“We don’t need to share the same opinions as others, but we need to be respectful.” So said pop sage Taylor Swift. So shake it off and prepare to engage with the readers’ comments that caught our eye this week ...
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Miranda Devine declaimed that the day of the Delcon was done but Tony Abbott fans were in fine voice after the former PM said even a 40 per cent same-sex marriage No vote would herald the rise of the new right. Cooed Kathleen:
“For the first time in months, I see a glimmer of hope. Tony Abbott, thank you for staying the course. You are a man of conviction and courage, rare qualities indeed.”
Big John had big dreams:
“Be patient. After the 2019 election the likes of Turnbull and Pyne will be gone and you can rebuild the party.”
Linda’s husband longed for equilibrium:
“I hope there’s some counter balance to the leftist ABC, SBS, unions and Getup!. I think unions were give tax-free status as they originally were workers’ representatives. Now they are far from that role and are extremely politically active ... why are they still given tax free status? This tax free money goes to promote the ALP, Greens and Getup!.”
Liberty lectured on lies:
“Here are the Big Lies that Get Up!, the Islamist supporting far left and the establishment right postmodernists will not address.
“Big Lie One: SSM is about liberty and small Government. The law is crystal clear. Informal gay marriage is not against the law. People are free to contract informal marriages ... You can marry a house brick if you like. SSM is therefore about more Big Brother state involvement not less since gays want their gay marriages enforced by the state (with severe penalties such as loss of career, reputation, fine, and imprisonment) against anyone who opposes them.
“Big Lie Two: SSM is about equality. Gays already have equal rights. They can marry informally and they do so. Gays already have, and can have nationally, Same Sex Union laws. SSU laws would provide greater equality and diversity since straights would retain their own exclusive cultural institution and gays would have theirs. Diversity is lost when everything is the same. SSU is true diversity and equality. Gays do not want absolute equality since they demand affirmative action that treats them differently, and more favourably, than straights.
“Big Lie Three: Freedom will not be lost with SSM. The new temporary censorship law proves that gays can demand, and are given, special laws. The new law purports to protect against so called ‘hate speech’ just as the notorious s18C does. This unequal treatment will likely be made permanent nationally if the SSM advocates win and the Green ALP coalition takes office.
“Big Lie Four: The political left wing support gays and the right wing and SSM opponents do not and are homophobic. Many SSM opponents on the so called right oppose sharia law, and support gays, informal gay marriage and SSU, but oppose so called hate speech laws. By contrast, astoundingly, and proving their total hypocrisy, many on the far left support SSM, and Government censorship and control, and also support sharia law that mandates that gays be killed or persecuted.”
Joan said ‘Jump ship’:
“So Tony Abbott has acknowledged that the long march through the institutions is in full flight and the Australian Conservatives are the only ones prepared to take them on. Maybe Mr Abbott would consider joining the fight and the Australian Conservatives because he is wasting his time and ours by staying with the Liberal Party.”
Patricia protested:
“40pc would be a smashing substantive defeat. It is a moral smashing. Australians simply do not buy the ravings of the far right.”
Sunil was succinct:
“My problem with Cory Bernardi is there is no economic narrative coming from him. All I see from him is a gloomy, narrow minded pessimism and rabid tribalism! Even Howard realised narrowly minded xenophobic comments do not work.”
Peter gets comment of the week for his prediction:
“Time and circumstance move on, and so does Australian’s need for a contemporary political expression of the mixture of tradition and modernity emerging in our rapidly changing culture. The future can be directed by sound principles but it can’t be imposed.
“With the Liberal Party lost in its moral and ideological miasma and up to its neck in political amateurism Abbott is slowly (maybe accidentally?) building the foundations of a new political model for Australia. This will be a decade in the making, but when it emerges it will render the traditional ‘worker’ v ‘upper class’ political divide obsolete.”
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As Typhoon Weinstein whirled, Kevin Spacey was caught up along with Brett Ratner and Dustin Hoffman as sexual harassment skeletons tumbled from closets. Tony tut-tutted:
“These celebrities are superb role models aren’t they? Just the people who should have the right to lecture us all on morality.”
Shane was unscathed:
“I was groped regularly when younger and I’m not scarred for life. At worst it was annoying. As to talking about sex, that’s pretty normal in the majority of contexts. This is just attention seeking from actresses looking for a fame boost.”
Tanya talked trauma:
“My son asked me what I thought today and suggested that there may be unfairness, a witch hunt and so on. I said, well, there was a young man who complained about Spacey and I thought that man had been ‘wounded’ by that incident. So are women, to a lesser and greater degree.
“The point is that nothing much can be done about the past; it is the present and the future we need to take care of and do our best in. Revelations, exposures and disclosures are important and this is the age of it. Technology allows people everywhere to be spoken about immediately.
“I am not shocked nor do I feign it when told about adults and what they do to each other. What I am grieved about and so should we all be, is when a defenceless child, male or female is abused by anyone, related or not.”
Repent, said Michael:
“There is a profound difference between sorrow and repentance, between accepting responsibility and reacting to guilt. These men are sorry. Sorry they have been caught. That is the only motivation for apology.
“Repentance is a much deeper and more painful personal act of the soul, when one realises, without external motivators, that you have done wrong and must make amends. It is repentance that leads one on the journey to change.”
Christine wondered why the wait:
“Most of the hard-done-by waited so many years to air their grievances. If they were traumatised by what happened to them, why didn’t they air all this when it was happening? Opportunism exhibits itself in many ways, and is not practised solely by men.”
Bernie was bored:
“The flagellation of Hollywood by Hollywood grinds on remorselessly. Couldn’t happen to a better bunch of patronising, condescending, sanctimonious barstools.”
Tony tittered:
“If you want to have a real chuckle look up ‘Roman Polanski standing ovation’. They’re all there, with the lead played by Meryl Streep, no less.”
Bert was on the ball:
“Ironic that the alleged incident occurred on the set of Death of a Salesman. Another play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, is about a witch-hunt.”
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Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me, lamented Warren Mundine, who claims Labor apparatchiks repeatedly ‘lied to my face’. Vince gave his vote:
“Warren is fair, honest and reasonable. No wonder the ALP wouldn’t stand him for parliament, he would show up the rest of their rabble.”
Barb backed him up:
“This is a man that was always wasted on union labour. They never saw, or refused to see, how valuable a politician he could be. But then, he speaks truthfully, stands up for a cause and could have been invaluable with the aboriginal problems.”
sandfly said:
“There are one or two individuals associated with the Labor Party who are of the right age, say what they think and who would be an excellent fit in any respectable common sense party of the right. Warren Mundine is one of those and Michael Costa is another. Their mere presence would attract a lot of disenchanted voters.”
Margaret mocked:
“Mundine is like Latham, a sad, rejected, failed politician who is, like a spurned lover, attacking the party and people he used to claim to support and selling his soul to his previous political opponents in an attempt to get revenge on those who rejected him. How Sad.”
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When Paul Kelly proclaims the government has lost control, people tend to take notice. Richo, meantime, ripped into the PM and suggested that on the chessboard of politics, it was time for Bishop to make her move. Ian felt ignored:
“This is not so much a government for Australians, it is more a case of ‘Lucy and I’.”
Mandy mulled:
“Turnbull: shoulda, woulda, coulda. And having now led the Coalition for its longest, lowest period of primary vote support in Newspoll history, as Ross Fitzgerald summarised the other day, it’s clearer than ever that the Liberals will remove Turnbull or the electorate will remove the Liberals.”
Helen saw Turnbull as a Trojan horse:
“Mr Turnbull has succeeded in changing the Liberal Party from being of conservative values to left wing values. I really don’t think he wants the Liberal Party to survive. Why would he make a comment such as ‘I have never had so much fun’?”
Marilyn got antsy:
“Oh dear, Mr Kelly. Turnbull only had ‘control’ when he was working in the dark — like most termites. Since the light has been turned on everyone can see that he was always hopeless and hapless.”
Mal was happy:
“I read this article with pleasurable surprise. NOT ONCE was Tony Abbott mentioned as the blame for Turnbull’s woes — an incredible feat for Paul Kelly — but he rightly established “... Labor and the government’s opponents are dictating a political agenda driven by chronic government blunders, re-energised (by the) citizenship issue...”
Chris was crisp:
“Hastie. And make it hasty.”
Boris bashed Bishop:
“Turnbull in skirt. Nothing else.”
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When Hugo Rifkind of The Times declared the car dead, our motoring editor, Philip King, took the bait. And many of you agreed the car’s demise was not close at hand, including jalopy-fan John:
“A car offers instant access, flexibility, choice of routes, optional absence of any intermediate stops, no need to change vehicle, choice of one’s own entertainment, avoidance of public transport people breathing their germs everywhere, option of projecting an image. What’s not to like?”
Don’t go top-down, said Coupe:
“One could infer that all criminal activity where a vehicle is used, either as get away or facilitation, will simply cease under a government-owned and controlled Electric Autonomous Motors scenario. Or you could just believe that pigs might fly.”
Stuart saw it simply:
“The opinion of a Londoner vs that of a Sydneysider. Anyone who has lived in central London knows that owning a car is barely worth the hassle. The roads are far more congested and the public transport is far better than we have here.”
John jested:
“London’s population is denser. (Take that which ever way you like.)”
It’s all image, said James:
“Look at the car ads on TV. None of them say, ‘this is the most practical way to get around’. They say things like, ‘this car will express your personality and make you free like a wild animal’.”
P feared the rise of the machines:
“Situation: a vehicle collision is inevitable because (insert reason here) and one vehicle must suffer possibly fatal outcomes but the networked vehicle AI has some choice as to which one.
Who sets the priorities? Is a retired coal miner a lower priority than a young green activist?
Will passengers get the option of picking ‘my survival at all costs’?
“You can play some fun games here: if someone is going into the light pole and all alternatives are (more or less) equal but one is a registered organ donor?”
Evelyn agreed:
“Great article Phil, fully agree. Great article in the Wall Street Journal not so long ago stated exactly the same and here is the quote: “Ten years from now, reading a paper in a driverless car, it will be on a limited-access highway or a closed off, experimental city circuit. Google, the pioneer of self-driving hype, recently admitted it won’t build and sell cars after all. Google, thought, still finds it pays to trundle its handful of robot cars on the exquisitely mapped streets of a few locales in perfect weather as obstacles to other motorists, Apple reaped untold millions in free publicity based mainly on rumours and job postings. Uber suspended its own self driving taxi experiment in three cities after an accident.”
Brian of Piccadilly poked fun:
“Pundits in the 50s assured us that by now we would have flying cars, personal jet packs, holidays in space, food pills, personal robots, cities under domes, colonies on Mars. We haven’t even achieved the paperless office. Small advances in artificial intelligence are more than offset by natural stupidity.”
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Each Friday the cream of your views on the news rises and we honour the voices that made the debate great. To boost your chances of being featured, please be pertinent, pithy and preferably make a point. Solid arguments, original ideas, sparkling prose, rapier wit and rhetorical flourishes may count in your favour. Civility is essential. Comments may be edited for length.
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Miners change tune on climate change
Peak mining industry body The Minerals Council of Australia has joined the fight on climate.
Easy to point the finger
Demanding we abandon coal for climate is akin to asking NZ to give up love affair with sheep.
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