Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne on Sunday said the federal government was unravelling like Hitler’s government in the movie Downfall.
…
“These immature and offensive comments have no place in Australian political debate,” Mr Dreyfus told journalists on Sunday.“There is no place in Australian political debate for a comparison of any Australian government with Hitler’s Third Reich.
“These comments are deeply hurtful to holocaust survivors, they are deeply hurtful to any right thinking Australian.”
Mr Dreyfus said his own comments last year comparing Mr Abbott’s campaign on the carbon tax to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was different.

What a bad start to a ministerial career.
My part in her downfall.
End Days indeed.
Free Advice
3 Feb 13 at 6:25 pm
Is there no end to the stupidity and lack of self-awareness in these people?
tbh
3 Feb 13 at 6:30 pm
Dreyfus should have it all.
Tall, handsome, a fine voice and a QC no less.
He should be future PM material.
Fortunately for conservatives he’s amazingly unintelligent and with no leadership abilities.
He also regularly likes to confirm/demonstrate that he’s an arsewipe.
His role as AG even if only for 7 months will I predict be deemed notorious in due time.
JamesK
3 Feb 13 at 6:34 pm
What an arseclown.
.
3 Feb 13 at 6:34 pm
All together now:
It’s different when they do it, because, Shut Up!
Rabz
3 Feb 13 at 6:37 pm
Mark Dreyfus is in some ways worse than Roxon! He is just as hypocritical and sarcastic and even more tyrannical in his thinking than Roxon! He frightens me more!
Chez
3 Feb 13 at 6:38 pm
Sinc, the obvious difference is that Dr Drey was criticising a Coalition opposition not a Labor government. More than ever, this proves we need Nanny Roxon’s visionary laws…/sarc off
Skuter
3 Feb 13 at 6:39 pm
Only a QC could square that circle…
Skuter
3 Feb 13 at 6:40 pm
A quick trip through Hansard (after I saw the Pyne story earlier and knew what would be forthcoming from the hypocrites in Labor) today revealed the holier-than-thou Labor then in opposition associating Howard et al with Hitler’s campaign of exterminating Jews. Day after day this went on and why? Howard’s Pacific Solution.
So, Mr AG of short memory fame, when you and Labor can stand up and say never ever have any of you labeled/associated the Liberals with Hitler and the Nazi raison d’etre, then and only then can you criticize Pyne. In which case, just shut the eff up and try to find some manner of dignity, in these dying days of Labor power, as clearly honesty and Labor are not yet acquainted.
Gab
3 Feb 13 at 6:40 pm
He shouldn’t.
Roxon is altogether more dangerous.
She’s politically adept; he’s regularly a clown.
JamesK
3 Feb 13 at 6:42 pm
Hypocrit? Of course. He now presides over a system that calls for YOU to tell the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. It does not apply to him. He’s a JuLIAR man.
Amfortas
3 Feb 13 at 6:42 pm
What a prize duffer. Clearly he’s trying to prove he can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the talent on the front bench. Mission accomplished.
Oh come on
3 Feb 13 at 6:47 pm
I made the mistake of watching Q&A once with Dreyfus on.
It was at the time of the Malaysian solution and he declared they couldn’t consider Nauru because it was not a signatory to the refugee convention. Nobody, including the liberal party babe (from Costello’s old seat?) picked him up on the fact that Malaysia isn’t either.
entropy
3 Feb 13 at 6:58 pm
Meanwhile, I can’t wait for the youtube mashups!
entropy
3 Feb 13 at 7:01 pm
If Gillard was a Nazi they’d still be looking for Poland.
H B Bear
3 Feb 13 at 7:04 pm
Like so many who hail from a minority, he carrioes a chip on his shoulder. That is why we should never be controlled someone who belongs to any section of the community that can claim to have been persecuted in the past.And whilst on the subject of the Jewish faith and Roxon’s evil efforts to stymie free speech;
It is utterly astonishing to find where in the world the freedom to express one -self is currently under attack, and just who is involved in the legal onslaugt against these long –held freedoms.
Eighty years ago, the rising power of Fascism in Europe was facilitated to a major extent by totalitarian regimes ability to strictly control what their populations could read in the papers and hear over the radio. Not only was freedom to tell the truth about fascism suppressed, but this control permitted evil propaganda to be broadcast. This manipulation of the media was one reason for the ultimate solution; the extermination of all those deemed to be enemies of the Reich. The Holocaust was unleashed, but the lack of a free press meant that no-one knew what was going on; or if they did they were too frightened to speak out.
Currently, the attacks on the Freedom of speech are prevalent in Australia, Britain and Canada. These three Nations suffered nearly 600,000 fatal casualties in their endeavours to successfully destroy Fascism in Europe. Sadly too late to save some 6,000,000 Jews, but nonetheless a terrible price in the lives of young Australian, Canadian and British men and women.
You would think perhaps that the very last people to defend the suppression of free speech would be those who had suffered most grievously from press censorship in Nazi Europe.
But astonishingly we find that Justices and Barristers and now a government Representative from Jewish backgrounds are at the forefront in removing freedoms of speech; the very sons of the generation that experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. How in the name of humanity could this happen? Why is not Jewry standing tall and saying “Enough! Our sons will not support of this infamy”
Ray Finkelstein, Ron Merkel and Mordecai Bromberg and now Michael Danby in Australia , together with Brian Leveson in Britain should be asking themselves some hard questions. As should the Australian Labor Party that is hell bent on emulating the excesses of European Totalitarianism by pursuing censure of the Press and maintaining the iniquitous Section 18c of the vilification law.
And now…tara… we have Mark Dreyfus as Attorney General
Dexter Rous
3 Feb 13 at 7:05 pm
I think the Nazis would be offended by the comparison.
Leigh Lowe
3 Feb 13 at 7:05 pm
Perhaps I was wrong to suggest that we were now in Hitler meme mode.
Hogan’s Heroes is more this mob’s standard.
Philippa Martyr
3 Feb 13 at 7:10 pm
How Mr Dreyfus? How were they different?
Did any journalist think to ask that question.
jupes
3 Feb 13 at 7:12 pm
Pyne needs to stop over reaching with his attacks…silly comment.
Andrew
3 Feb 13 at 7:16 pm
Does Marky think my large number of Tradie associates aren’t going to see his comrade wall bouncing for what it is? I’ll let him know the poll results.
Silly boy.
His genre has no idea how they excite Lowrance colour BS detectors on the street. The deep hatred of Labor won’t be bought with cheques in the mail this time good buddies.
Ur fucked.
Alfonso
3 Feb 13 at 7:23 pm
I agree it would have been better if Pyne had not made the comment, but having made it, he must not apologise. Instead, he should bring up all the Labor comparisons of Howard with the Third Reich and rub their noses in it. Mark Dreyfus must be made to explain whether he objected when Paul Keating compared Howard to Hitler.
Fisky
3 Feb 13 at 7:25 pm
I think Dreyfus should resign and join Craig Thompsons defence team he would fit in perfectly and help secure a great result.
Honesty
3 Feb 13 at 7:26 pm
“Mr Dreyfus said his own comments last year comparing Mr Abbott’s campaign on the carbon tax to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was different.”
How self-aware is this guy? I thought only women could get away with that argument.
Hugh
3 Feb 13 at 7:30 pm
If Gillard’s Government is in Downfall mode does that make Emmerson Steiner?
Splatacrobat
3 Feb 13 at 7:38 pm
No it’s Hogan Heros and Emmo is Sgt Shultz. When he flatted with Thommo did he ever get the benefit of Thommos credit card, is that a fair question?
Honesty
3 Feb 13 at 7:44 pm
Dexter, I think I can answer your question. Jews lived in situations of virulent, state sanctioned anti-Semitism all over Europe for many years, even before Hitler, which every so often it boiled over into violence. I can well understand their reluctance to tolerate and sensitivity towards any slur based on religion (which Christopher Pine’s comment wasn’t, but that’s another point).
I completely agree with your argument that the best possible protection is freedom of speech but with that history its not hard to understand their point of view, however misguided it may be.
Iren
3 Feb 13 at 7:51 pm
Maybe someone should ask Dreyfus what he thinks of the Government’s decision to abstain on – rather than to oppose – the UN vote to make Palestine a non – member observer state at the UN.
Des Deskperson
3 Feb 13 at 7:54 pm
I actually don’t think comparing the Nazi and Rudd/Gillard governments is valid. (Who is Steiner BTW?) There is no one in the Nazis to compare with Emmo. I mean Goering may have ended his life as a buffoon, but he was a fighter ace during WW1. What was Emmo’s claim to fame? Rooting Gillard?
And even though you could argue, as I think Pyne does, that the Nazis were utterly delusional and in freefall by the time of Downfall, there was a time in the late thirties / early forties when they were competent. Evil but competent.
The Rudd/Gillard circus have never been remotely competent.
jupes
3 Feb 13 at 7:57 pm
Rubbish.
The Downfall scene is the most used scene on the Internet to characterise a disaster.
It’s famous for just that.
One had Hitler being Obama screaming about his fellow Dems stupidity when Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s seat to prevent Obamacare being passed by the Senate in a form that supposedly could be reconciled with the House Bill
JamesK
3 Feb 13 at 7:59 pm
A nayzee general that hitler believed was going to lead a phantom army to relieve Berlin.
Needless to say, he and his army never made it.
The rest is history…
Rabz
3 Feb 13 at 8:01 pm
He’s in a new job, he’s sniffed around and now marked his territory.
Gab
3 Feb 13 at 8:02 pm
Look, give the poor bastard a break.
He’s a third rate hack promoted three or four grades past his competence in a staggeringly cack-handed, collapsing government run into the ground by a deranged ranga, in a party run for personal profit by thieving union thugs.
he himself is an inept self-beclowning buffoon who is completely convinced that he’s a genius. And he is surrounded by an ocean of sycophantic suckholes who all believe their own bullsh*t.
[Let's not spoil an otherwise excellent rant. Sinc]
Mk50 of Brisbane
3 Feb 13 at 8:30 pm
Émile Zola’s “J’Accuse” mentioned an earlier Dreyfus. Will we now get to the point that any criticism of this Dreyfus is termed antisemitism? Since all so-called minorities are catered for. When will we get a Catholic minister? Not the pretend ones Emily allows. Or is that different again. And we will continue to worship Moloch.
stackja
3 Feb 13 at 8:33 pm
MK50 sorry you are wrong on this, you are too supportive of this government, you need to call a spade a spade and Dreyfus is a rolled gold fuckwit.
Honesty
3 Feb 13 at 8:47 pm
Dexter Rous you’ve nailed it. The Jewish lobby should be strenuously advocating against the type of censorship of viewpoint envisaged by Roxon. Nothing could be more disastrous for a free country than enacting legislation which seeks to penalise conduct which merely offends in the eyes of an offendee. It’s an outrageous proposition.
Many people are offended by bad body odour. Should being smelly be an offense? What about the sight of a huge elderly man/woman in speedos/tight bikini? What about jovial anecdotes? These are but a few of the numerous examples of potentially (depending on your nature) offensive sights and speech but they’re tolerated because we live in a (supposedly) free society. Manners are a matter of choice not law!
Wiseone
3 Feb 13 at 8:53 pm
Not even then. The Nazis always were hopeless politically and managerially. Infighting and incompetence were their weaknesses. Propaganda was their only forte.
Walter Plinge
3 Feb 13 at 9:00 pm
That’s interesting, MK50 of Brisbane. Now tell us what you really think of Dreyfus … [chortle chortle]
Philippa Martyr
3 Feb 13 at 9:08 pm
But at least the Allies would have got 7 months notice.
Rousie
3 Feb 13 at 9:11 pm
I understand the humour in it but the media were always going to be hysterical about it. No need to give Labor any ammo to attack the Liberals. Pyne can be known to make such comments.
Andrew
3 Feb 13 at 9:16 pm
Dreyfus is a piece of human garbage, IMO, and his hypocrisy is beyond belief, but Pyne is an idiot for not anticipating that the lapdog media, including the commercial electronic media like the Nine Network this evening, would side with the government and ignore the hypocrisy because they do not consider themselves beholden to the concepts of fairness or balance.
They are openly barracking for a sitting government even though it is hugely unpopular and a majority of voters plan to vote for the opposition. This abandonment of ethics is unprecedented.
Tom
3 Feb 13 at 9:17 pm
Hey I think you invented a new Internet meme.
If Gillard were a nazi…. She would have rang the Turkish ambassador to declare war on Poland.
If Gillard were a nazi….the Atlantic wall defenses would have passed 1% of shoreline in 2.5 years, but the French puppet government would have declared it ready
If Gillard were a nazi….Volkswagen would have taken public money then fired its workers
brc
3 Feb 13 at 9:24 pm
Well he can make it illegal – Roxon already has the drafts and he took offense. Go on son. Make it illegal you protector of decency you.
These imbeciles can’t help themselves.
Mark
3 Feb 13 at 9:27 pm
If Gillard were a Nazi … her government would have immediately passed ‘reform’ legislation ensuring that no ‘politically unreliable’ people held jobs in the public service or any aspect of public and/or civil life.
Bolt trial – Finkelstein Review – Anti-Discrimination Bill, anyone?
Philippa Martyr
3 Feb 13 at 9:30 pm
Yes I would like to know why it appears to be unravelling – it couldnt be the distate at unethically protecting the likes of Thommo and Slipper could it, to protect a precious minority?.
Aliice
3 Feb 13 at 9:31 pm
If Gillard wuz a nazi her nickname would be Blondi.
Pickles
3 Feb 13 at 9:33 pm
C.Pyne made a dumb remark, the Hitler thing never goes down well.
candy
3 Feb 13 at 9:34 pm
Dreyfus looks and acts like Basil Fawlty so dont mention the war.
Honesty
3 Feb 13 at 9:55 pm
Sophie Mirabella made mincemeat of him on Q&A debate
re manufacturing in his electorate He is full of his own self importance
min
3 Feb 13 at 9:57 pm
Pyne to Dreyfus: Fuck You.
http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=842146
C.L.
3 Feb 13 at 10:10 pm
It’s very childish and c. Pyne should know better – also conservatives cannot say jokes like that, it gets magnified by the media.
candy
3 Feb 13 at 10:13 pm
Don;t be silly, Candy.
Pyne was referring to the famous Downfall genre of YouTube send-ups.
Here’s one of the best:
Kevin Rudd’s Downfall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bMXVA9qj5I
C.L.
3 Feb 13 at 10:16 pm
Yes and what Pyne said is a well known term known as Downfallian.
Gab
3 Feb 13 at 10:20 pm
Yeah,CL, i know the Downfall video, it’s one of the cleverest funniest political ones I’ve ever seen on Youtube.
But Mr Pyne has got bad press for Hitler comparison and election is around the corner.
candy
3 Feb 13 at 10:42 pm
Lets look at the scorecard dispassionately:-
Nazis …..
Policies ….. 1 out of 10
Effectiveness of Implementation …… 8 out of 10
Federal Labor ……
Policies ….. 1 out of 10
Effectiveness of Implementation …. 1 out of 10
Leigh Lowe
3 Feb 13 at 10:44 pm
It is going to be wonderful. Dreyfus has a mouth that can accommodate an entire shoe shop. Roll on ’13 and Labor annihilation.
Jack Hughes
Lazlo
3 Feb 13 at 10:58 pm
Off to a great start isn’t he. This is what happens when you scrape the bottom of the barrel in your party room. He could well be the gift that keeps giving for the Coalition.
tbh
3 Feb 13 at 11:01 pm
You are right Tom.
It has been, and still is, a Groupthink of unprecedented proportions in the media and arts. Viva the few who question and expose. The very few.
I think it will be like seventies fashions. In the future people will look back on this period and say – how on earth could they not have seen what they looked like? How could they not have recognised what foolishness they embraced?
Except, sadly, it won’t be about clothing but the things in life we cherish most – our freedoms and our decency.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
3 Feb 13 at 11:08 pm
Pyne’s comment is funny.
Dryfus is a hypocritical twat.
JC
3 Feb 13 at 11:10 pm
Last week we had Ricola Noxious as the A.L.P.’s chief law officer and official mis-placer of all incriminating legal documents relating to Juliar Gillard’s former dodgy activities.
This week we have the comical Mark Doofus from Ashton’s Circus.
Could the A.L.P. restore a measure of dignity to this high office and appoint Anthony Mundine to the job as NEXT week’s A.L.P. Attorney General?
Mundine knows bugger-all about the legal system, but hey, we’re talking about a “government” that appointed Wayne Swan as Federal Treasurer!
Up The Workers!
3 Feb 13 at 11:16 pm
As usual, Candy makes the point in very clear terms from the streetview. Tone should hire her for her accuity. We may discuss the finer points but Joe and Jill Blow won’t. Comments such as Pyne’s can and will be spun into disrepute by a shamelessly partisan media. The latest Newspoll is obviously heartening, but let us walk softly in the meantime.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
3 Feb 13 at 11:16 pm
“But astonishingly we find that Justices and Barristers and now a government Representative from Jewish backgrounds are at the forefront in removing freedoms of speech; the very sons of the generation that experienced the horrors of the Holocaust–etc”
I agree Dexter
You could include Ms Roxon (Ropschitz)
blind freddy
4 Feb 13 at 12:43 am
If Gillard was a Nazi she would have built Bomb Escape Rooms (BER for short) in every school…..in the attics.
Splatacrobat
4 Feb 13 at 12:44 am
If Labor were Nazis the UBoats would never have sunk a single Ton of shipping. Collins class Uboats would have spent most of the war laid up in Le Havre for repairs.
Splatacrobat
4 Feb 13 at 12:49 am
If Nicola Roxon were a Nazi I wouldn’t be at all surprised.
Infidel tiger
4 Feb 13 at 12:52 am
If Labor were Nazis the Allies wouldn’t have to bomb the place due to the pink batts scheme.
Gab
4 Feb 13 at 12:58 am
If Labor were Nazis they would have given every school student an Enigma machine……without the codes.
Splatacrobat
4 Feb 13 at 1:14 am
If Emmo was a Nazi he would have explained Kristallnacht as being part of the Government’s stimulus package for the glass industry.
Splatacrobat
4 Feb 13 at 1:18 am
If Labor were Nazis Tony Abbott would be blamed for the Holocaust.
squawkbox
4 Feb 13 at 1:52 am
I have to say that I think Candy’s correct. Pyne should have been more cautious, as it’s pretty clear how this kind of thing is going to be spun. Do you think the average punter in Oz has even seen the movie Downfall, let alone are aware that a scene from it is an internet meme known only to online political junkies – perhaps 1% of the population?
This reminds me of the hysteria that surrounded Gina Rinehart’s comment about how the Australian mining industry is competing with companies in nations where they pay workers $2 a day, so we need to keep our costs under control. I know that she was making a valid point, and that hindsight is 20/20, but when you start making comparisons between Australian workers and people in other countries who can earn as little as $2 a day, it’s bleedin’ obvious how the odious turds on the left are going to spin it – billionaire claims Aussie battlers should be paid $2 a day! That shit sells. It doesn’t matter that Rinehart was actually playing defence and blocking a shot at goal with a reasonable argument – the referee ruled it as an own-goal anyway and the crowd and viewing audience at large were all too keen to along with it.
Rinehart – and Pyne – should have known better. Sure, it’s not fair and it’s a double standard, but what are you going to do about it?
Oh come on
4 Feb 13 at 4:35 am
Dexter @7.05pm, regarding why on earth the ALP would be so controlling of free speech, all you need to do is read the ALP Constitution (pdf). Especially the objectives.
The bit about the “commitment to and participation in the international democratic socialist movement as
represented by the Socialist International” is enlightening.
nilk
4 Feb 13 at 7:23 am
Young Mark does DoubleThink to perfection.
Alfonso
4 Feb 13 at 8:17 am
If Gillard was a Nazi we’d all have to listen to her constantly shouting “Hoil Moy!”
81Alpha
4 Feb 13 at 11:30 am
If Labor were Nazis, Chamberlain woul have returned from Munich waving a piece of paper and proclaiming “Who gives a shit – what a bunch of numpties”.
Rabz
4 Feb 13 at 11:35 am
As a former member of the libs, shooting oneself in the foot is standard practice for them, whether state or federal.
Louis Hissink
4 Feb 13 at 12:29 pm
No. They were good enough politically to get themselves elected. Then they made sure that they stayed there.
FTFY
jupes
4 Feb 13 at 2:06 pm
Pyne has retracted his comment.
Cold-Hands
4 Feb 13 at 2:08 pm
Not really, Cold-Hands.
Pyne is just playing a new angle – and it’s a good one.
C.L.
4 Feb 13 at 2:17 pm
I am glad he didn’t apologise — there are men and mice dressed as men and Dreyfus is the latter. Such a world of difference between comic chaos being called for what it is and the nasty targetted insult to Tony Abbott. But shuddupp.
Tintarella di Luna
4 Feb 13 at 2:20 pm
Yes, Labor is being successful in its plans to outlaw all humour, no matter how harmless.
Seriously, why wasn’t Dreyfus just laughed at by journalists for suggesting holocaust survivors would care less about anyone referring to the Downfall video?
Token
4 Feb 13 at 2:30 pm
Except for Justice Field-Marshal Sir Marcus Einfeld KCMG, DSO, VC and Bar.
He was quite keen to advance the right to speed with impunity.
Leigh Lowe
4 Feb 13 at 6:56 pm