VOTE#1 EVE FISHER
A gentleman was kind enough recently to message privately and thank me for sharing policies for the upcoming Victorian election.
Armed with the Ai-generated poster brandishing the 15 policies I’d deemed to be personally and publicly important he now knew with fortunate certainty he was not going to be voting for me. His engagement is appreciated.
The most interesting part of that exchange is not the revelation of losing a voter but that he didn’t tell me which particular policies offended him most. I can only assume it was the handful of ideas that smacked of my conservatism — small government, harsher criminal penalties, no medical coercion, no men in women’s spaces — leaving my seemingly sensible liberal ideas like better pay and conditions for first responders, prioritising our farmers, protecting nature and fighting corruption languishing without consideration.
Such is the seemingly intelligent notion of Left and Right politics until an independent candidate jumps into the race. WHAT ARE YOUR POLICIES? they screamed in the void of Facebook groups permitting campaigning. “I bet she’s a Labor stooge”, “another bloody Teal, here we go” or “right wing nut job”. To be fair, I hadn’t said anything about myself at all. I’d simply announced myself as an independent and explained that new voting laws meant it wasn’t just big parties and minor parties in the upper house like usual. And I popped up a photo. “You can’t expect to post your pretty face and get votes” … awwww thanks stranger for such a lovely backhanded compliment, I’ll take it. So my next post described how the old paradigm was dead. I soft-launched my slogan NO MORE RIGHT AND LEFT, ONLY RIGHT AND WRONG and waxed lyrical about how we were governed by grifters and looters of all stripes and something had to change. It didn’t really hit home. “What’s a grifter?”, “what do you mean WE?”, “better than having racists in power” and on and on.
Campaigning is always focussed on finger pointing and policies. No one wants to discuss values. My values are the last thing anyone is interested in because from their perspective my policies are my values, so from my perspective I’ve covered a fair bit of ground. Except it doesn’t. Voters pick and choose how to read into that value. Take ‘no men in women’s spaces’. From my perspective that policy affords safety, fairness and privacy to women. From an opposing view it’s exclusionary and transphobic. So who is right? Or Left? It makes for tricky campaigning when the absurdity of politicking and simply telling people what they want to hear seems to be the order of the day.
Let’s look at a policy and value in isolation. Big government. Usually a liberal ideal based on the value that the government is a provider and must supply as many services and as much infrastructure as possible to make society comfortable. To be of service as it were. Paid for by the taxpayer.
Small government. Traditionally a conservative belief based on the value that big government is wasteful, and disrespectful of taxpayer money. It should be kept minimal, and fiscally responsible. Because it’s paid for by the taxpayer. Services and infrastructure are great; I mean who doesn’t love a snazzy public building or lush park. Or that when we call triple zero someone will help us. It’s why the average person pays at least a third of their earnings to the government. It’s also why every layer of society has more tax. Or levy. Or fee. Or excise. Or duty. Or tariff. To pay for roads and schools and hospitals and sports grounds. And everything in between that isn’t privatised. We love infrastructure and services. The only problem is when the cost outweighs the available funds — Victoria’s roads cost $3 billion a year to maintain but only $1 billion is allocated in the budget — the infrastructure fails and people die hitting potholes. Atlas Shrugged enthusiasts this way please.
Surely by that extension the value around using taxpayer money should result in being as austere and respectful with every dollar, while providing as many services as possible, in order to stretch it as far as possible. You’ve got values of responsibility; accountability, stewardship and self-reliance. Isn’t that common sense? Why then does our prime minister have 59 personal advisers and 509 personal staff at a cost of $100 million a year. Why are those who identify as Left okay with this grift when they are upset with cost of living pressures and the price of fuel? Would they tolerate this information if it was a conservative prime minister?
There have been 40,000 public service jobs added Australia-wide – making it 2.6 million total – in the past three or so years; row upon row, column upon column of staffers, consultants and advisers peppering the vast landscape that is government bureaucracy under the illusion of solving problems. In reality it’s just white collar middle management types on committees, taskforces, working groups, focus groups, panels, boards, delegations, deputations and any other name for everything except the actual provision of services. If this doesn’t epitomise wastage — and failing to value taxpayer money — then I don’t know what does.
Let’s take it back to Victoria. $15 billion gone in union-related rorts, another $5 billion in fake invoices, $600 million for the failed Commonwealth Games. We’ve added $170 billion in debt since 2014 and there are folk wanting $200k a year for watering department plants. Yet values around the desire to eliminate corruption, have smaller bureaucracy and control spending is seen as “right-wing nut-job” stuff. Dangerous thinking. What’s not seen as crazy is making election promises that require hefty spending without stopping for a second to consider how the state will afford anything for the next two generations.
Where do people’s values really lie? Let’s look at number 15 on my policy list. Have national pride. I just realised Messenger mate obviously has me pegged as a white supremacist. Shame. I wish I’d told him I was simply a Jewish immigrant from South Africa who doesn’t spend a day not being grateful for being in Australia for the past 40-odd years. Obviously I see the Apharteid-Gaza-related bows that can now be easily drawn.
When I see people like that refugee advocate Nyadol Nyuon moaning how hard her life has been here with her three university scholarships and public accolades it makes my blood boil. She came here from war torn Sudan but has become so “disillusioned” with racist old Australia that she’s now started an online fundraiser to gather $150k so she can “recover” from life here and then be moved back to Africa. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out looter. She doesn’t deserve to call herself Australian. Being foreign and being lucky enough to be granted citizenship is a privilege, not a right. And it should be treated as such.
When I was acting mayor during my time as a Surf Coast Shire councillor I was lucky enough to preside over one citizenship ceremony. With my words carefully crafted by a speech writer and the law, I made seven Surf Coast residents Australian. I actually get teary thinking back because I was so darn happy for them. I was so chuffed that I could say the right words, hand them a native seedling and wish them a fruitful and productive life here. Not one for ceremony, my dad never took me to ours and being a minor my name is simply on the back of dad’s certificate. But I’m still Australian and — to quote a line from what I think was an AusPost tv commercial during the Sydney Olympics — “we’re not Down Under, we’re on top and we’ve got the best postcode in the world”.
So, if you don’t like it, then leave. Oh and if you burn our flag you go to jail. That’s a value about respect and honour, not supremacy.
Eve Fisher is standing as a conservative independent candidate for Western Victoria Region upper house in the Victorian election. Vote below the line. Solo independents will not appear above the line due to new group voting laws.
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Musings from an Idiot Savant
By Andrew Pollard
When did we become a nation of grifters? At what point did we collectively decide to be an anti-social society? An uncivilized civilisation? Because we are. And our present state of moral and fiscal bankruptcy should be all the evidence needed for this argument.
Our situation is absolutely overwhelming. Extremely anxiety-inducing. We all feel it. Don’t you? What on earth are we to do? The problems are too widespread and the resources, funds and will are diminishing by the day.
We have lost our way, and are losing our strength for the fight. The fight of our lives. That will seal our fates and that of the future generations for the next century or so. And who is the enemy? Where do we place our blame? On ourselves. Obviously.
We all contributed to this mess of a world. And have all been guilty of the grift. No exceptions. Fair go Australia? More like Lord of the Flies. This isn’t my Australia. This is a bad dream. A poor facsimile of our nation and its inherent potential. It’s a stacks-on dystopian nightmare, if I’m being honest.
In order to make any change, that is both genuine and lasting. One must begin with the Self. Where else? We must search our feelings and analyse our motives and intentions. And admit to our own unique personal failure.
How is it ok that there’s 10 men standing around a pothole with one shovel? How are you ok with that and feel your efforts are worth your pay grade? Yet you act like victims.
How is it ok that mechanics, builders, and the like, set their own questionable fees? Frequently taking advantage of the vulnerable and uninformed? Grifting Nana’s and single Mum’s? And you’re ok with that? You’re that sociopathic and dead inside?
How was it ok to scapegoat and sacrifice a single individual over the insulation scandal? What about the crews who did the jobs knowing it was unsafe, did you enjoy your little scam while it lasted? Did you make good, while the going was good and no-one was there to check your “work”? Cowards, the lot of you.
Ironically, all this chicanery ultimately amounts to a peculiar scenario where we are working against our own best interests. We are not being Selfish enough. Self-interest is an inverted concept and in much need of revision. And we need to see it in action. A conversation for another time.
Maybe that way we might start producing things of worth as a nation, things we actually need. Things of tangible value. As opposed to churning out generations of content creators, who lack the basic life skills required for true success on any level.
But such a future would not be their fault, it would be ours. The older generations. We did afterall, raise them. And hand-down our values and morals. We have failed to adequately prepare them for the future reality. For real existential life. Yet parents mistakenly project this blame back on to their children. What vile hypocrisy.
Because we were too afraid to face it ourselves. You know, the grown-ups. Fear is the common human experience now. Our new norm. Hope and morale is seriously waning now. We have inherited and shamefully passed on a bleak existence, utterly devoid of the crucial feeling of safety. There is a profound loss of trust in the system and most of us are so afraid to ask for help, expecting to not be heard or helped. That we simply don’t ask anymore. We choose to suffer instead.
We ask very little of our society now. Or ourselves and each other for that matter. This situation is perfectly understandable and is unfortunately, justly deserved. We brought it on ourselves. We truly did. By repeating the same behaviours and expecting different results. The very definition of insanity. That, and our unwillingness to be the change we wish to see in the world.
Why are we so afraid to try something different, maybe even radically different. Because what we’re doing, clearly isn’t working. We are decaying. Not growing. That ceased some time ago. We are not a very inventive or progressive nation. We do not honour true entrepreneurialship. We cut those tall poppies right down. Brilliance is not our strong suit. We seem to prefer mediocrity as our natural state of being. I mean, we vote for them each election. The average.
So, we elect leaders who behave accordingly. Personally, I can’t tell the difference between the three major parties in principle or deed. They are all reading from the same tawdry and disingenuous script.
Because they are all grifting from the get-go. By making sweeping electoral promises and financial pledges. That, is an impossibility when you’re broke. And unaware to what extent you are in arrears. So convoluted is their financial mismanagement and outright plundering. As such, no one has the right to make such claims. That is an act of pure deception.
The same people who are benefiting and profiteering from our present arrangement, are not going to change or fix it. Why would they? They’re grifters afterall.
And they’ve had a century to prove themselves. Is that not enough time to demonstrate either their merit, or their gross ineptitude? Have they not been given enough chances already to prove they have anything of worth to offer us? If they could of, they would of, but they don’t, so they can’t. And won’t.
Why are values and morals so low on our priority lists? Why is the only questions being asked of those who would run this election, “what are your policies and your preferences?” I do not come from the political world. And to me “preferences”, is code-speak. To be equated with shady backroom dealings. Not principled and competent leadership.
They say, “as goes the king, so goes the nation.” But that’s a weak victimhood mentality. The total outsourcing of personal responsibility. Of moral duty. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game”. What you’re telling me is, “if you can’t beat them, join them.” What utter nonsense. That results in complete Self-immolation. It should read (if you possess a modicum of Self), if you can’t join them, beat them.
It’s called having your own back. And that leads to self-respect and worth. Now isn’t that preferable to a society that resembles rats up a drain-pipe. In the ultimate race to the bottom?
The very first question we should be asking of those who put themselves forward is, who are you? What do you believe and value?
And who are we? We are unaffiliated. Which is why we’re often perceived as a threat. We don’t negotiate with looters. We don’t form committees with those who are incapable of true cooperation and self-ownership. With those who do not have the nation’s best interests at heart. With those who do not possess the necessary mind and emotional maturity. With the heartless and the cruel.
We will not deal with the career politician types, for they are on notice. Effective immediately. It’s time for the professional liars to be demoted to their true station in society. The place where you condemn the bottom-feeders. Because Judge Judy said “you don’t need a good memory if you tell the truth”. Which is precisely why they need cue-cards, and I do not.
Think about it. What kind of character is necessary in these tumultuous and dangerous times. Because we’d best get it right this time. Or face the necessary consequences of continuing to follow the twisted tunes of the pied-pipers of the major parties.
This country should be governed by a new breed of politician. Independent. Authentic. Accessible. And truly Australian. Because Nationalism needn’t be a dirty word. Because we should be immensely proud of our home. Not ashamed of it. Enough already, Australia. We’re better than this. Aren’t we? Time to make the choice. The right choice.
“Long Live The Empire”!
Andrew Pollard is an ideas generator. His wife Eve Fisher is a conservative independent candidate for Western Victoria Region upper house in the November 2026 state election.
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By Eve Fisher and Andrew Pollard
What if everyone started telling the truth? In my 20s I had a VC Holden with a plastic crate holding the driver’s seat forward and a bumper sticker on the back with those exact words. When the car died I tried to save the sticker by gently peeling it, a futile exercise obviously, much like trying to answer the question.
Let’s extend the concept a little. What if everyone owned their problems for just a day? Imagine that. Everything always seems to be somebody else’s fault. It’s an endless blame game; a loop of excuses and antagonism. And very little truth. The blame game doesn’t work though. It’s a fool’s errand, entirely absent of reason and logic. Because if nobody is responsible for anything, how did the world end up such a mess? Of course it must be the elite or the opposition, the rich or the poor, the black, the white, the gay, the straight. Surely someone is to blame. The Ministry of “They”.
Left and Right politics is dead. As dead as integrity, as redundant as common sense and as nullified as the human spirit. There is only true and false, honest and dishonest. To continue to speak in such terms as a clearly defined left or right is infantile. And inaccurate. It’s all populism now. As centre as it gets. A tawdry dog and pony show.
Morality comes first. Or it absolutely ought too. Without it we are little more than savages, are we not? Not a shining example of success in the human enterprise. Our precious state institutions have become a den of cheats, thieves and liars. But what do you expect? Behave like a herd, expect to be treated like cattle. Our situation is that grim.
We’ve become so disillusioned because there is the expectation we won’t be represented and our needs won’t be met. There is the anticipation we will be ripped off and this cynicism is justifiable. We don’t expect anything to change, because nothing ever does. The negative psychological impact is beyond measure. It’s been the Albos and Scomos forever. A choice between grifter A or looter B. No choice; the ultimate dilemma.
It’s no wonder we’re becoming disengaged. It’s understandable that our national morale is diminishing by the day. It’s not irrational that people are tired and frustrated. And afraid. Aren’t we tired of being afraid? Of living in such uncertainty. Afraid of losing ourselves, not just our homes or jobs.
We live in a soft police state. We’ve lost our right to freedom of speech. Or rather, we gave it away. And that’s the worst part, it’s justly deserved. Because we choose to reside in a panopticon, where everything is visible. We are the ones who ultimately police each other. We necessitate the need for the law, through our inauthenticity, through our warped desire to censor each other and through our inverted system of values where influencers have more power than parents. Our society is decaying as a direct result of our personal failure to do the right thing.
While everyone talks about policies and promises no one is talking about values and how they are lynchpin of society. Or at least they should be. So what if everybody started telling the truth. It would be a psychological disaster. We are in the middle of an ever-growing moral crisis and experiencing a truly shocking societal atrophy. No one can trust anyone else anymore, or even themselves. We are about as far removed from our ‘fair go’ cultural myth as you can get. It is an attitude that is entirely anti-Australian. Our civilisation has become decidedly uncivilised.
Eve Fisher is a conservative independent candidate for Western Victoria Region upper house in the state election.
Andrew Pollard is a thinker, ideas generator and Eve’s husband.
Read this story on Medium
Politics as we know it is dead. The Left and Right have shown so clearly we no longer have a system based on truth and integrity. Instead our society is held up by grifters and looters who have no intention of ever representing us or protecting our way of life.
We’ve become so disillusioned with politics because there is the expectation we won’t be represented and our needs won’t be met. There is the anticipation we will be ripped off and this cynicism is justifiable. We don’t expect anything to change … because nothing ever changes and the resulting psychological impact is apathy and disillusionment. It’s been the Albos and Scomos forever.
On November 28 Victorians have the chance to reset the system and politicians on both sides of the house are now on notice. Everyone is sick and tired of being sick and tired. It’s in that spirit I announce my intention to stand as an independent Western Victoria Region candidate for the Legislative Council in Victoria. It’s time to stop the grift and put Victorians first. New upper house laws have upended predictions because we now have to vote 1-5 above the line so my chance of success is anyone’s guess. With five seats up for grabs in this region and political parties as a whole on the nose, I’m on a mission to make one of those seats mine. Parliament needs a shake up. It needs ME.
#vote1EveFisher
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