Yesterday, on one of those nice main streets in Wangaratta, a grandmother went to the back of her car, just like any normal day. Getting something from the boot. The fresh air a reflection of the weather report, warm and dry – mostly fine. It wasn’t a sitting week. It was one of those odd times when there is a week gap between, an eerie silence… a break in play. A quiet day, busy with constituent meetings and things to do. We don’t yet know why, but the mostly silent, mostly fine day was totally shattered when a white 4WD slammed directly into Helen Haines. We know the barber pulled him from the car – a hero. We know the drivers name if not yet his intentions. Brendan Nugent, an avid X user and climate activist. Worried about Palestine and coal. In what appears to be a deliberate attack on an independent member of the house. We know that last night the internet went to work armed with photos of the incident - a number plate – a vehicle type, and a direct match. Before Brendan was declared, he was known, and his social media history totally catalogued immediately, before the sock puppets could get to work. It is clear that given Helen sat just on the left of centre, that the Prime Minister had desperately hoped Brendan was some kind of “right wing extremist” so he could use this horrific tragedy to crack down on the far right. Just so he could crack down on anybody who disagrees with him. Like the time he and his office circulated a ‘dirt sheet’ on Dr Haines. He’s already had a crack at the online detectives that pointed the spotlight at the vile man who drove his car into the anti-corruption campaigning Haines. But Nugent is of the left. And most likely very sick - which is not, nor should it ever be a defence. But Albanese calls for the temperature to come down. Because it is not warm and sunny with some scattered cloud anymore. What we don’t need is more rushed legislation set to destroy our ability to speak and connect online in the name of keeping us safe. What we do need is a political establishment that will listen to the just and growing grievances of the community poorly served by them. More, whether this attack is politically motivated or not, we need to ensure those who are violent and mentally ill are given the treatment they need, and are kept away from polite society, and if they are violent offenders they should serve time like everyone else. We don’t need limits on speech; we need limits on government. After all, that is the primary driver of the desperation and sense of helplessness people are increasingly feeling. Government's scale and misuse of power is destroying trust. That is what is raising the temperature. That and a total lack of integrity among those we are forced to pay, serve and vote for. It is all upside-down. Worse, Helen Haines is currently in a very bad condition, and her work on the integrity of the political class must be continued. I hope she survives this and makes a recovery. I hope her family is ok. I hope this tragedy is never repeated. This is not Australia. I just want Australia back.

It doesn’t matter whether you bought your ticket or not, today, you are strapped in to the roller-coaster. Australia accidentally elected Labor and the Greens into a supermajority, and now we will pay the price. You can blame Dutton and his bet-each-way approach to the last election, but it doesn’t change the facts. Australia voted and now we have people in power that are not afraid to use that power to make it impossible to shake them out. Their immigration program has nothing to do with the economy, and everything to do with them hoping to dupe the new Australians they are minting into voting for them. They will again lie, hoping to bribe the electorate with false promises of cheap electricity, and a better economy. They will pretend to pay off student debts, and let the indexation wipe out the savings. They will spend and spend borrowed money to the point where your money is no good, no matter how much you have. They will take away your right to complain. And, that is by far the worst part. Because without an ability to speak, we can’t tell the truth. The uncomfortable but real truth that our nation is in rapid and steep decline. The Labor Party and the Greens will jam in the digital duty of care laws. A gag order on their political opponents. It won’t matter if you are elected, or out here in the real world, we will all be subjected to the most oppressive speech laws in our history. We will not be able to complain. We will not be able to tell the truth. We will not be able to fix it politically. Maybe that is what Australia needs to wake up from its long and spoilt slumber. Too many of us have taken our prosperity for granted. Our happy and free culture taken as an impenetrable right. But it isn’t, and the government is about to prove it. Good and hard. They will continue to tell us of their economic and social success, as they call their political opponents extreme whilst more and more of us fall into hardship and misery. And without a political solution... They will push us to breaking point, because they are greedy, narcissistic and stupid. I hope they fail to pass the new speech laws, but I suspect they will just ram them in. Like everything else they have done. Because they are too afraid of our voices, and their lies will never beat the truth in a fair fight. It is sad. Fight back. Make your MPs understand how disgusted you are with this total betrayal of Australia and our values. Press. Time is short. I just want Australia back.