Scams don’t take a holiday and this week has been overflowing with them.
First, Anthony Albanese heads to the UN, and Murdoch’s media machine has a meltdown. If he skips Trump, it’s “disgraceful.” If he takes a photo with Trump, it’s “humiliating.” Damned if you do, damned if you don’t all while Rupert keeps pulling the strings.
Meanwhile, Susan Ley is busy bootlicking foreign powers, writing apologies to US Congress for Australia recognising Palestine, while her own party tears itself apart at CPAC with Matt Canavan, Jacinta Price, and Tony Abbott sharing the stage with Liz Truss and Rowan Dean. Comedy or politics? Hard to tell.
Over in the UK, Keir Starmer pushes a mandatory digital ID for anyone to work by 2029, sparking fierce backlash over civil liberties. And in the US, Trump’s chaos only deepens: honoring war criminals at Wounded Knee, joking with Erdogan about rigged elections, and claiming Tylenol in pregnancy causes autism a claim his allies’ supplement companies stand to profit from.
But it doesn’t stop there. Trump has now slapped a 100% tariff on Australian pharmaceuticals, directly targeting our PBS system to please American drug giants. That means higher costs for taxpayers, less stability in our health system, and more profits for his billionaire backers.
And through it all, the Liberal Party is auditioning Andrew Hastie as their next leader. With Jacinta Price, Angus Taylor, and Matt Canavan lining up behind him, he’s selling nostalgia about “bringing back Aussie manufacturing” while ignoring the fact his own party killed it in the first place. Add in his contradictions on net zero, and Hastie’s pitch looks less like policy, more like theatre.
This week’s Scam of the Week award goes to Andrew Hastie the Liberals’ would-be Trump, wrapped in Murdoch’s headlines and serving up old ideas as if they’re new.
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00:00 Intro
00:49 Murdoch Madness
02:13 Sussan Ley
03:00 CPAC
04:46 Andrew Hastie
08:45 UK digital ID
09:37 US Quickfire Round
11:22 Trump Tariffs
12:53 Scam of the Week Winner
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.
