Standing in
the shadows pulling the strings of those willing to make spurious or defamatory
claims about a political opponent worked so well for the interim Prime Minister
and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison
in the past that he appears to be doing it again.
Last time the
efforts of his political puppets cost News
Corp tens of thousands of dollars in legal costs and like last time The Daily Telegraph is the
Liberals vehicle of choice.
The smear campaign
revealed……..
The
Saturday Paper,
11 May 2019, excerpt:
Midweek, Murdoch’s
Sydney tabloid The Daily Telegraph went for broke. On page one, it
ran a story under the headline “Mother of invention”, and set out to destroy
what it said was hailed as Shorten’s “election-winning moment”. It accused him
of omitting the fact his mother went on to enjoy an illustrious career as a
barrister. The paper said he had failed to disclose that his mother graduated
law later in life “and [practised] at the bar for six years”. It said the Labor
chief had only told half the family story. If that were the case, however, he
left out the half that gives even more potency to his mother’s legacy.
One senior Liberal wondered who was the genius on their
side who thought it a good idea to prompt the Telegraph’s ill-considered
and cockamamie attack. Gallery journalists confirm the “Libs were shopping the
story around on Tuesday”.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun, unlike its Brisbane
stablemate, The Courier-Mail, refused to take it. Scott Morrison played
the innocent bystander.
He told reporters it was a “very upsetting story” and he can understand that
Shorten would have been “very hurt by it”. That was an understatement. The
opposition leader was furious.
For 10 minutes during a
half-hour press conference on Wednesday, Shorten spoke of his mother’s
achievements. Fighting back tears, he told of a woman in her 50s with grey
hair, who, even though she topped her law school, could not get a law firm to
take her on for articles. When she eventually got to the bar, she struggled for
briefs – “she got about nine briefs in her time”. Far from fulfilling her
dream, as the Murdoch hatchet job claimed, she went back to education. The
partisan attack on the Labor leader opened the way for him to hit back at one
of the Liberals’ biggest vulnerabilities: their failure to promote more women
through their parliamentary ranks. Their most high-profile and credible woman,
Julie Bishop, has quit. She won’t be at the party’s Mother’s Day launch on
Sunday to support Morrison, the man who blocked her run for the leadership.
Shorten says the experience of his mother – “the smartest woman I’ve ever
known” – is why he believes in the equal treatment of women.
News Corp sources say the Tele has another
story on their news file to throw at Shorten. It is highly defamatory and
legally dubious.
The desperation that led to the attack on Shorten and his mother’s memory may
give them pause to think about running it. As one Labor campaign worker says,
“It’s difficult to know where the government ends and News Corp begins.” [my
yellow highlighting]
Phase Two of the smear campaign.......
A scurrilous, below-the-radar whispering campaign has broken through onto social media.
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