Disinformation worked in 2019. We can't let it happen again |
Lies from liars. It's hard to even know where to begin. First we discover that evil toad and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon interfered in Australian politics in the 2019 election by advising Australian underpayment magnate Clive Palmer to spend money on anti-China and anti-climate change ads. Palmer denied the conversation. He would, wouldn't he? Next minute, he confirmed the conversation.
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But there is absolutely no question that any Australian political entity will have to be prepared against the same kind of foreign interference, feeding disinformation, when the next election comes along. And same goes for local disinformation. Tell you when it gets bad? When we start talking about tax reform.
Which Jim Chalmers, bless his ambitious cotton socks, has just started to do. Yes, it looks like changes to the capital gains tax discount are on the way in the next budget, barely 12 weeks away. And the best thing about it? Chalmers doesn't even have to take it to an election. Yep. He can do it before he gets enthusiastic tax avoiders to lie to the public.
Honestly, my heart goes out to any political party wanting to reform tax. Let me take you back to the last big disinformation campaign - 2019 - same one Bannon got involved in. There we were, on the eve of something big, including changes to franking credits. And Tim Wilson (who at the time was chairing an inquiry into franking credits) and his cuzz Geoff Wilson decided to pull a massive all-nighter (make that the entire election campaign) to work against Labor. The Australian Federal Police were even called in to investigate whether Wilson T inappropriately shared electoral roll information for commercial purposes while campaigning against the opposition's franking credit policy. Meantime Wilson G was part-funding the website which coordinated the opposition to Labor's policy. Don't you just love a public-private partnership?
Which brings us to the proposed changes to the capital gains tax discount. How it works now? The........