“Tiny” Tim Wilson’s war of survival in Goldstein continues today with reports that the LNP has tried and failed to unleash its dirt files against his independent challenger, Zoe Daniel:
In December, [Andrew] Bragg asked some very pointed questions about Daniel, which the ABC took on notice.
“During Mrs Zoe Daniel’s time in the Washington bureau were there any allegations of bullying or harassment in the workplace made against Mrs Zoe Daniel?” Bragg asked.
“During Mrs Zoe Daniel’s time in the Washington bureau did any staff resign because of alleged bullying or harassment in the workplace by Mrs Zoe Daniel?” he also asked.
“And if so, did they complete an exit interview outlining their concerns of bullying or harassment?”
The ABC’s written reply was blunt. “No. Not that the ABC is aware of. N/A.”
The answers were supplied before the follow-up Senate estimates hearing in February. While Bragg doesn’t resile from probing the past lives of public candidates, strangely enough, none of the Liberal Party MPs at the hearing revisited that line of questioning.
Not much of a dirt file, is it? Being innuendo and all.
But, since “Tiny” Tim’s mate has opened the subject of bullying and harassment, let’s run with that a moment. How about “Tiny” Tim’s record?
What should we call his ceaseless badgery of unambiguous climate science?
What should we call his failure to stand up when the Morrison Government tried to legalise the persecution of gay and trans kids?
What should we call his being parachuted into the Human Rights Commission to water down rights?
What should we call his use of CCP-style “lawfare” to remove his opponent’s campaign collateral from people’s front gardens?
What should we call his demand that neighbours dob one another in for expressing their political viewpoints?
What do we call all the above being marketed as “modern liberalism”?
Moreover, at least Zoe Daniel has built a career worthy of the name. Sure, it was largely at a publically-funded broadcaster. But her journalistic skills are clearly marketable in the open economy. And she does not claim to be anything that she is not.
On the other hand, “Tiny” Tim Wilson has spent his entire career preaching libertarian ideals cossetted in cotton wool inside LNP sheltered workshops and parliament.
That looks an awful lot like fastening yourself to the taxpayer tit while demanding nobody else does so. What do we call that?
We could call it unAustralian. Would could call it bludging. We could call it hypocrisy. We could call it selfish. We could call it ludicrous.
If we take Andrew Bragg’s lead, we could call it harassment and bullying derived from ideological viewpoints impermeable to fact.
