Comment

Fearing the zealot behind the facade

hen the young and ambitious Richard Nixon was accused of accepting bribes, he wheeled Volume 27 #18 October 9, 2012 out a trump card: a dog named Checkers, which he said was just another gift from a constituent. Surely he wasnt expected to return Checkers? Cut to adorWoolworths owner of Dan Murphys is a company that is used able puppy gambolling with to getting what it wants, as Mullumbimby discovered when the family. Problem solved. supermarket giant insisted on jumping the development queue Margie Abbott would not and built in Station Street before sewer connection was available. appreciate the comparison, This time, the liquor giant was so confident of securing its Byron licence that it signed a 25-year lease with the owner of the but even she must realise her smooch storm over her husband Jonson Street premises before approval. last week runs a real risk of turnWhile the state government is ideologically, commercially ing equally hammy, but perhaps and politically aligned with developers, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) which rejected Dan Murphys is not quite as effective. The obvious reaction is the thankfully a genuinely independent body. classic one: Methinks the lady Its chairperson, Chris Sidoti, has been Australian Human Rights doth protest too much. Commissioner (19952000), Australian Law Reform Commissioner Surely if Tony Abbott really (19921995) and Foundation Director of the Australian Human is the perfect son, the nonpaRights and Equal Opportunity Commission (19871992). reil husband, the peerless father Can the the NSW planning departments Joint Regional that she makes out, then there Planning Panel boast such quality of independence? is no need to labour the point; As some may know, Woolworths also makes significant profit it should be obvious. from poker-machine addicts. But a new study by activist group But even if we accept her view, GetUp! says it targets socially disadvantaged areas (see www. and dismiss a daughters chargetup.org.au/profiting-from-poverty). acterisation of her daddy as a Farmers squeezed by a tightening supermarket duopoly and lame, gay, churchy loser as no alarming suicide rates in the bush are rarely reported in the more than affectionate badinational press; its newspages are instead filled with colourful full- nage, it misses the point. The problem in the polls is not about page ads by Coles and Woolies undercutting each other. how Tony Abbott is seen by his With retail, perpetuating the illusion that cheap is always best immediate family. It is based on only serves the retailer and consumer, not the producer. a well-founded apprehension of Competition, while a bedrock of western prosperity, has just what policies he might bring diabolical consequences if it isnt regulated or examined. One could well expect a renewed liquor licence application from to the Lodge were he to become prime minister, and here the Dan Murphys in due course, if not a supreme court challenge. man has form. With unlimited legal funds available, why wouldnt they? Indeed, the form extends to his Hans Lovejoy, editor own domestic life, cosy as it may be. Asked what advice he would give his daughters, Abbott once replied that he would tell them that their virginity was the most Established 1986 precious gift they could give to their husbands and of course General Manager Simon Haslam it was assumed that they were Editor Hans Lovejoy all destined for the apotheosis of Photographer Jeff Dawson Nicholas Shand a stable, Christian, heterosexual Print Advertising Manager Angela Cornell 19481996 marriage. But this advice is not Production Manager Ziggi Browning Founding Editor only old-fashioned; it bespeaks 2012 Echo Publications Pty Ltd ABN 86 004 000 239 a serious double standard. Mullumbimby: Village Way, Stuart St. Ph 02 6684 1777 Fax 02 6684 1719 It is not known whether MarByron Bay: Unit 5, 6 Tasman Way, Arts & Industry Estate. Ph 6685 5222 gie presented Tony with this prePrinter: Horton Media Australia Ltd cious gift, but we can be damn Reg. by Aust. Post Pub. No. NBF9237. sure that if she did, Tony did not

Murphys law foiled

reciprocate. He has made no secret of his lust-driven youth, and expressed neither shame nor regret for it. Apparently its quite okay for blokes to shag around, but sheilas need to keep themselves for the bridal bed. And if they dont, theyre bad girls sluts. Abbotts advice recalls the old division of all women into either wives or whores, and in the case of the latter they deserve what they get. Perhaps this is his

word of God Titus 2:5). And in spite of his affection for his Lesbian sister, Abbott also confesses to feeling a bit threatened by homosexuality except when it manifests itself in the form of his close friend and valuable contact Alan Jones. These are not the typical attitudes of the caring, sharing, sensitive newage guy Margie seeks to portray. But according to what Liberal backbencher Kelly ODwyer has christened Labors Handbag Hit

The problem in the polls is based on a well-founded apprehension of just what policies Abbott might bring to the Lodge. by Mungo MacCallum
private justification for treating the unmarried indeed, living in sin Julia Gillard with such ferocity. Abbotts attitude to women obviously owes a great deal to his Catholic upbringing and he has presumably outgrown the manic chauvinism of his student days although his obsession with his body and his love of strenuous physical activity would suggest that he still harbours a certain nostalgia for his macho past. His three great mentors Father Emmett Costello, Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria and now Cardinal George Pell have all held distinctly Pauline views about what they regard as the second sex (I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man. She must be silent 1 Tim 2:12. Women should remain silent in churches. They are not allowed to speak but must be in submission as the law says 1 Cor 13:34. to be self-contained and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that no-one will malign the

The Byron Shire Echo

Squad specifically attorneygeneral Nicola Roxon, health minister Tanya Plibersek, backbencher Deb ONeill, acting speaker Anna Burke and of course Gillard herself Abbotts troubles with women stem at least as much from his actual record as from his attitudes and these can be summed up in his approach to the constantly vexing question of abortion. Abbott has said that he thinks there are far too many abortions in Australia and he would like to see the numbers drop. And there is no doubt that he feels passionately about the issue. He once told parliament: Mr Speaker, we have a bizarre double standard in this country when someone who kills a pregnant womans baby is guilty of murder but a woman who aborts an unborn baby is simply exercising choice. This was during a debate on the so-called morning after pill RU486 which Abbott, as health minister, had banned in Australia in spite of it having been cleared See Mungo live at by all relevant authorities and listed by the World Health Organisation as an essential medicine. www.echonetdaily.net.au

There was a political and public outcry against the decision, but Abbott fought a bitter rearguard and retrograde action before being forced to back down. He still regrets this failure, but according to David Marr in his recent Quarterly Essay Political Animal: the making of Tony Abbott he has learned that there are times when he has to finesse his principles. I am saying that you have to be conscious of the fact that no matter how right your principles are, if they dont resonate with the general public and you are living in a democratic polity, youve got a problem, he told Marr. Acting on his conservative Catholic convictions, Abbott could get away with denying his party room a conscience vote on gay marriage, and he will not countenance voluntary euthanasia in any form, but he realises that there is no point in trying to roll back abortion rights at least, not at the moment. But that does not mean that he would not like to, and given that his personal confessor Cardinal Pell will not let him forget the issue, if an opportunity comes up he is unlikely to let it slip. Abbott himself, and now his family, have been desperate to portray themselves as ordinary, knockabout Australians who just want to make us relaxed and comfortable, to free us from the uncertainties of minority government. But many voters, and particularly many women, sense that behind the speedos, the lycra and the hard hats there is another Abbott, a zealot about whom they know little and worry much. And the fact that his wife feels she has to attempt to reassure them is just as likely to confirm their fears as to assuage them. The lady doth protest too much.

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10 October 9, 2012 The Byron Shire Echo <echowebsection=Comment> www.echo.net.au