OPINION
I am sure there are many people on the BFD and elsewhere who don’t truly believe me when I tell them that the left wing – the Labour party – has basically been a con game. Many probably, having spent their lives ‘swallowing it whole’ (and proving my point), secretly think the left wing has done a lot of good things over the last ninety years or so. They haven’t.
But it is not just here; it’s a similar story across the Tasman where a couple of massive ‘own goals’ have been scored. First, there was Paul Keating, a man who has spent half a century running the following line: he’s a right winger, imbued with ‘age of reason’ principles, who freed the economy, forced Australia to realise it couldn’t hide under the covers, sowed the seeds for thirty years of economic growth and squashed the left-wingers, and anyone who disagrees with him just isn’t intelligent enough to understand these matters.
All that came crashing down a few weeks back when Keating was the only former Australian prime minister to not sign a letter condemning the terrorist attacks against Israel. He openly said he wasn’t going to sign a letter drafted by “Zionists” – a long-standing code word used by anti-semites. Half a century of credibility and respect was snuffed out in seconds.
Now there is the curious case of Stephen Smith. He was MP for Perth for many years, foreign and defence minister in the Rudd/Gillard Government and not someone – until a few days ago – you’d have thought was ‘left-wing’ in any way. Smith, Keating and many other people in the ALP have always run the line they’re just like us but in the Labor party. It was all a load of twaddle, of course, as John Howard always used to point out, but most didn’t listen to Howard when they had the chance. Last year Stephen Smith was appointed Australia’s high commissioner to the UK and a few days ago – to almost universal astonishment – cancelled Australia Day celebrations in London, citing “sensitivities” around the day (hint: by woke left-wingers).
On Sky News, James Morrow has an interesting take on this. Not only does it show the true colours of the ALP (and the con game they, too, have been running for generations) but it also shows the left loathes Australia and genuinely hates the place with a passion.
What sprung up around fifty years ago was a group of smartypants loud-mouthed rich kids (sound familiar?) who used to sit around in coffee bars (or university common rooms) in Sydney and Melbourne bemoaning the Australian culture and way of life. How they hated – genuinely despised – ordinary people who were too redneck and stupid to understand how ignorant and unsophisticated they were, with their one-day cricket, Paul Hogan humour, Holden cars, home ownership, Cold Chisel albums, Dame Edna TV specials and surfing at Bondi, amongst other sins of being Australian. Oh, how it sickened the left-wingers. Oh, how they hated these oafs who didn’t understand ‘European art and culture’ as they supposedly did.
They set about destroying Australia in much the same way the Ardern regime tried to destroy New Zealand. It was all based on genuine hate for their fellow countrymen but dressed up as the gold standard of ‘intelligence’ and something incredibly virtuous. And now it is unravelling quite spectacularly as their true colours, spite and self-loathing are on full display for all to see. As John Howard predicted it would.