ANDREW Bolt is a conservative commentator who writes for Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper and hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News Australia.
He has been highly critical of the emotion-charged investigation, prosecution and imprisonment of Cardinal George Pell.
Here Bolt speaks about former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s visit to his long-time friend Pell whilst in prison. A visit described as shameful by Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews.
Bolt said: “Christ said something that could civilise even Abbott’s haters if they could open their ears and their hearts: For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.”
Bolt continued: “Now I wonder how it can be shameful when Tony Abbott lives by those magnificent words of his Christ.
“Now here’s a key point. Abbott did his best to keep his visit to George Pell low key. No press, no announcement, the idea was to just go in and out.
“Now let me tell you what was truly shameful about this visit.
“Some anonymous person, some coward in the dark, tipped off Channel 7’s State political reporter Brendan Donohoe that Abbott was seeing Pell.
“Now Donohoe did his job as a journalist, he got to the prison in time to film Tony Abbott leaving it and he put it on TV. Thus making a private visit very public indeed.
“So who tipped off the media? Who breached the privacy of Tony Abbott and of George Pell and why? Was it someone in the prison system? To settle a score, maybe to peddle a favour. Or did someone in the [Victorian] Labor Government tip off Channel 7’s political reporter?
“That would have been handy for the government, I tell you what, it needed something to deflect media attention away from the embarrassing news that Premier Dan Andrews had met and taken a donation from a property developer at the centre of a corruption enquiry.
“And Andrews sure grabbed this chance to damn Tony Abbott. Let’s listen again to some of what he said…”PC
