Hello readers and welcome to the first instalment of our new weekly column that curates the best of your comments.
Each Friday we will highlight the cream of your views on the news and 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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Comment of the week was one of the 1454 submitted by readers in response to Malcolm Turnbull’s assertion that the Liberals are not conservatives, and comes from Otalp, garnering 251 likes from fellow readers:
“Menzies knew the importance for Australian Liberalism to draw upon both the classical liberal as well as the conservative political traditions” — John Howard
The Liberal Party has always been “the home of the centre-right tradition in this country” — Dominic Perrottet, NSW [26 Dec 2016].
“From the outset, the Liberal Party sought a complete amalgamation of the anti-socialist forces. Menzies, when founding the Liberal Party, knew that class was a sensitive issue and did not want the new party to be called ‘Conservative’ because of its connection with the English idea of aristocracy and high Tory conservatism and hence caused it Liberal in the classical sense, which isn’t the context Turnbull is using. Menzies called it ‘Liberal’ to advance the cause of Freedom.
“The Liberal party was always, to quote John Howard and the Liberal Party website, ‘a combination of economic liberalism and social conservatism’. Malcolm Turnbull’s statement must come as a shock to the Mr Perrotet, too, with his article: ‘Almost 75 years ago, Robert Menzies gave his famous ‘Forgotten People’ address that balanced classical liberalism with social conservatism. He spoke of the middle class as the nation’s backbone, individual enterprise, governing for everyone, and family as the cornerstone for society. This blueprint was to become the animating philosophy for the Australian conservative movement. Freedom, faith, flag, family and free markets — this is our core and we should not be ashamed of preserving it. This is the essence of conservatism — the Burkean partnership between those who have gone, those who are present and those who are yet to come.’ [ibid]
“Note that the Liberal history section has been completely rewritten to remove all Menzies quotes that prove these points and were there earlier this year. As for Turnbull’s mention of “the core value of freedom” — what a joke. Yes it was key to Menzies but Turnbull? How hypocritical is this statement when he wouldn’t defend the QUT students and Bill Leak in the 18C cases they had to endure and has done nothing to ensure cases such as these will never happen again? Nauseating stuff.
“How typical of Turnbull to throw down the gauntlet while he is overseas. No guts, no honour, no principles.”
Responding to the same story, Lynette writes:
“In my view, whether the Liberal party is conservative or centrist is of zero interest when Australia has been turned into a horribly high cost of living country and energy prices for industry and everyday consumers are going through the stratosphere.”
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Kate, replying to Paul Kelly’s analysis on the furore, thinks the ‘broad church’ hasn’t a prayer:
“Many years ago there was a split on the ‘left’ into environmental/cultural progressives (the Greens) and blue collar, democratic socialists (Labor). A similar split on the ‘right’ between liberals and conservatives is inevitable. Howard managed to postpone it through a combination of consummate political skills and a mining investment boom. The differences between liberals and conservatives on issues as diverse as climate change, education, and gay marriage are both fundamental and irreconcilable. They show that the so-called ‘broad church’ cannot hold. The sooner the split occurs, the better for everyone.”
David opted for a sporting metaphor:
“My 15 year old asks what is a ‘Centrist’? I tell him it’s like saying you support Carlton in the AFL ... But you also hope that Essendon, Richmond, Collingwood, St Kilda, Sydney, Brisbane, Freo, West Coast, Adelaide, Port, GWS, Geelong, Gold Coast, North, the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne all win the Premiership in the same year as well!”
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In reply to Nick Cater’s op ed piece examining Tim Soutphommasane’s idea to ‘cure the country of whiteness’, Charles points out the inherent irony:
“How did it come to be that the Australian Human Rights Commission is the greatest threat to our human rights?
“It is extraordinary that people with PhDs and anti-discrimination commissioners can’t see the absurdity, the irony and hypocrisy of their identity obsessions. I always thought that a fair society would be blind to identity — whether religious, racial, or sexual — and just take individuals on merit as they are.
“A fair society is blind to race. Yet here we have a suggestion that the Racial Discrimination Commissioner may be about to recommend a quota system. In other words, far from being a fair, meritocratic society, we will become one utterly obsessed with identity caricatures of all types.”
Mary, meantime, takes issue with the dying art of civil discourse:
“What I find so contradictory is the constant stream of personal insult and abuse heaped by ‘progressives’ on opponents of any issue that they espouse. Whilst their underlying claim is for raising the dignity of human kind, I find this form of “argument” demeaning and undignified but worse than this is the erosion not only of respect for themselves and other human beings but a denigration of our collective ability to think objectively and to hold values that should indeed be universal.”
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As news broke of Donald Trump Jr’s emails discussing possible Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton, Christine was feeling befuddled and fatigued:
“Have I got this right? It is alleged that the Russians had incriminating evidence on Clinton. So the Russians contact a pop star’s publicist who tells the pop star’s father who arranges a meeting between a Russian lawyer and Trump’s son. The lawyer turns out to be disconnected with the Russian govt and in fact has no incriminating evidence whatsoever on Clinton.
“Surely not! The ABC are crying Treason this morning, got me out of bed to read the Oz. Should have known better, back to bed.”
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The IOC moves in strange and mysterious ways, but many readers were relieved Brisbane was out of the running for hosting an Olympic Games until 2032. Peter had a novel idea:
“Why not give it back to Greece permanently, and instead of jet-setting around the world for arduous meetings in Lima etc, the IOC could fund setting up the facilities. The Greek economy could do with the boost, and we would be spared the cost of a future games in Australia.”
And amidst the inevitable Maroon gloating and Blues wailing and gnashing of teeth after State of Origin 3, some inter-code, interstate rivalry reared its head:
Gary writes:
“I am from an AFL State and watched a fair bit of last night’s match mainly because there was not much else on T/V. How can people get excited about this code and what’s more why is it referred to as football when there are very few kicks during the match? It’s more about scragging the opposition and its stop/start defies comprehension. Also, what is the point of a scrum?
Anyway, it’s a good thing it hasn’t taken off in the AFL States where kicking skills and high marking are just unbelievable at times.”
Stephen ripostes:
“How does AFL get referred to as football when it largely consists of: knock the ball along the ground, knock the ball along the ground, fumble the ball, elbow your opponent in the face with no consequences, fumble the ball, attack your opponent from behind with no consequences and then kick it anywhere, doesn’t matter where because you have 17 team mates to make up for your lack of accuracy.
And then you score when you miss.”
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.