My good friend Alan Moran sent this through.
It doesn’t matter that the tax was ruled out days before last year’s election, or that the Climate Commission was stacked with partisans, or that the package was cobbled together by a clique operating behind closed doors, or that essential features of it were leaked in advance to “reliable” journalists, or that the government dodged parliamentary scrutiny, or that the legislation will be rushed through to redeem Gillard’s faltering “shoe leather” campaign, or that her sales pitch boils down to repetition of shonky terms like “carbon pollution”. It doesn’t matter because the public doesn’t matter.
Fantastic stuff – read the whole thing; it gets better.
How does this defence of free expression gel with today’s attack on the ABC on this very blog six hours ago? Which is it: Sinclair’s Voltairean stand for freedom, or Judith’s jackbooted crushing of dissent?
m0nty
1 Aug 11 at 3:49 pm
The right tone at last.
Barry White
1 Aug 11 at 4:37 pm
m0nty – there is no basis for the government owning a media organisation.
Sinclair Davidson
1 Aug 11 at 8:38 pm
Motnty:
You have backwards. Firing this bunch of knaves of the public payroll is actually respecting freedoms.
Fran Kelly or fatty Jones shouldn’t be peddling any position on the public airwaves.
You don’t understand what it is you’re even advocating.
JC
1 Aug 11 at 8:48 pm
Monty, wtf does government ownership of a tv network have to do with freedom?
Fleeced
1 Aug 11 at 8:51 pm
Python is afraid that if we close down that leftwing infested rat hole (the ABC) Da Murdoch will take over his mind and brainwash into a blabbering right winger.
Basically he’s scared, Fleeced… he’s scared of Da Murdoch.
JC
1 Aug 11 at 8:57 pm
Which involves collecting taxes backed by the power of a gun to fund politicised reportage?
W.T.F. monty?
.
1 Aug 11 at 9:06 pm
I think this line of argument is fundamentally pretty daft. These publications have print runs in the hundreds of thousands. Alan Moran’s own prose has graced many a kitchen table by virtue of their wide distributions.
The forces of censorship arrayed against our doughty conservative warriors are nothing if not terribly ineffective.
PSC
1 Aug 11 at 9:10 pm
These forces… like Tubbsie Milne, Uncle Bob, Crazy Conroy and Duck Bum.. You mean these forces trying to stop Da Murdoch effecting regime change.
(Please hurry)
JC
1 Aug 11 at 9:13 pm
Brilliant column by Moran.
C.L.
1 Aug 11 at 9:23 pm
CL – Alan’s not the author AFAIK – he emailed it to me.
Sinclair Davidson
1 Aug 11 at 9:30 pm