Friday, 11 March 2011
"Fish Rots from the head"
REGARDLESS of your political colours, you must have been proud for your country when you saw Julia Gillard standing there before the American Congress delivering a speech which received a rapturous reception.
Certainly they would have stood politely and clapped her even if they hadn’t liked the speech. Americans are very gracious people and very respectful of high office.
For the first time in our history, we had a woman speaking on behalf of our country, a position which no woman in the US has ever held. Julia Gillard does not come from a privileged background but has taken advantage of all the opportunities this country has provided since the resurgence of feminism in the 1970s.
This week was the centenary of International Women’s Day and our Prime Minister is well aware of all the freedoms she has enjoyed because of the work of previous Australian women and enlightened men and the equal opportunity legislation they have enacted.
There was no sense of entitlement in anything she said or conveyed in her manner. She spoke with grace, charm and humour. She even recognised former Prime Minister John Howard as a former speaker to the Congress.
It was a proud occasion for Australia. When interviewed after her presentation she refused to talk about herself or take personal praise for her performance. She said that she was there as the holder of the office of Prime Minister and she was merely trying to do her best for the country.
For the young women of Australia her performance signalled that everything was possible for them, they could achieve their dreams if they worked hard and never gave up. This was the message that was being beamed about our country to newsrooms all over the world.
How distressing it was, therefore, when SKY News interviewed a newly elected younger woman from the Liberal Party and when asked about the PM’s wonderful reception in Washington, to witness her mean-spirited and partisan response.
This 34-year-old Liberal MP from the Melbourne seat of Higgins, Kelly O’Dwyer, replaced the former Treasurer Peter Costello, for whom she has been an adviser. She was the first woman in the Liberal Party to win pre-selection for an inner city, safe seat.
Totally unmoved by the occasion, as both a woman and an Australian, she conceded that the PM’s reception had been “good” and then immediately segued into reminding us that foreign affairs was not the PM’s passion, attacked her for previous gaffes and said that she hoped she would not make any while on this tour.
There was no respect for The Office of the Prime Minister, no congratulations on the outstanding response she had achieved from the assembled Congress on what was a first, not just for an Australian woman but for any Australian Prime Minister.
O’Dwyer’s manner was disrespectful, ungracious, mean and self-regarding. As far as she was concerned she was on television to promote herself, her party and stick the knife into the Prime Minister.
International Women’s Day, the struggles of other women which have paved the way for her to gain her position mean nothing to her. Her sense of her own importance and entitlement was visceral.
Unfortunately she is not alone. Her fellow MP, Sophie Mirabella could not wait to get on television and compare Julia Gillard with Colonel Gaddafi. Why are these young women in the Liberal Party so vicious? They are not interested in discussing policy. All they want to do is score hits by denigrating the Prime Minister.
Never before in the history of women in the Liberal Party have we seen this demeaning and crass behaviour. Something is rotten in the current Liberal Party. The fish rots from the head and the stench can be traced directly back to the current leader. Not under the previous Opposition leadership of Brendan Nelson, or Malcolm Turnbull did we ever get a whiff of this stench.
Ever since Tony Abbott gained the leadership by one vote, he has created a milieu of disrespect and aggression, an attack dog mentality, more at home in male sporting arenas than parliament house.
There is an aura of “anything goes as long as you score a goal or a hit”, an inability to know when a line has been crossed, a determination never to apologise unless backed into a corner.
Is this to be the Liberal Party of the future? A group of junkyard dogs eager for a scrap, consisting mostly of ex-staffers or corporate lawyers trained for the kill?
Only those who copy the Abbott belief that every issue is either black or white, positive or negative, depending on which side is proposing it, will be promoted.
The Kelly O’Dwyers are media trained, schooled in never answering a tough question but very skilled in turning it around in order to attack the enemy. Like their current leader, they believe in nothing but power and their own path to achieving it.
Perhaps that is why despite the Coalition’s recent rise in the polls, the voters of Australia still do not see him as the preferred Prime Minister.
While Julia Gillard was in Washington receiving multiple standing ovations on behalf of her country, Tony Abbott was, just by chance, on the attack in her electorate, telling them that her carbon tax was plunging a dagger into their hearts. Good leadership requires more than overblown rhetoric and an overdose of testosterone.
Have your say. Feedback to indaily@solsticemedia.com.au
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment