Episode 78: Morrison’s flood disaster and the crisis of small government, Putin’s War and energy in the West plus solar panel flowers

Van Badham and Ben Davison look at how the Morrison government's
current failures around the floods are deeply rooted in their
obsessive small government ideology.  From defence readiness
to aged care, from the NDIS to flood relief the ideological
obsession of Morrison, Dutton and the Liberals has seen billions
collected in taxes then doled out in rorts and dodgy deals while
the sovereign capacity Australians need to keep us safe, employed
and prosperous has been eroded.


Morrison has flown to Lismore to declare a national emergency in
a photo-op but refuses to acknowledge that the undermining of the
public sector, the sell offs, favours for mates and dodgy grant
schemes, coupled with a refusal to acknowledge the science of
climate change, is the root cause of the problem.


With people hiring helicopters, setting up their own field
hospitals and Chris Hemsworth donating tonnes of food people are
rightly asking "isn't this the role of government?"


Putin's War in Ukraine hasn't gone to plan with high casualties,
equipment failures and stubborn Ukrainian resistance throwing his
"special operation" into a chaotic second week.


The West has responded by imposing sanctions, the latest of which
strikes at the rivers of black gold that Russia has been selling
to Europe, the UK and USA.  Bans and rapid transitions away
from Russian oil, coal and gas by the Western nations will
cripple the Russian economy and speed up the global transition to
renewable energy.


The good news is that South Korea has floated giant flower shaped
solar farms that not only provide renewable energy but are also
beautiful tourist attractions.


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