There are so many things I could rant about this week. It’s one of those weeks where the world just seems to wobbling on its axis or something and giving glimpses of alternative time lines.
Well, have you got a better explanation of the levels of weird?
Let’s put on some appropriate tunes.
I have questions. So many questions.
Like why is Barnaby Joyce appearing in his latest social video quite clearly in front of a green screen with a halo between him and the still image of the property, pretending to be at home? Un-ironed work shirt clearly just picked up out of the washing pile and all?
Why has Pauline tried to erase her previous pitch that she’s just like Trump? Did the One Nation people forget that the internet never forgets?
Why are we losing local council members like flies? Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig apparently still hasn’t been fired, but under his mismanagement of the sector we’re seeing ratepayers fork out for by-elections in Walcha, Tenterfield, Kempsey, Coffs Harbour, Cobar and more.
Why is Angus Taylor still the leader of the federal Liberal Party, when he’s clearly not doing the leading? Andrew Hastie is making a lot more sense, even my brief chat with Dave Sharma yesterday made a lot more sense than anything coming out of Taylor’s mouth.
Why is it that the federal Labor party, despite saying they want productivity to increase and having heard clearly the screams from every sector that business is struggling, keep smashing small business with demands that they pay more for everything, and pay everything now, from eftpos processing fees, to income tax, to payday super? Why is it that no one in the entire federal government seems to grasp that small business needs a little flexibility in how it pays its bills? Why is it both government and big business aren’t being made to pay their bills in anything less than 30 days? Between government and employees demanding their money now, and customers paying whenever, small business is just getting screwed from both ends.
Why can neither the Coalition or Labor Party in NSW do some damn basic research before they announce things? Whether its the disastrous policy of the Coalition to axe the REZ, or Labor’s really unpopular preschool changes, or even that bizarre coffee cup backflip, they don’t even seem to be checking the typos.
Speaking of not doing their homework, given the scale of the project and the sensitivities involved, why did EnergyCo do such a half-arsed job on the EIS? And why did it take the Planning Department until yesterday to give people more time to wade through it?
On a more personal level, New England Times has now been around for close enough to four years (the website went up 4 years ago this month, we formally launched February… (I know… it feels like longer than that, and other times it can’t possibly be that long). In that time we have delivered more local news than anyone else in the region, broken multiple national stories, and our online audience is now double that of the Northern Daily Leader.
So why is it so hard to get some people – and particularly institutions – to talk to us or consider us to be a news outlet? We’re still fighting to get press releases sent to us, get invited to press conferences, or get the most basic inquiries answered. Why do NSW Government staff (and plenty of council ones too) actively dismiss and belittle us as not real journos, even referring to us as a ‘blog’ and a ‘drain on resources’?
Why, on hearing the news that New England Times got some much needed funding to employ locals and give people in this region some desperately wanted and needed news, did so many people erupt into unhinged conniptions (most demonstrating they’ve never actually read a story… We know Eli, reading is hard n stuff. Don’t worry, we’re going to use the grant money to do video news so you can just watch. We still won’t “afford you the opportunity” to comment on your own comments made on the record in council meetings, though.)
For the record, we’d much rather get paid paid by the marketplace. We’d much rather have government ads than government grants. But as local business has, to date, demonstrated they will not support us with their advertising spend, and the government bookers – like big agencies everywhere – only book traditional media and their digital spend goes to Facebook and Meta because they’re lazy – grants are it. (And there is no editorial control – if there was, I’d never apply for it – I’d just shut the website down and walk away).
I don’t think I have the energy to even absorb the unhinged nonsense coming out of the US post midterm bluenami. I need a nap just trying to keep up with the crazy times here.
End Rant.
Dr RK (Kath) Crosby is the CEO of research and strategy company KORE CSR, former strategist for the Australian Democrats, and holds a PhD in political behaviour. She is also a well known migraine and health advocate, and the Publisher of New England Times and North Coast Times.
All opinion and comment on New England Times Engage is the opinion of the writer and not New England Times.
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