Aussie Election Wrap 2

By Michael Shrimpton

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That’s right – the election is still going on!  They haven’t finished counting the votes yet!!  This kind of makes my point – the electoral system is far too complicated.  Even the parties are having problems with it, with arguments about faxes to the Australian Electoral System going astray.  You’ll have to ask the AEC why they are still using such antiquated technology.  I imagine they were watching the election on black and white telly.
Pace “Snowy Cross” I do know the difference between a federal election and a referendum.  Of course there was no referendum as such – my point last week was that the election was effectively a referendum on the climate tax.  Aussie voters had a choice between a party of climate change cranks – the ALP – and a sensible, conservative coalition, the Libs and Nats, whose headline manifesto promise was to repeal the climate tax.  Yes, Snowy, a kangaroo in Oz is a ‘roo’, but I was addressing a mainly non-Australian audience.
Ron Chandler, to judge from his comments, thinks that we humans can affect the climate.  Nonsense, no offense intended!  We couldn’t affect the climate even if we tried.  Our CO2 output is only about 3.5% of the total, i.e. almost irrelevant.  CO2 itself is only a minor greenhouse gas, responsible for about 5% of the greenhouse effect.  Climate scientists still do not have a clear idea of how greenhouse gases work anyway.  Yes they keep heat in, but they also reflect solar energy, i.e. keep heat out.
We don’t know yet whether the energy reflected is greater than the energy retained. Either way the theorem of human induced global warming has been shown to be wrong.  Whilst CO2 levels have been climbing steadily (of course – we can only control our own emissions and CO2 limits make little difference) temperatures have started falling.
I sympathize with “Gerry Kraut’s” comments about IQ!   They didn’t apply to him of course, nor Amanda Euden!  Australia is only the second democracy, after Russia, to elect a government with an intelligent, non-hysterical, approach to the climate.
Compulsory Voting
In reply to Amanda’s query, voting in Oz has long been viewed as a civic obligation, not a right.  You have to vote and if you don’t you face criminal prosecution.  There are limited exceptions and not everyone is prosecuted, but enough are to ensure a very high turnout, far higher than in British or American elections.
Harold Holt
I was sorry to see criticism of the late, great Harold Holt.  A courageous statesman, and good friend of America, he was assassinated by the Chinese (I was living in Oz at the time, a young lad of 9, and I can still remember the shock) because of his strategic literacy, military competence and opposition to North Vietnamese aggression.  I have written more about his disgraceful assassination, and the DVD’s role in it, in Spyhunter.  Publication by the way has been slightly delayed, I am afraid, as the first publisher got cold feet at the last minute, but thankfully a new publisher has stepped into the breach.
Iraq War
I am responding to comments, so don’t blame me!  Someone was critical of that nice man John Howard, who correctly supported the decision to retaliate against Iraq after 9/11.  How Iraq could be described as a ‘false flag war’ is frankly beyond me.  The Allies waged war openly, albeit that the true casus belli was never made public (it couldn’t be – there were too many pro-Iraqi DVD assets in London, Washington and Canberra for the truth to come out).  We waged war under our true colors, and rightly so.
Is Australia “Nice, Safe and Out of the Way”?
Absolutely not.  Some Australians, mainly on the left, thought that way before the Japs bombed Darwin in 1942.  There has been no excuse for anyone making that strategic mistake since those raids, by carrier-borne aircraft from Nagumo’s First Carrier Air Fleet.  With China now investing in aircraft carriers, Australia’s cities will be within range of Chinese strike aircraft within a decade.  Australia, sadly, got out of the strike carrier business when dear old HMAS Melbourne was decommissioned.  She had been a long-term DVD target and before the bureaucrats got her two attempts were made to sink her by ramming.
The Australian Sex Party
I under-stated the case last week (I often do!).  It’s not just the Australian Sports Party which will hold the balance of power in the Senate after July.  The AEC are still counting the votes, but the ABC are predicting that the Australian Sex Party has won a Senate seat.
Wow, you think, this could be good!  More sex!  I am all in favor of more sex, but I am afraid there is little that a senator can do to arrange that, especially if they are not willing to pay for it.  The Sex Party are libertarian and anti-clerical, in favour of legalizing cannabis (not a good idea), more abortion (a thoroughly bad idea) and euthanasia (ditto).
They seem to regard clerics as wowsers, and a bunch of drongos and dingbats.  This is a little unfair, except on the Jesuits of course.
How Tony Abbott, a practising Catholic and former seminarian, cuts a deal with the Sex Party is a little unclear.  The best he can hope for is that they abstain on the climate tax – they don’t appear to have a policy on it.  He could always offer more sex, but it’s not a policy on which he could easily deliver!
Palmer United Party
I have been monitoring the count in Fairfax, online only sadly (it really is a lovely part of the world) all week.  As the preferences and postal votes are counted Clive Palmer’s lead had dropped to double figures (as in about 20 votes!), but he’s pulled away slightly in the last couple of days.  I still predict he’ll get in, but he’s already called for the election in Fairfax to be reheld.
He’d be a real asset to Parliament, and would help keep the new government honest.  I’m not just saying this because I fancy giving lectures on the sinking of the original Titanic when his replica sets sail!  The sabotage of RMS Titanic is dealt with in Chapter 13 of Spyhunter by the way.
Appointment in London (1953)
Well done to Film Four for showing this excellent movie again this week.  Directed by Philip Leacock, with a fine cast led by Dirk Bogarde and Dinah Sheridan, including Richard Wattis, Bryan Forbes, Bill Kerr and Terence Longden, it tells the story of a Lancaster bomber squadron commander in World War II, mustard keen to finish his third tour, i.e. complete his 90^th mission.
The movie is a magnificent tribute to the men and women of RAF Bomber Command, although sadly the WAAFs had to stay on the ground, of course.  There were quite a few WAAFs in Bomber Command by the way – I am sure that my late friend Mary Gibson, of Thames Valley Bomber Command Association, would come down and haunt me if I failed to mention them!
One of the best air war movies ever made, it accurately depicts the role of the Master Bomber and emphasizes the strenuous efforts made by Bomber Command to get their bombs bang on target, pun intended.  They usually did!  It really ought to be shown on American television, or possibly even remade in color for the modern audience.
The movie has a happy ending, with ‘Wing Commander Mason’ taking over from the Master Bomber after he and his deputy were shot down, making sure that the target is plastered, with dead ‘Jerries’ everywhere – a wizard prang, in fact.  The appointment in the title is with the King at Buckingham Palace.  A valuable boost for morale!  Well done Channel Four.
I seem to have ended up as VT’s movie critic by the way.

Michael Shrimpton

Michael Shrimpton was a barrister from his call to the Bar in London in 1983 until being disbarred in 2019 over a fraudulently obtained conviction. He is a specialist in National Security and Constitutional Law, Strategic Intelligence and Counter-terrorism. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Intelligence Studies at the American Military University.

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