Around the world, the mood is shifting with Gen Z leading the charge and as the Victorian State Election looms, the bubble may be bursting for the One Nation-led-Lib/Nats dastardly duo — billionaire backers and media fanfare notwithstanding.
GLOBAL UPRISINGS
In France, a general strike is under way and further demonstrations are planned for the fourth consecutive weekend.
Demonstrations began in late September with teachers and students over education funding but have escalated to reflect cost-of-living concerns.
Cost-of-living and deepening housing crises have also triggered protests in Spain and Portugal.
Anti-government protests over wages and cost-of-living are also sweeping Italy, and anti-data centre protests are planned for Warsaw, Dublin, Denmark, Amsterdam and London.
In Albania, anti-government marches are demanding the resignation of PM Edi Rama.
Youth protests were effective in ousting long-standing leader Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia last weekend.
Brazilians marched against the U.S.-backed Far-Right Government, with one massive student-led march in Rio de Janeiro drawing an estimated quarter of a million protesters.
And in perhaps the most encouraging news of all, voters turned to the Democrats in droves, handing them both chambers of Congress in the U.S. midterms. States that turned blue included long-held Republican stalwarts, South Carolina, Kansas, Ohio, Maine and Texas.
The latter is especially encouraging as the new Democratic Senator James Talarico was frequently the butt of disgusting personal slurs in which Trump referred to him as “Tala-Freako" or "Talacreepo".
Equally heartening is the Michigan result, where Abdul El-Sayed, who Trump called a "jihadist", was elected as the country's first Muslim senator.
It appears to be the beginning of the end for Trump’s MAGA movement, leading this writer to join with IA’s Dr Victoria Fielding and ‘…finally exhale after holding my breath in anxious pain for ten years’.
Almost everywhere it seems, the world’s youth are rising up and making their voices heard, and as Yuki Lindley wrote in IA:
‘…Reminding us what hope looks like, not the passive, impotent hope of liberal elites, but the life-affirming, righteous anger of a generation who will bear the brunt of climate collapse and all it will entail.’
TALKIN’ TRASH, POTHOLES AND LOCKIN’ UP KIDS
Meanwhile, as conservative and centrist governments contend with massive unrest against elitist policies worldwide, what are the Far-Right Libs/Nats and One Nation duo doing in the lead-up to Victoria’s State Election? Reducing the conversation to rubbish bins and potholes. Of course.
Now, don’t get us wrong, we loved a good bin night outing as much as anyone during lockdown, but Victorian Liberal Leader Jess Wilson has chosen rubbish collections as an election priority. And no, we’re not kidding.
Wilson can be seen on every mainstream forum and every conceivable photo-op, talking trash and jumping over potholes she and her media fan club have dubbed “Ben Carroll potholes”, while simultaneously dodging political debates.
Debates, after all, may lead to embarrassing questions about preference deals made with one's One Nation buddies, or the services Wilson intends to cut if elected, as opposed to being treated like a celebrity who just cured cancer on News24 and every right-wing radio station in Victoria (which is most of them).
Then there’s Wilson’s nod to the One Nation nonsense about reducing crime, primarily while locking up kids.
Now, we hate to be wowsers, but here are just a few things to note about Wilson’s three so-called “back to basics” policies.
On the issue of rubbish bins, around 33 Victorian councils have adopted alternate fortnightly rubbish and recyclable collections, and introduced weekly compost collections, with a similar approach occurring in other states. This is part of a broader plan to help keep food waste out of landfill and reduce pollution, as well as saving money on collections.
In the affluent municipality of Boroondara alone, where Wilson resides, seventy per cent of rubbish collected is now diverted from landfill and, according to Boroondara Mayor Wes Gault:
“Bringing back a weekly landfill collection risks undermining that progress, [via] increasing emissions through more truck collections and potent landfill methane.”
But wars, climate change and cost-of-living pressures be damned, sorting rubbish is obviously too much bother for Jess and Co. So much so, that she has vowed to bring back weekly general rubbish collections.
And of course potholes should be fixed. However, it’s a bit rich to dub them “Ben Carroll’s potholes”. The Victorian Government has fixed level crossings, added extensive public transport infrastructure and created major roads. At the same time, it has also allocated money to address the pothole issue, which has been exacerbated by increased wet weather conditions and heavier traffic in recent years. Labor is also taking a leaf out of WA's book by moving road maintenance back into government control as contracts expire.
Meanwhile, Wilson has announced a 25 per cent increase on existing spending over four long years, so not quite an instant fix or, indeed, a well-thought-out solution for the long term, either. And we haven't even discussed how road maintenance came to be privatised – along with every state utility or service – in the first place. (Spoiler alert: Liberal governments).
And then there's Victoria's crime rate. We hate to put another damper on your bin night celebrations, Jess, but Victoria's crime stats don't even make the top five states in the land, and they have been reduced under the current Labor Government — without locking up children.
This crime panic is just one giant furphy, magnified out of proportion by the Coalition and One Nation, with whom the Libs/Nats will likely need to join in order to form government at all.
THE 'RIGHT' PRIORITIES
Sure, the planet is burning and flooding, data centres are taking over neighbourhoods, draining energy and water supplies, and artificial intelligence is taking everyone’s jobs, but hey, why should Jess and Co have to sort food scraps or recyclables?
Victorian Labor’s ability to get elected at all is quite miraculous when one considers the ongoing, entrenched media campaign against them for over a decade, plus the billionaire bankrolling of conservative parties in Victoria. In this State Election, there is also the general voter fatigue element long-standing governments inevitably face.
Nonetheless, Victoria has been known to filter out the ever-present noise, and it may well do so again in this State Election.
Perhaps it will be due to Wilson’s constant whining about the minutiae of bins and holes in the road.
I’m getting messages from Liberals telling me that this is a lie. It was known. https://t.co/82PB2MfM5Q
— Aaron Smith (@aaronsmith) November 12, 2026
Maybe it will be due to the many recent scandals involving conservative candidates, such as the One Nation candidate who said Adolf Hitler was the Greatest of all Time. Or the Liberal guy who made a series of posts on Facebook in which he referred to Aboriginal people as "half breeds" and "half castes".
Then again, Victorian voters have just gone against the pollsters on many occasions, as evinced by the last three election results.
Let’s hope the State of Victoria is caught up in the global tide against inequality, and the dastardly duo of bin-loving Wilson and drug-taking, drink-driving Warren Pickering are escorted by voters to exit stage Right.
Follow managing editor Michelle Pini on Twitter/X @vmp9 and Bluesky @michellepini.bsky.social, and Independent Australia on Twitter/X at @independentaus, Facebook HERE and Instagram HERE.
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Coalition protests bin night as anti-establishment marches sweep the globe
Around the world, the mood is shifting with Gen Z leading the charge and as the ...
EDITORIAL: Coalition protests bin night as anti-establishment marches sweep the globe
Around the world, the mood is shifting with Gen Z leading the charge and as the ...
