The title of one of Cat Stevens’ early classics turns out to be an apt description for the hapless, short-term, finger-in-the-dyke Premier of the Sunshine State.
Where does the Australian Labor Party dredge up these creatures?
Miles from Nowhere? And the equally hapless Commonwealth Immigration Minister, Giles from Nowhere? This would be one Andrew Giles, a former Slater and Gordon (of course) refugee lawyer (whatever that is) who has been responsible for one of the biggest political bungles in Australian history. The release of hundreds of criminals onto the streets, after Labor failed to act on a timely “heads up” from the High Court.
The last three X (Twitter) contributions from Andrew read as follows:
Happy Holi!
Happy Greek Independence Day
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
You get the drift. Never mention Easter, of course. That went out decades ago. If I were he, I wouldn’t be talking about detainee bills, either.
Back to Miles from Nowhere. He was endorsed for high office in Queensland by the Unspellable Premier herself. He slithered into office on the back of her forced resignation, has suffered the humiliation of two thumping by-election swings, and now uses his time to engage with the issues concerning Molly the Magpie.
The recent by-election results were described for Miles as “brutal”. I am guessing the LNP never thought it would get to hold Ipswich West.
The Guardian opined:
The path to re-election for Queensland Labor looks like a narrowing goat track after its ‘Super Saturday’ losses.
That good? The unions are coming to the rescue, on cue:
The union that gave Steven Miles his first job has come to Labor's rescue with a $500,000 guerrilla campaign ...
Steven Miles’ old union drops $500,000 on a new political campaign just a few weeks before strict spending caps for Queensland’s state election kick-in. (Emphasis in original).
Source: The Australian, 22 March 2024, paywalled.
Against this, the billionaire coal miner Chris Wallin is launching his own campaign against Miles’ Government. All power to Chris in his endeavours.
Source: The Australian, 27 March 2024, paywalled.
Miles and his Government are busying themselves in their final days in office with abortion-up-to-birth and assisted dying. Life in Queensland is still, indeed, beautiful one day and perfect the next. Not for the unborn, of course. In the far north, there are still signs of life (literally), with billboards proclaiming messages such as “love them both”. The culture of life there never makes it to George Street (Brisbane), though.
From which rock did the endlessly silly-grinning Steven emerge?
Miles from Nowhere has only been in the Parliament since 2015. He has mainly been Minister for State Development, a largely ceremonial and inconsequential role that generally turns out good news announcables, giving money to businesses and other worthy grant recipients, sucking up to industry and promoting the State as an investment destination. A normally no-risk portfolio. (I know. I worked for numerous ministers for state development). Junkets are normally included as part of the deal. Sister city relationships and such like. One of his jobs has been to drive the totally embarrassing and useless proposed destruction of the Gabba and the building of a new stadium in the same place, for the 2032 Olympics. Oops. Now they are decidedly nervous about that one.
Before all these parliamentary accomplishments, he was, inevitably, a union organiser and a Director of something called Reveille Strategy, which does this:
Formed in 2015, Reveille Strategy works with Unions and other membership organisations on strategy, public policy, governance, change, capacity building, message design, technology, campaigning and organising.
Reveille works with organisations that are committed to helping their members make transformative change in Australia.
Reveille has worked with many of Australia's largest unions, and community organisations in the environment, refugee and social justice areas.
The team at Reveille has more than nine decades of experience in Australia’s unions as organisers, leaders, educators, campaigners and strategists at local, national and peak council level.
https://reveille.org.au/
None of which should be remotely surprising. The trade union-tethered new left on steroids remains Labor’s chief recruiting ground, and is the main reason for its endless and entirely predictable disconnect with normal people. The reason it staggers into office with 32 per cent of the primary vote.
I suppose we should be grateful the Queensland Labor Party didn’t pick Cameron Dick when the Unspellable One left the building. Too many Anthony Weiner (the former New York sexting Democrat politician) type jokes just waiting to happen.
Another very minor blessing of the Miles premiership is that he has 46 XY chromosomes, and hence we avoided all of the dreaded troika of Queensland Labor females, Jackie Trad, who has left the building, the Minister for Covid tyranny, Yvette Death, who is leaving the building soon, and the Cult of Death warrior Shannon Fentiman, who is now the Health Minister, since swapping over earlier with Death.
Trad is encamped now as follows:
After two years at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, including recently as the General Manager, Class Actions, I am now focussing my time on board directorship responsibilities, including, Chair of Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast and non-executive director of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE).
Source: LinkedIn.
We see that Slater and Gordon is, indeed, an automatic in-tray and out-tray for Labor politicians. In relation to Death’s departure, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation headlined:
Queensland Labor's departure lounge is filling up as Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath announces resignation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-24/dath-miles-queensland-government-upcoming-election/103505546
Death, who, unsurprisingly, received what might be termed D’Ath threats during Covid, was responsible for shutting the NSW border for months on end, leaving thousands stranded, at a time where there were fewer than twenty “active” cases of the piddling Covid lab-virus across the State. As a Queensland hospital nurse recently told me, Covid was “a walk in the park” compared to Influenza A.
Ms Fentiman is, alas, still in the building, and staying put. Like Miles, she is from the Party’s left. She pulled out of the leadership contest (which delivered Miles) when it became clear she was going to lose.
What are her achievements? They all seem to go in one particular direction. Fentiman, who very recently decided to allow nurses to provide abortion drugs, is of the following view:
The health minister, Shannon Fentiman, said the Miles government would “always defend a woman’s right to make choices about her sexual and reproductive health.
Ah yes, the old woman’s right to choose canard. Don’t ever use the A word. A bit like Happy Holi at Eastertide. You would think the death cultists might come up with something fresh to describe their ongoing and ever-expanding slaughter of the innocents.
Then there was this:
Fentiman as the Child Safety Minister paved the way in Queensland to allow same sex couples to adopt children with legislation passing the Queensland Parliament on 3 November 2016, with both the Liberal National Party and Katter Australia Party opposing the legislation.
Clearly, Ms Fentiman doesn’t get irony. Child safety? Homosexual couples raising children? This is one of the great evils of our time.
Back to Yusuf Islam, aka The Cat. Strangely and coincidentally, the same Cat Stevens standard turns out to have different and creepy relevance to our political times, especially in a week that saw the passage in Canberra of the sinister Digital ID legislation. Cat sings:
I have my freedom
I can make my own rules
Oh yes, the ones that I choose.
Nope. Not any more. No more air travel, no more access to government services, compromised banking services and not much of anything, an endless extension of the Covid QR codes, updated vaccine passports, climate and other thought crimes recorded, if you don’t sign up for your Digital ID. That’s how they do it. Trust them? I think not.
No doubt, every Labor Government across Australia, including that of Miles from Nowhere, will be cheering this on. And a few unmoored, unhinged Liberals as well.
The Cat still has something to say to us.
Paul Collits
30 April 2024
These are the real problem;
And a few unmoored, unhinged Liberals as well.
Amr
Queensland, Nanny State extraordinaire. Dangerous enough when Nanny has some semblance of sanity. But the QLD Nanny is quite mad plus corrupt and incompetent. Since the advent of the Panic Virus Scam we also have a plague of amateur nannies, karen type, making nuisances of themselves.
Maybe the LNP can do better. Although the last effort per Campbell ( Can Do ) Newman was a one term disaster.
Still, we have the resources sink hole ( aka the Olympics ) to distract the mindless punters.