Punters Politics

This week, we break down Labor's invite-only $560 million grant scheme, and why one lucky golf club ended up $6 million richer. We also dig into the government's new "duty of care" bill for big tech, why it's being called censorship online, and what Meta has actually been caught doing over the years. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we lay out a series of "coincidences" involving Gina Rinehart's stock portfolio, Donald Trump's trading habits, and a war that broke out right in the middle of it all, and let you draw your own conclusions. We also break down the real numbers behind your pay rises since 2021, and why, despite what your payslip says, inflation and corporate profits have quietly cancelled most of them out. Plus a Lobbyist update on where our punter-funded lobbyist turned up this week, and the results of last week's gambling ads poll. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we break down Labor's shock loss of the safe seat of Secret Harbour to One Nation, and work out who actually deserves the blame. We crack the case on News Corp's viral "rents to rise 30%" headline and what they conveniently left out of the report it came from. We also get into the ACCC blocking Coles from opening a second Kalgoorlie supermarket, right as Coles posts a $1.25 billion profit. Plus, a fact-check on Tanya Plibersek's superannuation claims, and our first Punters Politics award for a politician who crossed the floor. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we look into WA Labor's Secret Harbour candidate and her past as a Woodside lobbyist, score Angus Taylor's latest attempt to scare punters about national debt, and give a Lobbyist update on our push to get inside Parliament House. Shout out to @last.place.on.earth for the brilliant Journalism. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we break down New South Wales police's push for powers to empty your entire phone, texts, photos, location data, the lot, during any random stop without a warrant, using Israeli spyware from Cellebrite that police have already used over 30,000 times since 2022 despite telling a parliamentary inquiry they've never used it for surveillance. We score this week's Political Manoeuvres: Angus Taylor dodging fiery questions about his name surfacing in the NSW ICAC's Liberal Party donations inquiry with pure grammatical judo (9/10), and Chris Minns swooping in to rescue a floundering Anthony Albanese from a press pack obsessed with a gift of melons instead of actual policy (9/10 for the save). We also get into the AI-generated real estate photos catfishing home buyers with bedrooms that physically couldn't fit the bed pictured in them, and the good and bad news on bulk billing: up to 84 in 100 GP visits are now free nationally, except investment funds are quietly buying up the clinics. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we break down how a Chicago-based private equity firm running Australia's JobSeeker system pocketed $3.3 billion in revenue, paid just 2.14% tax, and still found $45.9 million to hand shareholders in a year it claimed a $179 million loss, all while Labor sat on its own 2023 inquiry's findings for three years and did nothing about it. We get into how NSW's ICAC is publicly unpicking an alleged secret takeover of the state Liberal Party by a property developer who's now on the run in Beirut with a warrant out for his arrest, why Gina Reinhardt is suing the ABC over a satire sketch while nobody in the corporate media mentions the word "satire," and Konrad's new plan to start a Punters Dark Money Ultimatum to make Albo finally fear us on the gas tax. Plus: a run-in with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy on a plane, and Andrew Charlton agrees to come on the pod to answer for himself. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) 00:00 Welcome Back & The Foreign Bludgers Rorting JobSeeker 01:57 Gina Sues the ABC: Beauty Pageant Politics We're Not Wasting Time On 09:47 Punter Times: The Chicago Bludgers Taking $2.1 Billion From JobSeeker 11:35 The Privatization Scam: How We Pay More For Worse Service 16:16 Who's To Blame? Johnny Howard Started It, But Labor Knew 17:32 Labor's Tiny Steps: Three Years Of Knowing & Still No Real Fix 23:25 The Real Dole Bludgers: Terry Pays More Tax Than These Corporations 24:39 Pep Up The Punts: NSW ICAC Takes Down Dodgy Property Developers 28:12 Story Time: Conrad Meets Pat Conroy On A Plane 33:21 The Dark Money Quest: Making Politicians Fear Punters 38:34 Shoot The Shit: YouTube Algorithm Woes & Sauce Bottle Admin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we break down three massive stories the corporate media barely wants you to connect: why Prime Minister Albanese is dodging questions about attending a dodgy billionaire's fundraising dinner hosted by a 25 year old whose dad is under investigation for allegedly funneling money from China, how Woodside just pocketed a $6 billion windfall this quarter from the Iran war while paying zero extra tax on those war profits because Albo bravely refused to tax the gas, and why Pauline Hanson floating around Sicily with Gina Reinhart is somehow less corrupt than the Prime Minister secretly meeting with property billionaires and former bank CEOs at Point Piper mansions. We get into why oil and gas giants are becoming Australia's biggest winners from war while punters cover the difference, how a 30% revenue jump for Woodside means $18 billion in untaxed export revenue that could have funded your healthcare or childcare but won't because existing contracts are sacred, and why the exact same Prime Minister who calls out Gina Reinhart's One Nation is running Anthony Pratt's Labor Party while attending private dinners he refuses to discuss with alleged money launderers and former regulators. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Punter Konrad brings you two massive ideas Australia could implement right now that would make everyone's lives better, cheaper, and fairer, but probably won't happen because the corporate lobbyists and media machine will do everything they can to stop it. We break down why legendary finance journalist Alan Kohler thinks nationalising childcare is the only way to fix the broken system where we subsidise private profits while parents pay exorbitant fees for lower quality care, how economist Cameron Murray explains why a variable royalty on gas that scales with the market price would lock in billions during booms without letting the lobbyists unwind it during busts, and why both of these solutions are common sense until the corporate media gets their filthy mitts on them and turns them into culture war fights to protect billionaire profits over punter wellbeing. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we sit down with legendary Australian journalist Ray Martin for a raw, unfiltered conversation about media, power, and whether everyday punters can actually change anything. We break down why corporate media is consolidating while trust is collapsing, how billionaires use newspapers to protect their real businesses, whether the ABC is truly independent or just responding to Murdoch's agenda, and why Ray thinks social media might be better than the old system despite AI and disinformation running rampant. We get into why politicians still suck up to Murdoch even when he attacks them, how gas companies use scare tactics to protect their rip off contracts, whether Aussies are too afraid to challenge authority despite hating tall poppies, and why Ray's advice after 60 years in journalism comes down to three words: have a go. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we team up with Chas Licciardello and Dr. Dave Smith from the ABC's Planet America podcast to run through exactly what Princess Pauline is hoping to import from the US after her cozy Mar-a-Lago visits with Trump and Gina. We play the corruption speed round, where Chaz and Dr. Dave race through Trump's greatest hits. We break down why American political scientists are jealous of Australia's system, what it means when Pauline plasters Trump all over her website saying she wants his action and style, and why punters should be very worried about what happens when our potential opposition leader starts taking notes from the world's most corrupt democracy. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, punter favourite and self-described people's economist Gary's Economics joins us from the UK to break down why you're getting poorer, who's getting richer, and what we can actually do about it. We get into wealth taxes, the propaganda machine protecting billionaires, why every government will eventually have to choose between taxing the rich or gutting your public services, and why the solution might be more simple than you think. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every time the world's biggest corporations look at Australia, we lose — our gas, our minerals, now our land and water for their AI data centres. The bloke meant to get us a good deal, Andrew Charlton, is a product of the revolving door: mates spinning between lobbying, consulting and government, swinging it wide open for Big Tech every time. Here's how Charlton sells us out. Watch - TINY LIES: The $50K Political Donation That Disappeared (The Internet Reviewed Investigation) - • TINY LIES: The $50K Political Donation Tha... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0imcJ7jnCs) Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we bring you a full punter on battle between Dan Bleakley, co-founder of Australia's first electric trucking company New Energy Transport, and longtime YouTube commentator and libertarian Topher Field, to settle the question: are electric trucks the future of Australian freight, or just another taxpayer-funded pipe dream? We break down the heated debate over a viral Instagram post claiming electric trucks just beat diesel again, why one side says we're subsidising a fantasy while the other says we're shackled to a volatile fossil fuel crisis, and how a disagreement over basic arithmetic turned into a full scale ideological clash between progressives betting on new technology and conservatives defending the status quo. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we bring you a full punter on battle between Dan Bleakley, co-founder of Australia's first electric trucking company New Energy Transport, and longtime YouTube commentator and libertarian Topher Field, to settle the question: are electric trucks the future of Australian freight, or just another taxpayer-funded pipe dream? We break down the heated debate over a viral Instagram post claiming electric trucks just beat diesel again, why one side says we're subsidising a fantasy while the other says we're shackled to a volatile fossil fuel crisis, and how a disagreement over basic arithmetic turned into a full scale ideological clash between progressives betting on new technology and conservatives defending the status quo. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/)

This week, Queensland's LNP government scraps the ban on developer donations just in time to hand out $7 billion in Olympic building contracts, while one nation's brand new MP pulls a sickie on his first day to dodge voting on the gas tax. We break down how lifting the corruption ban led to $170,000 in developer cash within weeks, why Princess Pauline's 36% attendance record should dock her pay like any other job, and how politicians legalized corruption by calling the bill the electoral laws restoring electoral fairness amendment bill while punters got distracted by e bike crackdowns. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart tips in a cool $26 million to help a former Channel 7 executive grab a 10% stake in Australia's second biggest broadcaster, just as the anti corruption boss who was supposed to be finding dodgy politicians gets investigated himself for allegedly being dodgy. We break down how Australia's second highest media concentration in the world keeps getting worse, why the National Anti Corruption Commission has found zero corruption in three years despite 7,000 referrals, and how corporate media ran a textbook death tax scare campaign over a testamentary trust policy that affects 5% of the wealthiest Aussies while everyday punters defended billionaires in the comments. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Princess Pauline Hanson bravely takes the stage at the gas lobby's own conference to announce her "Norway-style" gas policy — written, by her own admission, in consultation with the gas producers themselves. We break down why her 10% royalty isn't remotely the actual 78% Norway charges, how Sunrise spent a week peddling a fake death tax while Nat Barr accidentally realised on-air that everyone's negative gearing is grandfathered, and how the federal court just found Coles GUILTY of running the Down Down scam on punters. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Albo bravely protects his NRL gambling buddy by burying a landmark kids gambling addiction report under 4,000 pages of budget spreadsheets while journalists were literally locked in a basement. We break down how the government sat on gambling reform recommendations for 1,049 days, why Pete V'landys and the NRL are raking in gambling commission cash, and how a unanimous report calling for a blanket ban on gambling ads got watered down to an opt out online system that does absolutely nothing. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we recap the "Tax Gas Not Beer" tour and tear down Albo’s hollow gas reform—a policy that raises zero dollars and won't even kick in until after the next election. We also dive into a heated housing showdown between economist Richard Dennis and developer Jack Henderson, debating everything from capital gains tax to whether the government can actually build affordable homes. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Fact checks welcome citations NECESSARY! Here are the citations Jack and Richard sent through for claims around the DHA at the end of the debate there. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DMFmkzUCV1UKUJ2EVlmH8WTlvU1FWrbiE5itBVxC0uc/edit?usp=sharing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Konrad breaks down his appearance on the Karl Stefanovic Show podcast where he was ambushed by Senator Susan McDonald, the shadow resources minister, in what turned out to be a debate he never agreed to. We go through the full uncut interview, score the political manoeuvers, expose the gas lobby talking points being recycled by politicians, and reveal why this setup was designed to turn a popular policy issue into a culture war distraction. Bypass the Algorithm, Sign up to the Punter Times Newsletter https://www.punterspolitics.com/pages/email-sign-up Support We the Punters on PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/punterspolitics) Buy Punters Stickers & T-shirts (https://www.punterspolitics.com/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices