09/01/2019
I’m no stranger to calling out the Labor Party for things that they should or should not have done. There are countless criticisms worth looking into, such as their hands off approach to Adani, the encryption bill they allowed to pass last year, and their slow progress to finally join the Greens in campaigning for the refugees on Manus and Nauru. But an article I saw from the Brisbane Times (which is now paywalled after 30 free articles like the Sydney Morning Herald, looks like I won’t be reading as much Fairfax anymore) took a different approach – won’t somebody think of the banks?!
I don’t pretend to know a whole lot about economics, only enough to have a somewhat informed opinion. But when an Australian paper references analysts from the third largest US bank, Citigroup (an investment banking company), in defence of Australian banks against Labor’s economic policies, I’m more inclined to follow the lead of the Labor Party. Given the rampant corruption that has already been revealed through the Royal Commission into the banking industry, I would be reluctant to write anything positive about, or to the benefit of, the banks.
But it isn’t the policy regarding franking credits that makes this Fairfax article murky, it’s the timing of it. It was only in November last year that they had an article explaining how Labor’s policy actually made more sense the Coalitions. Now that an election is forthcoming, they post an article that is both anti-Labor and pro-banks. Even playing along with the idea of an ‘independent media’ actually existing, with the understanding that ‘fair and balanced reporting’ means a range of views, one can’t help but realise that this is an intentional move to sway people against the Labor Party.
The fact that this article is pushing the agenda of a foreign investment bank should be enough to convince people maybe it doesn’t have our best interests in mind. But it certainly helps tarnish the ALP’s reputation at a time when their victory at the next election should be assured. Similar to the Guardian hounding Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, they’ll never explicitly support the Coalition, but casting the opposition in a bad light is acceptable.
Liked this? Read The Age of “Free” Information: Is It Falling, Or Did It Never Exist?
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