Monthly Archives

August 2021

August 29, 2021
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Over the years, I have met, reported on and/or interviewed every Prime Minister, from Menzies to Turnbull. Some I knew well. Others barely at all. Menzies was a silver-tongued liar who took us into the disaster of Vietnam. McMahon, often labelled our worst Prime Minister, was a treacherous backstabber despised by most of his cabinet. Howard also lied us into a futile war and aroused our worst instincts of greed and racism. Abbott was a nutter. Turnbull talked the talk but never walked the walk. Of Labor PMs, Hawke’s cabinets were loaded with dazzling talent. Keating was brilliant but eventually lost touch with the people. Rudd blew it on climate change; Gillard on same sex marriage. But however flawed, all these Prime Ministers had a vision for the nation, of what we might become. They had policy ambitions, a sense of direction, a concept of the demands of leadership. Morrison exhibits nothing of this. Scratch the surface and there is nothing there. He is a glib charlatan, a mountebank, a sideshow juggling act, an empty and frivolous collection of slogans and clichés. He is, beyond any doubt, our worst Prime Minister.

Mike Carlton
August 28, 2021
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[On Scott Morrison] Has an Australian political party ever elected a man or woman so characterless to be its leader? So ignorant and open to corruption? So unaware of truth and transparency? (His lying has indeed become pathological.) So insensitive to those who cannot help themselves yet amenable to furthering the interests of those who can? So willing to endorse and foster inequality? So illiterate when it comes to science and technology? So oblivious to the needs of women that he needed the advice of his wife? So against change. So inept at policy formation and its implementation. So prone to the language of absurdity. So self-righteous in attitude toward others. So aggressive and dismissive of those who seek fairness and equality. So out of touch with a modern pluralist society. A person so unsophisticated in deep worldly insight or discernment, yet profoundly devoted to his religion.

John Lord
August 26, 2021
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The outer ring

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I read The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells recently, and despite its title, it is hopeful that we can actually do something to prevent the worst outcomes of climate change….

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