Left abandons John Hewson amid half-baked conservative criticisms

Former Liberal Party leader John Hewson. Picture: AAP

Last week former Liberal leader Dr John Hewson learned that his SMH/Age column is no more. His reaction to this was typical of the forbearance and grace he has demonstrated when other institutions that had engaged him, whether they be business, academia, or political, decided he was not quite the right fit.

Taking to Twitter, he blamed the decision on censorship and editorial timidity, later telling The Australian: “The real reason, I could see over a long period of time, was the increasing concern I was being too critical of the government and the strategy of Nine is definitely to be supportive of the government.”

That fanciful claim was up there with a speech he gave to the Property Council in 1998. Having castigated the Howard government for supposedly lacking credibility in tax reform, Hewson then claimed the reason for losing the “unlosable election” in 1993 had nothing to do with his proposed goods and services tax. As reported by SMH: “He said it was because voters wanted to give Mr Keating another chance. He also blamed the Liberal Party for not backing the campaign with pro-tax reform advertising.”

But all the pro-tax reform advertising in the world would not have saved Hewson. Only days before the election he attempted during a television interview to explain his model of GST using a cake as an example, only to waffle incoherently. “If the answer to a birthday cake is so complex,” said the late Current Affair host Mike Willesee, “you do have a problem with the overall GST.”

It was not just the election but also Hewson’s political career that was cooked.

On the eve of John Howard’s return to the leadership in 1995, the late SMH columnist Padraic McGuinness warned he would be taking over a divided and demoralised party. “You are going to need every valuable person in the Liberal Party on your side as leader, he said, stressing reconciliation. “By contrast, you will not need John Hewson. He has shown that he has no political instincts of value, and his claims to the Treasury are nonsense.”

In the event Hewson was not dumped by preselectors, wrote McGuinness, “let him eke out his days on the backbench” as a “gadfly”, which was “itself a valuable role, although requiring more intellectual energy than Hewson has so far displayed”.

Instead, Hewson resigned his seat the following month.

Like John Hewson, Malcolm Turnbull also represented the Sydney seat of Wentworth.

But like another Member for Wentworth, he could not let go of his grievances. As with Malcolm Turnbull, his was an ego that could not accept the party was the worse for his leadership, or that it later recovered under the direction of another. Having discovered the leftist media would duchess and indulge embittered Liberals, Hewson became their go-to “conservative”. Pandering to inner-city sentiment, he lambasted Coalition governments and ministers for not living up to his newly acquired humanitarian ideals.

Few of his columns were without rancour. “Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joined the ranks of Springfield’s Police Chief Wiggum of the Simpsons, and South Park’s Officer Barbrady, in his Q&A performance this week,” he sneered in April 2019. As McGuinness had observed, his political instincts were awry, as a couple of examples from the last election campaign show.

“[Bill] Shorten has also recognised the shift in the electoral mood, whereby voters will wear higher taxes,” wrote Hewson. “[Prime Minister Scott Morrison] has gone on an exaggerated attack about Labor’s emission-reduction targets … None of this resonates. Voters accept that the transition to a low-carbon society, not just economy, is inevitable. … This is an issue where the old and young are at one.”

So much for his takes on franking credits and climate change – what about asylum-seekers? “The very constructive role played by Kerryn Phelps and the other independents and minor parties on this medevac debate will be well received by many voters,” he wrote in February 2019, “and increasingly it will be an important factor in the coming federal election.” At least he was right about that last bit, although not in the manner he envisaged.

Mr Hewson fronts an anti Adani rally in Sydney in 2018. Picture: AAP

And talk about rich. “Drop all the smart-arse, hardline, insensitivity,” he hectored the Coalition in March 2019. “When did kindness and compassion go out of favour?” And my favourite, from an open letter to Morrison in 2020: “You have been cut a lot of electoral slack so far, but being prime minister is not just about being there.” How would he know?

Only last month Hewson was unloading on the Australian Club for its refusal to admit women as members. “We are well into the 21st century,” he declared. “Women – like it or not, old chaps – are leading businesses and running boardrooms …” They also write columns too, and it was no small irony that SMH editor Lisa Davies cited gender equity as one of the reasons for ending this old chap’s tenure.

Hewson might want to reflect on his parliamentary farewell speech. Maintaining that he accepted his defeat in 1993 “without any rancour and without any sour grapes,” he lamented that his own party had misconceived his intentions.

“Sadly, if I speak out on issues these days I am generally said to be destabilising,” he said. Not much has changed.

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NSW has implemented COVID restrictions, prompting Australia’s most trusted doctor, Norman Swan, as the front cover of his latest book ‘So You Think You Know What’s Good for You’ describes him, to film vehicles travelling through Rushcutters Bay in Sydney’s harbourside eastern suburbs. He later posted the video on Twitter along with the caption “Locked down Sydney”.

Locked down Sydney pic.twitter.com/QFFzD8oWwI

— Norman Swan (@normanswan) July 14, 2021

There were about 40 vehicles evident in the 11 second video. Given the location is a major arterial road, and that the filming was conducted during the day, it appears traffic, if anything, was unusually light. What’s more, there was nothing to indicate the motorists were doing anything wrong. But evidently these restrictions were not severe enough for Swan’s liking.

Unfortunately for this self-appointed COVID guardian angel, the responses to his tut-tutting were not well-received. Suffice to say that most of those who replied believed Swan was in urgent need of a life. That he himself was out and about at the time was not lost on them.

In fairness to Swan, he is not alone in this behaviour. Originally thought to be symptomatic of the ‘Karen’ phenomenon – the overbearing and entitled loudmouth – this is a wider social malaise. It incorporates not just the Karens, but the control freaks and those who are snitches by nature.

#victorialockdown should follow new #SydneyLockdown rules & crackdown on construction sites. On my bike ride yesterday, I saw 3 collections of “essential” workers in huddles or through a truck window with NO masks or #chinstrap#masks#COVID19nsw#COVID19Aus

— Dr Leslie Cannold (@LeslieCannold) July 17, 2021

Bondi right now, where masks nor social distance seem to matter#COVID19nswpic.twitter.com/OqbgOxgyPD

— Georgia Love (@GeorgieALove) July 18, 2021

The roads are full of cars. Did people miss the memo? #Lockdown5

— Patricia Karvelas (@PatsKarvelas) July 15, 2021

Look, I don't want to be a killjoy, but hubby just drove down the road to Manly to fill up the car with petrol (still working as a camera operator during the lockdown) and there are people EVERYWHERE. No social distancing.

Come on, Sydney. We can do better than this.

— Tracey Spicer AM GAICD (@TraceySpicer) July 2, 2021

Well, #lockdown is shit but #Sydney is stunning. 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/zRDk4nG7PN

— Tracey Spicer AM GAICD (@TraceySpicer) July 18, 2021

And then there are the public figures who see the pandemic as an opportunity to boost their social profile by giving a good-natured admonishment to their fellow citizens. “I am not angry with you,” is the underlying message. “I am just disappointed you are not civic minded like moi”. Believe me, I would rather spend a night in a Wuhan bat cave than fill my head with this opportunistic sanctimony.

"I was out in Sydney during lockdown and saw too many other people also out in Sydney during lockdown" is the worst type of Tweet

— Thomas O'Brien (@TJ__OBrien) July 2, 2021

As for Swan’s video, many have rightly pointed out the inanity of drawing conclusions about the behaviour of Greater Sydney residents from a brief bit of footage. But if he wants us to extrapolate, I am happy to contribute. I reckon just about all of the motorists concerned are people without the benefit of a lucrative taxpayer-funded salary. I also reckon they worry, with good cause, about restrictions destroying their livelihood. And lastly, I think they have had enough of lockdown gurus who think they know what’s good for them.