George Megalogenis suggests Australia is worse than Donald Trump on Q & A

DONALD Trump’s rise has horrified some, but one author has suggested on Q&A that Australians needn’t be so smug.

AUSTRALIAN author George Megalogenis has accused the government of “out-Trumping” firebrand politician Donald Trump on refugees and asylum seekers in a wideranging episode of Q&A on Monday.

The commentator said Australia’s relative prosperity meant people expected to see the country acting as a “good citizen” in a scathing appraisal of the way asylum seekers are treated.

“We have been able to manage prosperity better than any other society over the long haul and when we start playing other games, trying to be the nastiest country in the region, trying to be the nastiest — out-trumping Trump before Trump had even been invented in terms of asylum seeker policy — I think it’s only a matter of time before our luck runs out,” he said.

The same episode also included comments from James Fallows — an American writer and journalist — and former speechwriter for former US president Jimmy Carter, who offered a clear-eyed view of Australian politics after host Tony Jones pointed out he had arrived in Australia “on a day with news of an Iranian refugee who burned himself alive and ultimately died”.

“Australia does not look good at the moment with this policy, on either side of the debate, but no-one looks good right now,” said Mr Fallows.

“Angela Merkel is having terrible trouble in Germany because of a relatively liberal policy. The rest of Europe is splitting itself apart. We have Trump in the United States and I think that this is an example of a problem of human inequality, of combat, of cruelty around the world that will make all of our countries look and be bad until ... the actual sources that are making people flee around the world are addressed.”

Tony Jones.

NSW Minister for Women Pru Goward was also surprisingly stuck for words on the issue. The only politician on the Q & A panel bowed out of the asylum seeker debate in a bizarre exchange that left many viewers mystified.

Asked her opinion — in particular regarding an offer from New Zealand to take a percentage of refugees which had been rejected by Australia, Ms Goward clammed up.

“That’s not an issue I have to say I follow very closely and it is something that obviously the Australian Government [has] decided it doesn’t want to deal with,” Ms Goward said when host Tony Jones asked for her thoughts.

“I'm just after your opinion, really,” Jones responded.

“I’m giving it to you,” Goward said.

“Do you have an opinion?” Jones asked

“I don’t have an opinion. My opinions have to be based on facts,” Ms Goward said, closing the brusque encounter.

Pru Goward invited on #qanda for her opinion.... nah i have no opinion thanks Tony

— Dean Cabena (@dcabena77) May 2, 2016

Yes! @GMegalogenis Absolutely trumping trump before he came out #qanda #auspol #refugees #australiaisinhumane

— jester (@Nothinshocksme) May 2, 2016

The show also addressed political challenges in the episode on the eve of the Federal Budget. Asked to debate whether our political system was up to the challenges of the 21st century, the panel debate quickly turned to the upcoming election and which party can deliver the reforms Australians want or need.

Mr Megalogenis pointed toward a problem of policy formed on the run.

“Governments in the past spent lot of time preparing the electorate with what the problem was then identified their solution, campaigned on it and spent time implementing it. At the moment we’re seeing policies delivered on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis and as soon as someone says, “I don’t like it,” the Government says: ‘Let’s talk about something else’.”

Political editor Laura Tingle delivered the line of the night when she summed up the upcoming election battle between Mr Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten: “You’ve got this guy who’s born to do the job in his mind up against a street fighter and this campaign will either see him turn into a PM who can lead, who can communicate, because it will just snap into place, or he’s going to spontaneously combust like the drummer from Spinal Tap.”

Trump take-down: James Fallows. Picture: ABC

Asked about low political party membership, and the possibility that out-of-touch political parties might see the rise of an Australian equivalent to Donald Trump, who is poised to gain the US Republican nomination, Mr Fallows had a concerning assessment.

“There has never been anyone like that in American politics before, never been anyone nearing the major nomination, he (Trump) is likely to be the Republican nominee, with no prior experience in public life, never held military office or been a judge. It is unusual in that way. You’re also seeing a political party break itself apart,” Mr Fallows said.

“The fact he is such a reality-show performer is the main variable.

“He probably would be less destructive as President than he has been as a candidate because he couldn’t be as crazy.

“I mean, he just doesn’t know anything about how the world is. But he has already been profoundly damaging to my country. He has legitimised a kind of hatred that was not legitimate before.”

Originally published as George Megalogenis suggests Australia is worse than Donald Trump on Q & A