Our Name is on the Nose
The name of this country is beginning to stink throughout the world. Week after week Tony Abbott’s behaviour shows we have elected a Prime Minister who is discourteous, aggressive, and has minimum concern for the universal regard of Australia. The world media has taken an axe to his blunt and callous reply, requesting help for the Rohingya asylum seekers. We were shamed by the past two conservative prime ministers, Abbott and John Howard, since the time Malcolm Fraser showed empathy to Vietnamese refugees following the war in their country. Then Bob Hawke allowed Chinese students a refuge after Tiananmen Square. So this is not political; it is about decency and character in someone claiming to be a statesman. Tony Abbott, in his blustering and cheap reply, is anything but that. He has made himself (and us) look arrogant.
His responses are notorious. They often demean him. His description of the chance of losing office by a vote of his own party, as “a near death experience” seems to expresses a frantic need to cling to a post he does not deserve. He won it by spending time in opposition as “Doctor No”, bullying the then weak government, and making promises he rapidly broke when elected. There are worthier people who would manage the affairs of this country a great deal better than a man who winks at public meetings, and answers an intelligent international request to assist those in need with the caustic words “Nope, Nope, nope”. The gesture accompanying it was an offensive and dismissive retort, one that earned criticism from UK’s Daily Mail, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal—to name just a few of the world’s major outlets.
On television, the man we elected as our Prime Minister, looks even less like a statesman and more like a yob.
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