Trying to find a consistent pattern to the Liberals has been difficult over the years, but I’d have to say that Dutton has raised it to a whole new level.
Let’s take their position on the repeal of 18C. Georgie Brandis asserted that people had a right to be bigots and the general position of the Coalition was that if anyone got offended by anything then that was the price of free speech in a robust democracy and we should all stop being snowflakes and just accept that people could say whatever and, as long as you weren’t saying that Andrew Bolt or Sam Newman was racist then you were allowed to say whatever you liked.
Ok, they didn’t get around to repealing 18C but the position has pretty much remained the same. Political correctness has gone mad and we’ve got to stop all these woke people from policing everything we do and say…
However when some protesters started chanting some anti-semitic things and generally being offensive, Peter Dutton suggested that they should have their visas cancelled and be deported.
Don’t get me wrong here: I’m part of those politically correct woke folk who think that people are responsible for what they say. I just find it strange that a person can go from dismissing that to deportation rather than education and/or fines for offensive racist behaviour.
Still consistency has never been Dutton’s strong point. We’re very tough on borders unless it involves au pairs or Liberal Party donors who may have had a colourful past where nothing was ever proven.
When it comes to the Voice, Dutton was against inserting race into the Constitution. Although he also said that he would have backed inserting race into the Constitution if it had just involved recognition and not the Voice. So it’s ok to have race there so long as it’s only an acknowledgment that First Nations people existed here before us, but it’s not ok if it says that we have to listen to what they say… unless they’re Jacinta or Warren in which case we should listen to everything they say.
Of course, we were told that this was Albanese’s Voice and that it was his referendum and that it was a Canberra Voice and whole lot of other things that were wrong with it. We were told that it would be a terrible thing because it was causing division and that it was all Albo that was causing that division and that he wasn’t giving us the detail and that if only he’d done this or that then Dutton and friends could have supported it because they’re not racists no matter how many apologies they walk out on or how many times they tell us that the solution to closing the gap is to send in the army.
So if – as looks likely – it’s defeated, then I’m sure we’ll hear from Mr Dutton that it was because of Labor and that Albanese should step down because…
Because the Voice was defeated?
But wasn’t the Voice a bad thing?
And if it’s Albanese’s fault then shouldn’t all those people who voted against it be giving him three cheers?
Or was Dutton’s stance against the Voice just a cheap attempt to gain a win against Labor by taking the low hanging fruit of ensuring that a Constitutional Referendum is defeated?
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