Malcolm Turnbull’s rote media persona is almost enough to make you question why he undergoes interviews at all, and we’ve come to learn exactly what kind of pseudo-answers we’re going to get.
A reliance on practiced soundbites is apparent in his speech – deflections to Labor are rife in many of the contexts he ever finds himself speaking in – but you may have also noticed a similar set of catchphrases surrounding Australia’s border security, and more recently, our future relations with an America under Donald Trump.
Surprisingly, watching those deflections coalesce on tonight’s 7.30 was the most striking element of the program.
Speaking to the inimitable Leigh Sales, Turnbull discussed the out-of-thin-air deal to send asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island to the United States.
When pressed on the very real risk of Trump reneging on the deal due to his proposed plan to ban Muslim immigration to the US, Turnbull’s repeated deflection suggested there’s no goddamn Plan B.
“I am confident that the arrangements that we’ve set in place will continue,” Turnbull said, in a holistically worrying fashion.
#MalcolmTurnbull on whether #DonaldTrump could stop #Australia‘s #refugee deal with the #US. #auspol #abc730https://t.co/fay07GEkYG
— abc730 (@abc730) November 14, 2016
As we covered earlier today, the government doesn’t really know how Trump is liable to impact the deal. That being said, Turnbull’s comments suggest a difference in opinion to that of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who told Hack that discussions with a third nation are still in the works.
For our sake – scratch that, for the sake of everyone currently in Australian offshore detention – we hope Trump doesn’t flip over this one. And right now, that seems like something huge to hope for.
Source and photo: 7.30 / Twitter.
