{"id":5720,"date":"2013-06-28T16:04:15","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T06:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=5720"},"modified":"2022-05-02T00:30:59","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:30:59","slug":"a-punters-request-to-add-class-to-political-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/a-punters-request-to-add-class-to-political-reporting\/","title":{"rendered":"A punter’s request to add class to political reporting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2010

2010 to 2013 MSM Jumped the Whale Shark<\/p><\/div>\n

By Noely Neate<\/a><\/p>\n

28 June 2013<\/p>\n

Apart from excitement of Origin I have been pretty quiet on Twitter this week.\u00a0 The blood sport that has been our politics has been particularly unedifying and to be perfectly frank, has depressed the hell out of me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean the fanbois type cheering of Rudd vs Gillard camps, or the glee of LNP supporters, I mean the fact that what has occurred is the culmination of 3 years of reality TV style politics that as a student of History, I am pretty sure is going to be looked back on as a shameful period in Australian Political AND Social History.<\/p>\n

When I was young, maybe 11 or 12 there was a bit of a mini drama where I lived in regard to the \u2018wogs taking over all the fruit & veg stores\u2019, now, I went to a school with quite a few Italians, Greeks, Yugoslavs etc., and did not quite \u2018get\u2019 what the big deal was.\u00a0 I came home one afternoon and directly hit up the fount of all knowledge, my grandad.\u00a0\u00a0 Needless to say, having been in World War II, working on the Railways most of his life and being like a lot of his generation, maybe not well educated, but well read, a very interesting conversation ensured.\u00a0 Basically he instructed me on the shameful period of Australian society & politics called the \u201cWhite Australia Policy\u201d and it\u2019s lingering affects, as a ‘modern’ kid I was horrified.\u00a0 I found it truly hard to believe that Australians supported & thought that was a good idea.\u00a0 I arrogantly stated, \u201cthank god we are smarter than that now\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reflecting back on that conversation, nearly 3 decades ago now, looking at what has happened during the 43rd Australian Parliament all I can surmise is that we as a nation have learned nothing from our history.\u00a0 In fact have a lot to be ashamed of.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if the Gillard overturning Rudd came as a surprise to the Journo\u2019s and they could not get past being filthy about missing out on that?\u00a0 Whatever it was, from dot it was inferred that something shocking had happened to this nation, we lost our elected Prime Minister, this theme continued verbatim.\u00a0 Seriously? Anyone who had been a journo for 5 minutes could tell you how many leaders have lost a party room ballot in the past 20 years alone?\u00a0 It is utter rot and was never the big deal it was made out to be.\u00a0 So I can only assume it was because they were caught on the hop & shock of all shocks, it was a woman.\u00a0 I won\u2019t even go into the way Ms Gillard has been treated since becoming our first female Prime Minister.\u00a0 Many good articles, and by good, I don\u2019t mean News Limited Deathstar articles, look at the shocking treatment that this PM has received.\u00a0 This tone that was set very early in the day, has \u2018allowed\u2019 the likes of Mr Abbott and others\u00a0 to somehow pour personal insult on this woman and for it to be acceptable public discourse?\u00a0 How do you think that Historians will view that in 20 years?\u00a0 What will our daughters & granddaughters think of that?<\/p>\n

To the horror of the media Mr Abbott didn\u2019t win the election.\u00a0 Quite frankly that was not in the accepted game plan.\u00a0 Worse, it was a \u201cHung Parliament\u201d AND the nasty red-headed upstart proved to be a better negotiator than the anointed heir apparent.\u00a0 I highlighted the word \u201cHung Parliament\u201d as the use of this term has been used by Mr Abbott & the media consistently to infer a sense of disarray, instability etc. in our Government.\u00a0\u00a0 If you have not viewed the below I suggest you do, a lot of commonsense in regard to the “denigration of the Parliament”!<\/p>\n