TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Thumbnail from Australian Greens, Tax the 1% Campaign Video. L ong time readers of this blog may know that I'm a woke liberal who isn't on the extreme left by any means but, thanks to Australian Labor being so much in the center these days, supporting the Greens will make anyone seem like they're on the 'radical' left. I point this out up front because the Greens recently launched their Tax the 1% campaign with a campaign ad, Time's Up - Here's How we FIX our Economy , that I think is a model for any political party to emulate.  Immediately I know you're thinking, I'm just showing my political bias, because I've been first preferencing Greens candidates in every election for at least the past decade, however, watch the ad below then hear me out. Time's Up - Here's How we FIX our Economy Whether you agree with Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens, assertations in the above video or are standing with your back to the video in pr...

W riting this blog is largely both a labor of love and a discipline. Since about 2006 (the blog started in 2004) I have written a minimum of two posts per month. Sometimes I've posted more, particularly in the last 4-5 years, where I've tried to write and post at least one article a week without fail. Unfortunately it's not a niche blog, unless the niche is things that interest me. Which means my blog is either too broad to have regular readers or too niche to have anyone other than my mum reading it. Which she does (hi Mum) as we established back in January of 2014 in the post Ya Mum Reads it... That said, this blog overall regularly gets 6-7k views every month, mostly through people finding various articles through search engines. By far the largest traffic source is 'Other' which is basically unknown sources. I'm willing to bet a large percentage of that is the dead internet. Bots testing my comments to see if they're spamable or Illuminati spammers. Whil...

Australian PM, Anthony Albanese. A midst growing concerns by Australian artists, specifically musicians most recently, about AI being trained on their work, on July 15 the world's most boring PM, Anthony Albanese delivered a keynote address from the University of Sydney on AI in Australia . I'm not going to pick apart the entire speech. Generally, it focused on the opportunities AI and its continued development in this country could bring to Australians, while assuring everyone the Government will be looking at (and possibly regulating) the negative aspects of the technology, such AI being trained with copyrighted data, and the environmental nightmare that data centres present with their excessive need for water and power. To that end the PM is setting up The Office of AI, within his own department and cabinet, that will spend, the rest of this year looking into all the issues and likely working towards building a framework for how we can benefit from AI technologies moving for...

Federal Liberal Party Leader, Angus Taylor, and Deputy Leader, Jane Hume. Image: Gemini and TET. G enerally I try to keep one eye on Australian politics, mainly at the Federal level because that affects the whole country. State based politics really only become interesting at state election time, as they're something of an indicator of how the various parties might fare in a Federal election. As indicated by the gains One Nation has been making at state level, with a recent Australian Financial Review/Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll suggesting the party is now the most popular party on primary support . Much of this surge has been at the expense of the Liberal Party of Australia with former supporters seemingly agreeing that you may as well be voting for Labor since the parties are so similar (they aren't but they're both close enough to the political 'middle' it can certainly seem that way). It seems the all new Liberal Leadership of Angus Taylor, and Deput...

O ver the weekend my state, South Australia, went to the polls to elect our government for the next four years. Going in it was considered a pretty safe bet the current Labor government, with Peter Malinauskas as Premier, would be returned. The real drama would be how the numbers looked for every other 'headline party' (those the mainstream media actually report upon) in the mix. The election didn't disappoint. Labor won with a record breaking landslide victory. The Liberal Party took a major hit with a record breaking swing against it in almost every seat, while One Nation had it's best result in any election since 1998, and even picked up its first ever lower house seat in an election outside of Queensland. Interestingly that seat was at the expense of Labor's former member for Light (my electorate) who decided to challenge himself by trying for the seat of neighboring electorate, Ngadjuri. Had he stayed with Light he would've been fine, as we remain a Labor s...

M odern Australia is not a country that starts wars. We're more than ready to help finish a war but we don't start them. We should not allow ourselves to become involved in unnecessary wars, such as the one Israel, with the assistance of the USA, just started with Iran. Ideally, all wars are unnecessary, but in reality sometimes countries do need to defend themselves from unnecessary attacks born from the poor leadership of opposing countries. Country leaders, that believe they can solve a problem by starting a war, should do so with their own resources. Answer to their own citizens. Don't drag allies into your weak minded drama.  However bad Iran's leadership is (or was, since reports of the death of Iran's Supreme leader are confirmed) starting a war to forcibly remove their leadership is never going to result in smiles all around. Especially in a region of the world that subscribes to 'an eye for an eye' politics (looking at you Israel). It will almost ce...

This kind of ad may speak to One Nation's existing supporters but it does nothing to  convince me that their policies hold up. Image: One Nation Website . T he proposed new hate speech laws in Australia have been very divisive. They may have passed by now but regardless, that's not the focus of this post. The laws were so divisive they caused the Liberal/National party coalition to split (again), as the National party leadership felt their position wasn't being heard by the Liberal leadership. That's fair enough. I agree with National's Federal Leader, David Littleproud, that the Nationals shouldn't just vote in line with whatever the Liberal party's position is at the time. The problem is, the two parties need each other to successfully challenge the Labor party on election day. (As of writing the two parties appear to be together again). So, of course, with Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party currently recruiting high profile politicians like Barnaby Jo...

President Maduro in US Custody. O n the same day the US Administration decided to kidnap Venezuela's President and his wife, I happened to catch a 20 minute video overview on the history of Venezuela from about the time President Maduro came into power to days before his 'capture'. The 20 minute video by Australian ABC News called, What's Going on in Venezuela? , may sway your thought process on Maduro's kidnapping - if you're highly opposed to that action - because it give the impression President Trump might actually be the lessor of two rogue idiots when it comes to running a country. I highly recommend you give it a watch if the link still works, and you want to get up to speed fast on events in Venezuela. President Maduro has run Venezuela so far into the ground it can't afford the supplies it needs to export its major income stream, oil  (though his predecessor, President Chávez, should get much of the credit). So bad that their currency is devalued t...

Image: OpenArt AI and TET. P urely as a personal observation, and with no research of any kind at all, I feel part of the problem with today's politics in general, in western countries at least, is that it's become something of a team sport. At least people seem to treat it that way. I'm aware there is such a thing as generational support, particularly in conservative households, where families have just always voted for conservative values. Likely more common with Christian, faith based families. That's fine. However, in modern politics the discourse seems to be, you pick a side. Choose the political party that you feel most aligns with your view point and then stick with them, no matter what. There is no room to look at what anyone else from outside your party is saying and think, "Yeah, they made a good point." If they're not on your team, they're just wrong. That's it. Which is not how politics work. A good politician, and by extension, politi...

I t's hard not to get caught up with the political issues of the United States of America - as an outsider. This is why I stopped writing about American Politics in this blog. While one can easily make the argument that what happens in the US, politically, affects everyone (and it does, particularly US foreign policy and trade), many of their hot button issues are uniquely their issues. For example, while Australia (because this is an Aussie blog) does have some challenges with immigration , it has little to do with some manufactured need to deport 'illegal' immigrants as some warped idea of lowering crime rates or stopping terrorists and drug dealers from entering the country. Recent protest marches around Australia , all on the same day, seemed to send a bunch of mixed messages, as different groups decided that more protests about more things, all on the same day is one way to really get your message across (does anyone not remember the #Occupy Movement  of 2011 and its ...

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

W hile I am all for voting for minor parties and independent candidates, it can be concerning if too many of them win their seats. When independents hold the balance of power it gives them a lot of leverage to get their own policy ideas inserted into the mix. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing but it can slow everything down, and even sabotage policies and promises, that the government won the election with. It requires the government to work harder, and possibly make compromises, to get their policies implemented. Essentially they do what Australian pollical legend, and founder of The Australian Democrats, Senator Don Chipp, expounded in such simple terms, "keep the bastards honest." While I can't list and write about every independent and minor party candidate I can highlight a few, who already hold seats in parliament, and will no doubt be looking to hold onto them in 2025. The Conservatives Bob Katter - Katter's Australian Party There's a joke in the ...

Image: Reve AI T here's not much to be said about the current Australian Democrats other than in 2025 Australian election, in May, they'll be out there hoping they win a seat... any seat... 'please like us again!' The Australian Democrats For just over two decades, from the late seventies onward, the Australian Democrats were the third most important party in the Federal government (if you don't count the National party since they've been on that coalition ticket with the Liberals for as long as I can remember). In fact, once I moved away from the Labor party, they were my top pick until the party slowly imploded in the early 2000's from a series of unfortunate events like leaders defecting to other parties, and a highly publicised incident of drunkenness, bullying, and abuse from a male party leader to a female colleague. It's been two decades since then (and that guy's with the Greens now)... please like us again! That aside, the party is still t...

T he Australian Federal Election date has now been announced as May 3rd, 2025. As such I thought it might be interesting to explore some of the parties and candidates in a series of articles leading up to a final wrap up in the days after the winners are announced. This is by no means an unbiased viewpoint. I've said many times my political leanings are to the woke left because those people are way better at embracing casual Friday at work (though some of the more extremist left do have to be reminded clothes are still a mandatory requirement). The obvious place to start is with the two most boring centralist parties pretending to be either left or right but actually doing their best impression of 'cake' - everybody likes cake! The Australian Labor Party Otherwise known as the incumbent, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vying for his second term. The party is campaigning on seven key points including: Helping with the cost of living. Free GP visits & even cheaper m...

Australian Democrats founder, Senator Don Chipp, embodied the role of minor parties holding the balance of power with his quote of "keep the bastards honest." Photo Manipulated Caricature by TET. A s of writing this, the actual Australian Federal Election date has yet to be announced, as our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, attempts to keep the focus on the fallout of severe weather events in Queensland, however it's looking likely that some time in May is the safest bet. Despite this, all parties have been hard at campaigning, with smaller parties, and in particular, conservative independent candidates, seemingly rallying together to make sure people know how much influence they can have just by preventing the two major parties (Labor and the Liberal/National coalition) from having a majority in either (or both) houses of parliament. They're also doing their part to make sure voters finally understand that preferential voting works in everybody's favor over one ...

I  hope the American people, who voted for President Trump, get the full experience of what they thought they voted for along with what they're actually getting.  Now may be a good time for them to learn to speak Russian because if World War Three does break out, it's not beyond possibility that it'll be the USA and Russia against the rest of the world, as Trump appears to be emboldening Russia to dig in on their attack on the Ukraine. China, may opt to stay neutral, or even join forces with the rest of the world because they've been quietly winning an economic war with so many countries, they may not care so much about the USA. Especially since President Trump wants to bring manufacturing back to America and impose tariffs on every country exporting anything to the USA. After that fiasco meeting President Zelenskyy had in the Oval Office with President Trump I've pretty much had enough. I'm not writing about what new dumb ass thing Trump's doing this week. ...

Q uite often, leaders on all sides of politics, once they've retired from office, become the kind of person, with a political view that I would've supported, if they had been that person with that viewpoint, when they were leaders. Case in point, two former right wing, Australian Prime Ministers were individually interviewed about President Trump's negative impact on Australia and global politics in general. Both said things that even a left leaning 'woke' voter like myself could get behind and nod in agreement with. Keep in mind both these former PM's are right wing politicians that should be aligned with the US Republican party, and President Trump's views on many issues. Malcolm Turnbull Mr Turnbull, like President Trump is a businessman turned politician. He's a person I was all set to vote for until he aligned himself with the Australian Liberal Party. Which was a little unexpected for me because up to that point his politics sounded more left than ...