Sunday, July 16, 2023

unsent letter to the age, july 2013


When it comes to politics I readily admit I am partisan: to vote conservative would be to fly in the face of lifelong convictions. However, perhaps naively, I do not expect a high-end newspaper would be anywhere near as biased as I am. I can’t understand why The Age has not drilled down into the question of Tony Abbott’s expenses scandal (one more in the list of Abbott-related scandals only mentioned in passing, which also includes ‘Ashbygate’ and the One Nation court case).

Abbott is an experienced politician, so I assume the false claim for over $9 000 during a book tour was an error made by him or on his behalf. But that doesn’t mean Abbott shouldn’t be held to account on the same standards by which he judges others. If I was a Liberal voter, I would not want the papers to turn a blind eye to this issue: it goes to the heart of the man’s credibility, such as it is. Political careers have been scuttled on a lot less.

Of course, I never want to see Abbott as PM. But – forgetting all political allegiances – who amongst us does want to see a PM with so many blots on his track record? 

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