Miranda Devine Selfishly Exploits Justine Damond Tragedy for Her Own Ends

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Miranda Devine Selfishly Exploits Justine Damond Tragedy for Her Own Ends Miranda Devine selfishly exploits Justine Damond tragedy for her own ends MICHAEL BRADLEY Managing Partner, Marque Lawyers I might tentatively suggest that a “normal” human reaction to the news that Australian woman Justine Damond had been shot dead by a Minneapolis police officer would have been something like shock, empathy and helpless despair. As the revelations quickly unfolded — she had called the police, she was in pyjamas, the shooter’s name was Mohammed Noor, he was Somali- American — understandable confusion would likely emerge. Then life would go on, as it does in the face of the incomprehensible. At least, as it used to, before these times of hyper-categorisation, where everything said or done is no longer allowed to be simply awful but must be instantly co-opted as proof. Of something. For Miranda Devine, there is apparently no time to waste on sentimentalities such as acknowledging that a person is tragically dead. As with her immediate reaction to the laying of sexual assault charges against Cardinal George Pell — to accuse the Victorian Police Commissioner of trumping up the charges to distract attention from a crime wave she insists is being perpetrated by (surprise!) young black men — Devine launched straight into explaining Why This Event Proves My Point. The logic is certainly peculiar, but here’s her summary: “A black cop killing an unarmed white woman does not fit the narrative pushed by Black Lives Matter activists. But they may as well have pulled the trigger.” I guess it is obvious when you put it that way. You see, the Black Lives Matter movement, with its unwarranted objections to the shooting of unarmed black men by white cops, has achieved nothing other than making the police nervous and, therefore, more likely to shoot innocent people. “And now an Australian has fallen victim.” Well, yes, I do understand that Miranda is programmed to outrage; that is her shtick. However, she is also one of the most popular columnists in the most-read newspaper in Sydney. Her narrative preferences aren’t some quaintly racist personal peccadillo; she reflects a widely held, if narrowly understood explanation of this disordered world. She and her like can’t really be ignored. The events in Minneapolis are impossibly unclear. Damond was an incredibly unlucky, entirely innocent victim of an inexplicable act of lethal violence. Nothing about her presence or (as far as we know) actions sheds any light. Maybe fireworks spooked the officer, it’s being suggested. US police shoot people all the time; The Washington Post says 547 have been killed so far this year (Damond was number 541). Statistically, given US gun laws, the sheer volume of weaponry and the overall rates of gun violence, the cops aren’t drastically out of step in this regard. But, disproportionately, the shooter is white and the victim is black. [Crikey Clarifier: is the US really experiencing a ‘war on police’?] This shooter was black, Muslim and born in Somalia. He was reportedly the first Somali- American to become a police officer. On what’s been disclosed so far — he fired from the passenger seat of the police cruiser at Damond while she was talking to his partner — it sounds very bad. There is talk of murder charges. Nothing about this story makes much sense. One way of reacting to this, whether you are a journalist, politician or citizen, would be to reserve judgement and live with the confusion while the story properly unfolds. Alternatively, you can jump all over it with your own version of “See? Exactly!!” It reminds me of what happened in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of 49 people and wounding of 58 others in an Orlando gay nightclub in 2016. The killer was Omar Mateen, born in the US, Muslim, of Afghan heritage. Mateen’s motivation was beyond understanding. His act was, however, immediately labelled one of Islamist terrorism and an “assault on freedom” by US politicians and our own Prime Minister. Donald Trump instantly tweeted “appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism”. With the benefit of eight months’ reflection, Devine, in a column earlier this year, dismissed the “concerted attempt to portray the attack as a homophobic hate crime rather than a radical Islamic terrorist attack” as an example of “political correctness”. [Let’s be clear: Orlando was an attack on gay people at a gay club because they were gay] At one level, all this desperate rush to pin the act, motive and agent with instant and recognisable labels is simply the age-old pursuit of confirmation bias: the selective attachment of events and identities to provide evidence for whatever narrative view you have already decided you prefer. It’s just been hyped up by the immediacy and endlessness of the modern digital media cycle, leaving even less time for pause and reflection before rushing to judge. For the relics of the left v right ideological wars, confirmation bias is everything. They’re not arguing over anything real anymore, so the fight is just an unending round of counter -punches as each side uses whatever happens in the world to “prove” that the other’s narrative is untenable. It’s kind of impressive, sometimes, to observe how hard they work to dredge support for their worldview from random events. There is a deeper intent, however. Think back to the Lindt Cafe. In the early days, it wasn’t clear whether that was a terrorist act. The perpetrator, Man Haron Monis, put up an Islamic flag (not an Islamic State flag, although he did repeatedly demand one) and there were grounds for characterising his crime as having a terrorist intent. There was, however, no strong consensus on what it all meant. Over time, however, the loudest and most consistent categorisation of Lindt has been as one of Australia’s few genuine incidents of terrorism, and I’d say that that’s where it’s now going to stay. Whether or not that’s right or fair, the point is that repetition is rewarded. For some in society, particularly in the media and politics, labelling holds high value. Messy ambiguity does not. For Devine, Orlando is most usefully categorised as a high body count Islamic terror act. It is unhelpful to her preferences to allow any room for homophobia, mental illness or any other cause. Likewise, it is important to start the process of classification of the Minneapolis shooting as early as possible. This begins with denial of what one prefers it not be: just another unnecessary police shooting, or another example of the increasingly random deadly consequences of the collapse of American society. That’s followed by attachment of this event to what one wants to be true: that Black Lives Matter is a dangerously fraudulent excess of the political correctness plague. Devine has another, more subtle, narrative to pursue: that the biggest threat to civil society is, in fact, black. As she asserts: “America’s first black president Barack Obama, was complicit. He and his black attorneys-general Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch and the rest of the American left, encouraged the backlash against police.” Fade to … black. Meanwhile, Justine Damond is dead. She gets no say in the uses to which her tragic passing is put. .
Recommended publications
  • 2018/05: the Barnaby Joyce Scandal: Should Ministers Be Banned From
    2018/05: The Barnaby Joyce scandal: should ministers be banned from... file:///C:/dpfinal/schools/doca2018/2018sexban/2018sexban.html 2018/05: The Barnaby Joyce scandal: should ministers be banned from having affairs with parliamentary staffers? What they said... 'I certainly felt that the values I expressed and the action I took would have the overwhelming endorsement of Australians' Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, commenting on his ban on sexual relations between ministers and staffers 'It's a basic principle of human rights that people can have relationships with whom they like' Ronnie Fox, a British employment law specialist from Fox and Partners The issue at a glance On February 15, 2018, the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, made an addition to the Australian Government's 'Statement of Ministerial Standards'. The addition states, 'Ministers must not engage in sexual relations with their staff. Doing so will constitute a breach of this code.' https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/statement-ministerial-standards.pdf The addition to the Ministerial Standards came after the Daily Telegraph revealed that the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, had been having a sexual relationship with his former media adviser, Vikki Campion. On February 7, 2018, the Daily Telegraph published a front page story reporting that Mr Joyce and Ms Campion were expecting a child together. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw /deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-and-exstaffer-and-journalist-vikki-campion-expecting-a-baby/news- story/affccfbe8df768e5b9ddc9920154be6b Debate has since raged as to whether Mr Joyce had used his position to find alternative employment for Ms Campion on other ministers' staff.
    [Show full text]
  • Sceptical Climate Part 2: CLIMATE SCIENCE in AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS
    October 2013 Sceptical Climate Part 2: CLIMATE SCIENCE IN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS Professor Wendy Bacon Australian Centre for Independent Journalism Sceptical Climate Part 2: Climate Science in Australian Newspapers ISBN: 978-0-9870682-4-8 Release date: 30th October 2013 REPORT AUTHOR & DIRECTOR OF PROJECT: Professor Wendy Bacon (Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology, Sydney) PROJECT MANAGER & RESEARCH SUPERVISOR: Arunn Jegan (Australian Centre for Independent Journalism) PROJECT & RESEARCH ADVISOR: Professor Chris Nash (Monash University) DESIGN AND WEB DEVELOPMENT Collagraph (http://collagraph.com.au) RESEARCHERS: Nicole Gooch, Katherine Cuttriss, Matthew Johnson, Rachel Sibley, Katerina Lebedev, Joel Rosenveig Holland, Federica Gasparini, Sophia Adams, Marcus Synott, Julia Wylie, Simon Phan & Emma Bacon ACIJ DIRECTOR: Associate Professor Tom Morton (Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology, Sydney) ACIJ MANAGER: Jan McClelland (Australian Centre for Independent Journalism) THE AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM The Sceptical Climate Report is a project by The Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, a critical voice on media politics, media policy, and the practice and theory of journalism. Follow ACIJ investigations, news and events at Investigate.org.au. This report is available for your use under a creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license, unless specifically noted. Feel free to quote, republish, backup, and move it to whatever platform works for you. Cover graphic: Global Annual Mean Surface Air Temperature Change, 1880 - 2012. Source: NASA GISS 2 Table of Contents 1. Preface . 5 2. Key Findings. 10 3. Background Issues . 28 4. Findings 4.1 Research design and methodology. 41 4.2 Quantity of climate science coverage .
    [Show full text]
  • I Justifying the Unjustifiable: a Critical Discursive Analysis of the Political
    i Justifying the Unjustifiable: a critical discursive analysis of the political rhetoric of asylum Isabella Rose Loxton This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the Honours degree of Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) School of Psychology University of Adelaide October 2018 Word Count: 8,900 ii Table of Contents Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iii Declaration............................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1 .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The Other.......................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Nationalism ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 The Language of Asylum ................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • PRECIS-2018-WEB.Pdf
    We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage... Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. But if we can regain that belief in the power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost. — Friedrich Hayek Contents Goals and Aims .................................................. 3 From the Executive Director ............................... 4 Research Programs Education .................................................... 6 FIVE from FIVE literacy program .................. 7 Economics ................................................... 8 Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society ...............10 Scholar-in-Residence ..........................................12 Liberty & Society Student Program ....................13 Consilium ..........................................................15 Events Highlights ...............................................17 Events at a Glance ............................................ 20 Media and Communications ............................. 23 Publications .......................................................24 Fundraising ........................................................27 Research Staff .................................................. 28 Staff ................................................................. 30 Board
    [Show full text]
  • Platformed Racism: the Adam Goodes War Dance and Booing Controversy on Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook
    PLATFORMED RACISM: THE ADAM GOODES WAR DANCE AND BOOING CONTROVERSY ON TWITTER, YOUTUBE, AND FACEBOOK Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández BA Autonomous University of Barcelona MA University of Amsterdam Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Digital Media Research Centre Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2018 Keywords Platformed racism Race Racism Whiteness Critical Race Theory Colour-blindness Digital platforms Twitter Facebook YouTube Social media Technocultures Memetic culture Media practices Visual media Multiplatform issue mapping Platform governance i ii Abstract This research interrogates the material politics of social media platforms, and their role in online racism. Platforms have altered how people search, find, and share information, and how social interactions take place online. This new era of user practices, micro-communication cultures, and an increasing algorithmic shaping of sociability, opens up new research endeavours to understand communication as a cultural practice. While platforms are reluctant to acknowledge that they work as media companies, and present themselves as being ‘neutral’, they intervene in public discourse through their design, policies, and corporate decisions. This intervention is increasingly under public scrutiny at a time when racist and sexist speech is thriving online. The entanglement between user practices and platforms in the reinforcement of racism is the focus of my research. Specifically, I argue that this entanglement
    [Show full text]
  • An Investigation Into Sexual Violence and Hazing in Australian University Residential Colleges End Rape on Campus Australia 2018 Contents
    END RAPE ON CAMPUS AUSTRALIA THE RED ZONE REPORT An investigation into sexual violence and hazing in Australian university residential colleges End Rape on Campus Australia 2018 Contents Foreword'and'executive'summary' 3' 1.' Introduction' 12' 2.' Prevalence' 31' 3.' Timeline' 41' 4.' Case'studies' 55' 5.' Themes'and'issues' 73' 6.' The'broader'context' 107' 7.' Recommendations' 137' 8.' Appendix' 145' ' This'report'was'produced'by'End'Rape'on'Campus'Australia,'an'organisation'working' to'end'sexual'violence'at'universities'and'residential'colleges'through'direct'support' for'survivors'and'their'advocates,'promoting'prevention'through'education,'and' advocating'for'policy'reform'at'campus,'state,'and'federal'levels.' ' www.endrapeoncampusau.org'|'EROC'Australia'2018' The Red Zone Report Page 2 FOREWORD: Professor Catharine Lumby I' began' my' university' studies' at' the' University' of' Sydney' in' 1980,' where' I' completed' an' Arts(Hons)/Law' degree.' I' arrived' having' no' idea' that' residential' colleges' existed.' That' soon' changed.'In'my'first'year,'a'number'of'fellow'female'students' told' me' about' their' experiences' of' sexual' assault' and' harassment'in'the'college'environment.'I'also'witnessed,'firstV hand,' hazing' rituals' which' spilled' onto' campus,' obscene' misogynistic'slogans'chalked'on'pavements'proudly'badged'by'all'male'colleges'and'experienced'sexual' harassment'by'men'who'attended'colleges.' I'returned'to'Sydney'University'in'1999,'where'I'set'up'the'first'Media'and'Communications'degree.'To'my' horror,'I'discovered'that'nothing'appeared'to'have'changed'in'some'of'the'colleges.'A'number'of'female'
    [Show full text]
  • Responsibility for Iatrogenic Death in Australian Criminal Law
    RESPONSIBILITY FOR IATROGENIC DEATH IN AUSTRALIAN CRIMINAL LAW DAVID J CARTER A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF LAW UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY 2017 ii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully acknowledged within the text. I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis. This research is supported by a Quentin Bryce Law Doctoral Scholarship. Production Note: Signature removed prior to publication. 29 September, 2017 iii iv ‘In gross negligence manslaughter, the jury…finds justice where the law cannot guide it.’1 - Alan Norrie ‘Nobody ever said that care would be easy’.2 - Annemarie Mol 1 Alan Norrie, Crime, Reason and History: A Critical Introduction to Criminal Law (Cambridge University Press, 2001) 45. 2 Annemarie Mol, The Logic of Care: Health and the Problem of Patient Choice (Routledge, 2008) 87. v vi ABSTRACT Iatrogenic harm is harm, including death, that arises in the course of medical or healthcare treatment and is caused by the application of treatment itself, rather than by the underlying disease or injury. Each year, some 27,000 deaths in Australian acute care hospitals are associated with iatrogenic harm. Such harm in its iatrogenic form raises for us, in an urgent contemporary setting, some of the perennial questions associated with moral and legal answerability and questions of the limits of medicine, the difficulty of healing and of the politics of care.
    [Show full text]
  • Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Twenty-One
    Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Twenty-one Proceedings of the Twenty-first Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society Adelaide Meridien Hotel, Melbourne Street, North Adelaide © Copyright 2009 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. Table of Contents Foreword John Stone Dinner Address Professor Ivan Shearer, AM, RFD The Australian Bill of Rights Debate: The International Law Dimension Introductory Remarks Julian Leeser Chapter One Hon Christian Porter, MLA The Brennan Committee Chapter Two Miranda Devine Human Rights Bureaucracies Chapter Three Dr David Bennett, AC, QC Rights in the Constitution Chapter Four Bryan Pape The Tax Bonus Case; or Did the Commonwealth cry “Wolf ”? Chapter Five Professor Jonathan Pincus Mutual Recognition and Regulatory Competition Chapter Six Professor Scott Prasser The Virtues of Upper Houses Chapter Seven Professor Dean Jaensch, AO The Attack on Australia’s Democracy? i Chapter Eight Professor James Allan The Magical Powers of Judges and University Administrators Chapter Nine John Nethercote A Note on Referendum Majorities Chapter Ten Hon John Hatzistergos, MLC Parliamentary Will v. Statutory Bill: The Important Role of Legislatures in Progressive Social Change Chapter Eleven Hon Bruce Debelle, QC Judicial Appointments: The Case for Reform Chapter Twelve Alan Anderson How Judicial Appointments Reform Threatens our Democracy Concluding Remarks Sir David Smith, KCVO, AO Appendix Contributors ii Foreword John Stone The 21st Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society was held in Adelaide on 28-30 August, 2009. The papers delivered there make up this volume of the Society’s Proceedings,Upholding the Australian Constitution. Attendance at this Conference was for my wife and me a novel experience.
    [Show full text]
  • The 'Young Muslim Man' in Australian Public Discourse
    THE ‘YOUNG MUSLIM MAN’ IN AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC DISCOURSE Transforming Cultures eJournal, Vol. 2 No 1, November 2007 http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/TfC Kiran Grewal Abstract Through an analysis of two highly mediatised recent events in Australia this article seeks to interrogate the intersections of gender, ethnicity and culture in the construction of Australian national identity. A series of gang rapes in the early 2000s attracted widespread public outrage and the harshest ever condemnation of acts of sexual violence in Australian history. Linked to these events, in December 2005 a series of riots at the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla led to further questioning of ethnic relations and the state of Australian multiculturalism within media and political discourses. While many of the responses to the gang rapes and the Cronulla riots have drawn on the language of ‘women’s rights’, a closer look at the discourses suggests a different story. Responses to the gang rapes have often characterised the attacks as being against the Australian community, rather than against individual women. It is also interesting to contrast the outrage surrounding the gang rapes with the general silence regarding the increased racist violence committed against Muslim women in recent times. Furthermore, the linking of the gang rapes with a particular religious/ethnic community can be contrasted with the discourses on the alleged gang rapes involving Australian sporting teams, such as the Bulldogs and more recently the Wests Tigers. Finally the manner in which the events of Cronulla have been recast and linked back to the ‘threat’ posed by young Muslim/Lebanese/Middle Eastern men to Australian women suggests that ethnicity and gender both play an important and mutually reinforcing role in the construction of Australian national identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Everyday Revolutions: Remaking Gender, Sexuality and Culture In
    Everyday Revolutions Remaking Gender, Sexuality and Culture in 1970s Australia Everyday Revolutions Remaking Gender, Sexuality and Culture in 1970s Australia Edited by Michelle Arrow and Angela Woollacott Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au ISBN (print): 9781760462963 ISBN (online): 9781760462970 WorldCat (print): 1113935722 WorldCat (online): 1113935780 DOI: 10.22459/ER.2019 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode Cover design and layout by ANU Press This edition © 2019 ANU Press Contents Contributors . vii 1 . Revolutionising the everyday: The transformative impact of the sexual and feminist movements on Australian society and culture . 1 Michelle Arrow and Angela Woollacott Everyday gender revolutions: Workplaces, schools and households 2 . Of girls and spanners: Feminist politics, women’s bodies and the male trades . 23 Georgine Clarsen 3 . The discovery of sexism in schools: Everyday revolutions in the classroom . 37 Julie McLeod 4 . Making the political personal: Gender and sustainable lifestyles in 1970s Australia . 63 Carroll Pursell Feminism in art and culture 5 . How the personal became (and remains) political in the visual arts . 85 Catriona Moore and Catherine Speck 6 . Subversive stitches: Needlework as activism in Australian feminist art of the 1970s . .. 103 Elizabeth Emery 7 . Women into print: Feminist presses in Australia . 121 Trish Luker 8 . ‘Unmistakably a book by a feminist’: Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip and its feminist contexts .
    [Show full text]
  • The Politics of Climate Change in Australia: the Interplay Between the Lavoisier Group, the Media, and Federal Government Policy
    The Politics of Climate Change in Australia: the Interplay between the Lavoisier Group, the Media, and Federal Government Policy A Short Report for the Faculty of Arts Summer Research Scholarship 2006/7 University of Wollongong Author: Patrick Hodder Bega Education Centre Faculty of Arts Summer Session Research Scholarship 2006/7 Report prepared by Patrick Hodder PO Box 537 Bega NSW 2550 Ph 02 6492 7181 Email [email protected] Project Supervisor Brian Martin Science, Technology and Society University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Email [email protected] Acknowledgements This report was funded by a Summer Research Scholarship awarded by the Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong. My thanks are due to Brian Martin for his regular feedback and advice. Word Count 3600 Patrick Hodder The Politics of Climate Change in Australia 1 Faculty of Arts Summer Session Research Scholarship 2006/7 Contents Item Page Acknowledgements 1 Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Background 6 The Lavoisier Group 7 The ‘Hockey Stick’ Controversy 9 Conclusions and Recommendations 16 References 17 Patrick Hodder The Politics of Climate Change in Australia 2 Faculty of Arts Summer Session Research Scholarship 2006/7 Abstract The Lavoisier Group is a focal point for climate change skeptics in Australia. This report analyses one aspect of the climate change debate in Australia by examining the Mann et al (1998, 1999) climate reconstruction and the ensuing ‘hockey stick’ controversy. It explores how the Lavoisier Group used the challenges to Mann et al to discredit the findings and processes of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report then looks at the way in which this debate and its implications were reported in The Australian, and suggests the degree to which coverage of this particular debate may have influenced the Federal Government position on climate change.
    [Show full text]
  • It Is the Knight to Call It a Day on Peta Credlin
    It is the knight to call it a day on Peta Credlin MIRANDA DEVINE THE DAILY TELEGRAPH JANUARY 28, 2015 12:00AM TONY Abbott’s gonging of Prince Philip makes no political sense. It shows Gillardesque poor judgement. Honestly. In one neat image the wacky self-indulgence crystallises all the disquiet about the Prime Minister since he took office 16 months ago. And it raises the big question of why someone in his army of advisers didn’t save him from himself. At least Abbott’s poor judgment calls don’t cost the nation billions of dollars, or kill people, as did the blunders of his predecessors Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. But the universal condemnation of his “captain’s call” of an Australia Day knighthood for the Queen’s husband might finally be the jolt that makes the Prime Minister realise he is facing an existential political challenge. PAUL TOOHEY: IS IT TIME FOR ABBOTT TO GO? EDITORIAL: ABBOTT IS DISTRACTED FROM THE MAIN GAME When we’re still in January of the year in which he was supposed to have pushed the reset button, and there are rumbles from his party about changing leaders, you know there’s a problem. The Liberals would be nuts to move on Abbott, but they know the mood in their heartland is black. Even monarchists are appalled that he has managed to breathe life back into the dormant republic cause. It raises the big question of why someone in his army of advisers didn’t save him from himself. All summer at dinner parties and BBQs across Sydney, Abbott supporters have been talking with increasing dismay about his leadership style, indecision, backdowns, lack of strategy, tin ear, and the way his office micromanages and over-thinks everything.
    [Show full text]