‘Ridiculous wanker, f..k off’: Mike Carlton’s history of abuse
Many of those who campaigned for the removal of Bettina Arndt’s Australia Day honour earlier this year won’t back journalist Mike Carlton being stripped of his.
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Critics who rallied to strip writer and commentator Bettina Arndt of her Australia Day honour have shied away from demanding similar treatment for former radio announcer Mike Carlton, who has a history of abusive comments toward women and Jewish people.
High profile commentators, including Lisa Wilkinson, backed calls to revoke Ms Arndt’s award after she claimed the husband of murder victim Hannah Clarke may have been “driven” to set the Queensland mum and her children on fire, but have stayed silent in the wake of a Queen’s Birthday honour to veteran former journalist Carlton — who is known for his derogatory comments against women.
Feminist commentators Jane Caro and Clementine Ford — both of whom were highly critical of Arndt — have also not been willing to publicly call for Carlton to be stripped of his honour.
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Instead, Ford said she was “more disgusted with the choice to recognise Tony Abbott for services to the indigenous community’’.
Senior Labor Senators Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally moved a motion in the Senate condemning Ms Arndt earlier this year.
But they have not sought to make a similar point against republican Carlton, who interestingly has pilloried the handing out of those very same awards in the past.
But, while not seeking Carlton’s award to be snatched from him, the Labor pollies did back calls to make the Order of Australia selection process more transparent in the wake of the outcry.
Carlton received an AM for significant services to print and broadcast media and naval history.
This is despite him resigning from his longstanding role as a columnist at The Sydney Morning Herald in 2014 after Fairfax asked him to apologise for sending abusive emails and tweets to Jewish readers in which he called them ‘Jewish bigot’, ‘pissant’ and ‘Likudnik’.
He sent a tweet last year asking how singer Jimmy Barnes, a QandA panellist, could restrain himself from violence towards his adjacent guest, Liberal MP Nicolle Flint, who he called a “shill”.
A spokesman for Ms Keneally said the senator condemned all “violence against women as well as derogatory comments based ongender or religion” and backed a review of the awards system.
“This would include any offensive comments about women in public life whether it’s Julia Gillard, Clover Moore, Jacinda Ardernor Nicolle Flint,” the spokesman said last night.
“It doesn’t matter who says it because each case of using sexist or violent language to talk about women is wrong.”
When asked about potentially reviewing the honours system, a federal government spokesman told The Daily Telegraph the awards were “not the decisions of the government”.
Carlton is a long-time friend and former colleague of Wilkinson’s husband Peter FitzSimons, who both worked at the Sydney Morning Herald and hosted a radio show together on 2UE.