Australia is heading further and further down a slippery slope. And the danger of an ugly pile-up at the end of it all is exacerbated by the distinctive left-wing camber on this particular rapid descent. On all fronts, as we long feared, the Turnbull government is being side-tracked by the obsessions of the opposition, the media, academia and the inner-city elites. Lacking core principles and philosophies of its own – a ‘narrative’ would have been handy – this supposedly ‘conservative’ Coalition government finds itself easily blindsided and distracted by the moral confusions of the modern Left.
There is no better example of this than the hastily convened, and even more hastily re-convened, Royal Commission into That Bad Thing That Happened In The Northern Territory That The ABC Kindly Alerted Us To But We Have No Idea What It Actually Was.
With no philosophical underpinnings other than a desire to placate the howling outrage of the twitterati, the royal commission, announced with great fanfare, has lurched from looking at disciplinary functions and protocols over the past decade or so to some kind of Black Kids In Juvenile Detention Matter identity politics trial, where the unfortunately named Justice White cannot be trusted to get on with her onerous job without the perfectly named Mr Gooda sitting on her shoulder; an Indigenous Guardian Angel to check she gets all the black bits right.
Whilst it is obvious that proper guidelines, disciplinary rules and administrative leadership within the Territory’s juvenile detention system need a serious overhaul, it is equally obvious that this would have been more effectively dealt with by a low-key approach: a crack team of inspectors and administrators from other states being rapidly despatched to the Territory to implement ‘best practice’ behavioural reforms. Indeed, metaphorically speaking there are, at the end of the day, only two alternatives to the much maligned restraint chair and spit hood. One is padded confinement. The other is popping Joan Baez’s ‘Kumbaya’ onto the PA and hoping for the best. We suspect we know which this commission would recommend.
On the economy, the Coalition may have narrowly won the election but the Left have won the argument. It is now 11 months since Mr Turnbull promised an enraptured media class his famed economic leadership. Again, absent any serious philosophy, we have skidded all over the shop, with the one and only constant being robbing the elderly to pay for the outrageous profligacy of the modern political class. This has been a two-pronged attack, with both the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Morrison budget targeting the lifestyles and savings of self-funded retirees. With the lowering of the official cash rate to 1.5 per cent, the RBA continue to fail to stimulate business (the banks can’t even be bothered passing on the cuts in full) whilst successfully eroding the living standards of those who fended for themselves, played by the rules and voted for governments that (mostly) chose to live within their means. This is a betrayal. The proposed superannuation changes, simultaneously, plunder the savings of retirees whilst the Treasurer prostrates himself at the altar of Labor’s ‘fairness’ fantasy.
Free speech, meanwhile, is nose down in the ditch, its wheels spinning in the air. Political correctness and the ‘appropriate’ way of saying things and thinking things dominates the political scene, with one of the keenest proponents of political correctness being the Prime Minister himself. How refreshing, and important, therefore, that some voices in the media and political landscape – Sonia Kruger and Pauline Hanson spring to mind, but there are others – are prepared to withstand the onslaught of the outraged classes and tackle the thorny question of our future migrant intake. With the disaster that is Europe unfolding daily before our eyes following years of unfettered, unquestioned, politically correct Muslim immigration this is an uncomfortable but critical debate to have. To pour scorn, to vilify and to denounce those brave enough to voice their concerns is nothing short of a betrayal of our enlightened history, of our hard won freedoms, of our tolerant culture and of our forefathers’ unbelievable sacrifices in two world wars.
The list goes on and on. The Coalition haven’t lifted a finger to dismantle the hideous brain-washing of our children via the obscenely named Safe Schools programme, or via related ‘gender’ activities. When school kids under the age of consent are asked to ‘identify’ as being of a certain sexual persuasion, in what way is this anything other than grooming or child abuse?
The government continues to drift further to the left on climate change and ‘renewables’, with a new ETS (aka ‘safeguard’) surreptitiously snuck into play on July 1. Meanwhile, the elderly (again) and poor get hit with spiralling electricity bills, and South Australia – proud home of windmills, solar farms and subsidised submarines – is astonished when the lights suddenly go out.
Slippery slope indeed.
