Whatever you do, don’t mention the (Lebanese Civil) War
Let’s talk about the weather instead, shall we? Greens senator Nick McKim raises — or is that lowers? — the standard of debate, Sky News, yesterday:
We’re not disputing the numbers that he quoted. Undoubtedly the advice he’s got is accurate. But just because something is fact doesn’t mean that it’s reasonable or productive to talk about it.
Not so, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says on 2GB, yesterday:
The point that I was making is that we should call out the small number within the community — within the Lebanese community — who are doing the wrong thing. If we do that, we can hold up the vast majority of people within the Lebanese community who work as hard as you and I do, who have contributed to society …
Gerard Henderson, The Australian, yesterday:
The cabinet papers in the National Archives of Australia reveal that the Lebanese concession was an unmitigated disaster. In September 1976 cabinet considered a report that concluded that Immigration Department officials were “completely overstretched” and had lost control of the program. The report expressed concern about “the possibility that the conflicts, tensions and divisions within Lebanon will be transferred to Australia”.
We thought we weren’t supposed to talk about this stuff? Senator Pat Dodson arguing against changes to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, yesterday:
We see every night on the news the bigotry and the racism, the hatred, the killings that take place in the Middle East, borne out by different interpretations that people extract from words.
It turns out that Greens don’t like to talk about a lot of things. Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm in parliament, Wednesday:
Given that the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that one in three victims of domestic violence is male, do you think male victims deserve a proportional level of support services as female victims?
Greens senator Larissa Waters shouts back across the chamber, Wednesday:
No!
Oh, it's not just words that are forbidden. News.com.au, yesterday:
A photographer who snapped controversial Safe Schools founder Roz Ward harassing a bystander at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Melbourne earlier this month has been forced to shut down his business after receiving “threats”.
James Allan in Quadrant with a warning about polls, Wednesday:
There were 30 polls in a row showing Brexit would lose in the 12 months before that vote. And the poll accumulators had Trump behind throughout the entire race. If polls are destiny, Brexit never happened and Hillary is the American president.
Malcolm Turnbull, ABC 7.30, September 14 last year:
We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row. It is clear that the people have made up their mind about Mr Abbott’s leadership …
Speaking of which, this should be an interesting read. Fairfax Media websites, yesterday:
Former prime minister Tony Abbott is considering putting pen to paper and writing a sequel to his 2009 book Battlelines, which his publisher says would make the case for the Liberal Party to return to its conservative roots.