Monday 4 June 2018

How the media sees denizens of Parliament Drive, Canberra



One Nation’s lifetime president summed up in ten sentences

The Saturday Paper Editorial excerpt, 2 June 2018:

Despite what she says, Hanson is a politician. She’s just not a very good one. Burston’s defection is the end of her balance of power in this senate. The relief at this is great.

To see One Nation break apart again is to be reminded of the brokenness of racism. Hers is a dried-out vision of Australia, mean and unimaginative. It is a pleasure to see it fail. It is like watching a dirt clod give in to rain.

Hers is a country of racist privilege, of conspiracy theories and clapped-out ideology. It is a godsend to see it founder.

Hanson arrived in this parliament with a party of Brits and car thieves. Scandal has claimed member after member. Those who are left, she cannot hold together. And it is good.

Barnaby Joyce’s death is announced

The Australian via outline.com, 1 June 2018:

The implosion of Barnaby Joyce — personally and professionally — in and of itself risks bringing down the Turnbull government. In fact, it puts the political potency of the Coalition at risk well beyond the Turnbull era.

The man once described by former prime minister Tony Abbott as Australia’s best retail politician has become a dead weight around the necks of his Liberal and Nationals colleagues.

The way Joyce has conducted himself generally, the contradictions in his calls for privacy versus selling his story to the highest bidder and some of the specifics (for example, blaming his partner for taking the cash or earlier suggesting the child might not even be his) have put Joyce’s retail days behind him. We’re not supposed to talk about this now that he’s on personal leave but not dwelling on it is perhaps the more realistic refrain.

There is no coming back politically from the way Joyce’s soap opera has played out in public. Anyone in the Nationals hoping for a return of the man who helped the party retain all its seats at the 2016 election, even picking one up from the Liberals, and saving the Turnbull government in the process are kidding themselves. Not now, not ever.

If the best interests of the Nationals are the only thing to consider, Joyce will quietly announce his intention not to contest the next election. He may yet do that. Let’s hope it doesn’t involve another paid interview.

Michaelia the Screecher in a nut shell

The Canberra Times, 1 June 2018:

The Liberal Party's loudest voice speaking up in defence of all the wrong things, while taking zero responsibility for what happens in her office. Who could possibly forget the way she dragged the Leader of the Opposition's female staffers through the sleaze earlier this year? Now she's been subpoenaed to appear before the Federal Court, which is examining last year's raids on the Australian Workers' Union. She's been moaning that it's all a union plot while appearing to forget the Federal Court doesn't get bullied into doing anything.

Liberal MP for almost 17 years and Federal Minister for over 4 years, Greg Hunt, reveals skills acquired as former Captain of Australian Universities Debating Team

Brisbane Times, 31 May 2018:

“He relocated his chair, pointing towards me and said 'you need to f***ing get over it, you need to f***ing make Senator Scullion your best friend'," Alderman Miller told ABC TV.

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