Why It’s A Mistake To Suggest That Peter Dutton Is Racist!
Well, of course, the main reason that it’s a mistake is that Zali Steggall suggested that Peter Dutton was saying racist things and Dutton has, apparently, been seeking legal advice over this. She also said that he tried to bully and intimidate people but it appears that he didn’t find that defamatory.
Whatever comes from Mr Dutton’s conversation with a lawyer the fact remains that it’s the sort of thing that makes people a bit wary about saying things that could lead to the sort of problems that those who said mean things about Ben Roberts-Smith, Bruce Lehrmann and Linda Reynolds had to face. In some cases, this was nearly as bad for the defendant as the litigant. I mean, Linda Reynolds history of pursuing those who say bad things about her makes me think twice before I even mention her for fear that anything less than adulation may have her using her speed dial to see if even suggesting that she did something wrong at some point in her life could be grounds for a court case… not that Linda has ever behaved in any way that is not exemplary, as I’m sure you all know!
Anyway, Peter Dutton was one of those Liberals who thought that 18C was an unnecessary impediment to free speech. The argument from many of those trying to overturn it was that people should be free to say what they liked and if people were offended then that was just bad luck and they shouldn’t be so sensitive. If I can paraphrase that great intellectual, Andrew Bolt, it’s fine to say things about certain people and to suggest that you can’t is just woke nonsense, however calling someone a racist for merely echoing some of the ideas found in the Ku Klux Klan’s manifesto is just going too far and people should be protected against that sort of thing because it’s only those lazy, unwashed, stupid lefty types who resort to name-calling when they don’t have a better argument.
So if Peter Dutton decides to take the matter further, Zali Steggall will be left with two options: a grovelling apology or defending herself by attempting a truth defence. Now I’m no lawyer so I don’t know what chances a truth defence would have in this particular case. For starters, it would depend on how one defined what sorts of things were racist.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a racist as:
someone who believes that their race makes them better, more intelligent, more moral, etc. than people of other races and who does or says unfair or harmful things as a result.
If one were to use this definition then it would be pretty hard to prove that any member of the current federal Liberal Party was racist, because it seems that most of them believe that it’s being a member of the Coalition that makes them “better, more intelligent, more moral, etc.” and that this is what gives them the right to do things like hand in nominations for council elections after the closing date because normal rules don’t apply to them. (Apparently they’ve dropped their legal action against the NSWEC… possibly on the grounds that it may have made it seem like they thought that deadlines were only for people handing in things to Centrelink.)
So, in the case of Peter Dutton, it would be hard to prove that – for example – he walked out of the Apology because of a racist attitude and not because of something else… for example, a weak bladder. Similarly when he referred to people in Melbourne fearing to go out because of “African gangs”, he wasn’t being racist, he was just describing the feelings of the people of that fair city and how they had been fine with caucasian gangs but African gangs were scarier for reasons that weren’t racist in any way. Similarly, when he said that it was a mistake that Fraser brought Lebanese migrants here, he wasn’t saying that for any reason apart from the fact that he didn’t like number of Lebanese dishes that were appearing on menus and he had nothing against the migrants personally. Similarly, jokes about water lapping at the door of Pacific Islanders was all about their lateness and in no way racist. Similarly, his determination to send that family from Biloela back wasn’t because they were Sri Lankan, it was just because they weren’t au pairs. Similarly when Mr Dutton wanted to fast track white South African farmers it was because they were under threat and not because he was prioritising threats to white people over people who were in similar danger. There was a good reason for the difference, I’m sure, even I don’t remember what it was…
No, it would definitely be a mistake to call Peter Dutton racist because things like that can be hurtful and, even if the Liberals didn’t end up repealing 18C, we shouldn’t offend other people unless they don’t have access to legal advice.
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Return to home pagePeter Duckwit-Futton is and probably always was, racist, a natural posture in Queensland where culture was shaped by slaving blackbirding, by excesses in indigenous slaughter and oppression, by attitude to taming the land, world, universe, any others. Bums are there to be kicked, persons are there to be reduced, sniffed out and humiliated. Pacific islands can sink while preferred folk might get in here, e g., au pair types with suitable friends. A brainless fixation of pigment afflicts Dutton, apparently, but who would know? (Freud?) The imperialist “western” culture and traditions got “us” here to Australia, the post 1788 types, and that historical study featured murder, enterprise, theft, discovery, occupation, activity, humiliation, organisation, slavery, indoctrination, exploitation and material advances. The beverages are better under post imperial technology, as are the big things, e g., debts, bombs, plagues, mansions. Goodo. As for Dutton and his colleagues, you could count the good ones on one amputated finger.
Some 138 aspiring NSW local councillors failed to get their nomination papers lodged with the Electoral Commission on time.
As noted by Rossleigh they have now withdrawn their legal action against the NSW Electoral Commissioner who, whilst having a discretion to extend the lodgement date, requires an exceptional circumstance to exercise this discretion. The Liberal party said it was a stuff up (theirs) which surprisingly didn’t qualify as an exceptional circumstance.
Fancy that ! They will have to change the law should they ever get back into office. In the meantime this debacle may well feature in a future Utopia episode.
And this tactic is not even original but fabrications of the far right white Christian nationalists in the GOP vs. critics, including of late a Democrat donor; latter is damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Outcome, much negativity and divisive noise, believed by most rusted ons and many low info persuadables….
The bloke with a bald head and a groper mouth is definitely not a racist,bigot or all round arsehole, he’s just a nasty piece of work with a hugely overblown view of himself.Does anyone remember how the Liar Morrison outsmarted him with a rails run?As for those fucking idiots that sit behind him,they will soon work out that it was a fatal mistake to make him leader,unless they wish to become the junior party to the Nationals,who incidentally are led by another jaw dropping moron.As the election looms closer,I fully expect a rush of retirements,to rob the punters of their fully justified revenge.Might be another factor in keeping Labor in a minority government.
As a bit of light comedy relief, that grinning graduate of the IPA,little Timmy Wilson, fancies himself on taking his old seat back from Zoe Daniel.Good luck with that,stupid.
My God, calling Dutton a racist is the very LEAST one can say about him! Dutton is, beyond any doubt, a truly hateful, vindictive and callously inhumane sociopath without ONE IOTA of compassion, empathy or understanding for ANYONE but the vile political psychopath who stares back at him from the mirror every morning and the like-minded alpha male misogynists and xenophobic white supremacists that take up EVERY seat in the LNP!
Dutton just doesn’t get it! The old saying: “when the cap fits – wear it!” is 100% appropriate when you describe people as heartless and dangerously undemocratic as Dutton and his sociopathic predecessors: Abbott and Howard. History has PROVEN that Dutton – and so many other vile members of the LNP – are, indeed, blatant racists, callously inhumane miscreants, totally self-serving political sociopaths, rusted-on condescending misogynists and internationally-condemned pathological liars. There’s absolutely NOTHING good one can find to say about any of them – even the vindictive women in the LNP are about as toxic as a uranium enema!
It comes as NO SURPRISE that the ex-LNP female MP, Julie Bishop, stated that the bullying male thugs in the cabinet of the LNP – especially autocratic, undemocratic and misogynistic tyrants like Morrison, Abbott, Abetz, Dutton et al, – are unashamedly proud to call themselves “swinging dicks” which exposes their appalling lack of discernment, worrying level of entitlement, disgraceful thuggish and anti-social behaviour, cowardly bullying condescension for women and callous disregard towards the poorest, most vulnerable people in our society. These vile traits are not transient – they are historical, rusted-on and, indeed, a PERMANENT and very worrying facet of the LNP’s “toxic masculinity”. The LNP have an entrenched level of manipulative deviousness; have a widespread notoriety as being abusive and completely devoid of empathy or compassion towards anyone they see as weak or vulnerable and, astonishingly, seem to be proud of their controlling political persona, inherent cruelty and total lack of character. The fact that the Hillsong Cultists and religious zealots that line the cabinet of the LNP attempt to conceal all these vile traits behind a fake layer of nauseating bible-thumping hypocrisy, makes them even more offensive!
The old adage: “I wouldn’t p*ss on you if you were on fire!” – in some way – aptly describes the mean-spirited, self-serving arrogance and rising inhumanity of these right-wing “swinging dicks” in the LNP, but reality has shown that the heartless members of the LNP cabinet (past and present) are more likely to add a few litres of kerosene and a few lit matches on top of the burning victim just to ensure that the fire doesn’t go out! Sadly, the staggering level of inherent misogyny, cruelty and appalling elitism that permeates every corner of the LNP gets worse and more pronounced as the LNP try to prove to their racist, misogynistic and hateful Murdoch-manipulated supporters just how “tough” they are by becoming MORE toxic and inhumane as the born-to-rule psychopaths in the LNP become MORE desperate to crawl across the electoral line on the basis of hate, misogyny, racial vilification and intolerance!
Yes Rossleigh, nailed it. Though I wouldn’t have so many doubts about cause and effect.
I see Dutts and all his flunkey LNP on the opposition benches as abject cowards. They and their party as a whole haven’t got the courage to enunciate policy, nor to offer anything positive to the parliamentary process. In the alternative they are terrified about losing their sinecure, so they just bluster on pretending importance, when on all occasions they resort to targeting their bluster at the most weakened in society. Pathetic wailing sooks.
Terence,
“…in a future Utopia episode.” Here’s hoping it’s an alternate reality episode called “Clowntopia” or maybe “Cretintopia”.
Kathryn,
Your comment nailed it ………….. as usual.
Keep them coming please
On the Merdeochoisation of the ABC: Anyone else see the possibility of yet another follower of Rupertism getting the job:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-boss-david-anderson-to-depart-20240822-p5k4g9.html
We all know exactly who and what Deadeyes Dutton is! https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/09/25/peter-dutton-believes-his-own-untruths/
To be honest, i dont know if Dutton is a rascist., but he knows what he is doing is rascist. He is appealing to the absolute bottom dwelling instincts. Like his mentor, he has no problem creating kaos and menace if it gets him a vote. Like his mentor, he has no intention of even trying to make the world a better place…. no votes in that for him.
The danger is in normalising the abhorrent . Making the very worst in humans possible.
F#*k off Dutton, we don’t need you !!
Dutton needed to take the spotlight off his nuclear brainfart as he hadn’t thought it through and wasn’t able to answer the fundamental and basic questions of what he considered to be a viable energy policy. So he did what the advertisement does, he looked elsewhere : “did somebody mention KFC ? “
But in his case it was “look over there at Palestinian visas”.
The guy is a total fraud !
Terence,
It doesn’t help Der Spud much. I believe Angus said earlier this week that they have a nookalear brainfart, I mean policy, but isn’t going to tell anyone what it’s going to cost let alone what the policy is. Meaning that they have stuff all but just can’t resist continually making nonsensical announcements.
No doubt about it. The hard conservatives are seem defined in their lack of patience and in reactivity.
The male sections of parliament, in particular, seem unable to cope with dissent (also remember Payman and the ALP) and people questioning unexplained policy.’
“His majesty the child” throws a whammy when he or she (Reynolds), like tots who can’t get their own way, hurl themselves to the floor arms and legs flailing
“Don’t do as I do, do as I say” is the level government has sunk to, and the whole creaking edifice of democracy gets shakier the closer we get to a “command” system, as history shows with the downfall of the Soviets some time back.
Lazy denialism, command and bullying do not substitute for clear critical thinking and work on REAL problems and solutions. Part of the resulting problem for Dutton may be in antagonising the Indies into resistance,
On the whole, they have more brains than the rigid conservatives and Dutton may regret his thuggishness if they really turn on him,
.They were NOT happy with the reaction to Steggall’s thought crime in Parli, by the look of them.
The packing room prize is awarded to Kathryn for his/her/their dazzling five-hundred-and-four-word portrait of Duckwit-Futton aka Lord Voldemort and so on. Few entries could match the spontaneity and deftness of his/her/their dense, deliciously rambling, yet ultimately perfect take-down of one of Australia’s greatest political slime-bags.
I have never liked him, when oh please when, is he going to die. He has no place in Parliament, so he might as well give it up. No one is going to listen to him anyway. The problem is he is always going to cause dissention in whatever party might take him in!! and forgod’s sake if he becomes the ‘shadow deputy Prime minister. Oh my god, I think I might kill myself.