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The Wrap with Amy Remeikis

What Peter Dutton and the Coalition are offering Australian voters is a fiction.

It’s headlines without substance, chimeras and half-truths that never stand up to scrutiny, but comprehensively misdirects the media’s gaze.

The nation has been in election mode since the beginning of the year, when Anthony Albanese used his January press club address to remind voters of what he had spent the better part of the last three years doing.

Dutton fronted his own quasi election opening campaign launch in Victoria, the state he hopes will help deliver a Labor defeat, complete with a new slogan ‘let’s get Australia back on track’.

If it sounds as though someone in Coalition headquarters ran ‘Make America Great Again’ through ChatGPT with the instruction to make something similar for Australia, but different, congratulations – your neurons are firing in exactly the way someone receiving big money worked to manipulate.

But on the eve of the election being formally called, one has to ask – what track is a Dutton led Australia heading towards?  An imaginary fantasy of the 1950s, when ‘strong’ men made decisions and women did what they were told, and migrants were indistinguishable from their neighbours, as long as their name wasn’t printed on the letter box?

It is exhausting to live in a country in turmoil. With the Trump regime and the Republican Fascists wilding and so many elite institutions bending the knee, it can be overwhelming to pay attention. But I believe we must, if only to keep a record for the future. When it comes time to rebuild a federal state that is a constitutional democracy committed to rule of law and secular pluralism – and I have no doubt that time will come – the people rebuilding need to know who tried to protect these things and the steps they took. For us now, it is important to pay attention to who is trying and what they are doing: we must know who to support, protect, and join with. This brings me back to Judge Boasberg, the federal district court judge hearing J.G.G. v. Trump.

Marco Del Negro, Ibrahima Diagne, Pranay Gundam, Donggyu Lee, and Brian Pacula 

Introduction

If you are an organiser, a movement builder, a community leader, an ‘artivist’, a student, a social justice NGO worker, a philanthropist, or someone from any other part of the social change ecosystem – this Guide is for you!

This Guide, Just Power: A Guide for Activists and Changemakers, by JASS is based on decades of experience in and alongside movements, and is by and for change-makers of all kinds.

Based on two decades of movement accompaniment and strengthening, the Just Power Guide combines provocative thinking and concepts with tried and tested activities for groups. Several years in the making, this cutting edge Guide supports activists, organizations and movements to be strategic as they navigate increasingly hostile contexts. It provides movement allies and donors with conceptual frameworks and analysis to understand what movements are facing and what they need.

This Guide is intended for use by a wide range of people and groups. We believe that there are many roles to play in terms of creating change. We think about this in terms of an ecosystem, in which movements define and lead change and many others contribute and play important roles.

In his address to Congress this month, President Trump boasted—and justly so—of his administration’s astonishing success in stopping illegal border crossings over just six weeks. “Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history. And we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossers ever recorded.” This is no Trumpian bombast: A 94% year-on-year reduction in illegal entries really is an unprecedented accomplishment. It is also a popular one: a majority of Americans approve of controlling the border.

An even larger majority—some 76%—approve of his policy of deporting undocumented aliens who have committed felonies. Even some on the Left like Jon Stewart have been wondering: if ICE knew exactly where to find all those murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and human traffickers, as clearly they did, why then did the Biden Administration never act to deport them? Good question.

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

Tren Wreck | The Roundtable Ep. 259

You’re fired. Trump, by executive order, has moved to terminate federal contracts with law firm Perkins Coie for its role in promoting the 2016 Russiagate conspiracy and otherwise influencing elections—sparking fervorous debate in and across the aisle. Meanwhile, the administration invoked the emergency powers of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, provoking an activist judge to obstruct the law’s use. Who rules: Congress or courts? The hosts sit down to discuss these ongoing legal battles in government, real battles abroad, and the absurd responses from the Left across the board. Plus, more media recommendations!

Recommended reading:

I write in response to the recent critique by Terry Leahy of my article ‘Beyond green growth, degrowth, post-growth and growth agnosticism’ in JAPE (94, Summer 2024/2025).

While it is great to open this sort of debate, it is crucial, first and foremost, to clarify what is being argued. My article in JAPE should not be characterised as making an argument for ‘green growth’ – which is a position I reject as being poorly formulated, overly rigid and lacking in qualification and nuance. The key arguments I put forward in the JAPE article were actually as follows:

Introduction

This workbook, Love Notes to Our Social Justice Leaders: A Workbook to Support Your Reflective Leadership Practice, introduces key leadership concepts, reflective leadership questions, inspirational and thought-provoking quotes, as well as resources you can use to deepen your leadership practice.

This workbook was authored by Elsa A. Rios and Surei Quintana and sponsored by Strategies for Social Change. It is organized into seven chapters by topic, covering subjects such as:

• challenging the mythology of leadership
• practicing emotional intelligence, and
• leading in the context of racism and trauma.

Every chapter includes some foundational information on the topic as well as exercises to kickstart reflection, and quotes to spark inspiration.

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, by Iain Montgomery on his Substack Challenger Cities. It is shared here with permission. Images were provided by the writer.

The changes to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act will reportedly be rammed through Parliament next week as a favour to the salmon industry in Tasmania. They would also benefit gas and coal mines.

The proposal would prohibit third-party civil society organisations like The Australia Institute and Environmental Defenders Office from challenging environmentally damaging projects.

“Weakening environmental laws doesn’t help the Australian community or the Australian economy. It simply boosts the profits of salmon corporations, coal companies and other corporate interests,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director of The Australia Institute.

“Any change that makes it harder for community groups to use Australia’s environment laws is, by definition, anti-democratic.

“This legislation appears to be in response to The Australia Institute triggering a review of the impact of salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, where salmon corporations are pushing the endangered Maugean skate towards extinction.

“This isn’t just The Australia Institute’s view, it’s the view of the Federal Environment Department. Documents released under freedom of information reveal that officials told Minister Plibersek that it was ‘likely’ salmon farming would have to stop while a full environmental assessment is done.

“The role The Australia Institute and other NGOs play in environmental decision-making fundamentally strengthens Australia’s democracy.

That equates to $28,381 per minute, handed to some of the biggest, most profitable companies in Australia at a time when ordinary Australians are battling a long-running cost-of-living crisis.

As the federal election approaches, independent and minor party candidates have indicated that winding back these subsidies would be a key objective if they are elected into a hung parliament.

Key points:

• Federal Government fossil fuel subsidies reached $12.6 billion, mainly due to the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme which refunds fuel tax to major diesel users
• Major mining corporations are the key beneficiaries of federal subsidies, with the coal industry receiving $1.1 billion through the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme
• State governments provided $1.2 billion worth of assistance measures such as cheap access to infrastructure, gas purchase commitments and handouts for research and development

“Fossil fuel subsidies harm the budget and make climate change worse,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“Cutting back subsidies like these, which make the community and the climate worse off, should be a priority for the next parliament.

“It is pleasing to see crossbench members looking seriously at fossil fuel subsidies such as the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme.

“This is a major opportunity to redirect billions of dollars from mining companies like BHP and Glencore, and instead invest this money in health, education and other community services.”

An unexpected line to trace through Christopher Caldwell’s The Age of Entitlement underscores how post-1960s America—high on a new civil rights regime enforced by the federal bureaucracy—evolved into a culture of easy capital and low-accountability work. Caldwell’s warnings about limitless government spending, cheap credit, and extraordinary leniency on personal and corporate debt hint at a deeper transformation that I will make explicit: easy money ultimately begat easy jobs, embedding a sense of entitlement not just in civic life, but also in corporate America. Lax job performance and perpetual punting on profitability became commonplace, normalizing positions unattached to genuine operational needs.

The book’s climax spotlights Ronald Reagan’s decision to cut taxes and increase spending to buoy the Baby Boomers. Rather than halting the runaway habits of endless federal agencies, trimming spending, and repealing harmful laws from the prior generation, the Reagan Administration doubled down. The massive expansion of the administrative state—ostensibly to enforce civil rights—spilled into economic policy: free-flowing money, perpetual government growth, workless jobs, and inflated assets in both the public and private spheres. The federal government, alongside subsidized industries, sprawling corporate giants, and a host of NGOs, served as the unwitting backstop for this risky status quo.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor preview next week’s Federal Budget and why the Government doesn’t need to leave so much tax revenue on the table.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 20 March 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Order What’s the Big Idea? 32 Big Ideas for a Better Australia now, via the Australia Institute website.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

5 ways and 63 billion reasons to improve Australia’s tax system by Greg Jericho, the Australia Institute (March 2025)

The Australia Institute has recommended an extensive list of reforms to make our once-great university sector more efficient, transparent and democratic – in a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Quality of Governance at Australian Higher Education Providers.

Australia’s higher education sector has been plagued with scandals in recent years, from wage theft and conflicts of interest, to excessive spending on marketing, travel and consultants.

Yet our university Vice-Chancellors are among the highest-paid in the world.

In 2023, the Australian National University spent around $54 million on consultants. It was later revealed that contracts were awarded to a consulting firm run by a friend of Chancellor Julie Bishop. As the University cut costs and slashed jobs, Ms. Bishop spent $150,000 on travel.

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and detention in a Louisiana ICE facility is a harbinger for a new authoritarian era of the United States. Khalil’s arrest, the capitulation of Columbia University against dissent and protest by its own students and the Trump administration’s threat of stripping the university of $400 million in grants if it does not meet its requests is just one place where the tentacles of fascism tighten their grip.