Quarterly Essay scribe has been dishing out vitriol for years

Writer Benjamin Law.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan defends the tone of the same-sex marriage postal survey on Sky News, yesterday:

Can’t we just all grow a spine and grow up? Let’s stop being delicate little flowers.

Maybe Matt could have a chat to his leader. Barnaby Joyce on ABC radio, yesterday:

I don’t want to be yelled at by groups who tell me I’m somehow less than human if I’ve got a different view from them … Get out of my face, leave me alone.

Meanwhile, Fairfax columnist Benjamin Law is keeping the tone of debate as low as possible. Twitter, yesterday:

P.S. Thanks to @joekellyoz & the @australian for both QE publicity and homoerotica today. The QE was tough to write and I needed the laugh. pic.twitter.com/ljgTsgj36e

— Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) September 10, 2017

Law doesn’t seem too fussed about the outrage caused by his pretty awful tweets. The Australian, yesterday:

Coalition MPs have lashed the author of the latest Quarterly Essay — which calls for a national rollout of the controversial Safe Schools program — over a lewd tweet joking about “hate f..king” the homophobia out of “anti-gay MPs in parliament”.

Though he’s trying to back-pedal. Law on Twitter, yesterday:

Rape is non-consensual and nothing to be joked about. Hate f..king is a Gen Y term that refers to consensual sex with someone disagreeable.

It’s not the first time Law has had to tweet on his feet. Law defending the ABC’s Leigh Sales from Twitter trolls, July 1 last year:

The stuff female journos cop — for doing their jobs and doing it well — makes you want to throw a brick at humanity.

But Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi found an old tweet of Law’s aimed at another famous female journo. Twitter, February 2, 2011:

Nice to see Miranda Devine’s still able to be a snide c..t from hell …

Law apologises profusely for attacking women on Twitter, July 1 last year:

Appreciate you bringing this to my attention. Though it was five years ago, no excuses, unreserved apologies … It took copping abuse to understand I wasn’t above dishing out similar crap. Hope I’ve gotten better.

But he’s less apologetic about aiming violent sexual imagery at MPs who disagree with him. Law speaking to The Australian, yesterday:

Sure, the member for Canning has decent cheekbones, but he’s a little too clean-cut for my tastes

Member for Canning Andrew Hastie in The Australian, yesterday:

If anyone on the no campaign jokingly suggested using sex as a weapon against yes campaigners, there’d be immediate calls for their resignation and marginalisation. Instead this guy gets a 20,000-word platform from Quarterly Essay.

And Hillary Clinton finally admits she messed up. CBS’s Sunday Morning, Sunday:

They (American voters) wanted me to share their anger. And I should’ve done a better job of demonstrating “I get it”.

She’s finally listening to our Cameron Stewart. The Australian’s Washington correspondent, May 3:

Clinton’s loss was mostly caused by the complacency and arrogance of her campaign team who believed that victory was inevitable … ignoring the restless mood for change in traditionally Democrat strongholds …