On May 1, in Murdoch’s Daily Bellylaugh (reprinted in the Catallaxy Files1), Barnaby Joyce’s paramour, Vikki Campion wrote a piece entitled ‘Cancel culture the real rat’ and opined that it was “the real rats in our media and online that are doing more damage” than the rodent plague in eastern Australia. She accused these media and online rats of taking “control of the narrative and they have crowned themselves a noble species and their diet is any who disagree” (yes, she really said that). This was followed by “We are at the eve of a federal election with our political best bowing out before preselection.” Who could she mean? Believe it or not, she was talking about the George Christensen (MP for Dawson, Qld), Craig Kelly (Hughes, NSW) and Nicolle Flint (Boothby, SA)1. To consider any of these among the ‘political best’, while hilarious, is delusional.
George Christensen spends almost as much time in Manila as in his electorate, so much so that he is often referred to as “the Member for Manila”. He has been investigated by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for his regular travel and cash transfers to the Philippines2. Freedom of Information requests for details of the investigation have been blocked, apparently by Christensen3. The AFP found no evidence of illegality but raised concerns that Christensen risked being compromised, as between 2014 and 2018, he spent almost 10 months in the Philippines, during which time he has been a regular at a particular ‘adult entertainment’ bar4. Presumably Christensen has pulled the pin because ever since the Murdoch’s Herald-Sun published details of his travel5, he probably understands that he is too rancid, even for Murdoch.
Craig Kelly has been such an embarrassment to the Liberal Party because of the constant misinformation regarding Covid-19, that he was apparently asked to leave the Liberal Party. He has been promoting Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin as prophylaxis and treatment for Covid-19 for which there is no evidence6. Kelly is also, like many in the Liberal Party, a climate change denier, but his arguments are so wacky7,8, and so off-the-planet, that he makes your average malevolent denier seem almost sane.
Nicolle Flint broke down in tears on the floor of Parliament while describing the harassment and stalking she has endured during her time in politics, and calling for the safety of women to be “above politics”. Flint criticised her political opponents, including Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and lobby group GetUp, which launched an unsuccessful push to unseat her during the last election9. It is a shame she didn’t think of making women’s safety ‘above politics’ at the time the rape of Brittany Higgins was covered up. But then conservatives only become concerned about the treatment of people when it affects them personally or when they are certain it will not affect them electorally.
These mischaracterisations of these three as among the political best would have been reason enough to describe Campion as being ‘economical with the truth’, if not delusional. However, in the section on Kelly she says “The media that mocked and belittled Hume MP Craig Kelly gave no thought to those who broke into his home, hanging ISIS flags in his window.”1 This was the lie.
What actually happened was that comedian and political commentator Jordan Shanks (aka Friendly Jordies) filmed himself rolling up an Azerbaijani flag into his hands and walking into Kelly’s home in Illawong in Sydney’s south last month. The Kelly home is up for sale and Shanks visited during an ‘open house’ when it was open to the public for inspection. The stunt was to mock Kelly’s previous expressions of admiration for some of Azerbaijan’s political processes, as he made several trips to the former Soviet nation. He travelled there in 2016 to observe its constitutional referendum and in 2018 as leader of a delegation to observe its presidential election. Mr Kelly praised the use of photographic ID and inking of thumbs to ensure they had not already voted. He told local media in the Islamic nation it was a “coherent, democratic process”, although observers from the Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe said it had been neither free nor fair10.
It is impossible to believe that Campion could actually mistake the Azerbaijani flag, which has three horizontal bands of bright blue, red and green, with a white crescent and an eight-pointed star in the centre, with that of ISIS which is only black and white. She is simply lying or was the gullible dupe of someone who lied to her. Either is believable.
Sources
- https://catallaxyfiles.com
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/afp-investigated-george-christensen-over-philippines-travel/10972562
- https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nationals-mp-george-christensen-vetoes-release-of-afp-travel-inquiry-documents-20191201-p53fs0.html
- https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/george-christensen-a-regular-at-philippines-adult-entertainment-bar-manager-20191202-p53g57.html
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-27/george-christensen-alleges-smear-campaign-manila-travel/10945486
- https://blotreport.com/2021/02/25/the-kelly-solution/
- https://blotreport.com/2018/05/03/is-craig-kelly-the-dumbest-parliamentarian/
- https://blotreport.com/2019/09/09/yes-craig-kelly-is-the-dumbest-parliamentarian/
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-16/government-mp-breaks-down-in-tears-calls-for-safety-of-women/13254068
- https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/fury-after-sneaky-act-at-mps-open-house/4210026/
Campion screwed the then married hayseed Joyce of her own free will. Says all you need to know really.
Speaking of News Corpse, you’ll like this from The Juice Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqj2z3QaRyU.
Their parody of government EV “policy” is also great viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLflYkgnNBY
Jon,
Yep. I have seen both of those. The Juice Media is simply brilliant.
Whatever you think of Nicole Flint, the treatment she received from GetUp is simply unacceptable in a democracy. Although I disagree with almost all of her extremely right wing views she is entitled to hold them as are people who wish to have complete socialism. I am not sure that the actions of GetUp were all that smart from a pure political standpoint–indeed they were pretty dumb as well as nasty. Their actions are more likely to create sympathy for her, and the Liberal Party, rather than anything else and I would suggest their actions are probably counterproductive in terms of the ALP winning Boothby–the only swinging Federal seat in South Australia.
Jim,
I think you’ll find that the story that GetUp behaved badly during Nicolle Flint’s campaign was equine ordure put about by the Liberals to try to damage GetUp, even accusing GetUp of being a front for both the Greens and Labor. See here:
https://www.getup.org.au/media/releases/2021/03/statement-by-getup-responding-to-allegations-made-about-the-2019-election-campaign-in-boothby/
One of the people she blamed was a local journalist, who was not a member of GetUp, nor ever had been. See here:
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/the-creepy-old-man-mp-nicolle-flint-says-stalked-her-during-election-campaign/news-story/72050533314a0a00b02d15cfb75e3cec
Dear Admin,
I was not referring to the 2019 campaign and indeed did not mention it. I was referring to the recent activities at her office. One also has to be very careful of the South Australian ALP activities and the accuracy of their statements–I regret to say that some of their election campaigning has been quite disgraceful as evidenced by the “Would you trust Habib” pamphlets from the 2014 election campaign–the chickens are just coming home to roost with this now, with the previous ALP member of that state seat recently being charged with trying to blackmail the present leader of the state opposition, Peter Malinauskas who seems to be a decent bloke.
Jim,
OK, but that was the campaign to which Flint was referring. I am afraid I had a giggle when you referred to the “accuracy of their statements”. That was in evidence, in spades, in the 2019 election, but it was not from the ALP as far as I saw. Remember: Labor would take their cars from them; Labor was going to casualise their jobs; Labor was going to cut their pension; Labor was going to persecute them for their religion; Labor was going to kill babies; Labor was going to allow full-term abortions; Labor was going to destroy the economy in the name of dealing with climate change; and Adani would provide ten thousand jobs. Admittedly, I have not seen much on SA politics; what I see here is mostly federal politics. This is in part because ACT politics is fairly quiescent, as here the Liberal Party has essentially made themselves unelectable, as they seem to have been taken over almost entirely by a reactionary religious rump which, in the most progressive jurisdiction in the nation, makes them more figures of derision than anything approaching a viable alternative government.
I haven’t bothered to read Flint’s comments in detail because politicians – esp conservatives – accusing opponents, and critics like GetUp of misbehaviour and disrespect is HYPOCRISY WRIT LARGE in most cases. Unless Flint apologised to GetUp for wrongly accusing them then she’s guilty of similar if less extreme conduct to that she claims to have been subjected to.
The fact that people are increasingly distrustful and intolerant of politicians and are (over)reacting is largely of their own making – and well-earned imo. The decline of accountability, honesty and integrity is quite disturbing, as is – by their own admission in surveys – the hardening adherence to uncompromising ideology, again particularly from conservatives. Add to that their self serving and hypocritical statements, behaviours and policies and you have a recipe for complete disrespect and contempt.
People who can see the decline, recognise the problem and importantly CARE ABOUT IT (and I’m not talking about extremists or ideologically blind rusted on unionists etc) feel powerless. Many of the comments under The Juice Media’s videos reflect the feeling of powerlessness. The results of the survey linked to below should come as no surprise to anyone who follows politics.
https://theconversation.com/australians-trust-in-politicians-and-democracy-hits-an-all-time-low-new-research-108161
There have been a few opinion pieces in recent years about the decline of standards in Australian politics and where the fault lies. Here’s just one, although unlike other commentators Simon Longstaff doesn’t attempt to delve in into the areas of party culture or the ‘party loyalty is everything mantra’ so evident in the Liberal, National and Labor Parties.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/none-can-be-so-blind-as-the-righteous-the-premier-s-own-sense-of-integrity-may-have-been-her-downfall-20201013-p564ke.html
Jon,
It is a worry, and it will not be solved until we get rid of the Liberal Party and Murdoch media. The Labor Party aren’t an awful lot better, but at least they are not replete with criminals and religious nutters. I think this is why there are numerous groups springing up in electorates such as Hughes, Wentworth, etc. just as they did in Indi. If the political parties do not change, I suspect this will continue.
Let’s be honest, WHO GIVES A RAT’S A… what drivel spills from out the gob of Campion, or for that matter, her hick drunkard shambles of a neuron-deficient hubbie. They form just a completely predictable backwards looking, badly educated and grasping greedy part of the vile LNP. Shock at what this excremental pair say or do is no longer what I feel. Sorrow for a country that is at this very dangerous time, stuck in the claws of so many ultra-ideological and morally bankrupt human dregs like the Morrison mob is what I can feel!
Russell,
Yep. I feel shock no longer; it seems to be constant disgust. It is getting close to pitchfork time.