Peta Credlin: PM deluded if he thinks ‘more Albo’ is key to winning election
The Prime Minister is deluded if he thinks that the difference between winning and losing a federal or state election is “more Albo”, writes Peta Credlin.
Opinion
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It’s telling that the Prime Minister was apparently not told for ten days about a caravan loaded with explosives and seemingly intended to kill hundreds of Jews.
Either our security agencies don’t regard a potential mass casualty terrorist act as important enough to tell the PM, or there’s a significant break down in liaison between the NSW police, who first became aware of this threat, and federal anti-terror agencies, or the relevant agencies know that this is not a topic that the PM would want to be bothered with.
It’s inconceivable that prime ministers John Howard or Tony Abbott, for instance, would not have wanted to be told, and rapidly been informed, in earlier times, of significant terrorist plots, even if thwarted.
I know when I was Abbott’s chief of staff during the Lindt siege, for example, he held rolling meetings of his national security committee – always in person – and during the Islamic State era, made it very clear he expected full and daily briefings as required about threats to our military and Australians here at home.
Whichever explanation it is, our government is not taking seriously enough the current wave of domestic terrorism against Jewish people in Australia and that’s because there’s an epic failure of leadership from the top.
Ever since the infamous scenes before the Sydney Opera House, scarcely 24 hours after the October 7 atrocity, the Albanese government has treated anti-Jewish hate speech as just another form of political protest and treated what’s now become domestic terrorism as little more than public vandalism.
Except on left wing issues, like net-zero, more extreme environmental regulation, union power and Indigenous separatism, this PM and his government seem incapable of anything other than drift and inertia.
On boosting productivity, maximising the exploitation of our economic potential, standing up to global bullies like Beijing, running an immigration program that’s in Australia’s national interest, and unifying Australia under our flag on our national day, this government has actually taken us backwards.
This has been especially true since the failure of the Voice referendum, the Prime Minister’s pet project, which seems to have sapped his interest in governing, and expedited his plans for life after politics as he shelled out millions for his Copacabana beach house.
Even the morning after news broke of the would-be caravan bomb, the PM was playing catch up with NSW Premier Chris Minns, whose words and actions have been far stronger. And while the PM has belatedly lifted his rhetoric against anti-Jewish hate crimes, he was way out of line last week accusing Peter Dutton of not enough political solidarity on this issue.
Never forget that it was Albanese, and Penny Wong, who broke 70 years of bipartisanship by consistently voting against Israel at the UN, despite the fact that the UN was, in effect, rewarding the Hamas terrorists.
Just as shocking has been the Albanese government’s actions here at home; handing out 3000 tourist visas to people from Gaza with only cursory security checks, failing to deport or prosecute hate preachers in our mosques, and not cancelling the visas of pro-Hamas activists.
This is the weakest prime minister in living memory, and the Albanese government is worse than Whitlam, because at least Whitlam looked and sounded like a leader; and was in charge of events, rather than just responding to them.
Last week there were signs that the PM’s own team is losing faith in him. The Assistant Treasurer Steven Jones has joined Linda Burney, Brendan O’Connor and Bill Shorten in exiting the parliament, a ministerial exodus that signals an expectation that the government is about to lose or will end up in a chaotic hung parliament.
We know that the West Australian Labor Premier doesn’t want the PM anywhere near his election on March 8. And last week, too, more reports that some Labor MPs don’t want the PM coming to their electorates because, he’s voter kryptonite.
The Prime Minister is deluded if he thinks that the difference between winning and losing is “more Albo”. That was the spin to his colleagues, as support for the Voice plummeted. Just keep the faith, he told caucus, and it will all turn round, only it didn’t.
HURRIED GENDER TREATMENT REVIEW ALL ABOUT BURYING TRUTH
Last week, after whistleblowers exposed shocking examples of children at risk – and parents in the dark – over gender-affirming practices in Queensland, the new Crisafulli government brought in an immediate ban on the use of puberty blockers while they hear from medical experts.
For years, brave doctors and psychiatrists have urged caution, and pointed to expert reviews from overseas, like the UK’s Cass Review, that have now banned these radical practices on children. But not so in Australia. Despite demands for an expert inquiry here, the Albanese government has consistently blocked one, until the Queensland government set up their own.
The move by Queensland has got the gender-affirming activists fired up, worried about what we might actually learn about these practices, so in a shock move on Friday, federal Health Minister Mark Butler rushed out a press release announcing a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) review of gender treatment guidelines. Almost immediately came calls for the Queensland review to stop, for children to again be put on hormone treatments and, effectively, to get this issue off the election agenda.
Worse still, the NHMRC won’t even issue an interim report until 2026. And that’s before we even consider the sort of people it will put on its review panel – truly expert and independent? I doubt it.
Why should minors who can’t legally buy cigarettes or alcohol, vote, or drive a car be allowed to demand irreversible chemical or surgical treatment that they might one day deeply regret? And why should doctors perform such drastic treatment on minors, such as chemical sterilisation or surgical mutilation, given the adolescent confusion that so many experience?
Don’t be fooled by the Albanese government’s move. This is about burying the truth, not looking for it.
THUMBS UP
Former army boss General Peter Leahy for pointing out that military recruitment is inevitably going to be hard if young people are taught that our country is “stolen land” hardly worth defending. “There are too many identities and too many flags” he said, “it doesn’t leave much space for Australia”.
THUMBS DOWN
Treasurer Jim Chalmers. His remark this week that “Jewish claims are not always unfounded” typifies a government that has consistently downplayed and minimised the reality of anti-Semitism, up to, and including, domestic terrorism.
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