Episode 70 - The Party Line on Jess Wilson’s Plan to Destroy Victoria
We start this ep looking at the successful campaign launches for VS candidates that took place over the weekend in Melbourne, Footscray and Preston, which together saw over 350 people attend to celebrate Jordan Van Den Lamb (@Purplepingers), Jasmine Duff, Priya Reddy and Serena Ashmore. We then discuss the ongoing situation in France, and the racist and authoritarian backlash against the student uprising. We rage against the hypocrisy of politicians and media pundits who backed the Gaza genocide and have done nothing to stop the US war on Iran calling out ‘violence’, with a special shout out to David Crowe . We also look at Sally Rooney standing up for Palestine at great personal cost, and Labor’s decision to give investors a massive tax break.
The body of the episode is all about Jess Wilson, the current odds on favourite to win the upcoming Victorian election. We look at her history as a blue blood, silver spoon eating, trust fund-inheriting nepo baby, and how her poor father was denied his rightful status as a long term Liberal MP for the eastern suburbs by the evil Steve Bracks. We look at how her plan to aggressively reduce Victoria’s deficit will mean savage cuts for schools, hospitals and essential services, despite their meaningless promise to focus the cuts on ‘back-office’ staff. At the same time, she is proposing $3 billion in tax cuts for businesses. She’s also planning to abolish the Victorian Treaty, winding back one of the few progressive measures made by Labor in this term. And behind the scenes lurks the various far right factions on the right, inside the Liberals themselves and in the growing power of One Nation.
News links
Nothing left to loot: Parisians ponder the real cost of another night of riots
Tax cuts for foreigners: How Labor says it will help first home buyers
US book bans in public schools reach record annual high of 12,000
Sally Rooney’s books pulled from UK shelves over Palestine Action support
Further reading
‘It’s crazy stuff’: How Abbott, Credlin and Loughnane won back power | The Saturday Paper
The origins of the Liberal Party
Thanks for listening, remember to like, comment, subscribe, share, HYPE!, and sign up to our Patreon if you can.
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Hosted by Jordan van den Lamb (@purplepingers), Anneke Demanuele and Omar Hassan. Huge thanks to our (MIFF Talent of Tomorrow Award-winning) producer Jak Scanlon who should be working in Hollywood, and Jaan Schild our new cover photo designer.
This is a podcast by members of the Socialist Party in Naarm (Melbourne). We hope to bring a radical perspective to a podcast landscape dominated by insipid liberalism (looking at you, The Daily) or Labor apologism (@friendlyjordies). The pod will come out weekly, and aims to breakdown news and current eventTs from a socialist point of view. While a lot of what’s going on in the world is fairly bleak, The Party Line will try and highlight voices of resistance and struggle.
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(The views and opinions expressed in our show are ours and ours alone, and do not reflect on the Socialist Party or Victorian Socialists.)
This pod was produced on stolen land and we stand in solidarity with our Indigenous comrades in their ongoing fight against racism and capitalism.
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