Someday, in the not-too-distant future, a bright-eyed journalism student is going to sit down and pen an essay titled ‘Liberals vs The Media: the Great War of 2015‘.
First, Tony Abbott banned his party from appearing on Q&A until the ABC changed its programming (a debacle that’s seeming more and more like a bad dream). Then, Peter Dutton accused the ABC and Fairfax of waging a jihad against the government, saying that “regardless of what Tony Abbott says, Fairfax will say it is bad.”
And now, we have Liberal senator Eric Abetz attacking the media for supposedly mocking him and his Christian conservative brethren – particularly old mate Tones.
“Journalists will need to explain why they do this, but it is very clear that if somebody swears their oath on the Koran, this is a wonderful expression of diversity and to be encouraged, whereas if you swear your oath on the Bible then you’re an old fart and not to be taken seriously,” he said to The Australian. “Well, excuse me, what’s the difference? There is special negative-sentiment override for those that profess the Christian faith.”
While mocking anybody for their religion is A Bad Thing That Should Not Be Done (and indeed, is largely the basis of the soon-to-be-strengthened hate speech laws), the difference, we suppose, is that an Australian politician swearing their oath on the Koran IS a wonderful expression of diversity, and that a small but loud number of politicians who swore their oath on the Bible (the Corey Bernardis of this world) hold conservative views out of touch with the Australian public.
But:
Senator Abetz despaired: “I’ve been referred to as from the religious Right a number of times in the media and when I’ve thrown out the challenge, when are you going to report on the godless Left? The answer is never.”
“I think the groupthink of the media gallery has got worse as the years have gone by, and the concept of a diverse range of opinions or interpretations is now lacking,” he said, possibly forgetting that some of the biggest voices in Australian media belong to the dastardly trio that is Ray Hadley, Alan Jones, and Andrew Bolt.
It’s the push for marriage equality, and the government’s opposition of it, that seems to particularly grind his gears. We quote The Australian here because quite frankly, there’s no better way to say it: “Senator Abetz said he did not subscribe to the view that conservative Christian values were unpopular with the public. He said they were unpopular with the media, which was unrepresentative of the Australian people.”
And we’ll now bring your attention now to the 2011 poll that says 62% of Australians support marriage quality, and the Liberal outrage when Tony Abbott “branch-stacked” the party room vote on it by inviting the Nationals, and leave it at that.
Picture: Graham Denholm via Getty Images.
