Just over a month into his tenure as the ABC’s very own John Oliver, Charlie Pickering and his Wednesday night current affairs takedown, ‘The Weekly’, is arguably still gaining its footing among Australian viewers. But only a short way into the show, a wobbly start is only fair enough.
Pickering’s grilling of internet piracy in Australia, anti-vaxxers and Brisbane’s bid for the 2028 Olympics were all recent highlights of ‘The Weekly’; last night, however, Pickering straight up hit the ball out of the park with his take on Cory Bernardi and halal certification – one of Australia’s most uniquely difficult anti-movements to swallow: having Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie as a jaded, unofficial cheerleader obviously adds insult to injury.
Embroiled in the issue of halal certification in Australia is Senator Cory Bernardi, who summed up his own movement as “racket” on his blog in March. “There is a shroud of secrecy that clouds this entire matter and allows all sorts of allegations and insinuations to be made,” Bernardi wrote on his blog.
And look, mate – don’t bother arguing with young Cory. This very pop up on Bernardi’s website explicitly confirms what kind of sense strictly lives there.
Subtle.
“Senator Bernardi wants to use a senate inquiry the way most people use google,” Pickering says, pointing out the sheer cost of a senate inquiry, and inevitable waste of resources such an exercise would purge.
Doing six months’ worth of Senate inquiry work in under six days, ‘The Weekly’ respectfully tears Bernardi and the anti-halal movement to shreds. Watch below.
