If there’s one thing Australians in the year of our lord 2022 can agree upon, it’s that the second leaders debate of the federal election was a total shitshow, making it a rare, genuinely unifying moment in the history of our people.

When the reactions came with the cold light of Monday morning the spectacle of two, shouty, middle-aged Gen Xers in blue suits hurling campaign slogans at each other for an hour (was it actually an hour?) late at night while Chris Uhlmann presided over the exchange like a Sith Lord was, in a manner of speaking, a train wreck. One debacle inevitably followed another, and when the audience attempted to engage with the machinery of the Nine Network media empire they encountered some pretty curious anomalies:

Karen Middleton @KarenMMiddleton

So, Nine’s debate QR code seems to have gone a bit rogue. 👇🏻

And like most other train wrecks, the ratings were great which is about standard for an era where a federal political campaign is treated like your average episode of Big Brother. There was, however, a lot of information there in a nearly information-free environment for the keen-eyed observer as the show neatly articulated what the average person sees and hears when they’re forced to confront the world of Australian parliamentary politics. Everything people hate about Those Who Decide Things was on full display: the aggression, the arrogance, the pomp, the meaninglessness. It was, as others have pointed out, an embarrassing moment for the nation’s political class and media corps.

It was also possibly the best advertisement the Independents could have asked for. The Teals — candidates who would otherwise be right at home in the Liberal party had it not been captured by the hard right — are the latest iteration of the fracturing of the Australian polity that has been unfolding across the country over the last decade.

I first wrote about this in my book Rogue Nation where I used the return of Pauline Hanson as a foil to examine Australian populism by surveying the field of independents at that time. Of the two major insights I tried to draw out in that book, the first — and one I wish I had been clearer about — was that there is a crucial difference between demagoguery and populism. A good shorthand is to think about it like this: Trump was a demagogue, Bernie Sanders a populist. Powerful people like to muddle the two because painting a grassroots democratic movement (populism) as strongman politics that appeals to the basest instincts of the electorate (demagoguery) does a good job of keeping incumbents in power.

The same forces that make both a Trump and a Bernie possible are also at play in Australia — and it is hard to overstate just how much appetite there is for someone who walks and talks like an actual human being out there. When the Prime Minister took time out of his busy election campaign to bag out the Independents as a “threat to national security”, one of the OG Independents, Tasmania’s Andrew Wilkie put out a statement that caught my attention as a refreshing piece of political communication. Wilkie reacted like any ordinary person would when confronted with utter bullshit. When I shared it to social media with no real commentary, it ended up being one of the most popular posts I’ve ever made.

Royce Kurmelovs @RoyceRk2

Wilkie pulling no punches.

The second point — and the one relevant to the spectacle aired late on Sunday night — is that it will only grow the Schadenfreude vote, the basic impulse behind the fracturing of our politics and the rise of the independents. How it works is pretty straight forward. Thirty years of New Public Management, institutional rot, states’ rights and small government libertarianism have left the public adrift. When Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language was “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” few understood how that was a statement of intent. Since then Australian public policy has slavishly followed the US example by re-engineering its public-facing institution to be hostile (Robodebt, anyone?) to anyone who engages with them.

As anyone who has to deal with Centrelink or a public hospital regularly can tell you, this starts to create its own kind of logic. What are you to do if you’re not one of the important people? The idea that you might spend your post-shift hours evaluating the policies of both major parties at election time — both of whom helped make the world this way — to see which is best for you is romantic at best. Even if you did, could you trust them? Once you start down this line of reasoning the idea of throwing your vote elsewhere starts to look more attractive. And so what if it’s some rando independent? Yeah, they might be a fascist buffoon who will only make things worse, but the one thing you know is that those in charge are going to absolutely hate having to deal with them. That, at least, is a show worth watching.

Saying this is not to endorse this thinking but it is important to acknowledge that this is the psychology of many when they step to the ballot box. Those who are politically literate may have watched last night’s leaders debate and recoiled at the horror, but I would wager it offered a moment of clarity on the state of our political leadership and a good chunk of the nation’s media corps that many already felt— and it sure wasn’t pretty.

For the Fortnight: April 27 to May 10

Reporting In

Where I recap what I’ve been doing this last fortnight so you know I’m not just using your money to stimulate the local economy …

‘As close as you’ll get to free’: Tasmanian couple take road trip to Sydney in electric car for $43.38 (The Guardian Australia, 30 April 2022).
‘Flood and cyclone-prone areas in eastern Australia may be ‘uninsurable’ by 2030, report suggests’ (The Guardian Australia, 2 May 2022).
‘Coalition criticises Labor’s housing policy because government could profit from price rises’ (The Guardian Australia, 30 April 2022).
‘Apartment dwellers face hurdles in the race to install EV chargers’ (The Guardian Australia, 8 May 2020).

Projects

Cracking COVIDSafe - An examination of the machine that made the COVIDSafe app, a piece of software made by people who wanted to hack the pandemic (complete).
Laramba’s Water - Laramba is a remote Indigenous Community in the Northern Territory which has been drinking uranium-contaminated water since 2008. We tried to find out what why (on-going).
1. ‘High levels of uranium in drinking water of NT community’ (NITV, 31 July 2020).
2. ‘Company remains shtum on plans to filter Laramba's contaminated water supply’ (NITV, 21 October 2020).
3. ‘‘It makes us sick’: remote NT community wants answers about uranium in its water supply’ (The Guardian, 18 October 2021).
4. 2021-03-15 FOI2020-316 NT Health Document Bundle 001
5. 2021-03-15 FOI2020-316 NT Health Document Bundle 002

You Hate To See It

A dyspeptic, snark-ridden and highly ironic round-up of the news from our shared hellscape…

“I’m Not Gay Bro!”
Vitaly Milonov, author of Russia’s “gay propaganda" ban, really wants you to know Russian men are hard. Rock hard. To prove just how hard they are, he is now co-hosting a reality TV show to test the sexuality of eight hetero Russian men. The catch? One is gay. To flush out this man, the contestants participate in a series of challenges — some of which apparently involve ripped, leather-clad male strippers — which is, you know, totally, 100% absolutely not gay. At all. Nu-uh.
Kevin Rothrock @KevinRothrock
Vitaly Milonov, the State Duma deputy who spearheaded Russia’s ban on “gay propaganda,” is cohosting a YouTube show called “I’m not gay,” where 8 contestants’ heterosexuality is tested & there are elimination rounds to find the one gay guy. 🤮 youtu.be/5UKrHUbw0nY
April 26th 2022
333 Retweets1,262 Likes
Double Or Nothing
And now to the Central African Republic which has recently announced that Bitcoin will be its new official currency, making it the only country other than El Salvador to embrace the digital gambling asset. Obviously tying an entire national economy to the highs and lows of a “currency” that has no inherent value and fluctuates depending entirely on what Elon Musk tweeted on any given day could not possibly have any unintended consequences at all.
You Don’t Have To Go Home, But You Can’t Stay Here
Closer to home now, where one couple in northern New South Wales who lost everything during the floods say they were turfed out of a caravan park where they were staying as emergency accommodation, leaving them homeless. For its part the company denies they were evicted to make way for tourists but its CEO Frank Sharkey did explain how staff had “worked tirelessly” to provide an emergency housing solution and tourism operations had “rightly taken a back seat”.
Movin’ On Up
Speaking of climate change, Andrew McConville, former head of the Australian Petroleum Producers And Exploration Association, has a new gig with the Murray Darling Basin Authority where he has introduced himself in an folksy all-staff memo that failed to mention the environment or climate change. Staff are reportedly worried a man who spent the better part of the last four years shilling for the oil and gas industry may not take these issues seriously - which is potentially a problem for the body charged with overseeing a scheme which is at risk of collapse.
Truth ~~Will~~ Out
But hey, at least we’ve got strong independent institutions like the CSIRO which can provide full and frank discussion of public interest science? Unfortunately, according one former climate scientist who recently left the institution, the body that helped invent WiFi has been muzzled and its scientists aren’t allow to talk about climate change or the ways in which government policy is locking in the worst of all scenarios. Cool and good!
Schrödinger's Tudge
It is a rule of the universe that Alan Tudge is both a cabinet minister and not a cabinet minister until actually observed — and no one seems to have seen him for twelve months while Stuart Robert has been busy doing his job. Someone should really track the guy down and force him into one state of being or another. It is an election season, after all.
Dig Up, Man!
No matter how bad the world gets, or the day you’re having, at least you aren’t Ben Roberts-Smith whose self-inflicted lawsuit has not only resulted in two of his friends now being prosecuted for war crimes but which continues to expose all kinds of shady deals.
Nick McKenzie @Ageinvestigates
In 2018, I was tipped off journo Ross Coulthart may be on Kerry Stokes’ payroll as Ben Roberts-Smith’s PR agent to attack Chris Masters’ and my reporting. I called Ross to confirm tip. He refused, but texted below to my editor. Ed @jameschessel told us: “ignore it, keep digging”
May 4th 2022
230 Retweets995 Likes

Failing Upward

Where we recognise and celebrate the true stupidity of the rich, powerful and influential…

Let’s face it, there are few hard and fast rules of Australian society: don’t drive into floodwaters, when in Melbourne always wear a coat, and never — we repeat — never go full Karen. We hear at Raising Hell would like to recognise the fine contribution of Space Industry Association of Australia CEO James Brown for violating this rule in a bizarre social media exchange with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
For those who aren’t terminally online, the AEC has taken the unusual decision for a government body to run a social media account that is — strangely — fun. The irreverent, conversational and pop-culture laden approach is designed to help them combat misinformation online by actually engaging with people — but the last fortnight Brown, whose LinkedIn describes him as working “at the nexus of public policy, national security, academic and industry”, took exception.
The exchange began when Brown tried to called out the AEC social media managements for what he described as the “snarky LOL” tone of their posts, which he alleged was “completely inappropriate for a regulator” and “doing damage to the institution”. Shots fired, the Australian Electoral Commission’s social media account suggested they agree to disagree. Brown declined.
AEC ✏️ @AusElectoralCom
@captainbrown We would have thought a person with an interest in space travel would appreciate an account explaining complex issues in an approachable way. Regardless, thank you for the feedback.
May 2nd 2022
10 Retweets145 Likes
The multi-tweet exchange obviously culminated with Brown going full Karen and threatening to make a complaint to their manager which he claimed was absolutely not about getting anyone fired per se, but about protecting the integrity of the institution.
Normally, none of this would rate a mention but when every institution in the country that interacts with the public has been thoroughly dehumanised and engineered to serve the interests of the wealthy and the powerful, the only joy we can hope for is a fun social media account. In short, guys like Brown — self-appointed tone-police — are we why can’t have nice things.

Good Reads, Good Times

To share the love, here are some of the best or more interesting reads from the last fortnight…

Again, not a read but the vibe right now.
Allan @allanjohnsonmn1
Good Morning Friends ~ The tallest tree in Wales got damaged by a storm and was supposed to be cut down, instead chainsaw artist Simon O'Rourke found a better solution to symbolize the tree’s last attempt to reach the sky.
May 1st 2022
3,770 Retweets18,893 Likes

Before You Go (Go)…

Are you a public sector bureaucrat whose tyrannical boss is behaving badly? Have you recently come into possession of documents showing some rich guy is trying to move their ill-gotten-gains to Curacao? Did you take a low-paying job with an evil corporation registered in Delaware that is burying toxic waste under playgrounds? If your conscience is keeping you up at night, or you’d just plain like to see some wrong-doers cast into the sea, we here at Raising Hell can suggest a course of action: leak! You can securely make contact through Signal or through encrypted message Wickr Me on my account: rorok1990. Alternatively you can send us your hard copies to: PO Box 134, Welland SA 5007
And if you’ve come this far, consider supporting me further by picking up one of my books, leaving a review or by just telling a friend about Raising Hell!

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Raising Hell

Raising Hell: Issue 51: Sh*tshow