This has got to be a joke, right? I mean surely Dennis Shanahan is parodying himself?
And it would appear, after a stratospheric rise from 7 to 10 per cent as preferred prime minister in the latest Newspoll, the Liberal leader is on to something.
That’s the man of compassion speaking at the Press Club yesterday. Here’s the whole thing. In the questions after his address, Nelson claimed it was press cynicism that led to scoffing about his sitting down “in the gutter” with a homeless man in Kings Cross. The media, Nelson averred, had better get used to him sitting in the gutter at Kings Cross at 3am.
Why at 3am?
Obviously all this bleh is designed to distance the Libs from Howard’s “economy is everything” stuff. Nick Greiner was quoted last week saying that the Liberals had to “feminise” themselves and run hard on soft social issues (the language is revealing). But obviously, also, it’s designed to give them maximum leverage for more budget horror story narratives. Can this turn to compassion work?
Don’t be so unkind, Kim.
When Dennis writes, he writes the absolute, literal truth.
You should know that by now, you very naughty person.
Why 3am? Well here’s an hypothesis. If a gentleman is in Kings Cross, there are so many opportunities to “run hard on soft social issues”, so many outlets for policy thrusts, one-on-one hands-on interactions, so many ways to display one’s feminine side if one is so inclined. I reckon a bloke could have his hands full and be on message until at least 3am.
THEN he could go and sit and chat with a homeless person, after he’s done the hard yards and put in a very full evening’s effort.
Can there be anything more patently phoney than a member of the old Howard guard standing up and saying, “I am compassionate. I am no longer ruled by the ideology of exploiting the weak and the pursuit of the almighty dollar before all else”?
Talk about the party of “new-found compassion”, as Rudd puts it!
One either has compassion, or they don’t. It is not something that can be pulled out of thin air as a popularity enhancer.
The Liberal and National Parties might be hoping the electorate have short memories of how they ripped into the pay and conditions of workers by proclaiming among the most extreme workplace laws in the western world.
But it will be a forlorn hope, in my opinion: those attacked in the hip pocket (and/or in their workplace conditions) have searing memories that take a long time to forgive and forget.
Yes Rx
Thousands of voters were more put off by one Keating phrase: “the recession we had to have” than by anything else he and PM Hawke did, I think. The hip pocket has a long, long memory.
The media, Nelson averred, had better get used to him sitting in the gutter at Kings Cross at 3am.
There’s a kinda obvious reply to this, rather hard to resist.
I had the same thought as you, Kim: as satire, the Shamster’s piece works beautifully. I suspect it’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but the intention is clearly to (a) promote his new political poster boy, and (b) provide some helpful hints.
Given that Shanahan is clearly tying his colours to Nelson’s mast, does that mean he’ll do the honorable thing and go down with the ship when Turnbull finally fires his torpedoes?
A rise from 7 to 10 percent isn’t much to talk about, and the fact that commentators are making a big deal of it just shows how desparate they are. That being said… I’m personally willing to give Nelson the benefit of the doubt for now… at the very least, even wearing a mask of compassion is better. If compassion is the point on which the opposition will be attacking the Government, then all the better! I think its a great point at which to hold a Government to account.
I wasn’t a big fan of Nelson as a cabinet member, particularly for his HECS reforms… but I will wait and see before passing judgement on his leadership in opposition.
When I used to sit in the gutter in King’s Cross at 3 am in the late 60s early-mid 70s people used to come up to me and ask me if I wanted to buy some acid.
Jokes aside, as others have remarked, this new compassion is so phony its beyond belief. Thousands, hopefully millions of Australians will not forget how the Libs under Howard treated ordinary workers, people on welfare, Aborigines, refugees - the list goes on and on. We are a better people now and we will not forget what Nelson and his mates did in our name and to our horror.Nelson, for the moment the dark heart and the lies are gone. I for one won’t forget why we caled you the Rotweiller.
He still needs the dog whistle though. His talk of ‘values’ and ‘national security’ is deeply Howardist. It is really playing to the people who don’t want ‘them folk’ around. National security? From whom? Even the terrorists can’t be bothered
I have a pretty good gutter-at-3-a.m. story but unfortunately it needs to be told aloud, in order to get the vocal inflections and the timing right… print/screen just don’t cut it somehow.
“Madam, I do but read madness. An your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you must allow *vox*.”
– Twelfth Night
hi j_p_z, do you require explication of the singular locale: Kings Cross?
ibid
op cit
et al
pro tem
Kim, where are you getting this stuff about Greiner asking the Liberal party to feminize itself?
My understanding is that Greiner read this speech: [link]
This certainly contained these sentiments: “But let us move with the centre of the body politic on the softer issues, not insult that centre by denying the relevance of its warm and green concerns. Compassion and concern for the planet are fundamental aspects of the national psyche. We must acknowledge the power of symbolism and emotion.”
But I don’t see any gender politics in those statements. Perhaps you are quoting a misquote or an editorial?
Report in the Financial Review last week, Antonio. I’m going from memory, and the Fin being the Fin, it isn’t online for free. It may have been an interpolation by the journo, but my recollection was it was a quote from Greiner. It was a long article - I think he gave an interview on the speech as well as the speech being reported. Definitely stuff in there attributed to him about politics becoming “feminised” anyway.
Kim and All:
I have no love at all for the Liberal Party [wonder why!!] nor do I have any particular liking for B. Nelson …. but give him his due, he is one of the very few Liberals, since they white-anted John Hewson, who looks remotely like an alternative Prime Minister [and yes, I do exclude J.W.Howard from that very short list - his bum being on the P.M.’s chair for so many years notwithstanding!]. Naturally, the Liberals, unable to abide the thought of actually regaining government, will ditch Nelson - they just can’t help themselves.
Not wishing to add fuel to the fire but …. the 3 a.m. strikes me as a bit unusual - from the little I’ve seen, many homeless people have found somewhere, anywhere, to sleep fairly early in the night. If that had been at 5 a.m., I wouldn’t have blinked an eyelid because just on daybreak is a great time to get out and find all sorts of useful things just laying around.
The guy who was the opposition leader in Victoria after Naphthine - what’s his name — also tried the ‘I’m more compassionate than you are’ ploy against the Bracks government, coming out on the side of the workers in strikes and generally being a bleeding heart all over the place, so shocked was he by the cruel and heartless actions of the Labor govt.
The public weren’t very impressed by this and as you can tell, he left an indelible impression in my mind too (his first name was Robert, it’s starting to come back now….nope).
Doyle, that’s it.
Anyway, it didn’t work. People have certain indelible impressions of political parties which it’s no good trying to play against (so Kim Beazley wasn’t believed when he backed Howard all the way on Tampa)- you just have to accept that reality and move on.
And one of these is that compassion isn’t a Liberal thing.
What with Nelson now sitting in a Kings Cross gutter and Senator Heffernan prowling around the Wall in search of political dirt, the Fed Libs just might as well move their caucus meetings to a back table at the Bourbon and Beefsteak.
“We have a reservation.”
“Name?”
“The Liberal Party of Australia.”
“No tab or cards. Cash only.”
Oh go on Helen, say it, please.
Jokes aside, our friend Horatio has left his “compassion” run a bit late, hasn’t he? And making sure that a photographer and Shamaham just happened to be there……
Interesting point made by Laura Tingle yesterday. Nelson thundered against being attacked for being idealistic. In fact no one has considered him to be idealistic - everyone’s attacked him for being opportunistic. Interesting rhetorical trick.
He’s also very angry for an emo! Maybe it’s the lack of sleep after all those late nights in Kings Cross.
once bitten twice shy at these eateries, eh?
Dolly didn’t pay his bill?
Everyone:
Call me gullible if you like but …. I’m prepared to give Nelson the benefit of the doubt on this one.
After all, the silly bully was out of the parliament, and - thank goodness! - out of the country [even if it was merely to bad-mouth us to the Yanks and to make the mainstram media go all gooey and sentimental].
Maybe we’ll see more of Nelson’s real nature [if that’s what it is] - before his sworn friends fill his back with cutlery as is their custom.
Graham, you may be right. But it soesn’t matter. After that speech, and whacking down Tony Abbot on improving Aboriginal life expectancy, Nick Minchin probably sent out an order for several sets of kitchen knives. Trouble is the viable replacements, Malcolm, Joe Hocfkey, are all too “left.” Unless Andrew Robb’s histrionics over Mr. Tang are a pitch for the leadership., I mean Mr. Charisma himself.
In any case none of it matters - its clear from the carers/pensioners/dentistry debate, the Tang affair and Malcolm’s recent bloopers that Liberal strategy hasn’t changed at all since Howard’s undignified departure . Its still lies, lies, lies.
Paul Burns [20]:
Tough times call for stern measures …. and a revolutionary, epoch-making change in style.
I see no alternative for the Liberal Party, if it is to survive the ditching of Nelson, than to offer the Leadership to …. Bob Katter Jnr.
After reading a few article bemoaning the pay cut suffered by former Ministers, I have realised that the ‘homeless man’ Brendan was talking to was, in fact, a former Government Minister, turfed out of his home after an uncaring Rudd Government removed his Ministerial allowance.