HOW deplorable and utterly pathetic it is to drive into some of our regional towns and cities only to be greeted by Trumpet of Patriots billboards, often accompanied by the effigy of the great buffoon himself alongside a list of his ridiculous policies that give specious and infantile solutions to our current issues.
Some may claim it is Palmer’s right to free speech (which isn’t explicitly protected in the Australian Constitution) to buy ad space on any billboard he chooses; however, it elucidates a fundamental flaw in Australian democracy that can no longer be ignored.
While Palmer has a spare $50 million to frivolously plaster his bloated mug and his hackneyed “Trump-inspired” policies across newspapers, billboards and online ads, drumming up fear and bigotry while inflating his already swollen ego, working-class people are struggling with cost-of-living pressures, housing unaffordability, and declining education and medical outcomes.
There is no level playing field of free speech to speak of when one uber-wealthy person can so readily acquire the apparatuses of communication to control and dominate the political conversation as they see fit, especially when they expediently play fast and loose with the truth.
Clive Palmer is a multi-billionaire who has made money off the backs of exploiting workers and speculating on the property market; he is the very embodiment of the monster lurking in the swamp he purports to want to drain.
He panders to people’s insecurities and prejudices, participating in culture war tirades against the nebulous “woke” agenda, stoking moral outrage to distract and obfuscate the real economic and political forces that wield power in this country.
His policies, from allowing people to draw on their precious retirement funds to enter the overinflated property market, to unjustly blaming immigration for the country’s woes, only serve to maintain the status quo, widen inequality and fuel prejudice.
We can see the destructive results of “Trump-style politics” in America before our very eyes; disastrous trade wars and government cuts that are sending the economy into a nosedive, rampant inequality and rolling back of citizens’ rights at alarming rates, and brazen imperialism and war mongering, all of which serve to protect the interests of the wealthy elite.
Trumpet of Patriots believes this message will resonate with rural voters.
This election, voters must send a message, not only to Palmer, but to all conservative forces who want to grant an immigration visa to the MAGA playbook by resoundingly voting against the encroachment of populist right-wing rot and emphatically rejecting “Trump-style” politics here in Australia.”
Luke Holdstock
Kerang
