The Gas Tax Question Albo Won't Answer, Channel 7's Oil Lobby Ties & Our Senate Inquiry Testimony
Punters PoliticsShow Notes
This week, Albo dodges the gas tax question with a masterclass in political deflection, Channel 7 runs cover for fossil fuel interests, and the lobbyist war chest smashes through $96,000. We break down the propaganda playbook, expose corporate media conflicts of interest, and celebrate two massive high court wins that just struck down rigged election laws and anti protest powers. Albo's Gas Tax Dodge: Political Maneuver of the Week Triple J Hack asks the Prime Minister the question every punter wants answered: are you taxing gas exports? Albo responds with peak confused grandpa energy, saying "we'll have the budget next month" while physically turning away to invite the next question. We score the maneuver, break down why he's probably not taxing gas profits at all, and explain why punters should expect a useless windfall profits tax that targets zero dollars in actual profit because Santos and Woodside conveniently make nothing on paper. Channel 7's Fossil Fuel Propaganda Exposed Channel 7 reporter Liam Bartlett ambushes Environment Minister Chris Bowen, demanding he resign over his "renewables obsession". We watch the full unedited exchange, score the political maneuvers, and then reveal that Liam used to work as Global Head of TV Creative Visual at Shell International, Channel 7 is owned by billionaire Kerry Stokes who has major gas interests through SGH Energy and Beach Energy, and both companies pay around 2% to 5% tax while earning billions. Conspiracy or coincidence? Punters decide. High Court Strikes Down Rigged Election Laws & Anti Protest Powers Feel pepped, punters. The high court has struck down Victoria's rigged electoral donation laws that allowed major parties unlimited donations through nominated entities while capping independents at $5,000, and New South Wales anti protest laws that gave one police commissioner the power to block protests across huge chunks of Sydney. Both rulings confirm what punters already knew: politicians rig the system to protect themselves, and the courts are the last line of defense. Nanny State Alert: Cops Fine Superintendent for Riding a Bike South Australia's top traffic cop gets fined for using his phone while riding a 9 kilogram carbon road bike at 20 kilometers an hour after a Karen dug through his Strava and reported him. We sound the nanny state alarm, call out the absurdity of applying one and a half ton car rules to bicycles, and defend the superintendent even though he'd probably give us a ticket for the same thing. Konrad Goes to Canberra: Senate Inquiry Witness Konrad is heading to Canberra to testify as a witness in the Senate inquiry into gas taxes, courtesy of a loaned Polestar 4 from Whipsmart EV leasing. The lobbyist war chest now sits at $96,000, the free sauce campaign launches on Chuffed to put 200 stickered bottles into pie shops across Australia, and punters can now grab free source bottle stickers at punterspolitics.com.
Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Punters Politics
This week, we’re joined by Alison Reeve from the Grattan Institute to ask who actually owns Australia’s gas and why we’re told taxing it is too complicated. We get into the petroleum resource rent tax, the export contracts Albo keeps pointing to, and the options on the table, from royalties to a super profits tax. And is now the right time to change it?
This week, we’re joined by Chris Kohler, to break down the legal-ish scams companies use to take more of your money, from surveillance pricing to loyalty programs. We also get into housing: the CGT and negative gearing changes, and what a generation of millennials have been left with.
I sat down with Ads Morris from the Redriven YouTube channel to talk about the cars we drive, and the political decisions behind them. From why our cars keep getting bigger, to the cars we can't buy here, to why so many new cars seem built not to last. I called it a car-spiracy. You decide if I'm wrong.
This week, we dig into the Gold Coast mayor still running the council that approves his own property developments, a taxpayer-funded Mar-a-Lago trip that lined up suspiciously well with a $1.5 billion Trump Tower deal, and expense rorting that cost him a $2,000 fine. We score Albo's poker face against a journalist's "gotcha" question at a UN event, and launch a new segment, Married at First Bill, putting the government's new gas reservation policy through a red flag test to see if it's the real deal or a total catfish.
This week, we bring in two experts to actually break down the Duty of Care bill. "Angertainment" author Ed Coper explains how algorithms exploit human psychology to manipulate us, and lawyer James Glissan, who's actually read the bill, walks through what it really says, what's overblown, and where the genuine problems are.