Andrew L. Urban
Last week, when asked by David Speers on ABC TV Insiders to confirm that he had attended a Sydney Harbourside mansion million dollar dinner with a Chinese donor, Anthony Albanese threw a bullshit blanket over the dinner: “I attend lots of dinners.” When pressed, he repeated it: “I attend lots of dinners and functions in lots of places.”
A legally framed donation to political parties is legal. So the clumsy blanket to cover it suggests a) he feels politically vulnerabe about it or b) there is a secret or implied quid pro quo.
Earlier, when confronted with criticism about his handling of the rise of antisemitic behaviour including violence, he had also reached for the blanket: “Governments can always do better.”
Including his own government in his answer to try and soften the criticism is spreading it far and wide; the Prime Minister throws his bullshit blanket over the issue – but the blanket is transparent.
These examples are part of a pattern that fits neatly into the perception of his well known and universal tendency to avoid of responsibility – which goes to character. Or maybe squishy character….?
Or indeed really doubtful character. For example, at last week’s 50th national Labor conference, Albanese insisted on maintaining, even turbo charging, Labor’s antipathy to Israel at the expense of the safety of Jews in Australia.
As the royal commission into the Bondi massacre and the antisemitism crisis continues, Sheina Gutnick – whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in Bondi when he confronted the gunman – criticised the wording of the Labor platform put to the conference and said the government had to be unequivocal about opposing anti-Israeli terrorism. “There is a profound difference between broadly condemning terrorism and actually demanding something of a terrorist organisation,” Gutnick told The Australian.
The demands on Hamas and the PA were dropped in the final draft. After all, Albo might have said, ‘There are many terrorists who carry guns and use their neighbours as human shields.’
Indeed. “The party platform has got the balance right,” Albanese told the ABC. “I support the right of Israel to exist within secure borders, I also support the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for their own state and to live in peace and security.”
You needn’t wonder if he supports motherhood.