“So delegates, do you want to be on the side of John Curtin or do you want to be on the side of pig-iron Robert Menzies?”
Congratulations to Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. Yesterday he said the stupidest of many stupid things that were said at the ALP national conference (sponsored this triennium by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and the traditional ensemble of unions ravenous for rorts). His attempt to make satrapy sound like Solidarity Forever ranks with Stephen Conroy’s red undies oration. Conroy, P is right, but for all the wrong reasons, to compare the AUKUS cargo cult to John Curtin’s embrace of the United States in December 1941. The famous radio address the then Prime Minister gave – “free of any pangs” – was regarded by Franklin D. Roosevelt as unbecoming panic. Unmanly even. As for the reference to R.G. Menzies and the 1938 Dalfram dispute, Labor Premiers and Anthony Albanese have been tripping over one another to ink deals with Beijing for Australian exports; that’s to say nothing of the Celestial imports they favour to realise the party’s ‘renewables’ fantasy. If Xi is the new Tojo, Solar Panel Pat is his China plate.
An interesting exposure of the reality of American attitudes in WWII.
David Day has long been a lefty apologist. Lefty historians would not want an undermining of Saint John Curtin and right wing ones don’t want to rock the big brother myth.
So, what a pleasure to find a relatively objective historian.
He’s the only pollie I’ve seen in the flesh*, when he turned up at our local IGA once.
Since I knew he was a CFMEU apparatchik I refused to shake his hand.
(* I live a charmed life…)
The corporate sponsorships as listed ought be enough to invalidate proceedings.
They weren’t really the sponsors, Franx.
That was sarcasm.
Except for the union reference. That part is true.
😉
One never knows. About the sponsorship, that is. But thanks.
I am getting desensitised, I thought it was merely ironic. I read through the list of ALP conference sponsors without surprise, just another day, just another outrage, what has the world come to, blood pressure normal.
Albo wants to win elections and won’t take any risk of controversy, even if the entire nuke deal is nothing more than a US boondoggle. Once again we will pay the enormous subsidy of a next generation US military tech. We will get it in a century. And we will denude our treasury of all other options to deliver it. Like the fancy train infrastructure China has built, the long term cost will be in maintenance.
The fun thing with AUKUS is Albo and Wong are having to bribe the Nazi wing of the ALP to get it through. Purest black comedy.
How Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are using Israel to ‘curry favour’ with Labor’s far left and quell fierce backlash against AUKUS (Sky News, 19 Aug)
Which says a lot about the ALP rank and file.
Alfonso
Like the fancy train infrastructure China has built, the long term cost will be in maintenance.
The $356 million, or whatever the never might be, is probably the full life cycle cost, including maintenance.
Pat was just being mindful of the audience’s prejudices to get what he wanted.
BJ: that’s billions I reckon. I doubt that it covers the cost of special purpose facilities and finding enough nuclear engineers and tech staff to support that many reactors.
Alfonso
My mistake, it is billions. Unless you are discussing land based power reactors as well, we are unlikely to ever have more than four or five.
A “classic” thread title, C.L.
Well done.