Dateline: Australia, Federal Politics, July 2017.
At the conclusion of his prime ministership, Australians will be grateful to Malcolm Bligh Turnbull for one key thing - and that is, that he brought back a public civility to political discourse that was sadly lacking under his predecessor Tony Abbott.
Politics in Australia took a very nasty turn when Abbott became Opposition Leader in 2009 and then Prime Minister in 2013.
Of Abbott's many, many, disgraceful public comments, the most despicable, in my view, was his: "When does no mean no, Julia?" How he survived as Opposition Leader following that utterance is beyond me.
Another appalling and insensitive stupidity was his: "This is the biggest surrender since Singapore!" Especially from someone who was all too eager to wrap himself in the flag and invoke the memory of the Anzacs for his own political benefit.
Then, of course, there was this:
Could anyone imagine Turnbull having said or done any of those shocking things?
And Abbott's language following the death of Julia Gillard's father, when he used the phrase 'died of shame' in Parliament knowing full well the effect that would have had on her after Alan Jones had already used the phrase, was beneath contempt.
At the same time, this is how Turnbull behaved:
Could the contrast be any starker?
Abbott is a buffoon and the sooner Australian politics is rid of him, the better.
Look at the United States under an even bigger buffoon in Donald Trump, causing conservative commentator David Brooks of the New York Times to ask:
"The big question for me is, do we snapback? Do the norms that used to govern politics re-establish themselves after the Trump administration, or are we here forever?
"And I hope, from the level of outrage [at one of Trump's insulting tweets], that we have a snapback. But the politics is broken up and down. And Trump may emerge from a reality TV world that is much more powerful than we think. And there is the prospect that this is where we are, which is an horrific thought."
Thankfully, Turnbull has snapped Australia back from the thuggish, head butting time of Abbott.
This, without any doubt, will be Turnbull's greatest legacy.
Turnbull seems to have been able to duchess an entire cohort. The truth is, Turnbull has no principles, no commitments except his own aggrandisement, and no mission except 'me too'. His lasting legacy will not be ushering in a return to civility, as you assert. He will be remembered as a member of the worst Australian government in history, and notwithstanding Abbott's disgusting behaviour, the least principled member of it. He will be remembered in particular for his gutless and spineless obedience to Abbott in carrying out the destruction of the NBN, the most visionary, nation building program since Ben Chifley's Snowy Scheme.
ReplyDeleteI take it you don't like him much.
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