There’s a very strange narrative in our right-wing politicians (particularly the Liberal Party), where they’ve attempted to establish themselves as an opposition to Australia’s lofty “elites”. To some people (me included), this might seem a little perplexing.
Malcolm Turnbull’s use of the word, in particular, is quite confusing. You’d think elite would refer to wealthy people of power in the upper echelons of society would fit the bill of an elite quite well, but apparently being a millionaire prime minister who went to Oxford doesn’t qualify you.
To Turnbull, the elites are the media, which, in some vague way, is an umbrella I fall under. The reason I’m telling you this is to provide a contrast: there are two blown lightbulbs in my apartment I haven’t replaced in weeks because I’ve had to prioritise some bills – Turnbull donated $1.75 million of his own money to the Liberal Party during the 2016 election.
The figure came out tonight in an appearance on ABC’s ‘7.30’ after he faced heavy criticism from Bill Shorten for refusing to disclose the figure. Turnbull said he had not done so up until this point because he believed people didn’t really care:
“I think Australians are more interested in what I am doing with their money than what I am doing with my own.”
He also said that the action was not uncharacteristic and that, thanks to their good fortunes, he and Lucy had always been generous to causes that they care about.
He also seemed to want Bill to stop being mean to him, saying “Bill Shorten wants to go after me all the time and he says I’m Mr Harbourside Mansion.”
Can confirm, you do live in a harbourside mansion. You can watch the clip right here:
‘I contributed $1.75m.’ Malcolm Turnbull reveals how much he donated to the Liberal Party this financial year. #abc730 #auspol pic.twitter.com/XDfdevtZgu
— abc730 (@abc730) February 1, 2017
In summary:
@abc730 @Qldaah and to think the bastard only slipped that homeless bloke a fiver
— Lauda Finem (@Laudafinem) February 1, 2017
Source and photo: ABC.
