Collapse

 

For many people the impending collapse was already here.

The streets were quiet, much quieter than they should be, as one business after another fell into bankruptcy, as the public became more dispirited by the day, as this egregiously overtaxed and over regulated country fell, a giant, a nation, in slow motion collapse.

He was coming back from the dead, the forest litter, the hiding, the circling demons and the evil that was soaking across the world.

There was no reason to continue; for many. There was no reason to be proud of their country. There was no reason to wake up, to thrust their hands in the sky in moments of celebration, to be.

There was no reason at all.

That was the state of this slow, these days not so slow, collapse. Everyone could feel it. Nobody knew what to do. 

Nothing can stop what is coming, as Elon says. Nothing. 

And so the human race, on the precipice, went through the daily motions of life as busy and employed individuals.

But it was useless. This collapse would be like no other.

NEWS 

1

“Fire the Liar” trucks circle Parliament as Albanese’s “toxic taxes” and “broken promises” hammer hardworking Australians; PM refuses to “man up” over melon gaffe while Labor support slumps to Gillard-era lows.

2
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has led the charge in recent parliamentary sessions, declaring Labor’s budget one of “broken promises and higher, toxic taxes” that will impose $77 billion in new levies, asking why “this prime minister, the leader of this dishonest government, want[s] to pull up the ladder on hard-working Australians?” Critics from One Nation and the Coalition have labelled Albanese a “liar,” with Pauline Hanson telling reporters Australians are “sick and tired of this government which is not giving us accountability” and accusing him of lying on immigration, energy prices and more; her party’s “Fire the Liar” campaign has even deployed billboard trucks to Canberra. Headlines have hammered the government’s tax changes on negative gearing and capital gains—policies Albanese had repeatedly ruled out before the election—as “out of touch,” with one senator declaring the budget’s passage cemented the PM’s position “as incompetent, as a fraud and as a liar.”

3
The latest Newspoll has delivered a “grim result” for the Albanese government, with Labor’s primary vote crashing to 29 per cent—the lowest since the dying days of the Gillard era—while One Nation has surged into contention or even ahead in some surveys. Barnaby Joyce summed up the discontent: people “don’t believe in the authenticity of Labor beyond socialism… They’re very good at taking away the rights of our land.” Cost-of-living pressures remain front and centre, with the RBA holding the cash rate at 4.35 per cent but warning of possible further hikes, and critics accusing the government of “gaslighting” Australians by downplaying the “worst interest rate cycle ever” and economic hardship that is “not imagined.”

4
Parliament has been dominated by “melon-gate,” the fallout from Albanese’s appearance on the Bush Deep podcast where he joked about Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s gift of “a couple of melons” (complete with gestures) alongside crude remarks about Kylie Minogue. Taylor demanded the PM “man up” and apologise, telling the House “this prime minister has stuffed up… He has made an egregious error” and questioning whether Albanese could show “humility” instead of “hubris.” 

The Coalition has referred a reported Japanese diplomatic memo leak to the AFP, while headlines blare “Albanese refuses to apologise,” “first they lie, then they gaslight,” and “political firestorm in parliament over Japanese Prime Minister’s ‘melons’.” Jacinta Nampijinpa Price charged that “you just can’t believe this government.” Even as the Japanese embassy has sought to downplay the remarks as a non-issue, the episode has fuelled broader accusations that Albanese is “hopelessly out of his depth” and that Labor is flailing amid rising One Nation support, housing-market fears from tax changes, and ongoing fights over immigration levels and other policies. 

Coalition voices and independents continue to portray a government of broken trust, with one analysis noting the PM’s attempts to connect have “bear[n] bitter fruit when he goes off script,” leaving many Australians viewing the administration as out of touch and unaccountable.