
Australia's raids on journalists signal an authoritarian turning point - artsandsci
https://boingboing.net/2019/06/06/banana-republic.html
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pdemporg
Whilst the recent events are absolutely appealing, and Doctorow's central
thesis is correct, there are a few things I feel the need to correct as an
Australian:

Firstly, 'Australia is a politically unstable state whose governments
routinely fail' is either a gross exaggeration or a misunderstanding.

No government has 'failed' in such a sense since 1975 --- a change of Prime
Minister is not the same as an impeached President or a Parliament that falls
apart. It is true we've had five PMs since 2013, but _the government_ has only
changed once. That is, Labor lost the election in 2013 to a legitimate
alternative in the Coalition. Everything else is internal shenanigans ---
neither policy nor implementation change measurably.

Secondly, 'The country's elites rely on voter suppression and other
antimajoritarian tactics' is also a misreading of the political climate.
'voter suppression' doesn't really work in a nation with compulsory voting and
a turnout of 92%.

I'm usually the first to point out that we have an issue with media
concentration, particularly in regional areas with only one daily masthead,
but the reality is much less stark than the one Doctorow paints here. Murdoch
is Murdoch, not the China People's Daily. Tellingly, one of the journalists
raided was a News Corp editor, and The Australian Newspaper is in as much of a
flurry about these raids as anyone else.

EDIT: Sorry, I don't want to sound like a parochial whinger with a patriotic
glass jaw, but this is a seriously important topic, and context is king.

