the personal interactions - everything except for the actual hockey had felt foreign to me. I hadn’t really belonged at all. I was just there.” That’s when she admitted to herself that she was transgender.

Given that I’ve been battling a back injury for the past two weeks, and because I don’t enjoy taking pain killers etc I’ve been slathering myself with Extra Strength Deep Heat, which helps. In fact, I like the smell of Deep Heat, albeit I do smell rather obviously like the boys’ locker room. In fact, perversely, I even find the burning (the extra strength burns) comforting. So, using the Tickle measure, I’m now questioning my gender.

Yes, it is absurd. But so is the fact that women have to fight for spaces where they feel safe. And sporting fields where they feel safe and can compete on equal terms. It is absurd that elected representatives are doing nothing about this in this country. It is absurd that women like Sall Grover are left to carry the burden in battling people like Roxanne Tickle. And it is absurd that so few women are standing up and saying, enough is enough. 

BTW the way as someone who has spent a bit of time in female locker rooms, they aren’t the most pleasant of places either. 

We can no longer afford to be bystanders

We can look to history to see the similarities with today. And whilst we don’t have a Hilter running Australia, we are battling with a cultural shift that, if not addressed, gives rise to extremists capitalising on it. 

It was written in the Holocaust Encyclopaedia that the Holocaust was a series of events that happened over a long period of time. Jews were dehumanised, deprived of many legal rights, became the victims of both random and organised violence, and were socially, if not physically, isolated from the rest of the population. Many people became “bystanders” to this ever-radicalising program long before the mass roundups and killings began.

Whilst God willing, we will never see that repeated we are witnessing the random and organised violence against Jews in our own country. We graphically see the manifestation of the radicalisation of young people who are encouraged by leftwing ‘elites’ who collectively march in the streets every weekend. They march, holding up signs calling for the death of Jews and supporting terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and they defend terrorist funding nations like Iran. This is alarming behaviour and yet the bulk of the population and the leaders of this country are “bystanders”. 

We should be outraged by this and the excuse used by many “well look at what is happening in Gaza” has stuff all to do with it. What is happening in the Middle East is tragic, but we MUST not allow that to manifest any longer on our shores. It was a close call in Melbourne on Friday with the torching of a synagogue whilst people were inside thankfully no one was injured this time. But it is only a matter of time before someone will be.

We must demand that the leaders of this country come out of hiding and take steps to quell what is now the persecution of Jews on our soil. And the majority of people doing this aren’t recent migrants they are people from many countries now living in Australia and many who are Australian born with no links to the Middle East. This is about a changing culture and a culture war.

It pays to remember that it only took nine years between 1924 and 1933 for the Nazi Party to be transformed from a small, violent, revolutionary party to the largest elected party in the Reichstag. They were able to do this largely by propaganda aimed at exploiting people’s fear of uncertainty and instability. Jews also featured heavily in the Nazi propaganda as enemies of the German people.

Think about this in relation to what’s happening now. For some years, the young (in particular) and the so labelled marginalised have been brainwashed into believing their future is bleak. Climate change, inequity and various other pieces of propaganda pumped out daily have driven this. Those who have a vested interest in changing our culture promote it. When in fact, people today have more opportunity than ever, but that gets lost in the relentless bombardment of alarmism, hate, and lies that spread like wildfire on social media. 

As Max Horder wrote in his superb piece recently, Assassin’s creed this in now manifesting as online subcultures normalising and justifying violence. He wrote of the justification of attempts on Trump’s life. The widespread public support for smashing up Tesla dealerships–and for shooting Elon Musk because he had the temerity to work for Trump.

Horder wrote of the applause for the actual murder of Unitedhealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December last year, which still goes on, unabated, online. And the accused killer, Luigi Mangione, is praised, respected and even worshipped by a small; but growing social media community. A psychotic murderer has become a hero for youngsters, who imagine he stands for vigilante justice against corporate greed. Many view Jews the same way. They are the oppressors who stole land from the Palestinians when actual history tells a very different story. But that doesn’t matter because this new culture praises the terrorists, hates democracy and views Israel as the world of the rich. Hence we see that manifested in attacking and vilifying Jews in Australia 

What we are witnessing in Australia is an entirely new subculture for incubating radical and subversive ideas that are an anathema to the things Australia has historically stood for. With the power of the internet, this can get out of hand very quickly if we are not careful and we can’t afford to be bystanders any longer.

I personally think this is one of the most important discussions we need to have in our country. The question of how do we address this?  I don’t the answers apart from keeping it front of mind in the hope others also recognise the seriousness. Then that we collectively in turn keep the pressure on the leaders of this country to get off the fence and start addressing this. We need action not weasel words.