Todays Example of Journalists, Commentators & the General Public Getting It Wrong ON AIR

On Talk Back Radio several topics were covered. Fair to say some talk back callers weren't possessing all the facts but had some very strongly decided views.

Some might change their mind if they were presented deeper wide facts...some might not, especially after publicly going out of limb, some might double down.

BUT if facts were set up by the announcer we'd all be better off. If the announcer has Journalists, Reporters, Newsreaders, Commentators on a panel...well seems it turns into lesst han an exchange of facts or even an exchange of ideas. Sometimes, often it slips into people thinking out loud whilst not being across the topic.

Now to be thoroughly fair, I don't expect anyone to be well across all topics but if you're in the Media it's going to be harder if you genuinely hitting a dozen topics a day but after a while, when you're discsussing, researching you'd kinda think they'd be well ahead of the average talk back caller but no. Not so much and when you have talk back callers less than informed by with a strong opinion & a panel not across it, well it's not good for others listening who have little idea.
Lets just briefly look at 2 radio shows with TalkBack Callers, Guest Panels & Some Topics. (No Names, No Pack Drill)

The Rebublic (...again)
Themes said & not said of the TV/radio

1. Technically we have a republic already. We have a Crowned Republic. The Monarch is only an impartial umpire, Britain does not control or lead Australia. The Queen's sole role outside ceremonial figurehead is to approve what the Governor General recommends. 
   The process is VERY CLEAR - if supply is blocked in the Federal Parliament, a double dissolution of Parliament is triggered & it will result in the Governor General sticking to OUR set process and seeking council with the Monarch to approve dissolving the Parliament to ordering a new Federal Election where WE THE PEOPLE decide who is the Government...not the Queen.. All she does is check that the process if followed properly, fully & legally. THAT'S IT. She cannot kick out a government she doesn't like, elect someone she does like...or you would have seen it. She cannot nor has she ever interfered, nor has Britain, the UK people, the UK Government. Our head of state is the Governor General, the Queen is a transcendent umpire who can do nothing but be umpire. Nothing.
   We effectively has a Republic and a President will be far more political than the Queen.
   
   
2. What's wrong with the current system? I'm yet to find out. No one controls us except us. But there is no evidence we're a laughing stock of the world because we're a Crowned Republic operating with OUR own system, with OUR own Constitution, with OUR own elections, decided by US. Overseas, no one cares. Hell few countries care what China does with it's minorities so they're not chuckling at our system.
   
   
3. Replacement Republic. Incredibly noticable, the replacement model is a often profoundly vague on why & whats currently wrong and Peter Pitzpatrick seems to run lots of "small simple metaphors" that have little bearing. If we have a President & Prime Minister Republic model it will create yet another Machivellean lever a political party can pull. Its not good. Might go good, but likely it will go bad.
   
   
4. Each state puts forward a name for Governor General? So there'll never be a NT, ACT, WA, SA or Tasmanian Governor General unless it was someone heralded high for non political, non legal endavours. The late Peter Brock, or Ashe Barty or John Farnham might well have universal appeal...but that means its a popularity contest to fill a ceremonial role that the person needs absolutely no background, knowledge, experience or connection to. Seriously at that level, put the entire countries over 18 citizens in a hat & just puck a random name out every 3 years. Hell we could put Phar Lap, Red Dog & the Neighbours cat in the mix. And this is better than the system we have. 
   
   
5. Replace the Monaarchy
   Replace the Flag
   Exit the Commonwealth
   All 3 are completely different & unconnected issues.
   We actually can do any 2 or one without the others. Arguably we have a Crown Republic now, so it must be about removing the Monarchy, changing the flag or exiting the Commonwealth.
   Canada has a Constitutional Monarchy, THEIR system, run by THEM not the UK or the Queen. They have a seperate flag that represents them not their UK heritage. They're in the Commonwealth.
   
   
6. The President vs Prime Minsiter model is what will replace the Monarchy & thats about it. The Queen who doesn't control Australia because its a sovereign nation. In effect we'd at one level by the model put forward be changing the Name of Goevrnor General to President, getting a new flag & leaving the Commonwealth. 
   
   However if that was the case, why has the Republican Movement NEVER said this?
   
   Just change those 3 things it'd be ok but rather pointless. It would be change for change sake, for the visual, the optic, the narrative for the looks of things. Thats not enough reason or even worse, there are far more changes afoot & they either haven't been thought about or they have and they're keep in the bottom drawer so they're not seen until later.
   
   
7. Aboriginal People see the Monarchy as some kind of threat culturally. Yes a Journalist said this on air & I think despite her intentions this was not only completely wrong, it was deeply racist. One of the many problems today is some people black & white are saying what ALL black people believe. Taken to the grotesquely foul level you have the now US President who famously said in the choice between Republican or Democrat if you didn't support him "you ain't black"
   He with great racist language said 'Y'all ain't individuals, you all think the same, do not think independently, you have one homogenous view and if you go outside that you are a traitor to your skin colour which has a particular place in society that cannot be left"
   I think Larry Elder would disagree, so would Candance Owen, Thomas Sowell & in Australian so too would Warren Mundine, Senator Jacinta Price & a lot of the 'blackfella' men & women I know.
   I think the late Neville Bonner AO would disagree.
   And if you could somehow remove the party political filter for a few seconds off  even the most radical Marxist like Lydia Thorpe she'd disagree too.
   There are Aboriginal people with deep distrust of the Uluru Statement & the Parliamentary Voice idea as well.

Live Export (...again) 
Themes said & not said of the TV/radio

1. Live Export was terrible but it was outliers in the wrong. Regardless it needed to improve & since the 4Corners Show that exposed it, it's not only met requirements, its exceeded them. It's now a heavily regulated industry, certified sustainable, viable & not in decline. Animal Welfare has never been better or more reliable. 
   
   
2. No 4Corners or similar show highlighting where the industry is at now. No 4Corners show or similar highlighting the vision that was paid for by the activists/journalists in amounts that equaled the worker, from a 3rd world country, recieved the equivilent of several years wages and he offered to make the suffering look even worse. Not a reliable, honest source.
   
   
3. Shipping companies have season restrictions on sea transport now to avoid the high humidity problem. Basically it means at once a danger humidity & temperture is reached a creature cannot cool down, no amount of water or ventilationg will help. The organs will start to srew & break down. They die. No one wants any losses. For the foreign customers its lost revenue. As a result a number of the antiquated ships have been retired, the more modern ones have more engineering solutions put in prior to commissioning & some have retro fittings. All have sensors monitoring decks & conditions and there are Vets on board. This is just part of the new regulatory system that oversees the trade.  Australia clearly leads with world best practice in an industry which used to be, put sheep on ship with food & water, many as you can & send it. Now its highly regulated with high standards, reporting, transperancy...
   
   
4. The Gillard Ban wasn't actually a ban, it was a suspension & a disaster. Diplomatically it upset customer nations really badly. It was a poor knee jerk reaction with a great deal of fall out. It caused 1000s of North West cattle to be stranded without a market in Australia. Part of the Station's Management was getting those cattle off the property for both herd management & Landcare management of many millions of square kilometres. It was a disaster. Both financially, ecologically & for Animal Welfare. Quite a few head of livestock suffered & were destroyed. Added to that, the often missed point a number of the overseas Live Customers made it very clear that they couldn't get Live out of Australia they would seek their smaller chilled & frozen from other nations. That's how it was worded here. How it was said was, you block us from Live we will trade block/sanction all red meat from Australia. So the so called replacement market to replace trade...wouldn't happen & in fact we'd lose two markets in the one swoop. 
   
   
5. Live Export is what holds up & maintains the entire WA Red Meat Industry. 80% of meat produced here goes into Export. In the East, its roughly 20%, its mainly domestic consumption. If Live Export is banned it means the Domestic market here & in the East will be flooded. Sounds atttractive that there's be cheap meat & perhaps for a few months there may be price drops. However during the boom bust pig market proces in the 60s & 70s when farm prices dropped to the floor, shop prices didn't alter much, then they went up citing shortages...that weren't there. One well known WA Meat Processing family of the day all used to show up at Midland Saleyards in brand new top of the line (and then VERY rare) Mercedes Benz vehicles within 3 months of a price collapse. Shoppers, you'll PAY A LOT MORE because with a Livex ban, there'll be a red meat glut in WA for 12 months, then no one will bred, they'll sell breeders & WA will go into a decade of boom bust domestic market. Consumers will pay, businesses will be lost. Less freight business, less shearers, farm mechandice...
   
   
6. There is not the replacement Chilled/Frozen market. There isn't.
   If there was & it was viable it would compete strongly against Livex & its isn't. If chilled is so profitable, so viable then it would compete & farmgate prices would rise. If it is as good as activists say, it would outperform & overseas customers would buy the Chilled/Frozen. Sadly per kilo Australian killed, packed & processed red meat is many times more expensive that Live kilos of red meat. Labour costs are small fraction of Australia without building all the required refrigeration. One calculation was interesting that on a carbon emission level, Livex is lower than a fully frozen freight & supply chain.
   
   
7. If there was a replacement trade the current infrastructure cannot handle it. Slaughterhouses & processing for frozen storage would have to increase 3 to 5 fold. The staff to operate even the existing infrastructure would have to go to 3 eight hour shifts...24/7 year round & then it wouldn't cope even if the now dormant abattoirs were recommissioned. So abattoir staff would have to increase nearly 4 fold & still fall short. Then all the infrastructure for freight & chilling would have to be built. The ost involved is immense.
   
   
8. Oh but Twiggy has abattoirs going here, its exporting chilled & frozen. Ahh yes that's true & it forms a vital part of the Red Meat Sector. However due to his iron ore connections to China he's been able to secure the only licence to export Red Meat to China. If that is our main market, it is controlled by one person. Not always good. Add to that he's opening more feedlots so he will own most of his supply chain, from paddock to foreign plate. 
   
   
9. If Chilled/Frozen or killed & processed here in WA/Australia is so profitable, why hasn't it been done? Also why haven't the Activists & the MPs put their OWN money, invest their OWN superannuation into Domestic Abattoirs?
   Put your money where your mouth is, get your money working to prove it & improve it. Interesting the activists I spoke with said they wouldn't invest in anything that kills animals. I said so its not about Live Export, its about shutting down all meat consumption.
   Never hear that on the radio, but lets do it. Lets set up an investment clearing house that people can instruct their Super Fund to invest in & they fund the opening of Abattoirs, Processing Plants, Chilled Storage & Freight and invest in the future.
   Seems like they want everyone else to change to their whim and those involved pay for every cent for the alternative that will fail. No investment, no risk. All losses will be incurred by all others.
   Yeah nup.
   
   
10. People will exit the market. Sheep will end up as they were in 1991 cheaper to kill than to keep. I remember the Flock Reduction Scheme. Where all producers had to kill a large portion of their flock to financially stay afloat. The lucky ones went more cropping. The Unlucky ones went to the wall & deeper into debt if they didn't lose the farm. In the districts of Albany, Denmark & a very few others, Bluegums came & virtually saved many from losing everything. Then, you couldn't grow wheat or even oats & barley alone to make a living. When the exit begins, land price will plumment. Equity will vanish & all the small businesses nearby will suffer immensely if not close.
    
    

Northern Australia will close. It will not stop with Sheep, Live Export for Cattle will be next. Once that happens all sheep & cattle stations will close. They will have no viable alternative, no financial chance of staying afloat. 
Once 20% of stations become vacant we will see the biggest economic & ecological disater in Australia's history. Liverstock are there to make money but they also fulfil a vital non negotiable, non replaceable role in Land Management. How does a family or a team of 4-6 people now do Landcare on a million square miles? 
The feed build up will be massive. Over 2 years the old death growth & the new growth will build a massive & unheard of fuel loading across millions of square kilometres. The level of bushfires are beyind description or belief. They will not be controllable or preventable. The amount of flora & fauna death & the following erosion cannot be calculated. 
THIS ALSO IS NOT MENTIONED. THE ONLY ANSWER, LIVESTOCK, THE ONLY WAY TO RUN LIVESTOCK PROFITABLY IS LIVE EXPORT. 
       - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THIS IS UNSPOKEN ALSO  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Gun Control Here & The USA
Themes said & not said of the TV/radio

1. USA is NOT WA or AUSTRALIA. What happens there is not applicable here.
   
   
2. In the USA, the 2nd Amendment won't be removed, it would lead to some states pushing to leave the Union & whilst I doubt it would lead to a Civil War attempts to try to drop the 2ndAmendment will in the minds of many Americans prove (rightly or wrongly) exactly why they need it.
   I don't understand why so many Australians comment on it & don't understand it.
   
   
3. They can make changes, raise the age of Centrefire Semi Automatic firearms & increase background checks & cooling off periods. Biden could have done this for all those years he was Deputy President. He didn't. Why, they want the division, they do not need the solution, it removes the division. You can get elected on division.
   
   
4. You can't even buy a gun in Chicago. Its banned. Week before the Texas School Shooting 30 people we shot in Chicago. Never really made the news then or since. Weird huh?
   
   
5. Most gun homicide is drug & gang related. Guns don't need removing, nut cakes need to not be armed. But then there was a Machete attack in Perth. That alleged offender would be similar to the Texas shooter. A total nutjob who should never be released into the community ever. Also not said.
   Sad fact, we can bring in all the laws in the world, there will still be murderous evil committed. We can only reduce some of it if we're incredible successful.
   
   
6. Western Australian gun owners themselves asked for stricker gun laws, specifically people sentenced for being in possession of an illegal firearm get 10-15 years in jail, no parole and that's 10-15 YEARS PER FIREARM & PER ILLEGAL FIREARM PART SERVED CONSECUTIVELY. THEN ONCE RELEASED THEY ARE INFORMED REOFFENDING RESULTS IN DOUBLE SENTENCE.
   Harsh sentences don't really reduced crime, the prospect of getting caught does. All of sudden a crim goes to buy an illegal gun...is it a set up, is the seller an undercover cop? Is it a person who might dob them in as part of a plea bargain for sentence reduction if they get caught & charged for something. Will a fellow crim with a grudge tip off police & send them to jail?
   Now the criminals will still have guns, but only the hardened "who-gives-a-f***" criminals & they'll be very well known to police. The low level less violent crims won't want a gun anywhere near them. Lawful gun owners can rest assured they are less likely to be burgaled, gun shops will have next to zero theft. America could do this, Australia & WA should do this. But it's unspoken.
   
   
7. Misuse of terms. Machine guns are highly regulated & extremely hard to get & extremely expensive...but somehow people get the facts wrong & falsely say they were in a shooting.
   Other dud terms military grade weapons, Assault Weapons are misused terms, some don't really exist but do add heighterned ka-pow to a story. Savvy gun owners see this misuse then mistrust the journalists using it. Got to learn to bring lawful firearms owners along. 100% bring them along. Once you demonise them, infer someting or misuse wrong terms...you have avoidable divided lines  
   
   

SUMMARY -
These are just some of the points either hidden or unknown by many of the people making comments.
Some of them talk back callers. Some of them Guest Speakers on Radio.

Maybe its time to halt Radio TalkBack Panels unless all the guests are people from that industry, sector or have some well regarded expertise. Otherwise you're fuelling the fools to slaughter. The first TV show or TV/Radio Network to properly saddle in people of expertise on a subject will kill a pig in ratings. We are slowly seeing a gradual turning away from Bang, Bam, chase the blood trail and & keener interest in "Facts Not Feelings"

I know, its easier to not waste time assessing & thinking, its quicker & easier to think out loud away from pesky facts but seriously...how dumb do you want your Nation to be? MPs, The Media, The Public ALL need to lift the game.

TV & Radio has often turned to the News-Entertainment model, turned to High Hype with Arguing, to Angst rather than calm reports that cite the facts & the truth & leave the opinion to you. The idea was that they shaping your views for you was a ratings winner. Turning to "The Project" style of presenting which I think was once self described as "News Told Differently" was thought to be a ratings cash cow show stopper winning formula. Or on radio let ill informed people ring in with an announcer or an expert in the field say "Ahhh no, that's actually wrong. Not a bit wrong, but completely worng, here's why..."
 
Its taken a while but finally ratings for what's arguably "News Told Completely Wrong & As Senstional As Possible" is showing its beginning to be on the way out. Be too slow, ratings will fall & they'll either wake up or double down & get worse. Then we end up with borderline Shock-Jock style TV & Radio...and newspapers.
Whether you like the facts or not, too bad. Facts Not Feelings is growing popularity. People are leaving talkback shows & TV Panel shows. Future is clear, their rusted on audience is & will always be lazy thinkers with strong views with or without the facts & they want you to shut up & follow.
If you disagree, emigrate after a good name calling.

Wake up Media. Newspapers with grotesque caricurtures on the front page, the sensible majority are stepping away. Wake Up. Facts not Feelings. Tell us the stories, the news. Stop telling us how to react & what to think.