by PAUL COLLITS – NEWLY-appointed Liberal leader Angus Taylor has already failed.
His appointment to the Coalition Shadow Cabinet of Tim Wilson – a moderate’s moderate and a “son” of Malcolm Turnbull’s climate-crazed Left – is a “tell-all” move by a so-called conservative leader.
- Take a walk – or a drive – through Lakemba to see if you agree with the “multi” bit.
- Many people, including Angus Taylor, push the “we all know good Muslims” line.
- True, but irrelevant.
Wilson is economically liberal(ish) and culturally off the charts.
In other words, he is a big part of the Liberal problem. And having been made Shadow Treasurer, he is the problem.
PLENTY
As I say, who you appoint and retain says plenty about the state of your institution.
They say that personnel beats policy. In other words, we can better take the measure of leaders and institutions by who they appoint than by their statements and even their policies.
So, despite some promising words from Angus Taylor – as Rowan Dean and colleagues have suggested – Taylor has put his foot in it, big time, in some of his shadow cabinet appointments.
Which brings us to the gay blade from Goldstein, Tim Wilson. Mr Teal. A moderate’s moderate.
Wilson, a while back and with or without approval from on high, came out swinging against the principled Nats over the hate speech legislation’s attack on free speech.
National Party Senator Matt Canavan is keen on product differentiation as well, with his attack on Pauline Hanson over a piddling storm-in-a-teacup Muslim jibe.
And they are all keen to revive the charge of racism against One Nation, for what is, in effect, Hanson’s Islam realism.
Their attack on Hanson included the Mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown, named Bilal El-Hayek.
They of the pile-on argued that “Hanson has form”. Well, so do the gas-the-Jews brigade that takes its orders from the Koran and from Lakemba.
Islamists have form, as they are up there with the greatest killing machines in history. Bilal thinks that Lakemba is “multicultural”. Take a walk or a drive through there and see if you agree with the multi bit.
Many people, determined to appear centrist, including Angus Taylor, push the “we all know good Muslims” line. True but irrelevant.
VIOLENCE
They also said that Pauline Hanson’s doubts about this line of argument would “incite violence”.
Those attacking Hanson and clinging to the “good Muslims” meme have ignored the evidence provided by both Gad Saad and many others.
And do not mention the polls of Muslims taken in Britain that show a very large minority supporting international violence to achieve their explicitly expressed, religious objectives.
It was all a bit like the pile-on on Jacinta Price’s alleged anti-Indian migrants comments a little while back. Now Jacinta is back in the shadow cabinet. There you go. These things tend to blow over.
But I digress.
This distancing from One Nation says two things about the state of play in the Opposition. I acknowledge that Matt Canavan is no Tim Wilson, but there is a broader picture, and a broader push back on One Nation.
Pulling up Hanson as “un-Australian” over her comments is just part of the counter-push.
First, how dumb can you get? One Nation is on the rise, electorally speaking. The Liberals are in the electoral toilet.
I assume Wilson, Canavan and colleagues have noticed this. And I assume they also realise that probably at least half of One Nation’s current, stratospheric popularity consists of the Liberal base. Or, should we say, the former Liberal base.
Second, distancing yourself from your new electoral rival reinforces the policy divide between yourselves and them, at a time when, some might argue, you should be stressing the overlap.
Expressing remorse for your past political sins might be indicated to be a worthwhile thing to be doing, round about now. When both your base and the broad centre are moving to the Right.PC
Reality check on One Nation.
When I retired to Queensland my state local MP was with One Nation and that party had not much earlier late 1990s managed to secure several seats in the Parliament, within two terms One Nation had lost most of the seats.
Right now in Canberra they have just One MP being former National Party MP, Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Joyce, a One Nation MP for only a few months to date. And they have a few Senators.
Hanson does have a talent for grabbing headlines for good and bad reasons and most often I agree with her headlines, but as I have always commented the content and policy is usually poor. Recently she argued with Chris Kenny on Sky when questioned about policies and excused the situation saying until recently they had no House of Representatives MP.
I do understand why voters from left and right meaning sensible centre left and right have been answering pollsters that they would vote for One Nation, but the next Federal election is not until first half 2028. Maybe the SA State election and a by election in VIC will give us a better understanding of what voters do.
As for forming government, let alone becoming the major opposition party, I doubt that is possible.
The red flag alert is however the danger of One Nation preferences [ 2 ] down delivering Albanese Labor a third term.
Completely disagree.
Please try to be positive and stop character assassination almost before the ink from leadership voting has dried