Larvatus Prodeo

The Coalition’s apparent belief that everything that they read in the (Australian) newspaper must be true has got them into all sorts of trouble this week. The bizarre spectacle of a gaggle of Liberal Senators piling on Treasury Secretary Ken Henry in Senate Estimates was quite extraordinary… and all this to score what would have been quite a minor debating point, if there’d been any veracity to the story in the first place. It was quite clear in fact that it was wrong, or w r o n g ! if you prefer, before the inquisition even began, but that didn’t stop Eric Abetz and Helen Coonan from reviving some courtroom tricks. In fact, the spectacle of George Brandis in full flight – declaiming as though the Treasury Secretary were some sort of a hostile witness in a criminal trial – was really quite the thing to behold.

Henry’s testimony led to a most unedifying spectacle where Malcolm Turnbull failed pathetically to dig himself out of his hole on the 7 30 Report. It was – quite seriously – one of the most appalling interviews I’ve seen a political leader give.

Michelle Grattan claims, in a column that – among other things – recites some of Turnbull’s own talking points, that the opposition leader suffers from “periodic bad judgement”. I’d like to ask – quite seriously – if someone can instance for me an example of Malcolm Turnbull exercising good judgement. When are the media going to realise that Turnbull’s not the Messiah, just another arrogant barrister with an inflated ego?

Update: If anyone was wondering about Dennis Shanahan’s “we were right!” stuff in today’s Australian, Bernard Keane puts it to the test and gives it the epic fail.