It’s been a while since we announced a nomination for un-Australian of the year but there’s been no more worthy recipient than Wilson Tuckey.
Dr Nelson was… forced to defend Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey, who walked out of Parliament before today’s apology to indigenous Australians.
The West Australian MP was in the house for the opening prayer, but left the chamber when Mr Rudd rose to his feet to deliver the apology.
A number of other coalition MPs were absent from the chamber or late arriving.
Mr Tuckey had earlier suggested saying sorry would do nothing for solving indigenous problems.
On what constituents would think of Mr Tuckey’s behaviour, Dr Nelson said: “Every member of the Parliament, whatever side of the house that he or she is from, is ultimately answerable to the people of Australia.”
(source)
We’ve all heard the favoured insult — un-Australian — of politicians who wish to strike out at values not aligned with their own, but now there’s a new un word that we in Melbourne can hurl around with gay abandon: un-Melburnian.
This latest bastardisation of the language comes courtesy of Melbourne Lord Mayor John So (who is definitely not John Surname’s bro.) He has branded a public art vandal un-Melburnian for taking a sledgehammer to the Sandridge Bridge. But as with the concept of un-Australian, to truly understand what is un something we must first know what it is to be that something in the first place. So, dear readers, help me to work out what somebody must be lacking to be accurately labeled as un-Melburnian.
A taste for real coffee? A sense of smug satisfaction at being better than Sydney? A love of “unique laneways”?
“It is more likely that those of a conservative disposition will have a greater quotient of inherent, and I think healthy, scepticism… We get attacked for this, but scepticism is one of the all-time great Australian attributes. It is one of the things Australians are famous for.”
Not only are those on the “left” (or “progressives”) gullible and guilty of groupthink, they are un-Australian too. Well, so says Liberal Senator Nick Minchin. Apparently that’s why people are swallowing this climate change thing hook, line and sinker: they’re not sceptical enough.
If only us “lefties” would be as sceptical of others’ opinions as those great Australians Andrew Bolt and Timmeh Blair. They would never accept anything other people say at face value and incorporate it into their belief system unthinkingly. Oh… hang on.
grodscorp@grods.com
