During and after the second world war, there were scurrilous rumours put around, especially by members of the Labor party, that Robert Menzies as prime minister had planned to simply abandon Australia north of the ‘Brisbane Line’ to the invading Japanese.

Although it was determined no such plan ever existed, many on the left have continued to push this line ever since.

Well, now a new threat has emerged to our national sovereignty. Perhaps it is not as deadly as the threat of the invading Imperial Army, but its consequences could be in many ways just as grave. And that is the threat of the de-industrialisation of our nation and the collapse of our economic fortunes thanks to Labor’s net zero invasion.

This week we saw the smelter at Tomago admitting that its days may be numbered, hard on the heels of a long series of Australian manufacturing and industrial closures or collapses. Indeed, the entire industrial wealth of this nation appears to be crumbling before our very eyes.

So this week we must ask the question: will the Coalition abandon industrialised Australia to its fate and retreat behind Labor’s Net Zero Line? Or will the Coalition step in to save us from socialism, de-industrialisation and the wanton destruction of our prosperous, economicaly advanced way of life? That is the only question that should be on the minds of Liberal and National MPs as they decide whether or not to continue supporting the disastrous economic policy of net zero.

There are many, especially those close to the Liberal party, who are attempting to provide a compromise to this conundrum, bleating on about how the Coaltion, having originally adopted net zero, cannot possibly now turn around and abandon it. To which we would merely point out the bleeding obvious and say, two wrongs don’t make a right.

Between those fair dinkum Coalition MPs who recognise that the public has had a gutful of net zero, and those ‘bed-wetters’ who remain determined to do the bidding of their renewables paymasters, there can, alas, be no safe middle ground. No half-pregnancy. It’s either embrace net zero or abandon net zero. Arguments put forward suggesting some kind of net zero ‘aspiration’ tethered to proscribed economic limitations are spurious and naive, and will only prolong the agony.

Those who continue to advocate for net zero in the current environment are, in the eyes of this magazine, Coalition quislings only too eager to betray their traditional supporters by selling out to the lobbyists and the factional warlords. History will judge them accordingly.

Tasteless to a Tee

Sussan Ley was 100 per cent correct to criticise Prime Minister Albanese over his shocking taste in sporting a tee shirt boldly bearing the words ‘Joy Division’. Those who were listening to rock music in the 1980s may well remember the name of the ‘new wave’ British band Joy Division, but their rather turgid musical offerings – other than the magnificent ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’– are now largely forgotten. The band’s frontman Ian Curtis was a depressed epileptic who flirted with Nazi imagery and who committed suicide at 23, which may give you some indication as to the band’s lyrical and musical oeuvre.

Just as any true rock fan – or Trivial Pursuit player – can tell you where bands like Steely Dan and 10CC got their names from, most Joy Division fans know the band deliberately named themselves after the term used by the Nazis to describe women and girls, primarily Jewish, forced to provide sexual pleasures in the evil concentration camps. Jewish women, in other words, who were Hitler’s sex slaves.

Prime Minister Albanese prides himself on his rock ‘n’ roll roots, including his appearances as a DJ. If he were a true fan, he would have known of the band’s background. As we now know, Mr Albanese was specifically informed of the horrific meaning of the words ‘Joy Division’ by Nigel Marsh on his podcast The Five of My Life only three years ago. So there was literally no excuse. In an era of heightened antisemitism in this country, the PM knew precisely what his tee shirt said and precisely who it would be likely to offend.

We are consistently told by the left that words are weapons and that symbolism is critical. Much of the Voice campaign was justified by Labor as ‘sending a positive message’ and ‘respect for historical injustices’. So, too, the endless appearances in front of Aboriginal flags. Similarly, the PM is always quick to don the local garb in the foreign junkets he so regularly attends – out of ‘respect’. Yet no such respect, apparently, for the victims of Nazi sex slavery.

Regardless of its rock music pedigree, it was at best the height of poor taste and crass insensitivity for Mr Albanese to be photographed wearing a tee shirt with the words ‘Joy Division’ emblazened across it. Would he have worn a tee shirt that mocked or offended Muslims or any other ethnic group? Of course not. Yet again, the PM is guilty of causing unacceptable distress and offence to Australian Jews, especially those who survived the Holocaust. He should hang his head in shame.