So sorry, Mr Premier
Andrew Bolt
February 14, 2010
Andrew Bolt realises that Jeff Kennett
doesn't just want support. He now demands obedience
Jeff Kennett this week gave
the
Herald Sun a shirtfront to remember for questioning deals involving
his
friends and colleagues. It hurt, but when the stars stopped spinning everything became
clear. No
longer do I see my Premier as a man with human strengths and
failings. I now realise that the strong support the Herald Sun gave to his
many
reforms just wasn't enough. From now on I won't hear one single word against him. Nor will he,
if he
has his way.
That's how it should be. When a man gets the vote of 11 of every 20
Victorians, victory is total. Further criticism over the next four
years is
bad teamwork.
The new me no longer tut-tuts at Mr Kennett
for getting angry with critics who don't see this simple point. And he's had to get angry at so many people lately. So very, very
angry at
so many, many people. I suspect he feels he doesn't deserve us.
Maybe it's the concussion speaking, but I'd now like to apologise to
Mr Kennett.
The Herald Sun perhaps was rash to run articles this week suggesting
there
may have been a potential conflict of interest involving Mr Kennett's former adviser on gaming
issues. I now can't remember why it seemed important to report that Alister Drysdale received a $62,000 discount on
an
apartment he bought from Hudson Conway. What possessed us to point out that Hudson Conway owns the casino,
which
has done very well from many (I see now) wise decisions of Mr Kennett's Government?
Mr Kennett is right to
denounce these
articles as "bad-taste journalism ". We are a "rag" for
this "slur ". Who cares that we denied that Mr Drysdale in fact had done anything
improper?
Message received, Mr Kennett.
No
newspaper should report facts that distract a government from doing
deals
that make Victorians better off. Sometimes much better off. I think it's up to Senator Sid Spindler of the Democrats now to
likewise
apologise for setting up the Senate inquiry into the casino.
He should realise that things he did as a 10-year-old disqualify him
from
having anything to say to anybody for the rest of his life.
As Mr Kennett pointed out
this week,
Senator Spindler joined the Hitler Youth when he was a tacker. This
inquiry, Mr Kennett says
mildly, is
more of that kind of Nazi behavior. It does the senator no good to explain that every German boy had to
join
up. If it had been Mr Kennett,
he
would have resisted! He would have joined something else, like the
school
cadets . . or something. And when will our churchmen apologise for criticising our leader's
love of
gaming?
Again, I'm stunned by Mr Kennett's
ability to see his critics for what they really are. The churches,
he says,
are no longer "looking after the souls of the community ". They
preach so much politics that "many people who go to church these
days
feel let down ". The churches can't complain about being smacked around for speaking
up.
They only had to flick through Mr Kennett's
little black book (volumes 1, 2 and 3, with appendix) to get the
message.
Just look at the Premier's recorded comments under "A ", for
example. There's the ABC, described as "a leech on society" for
criticising the casino process. Then there's The Age, which is also "a rag" and "crap
". The Premier notes: "My main objection is to its existence.
" Next to the ALP entry, we read "negative ", "out of touch
", "irrelevant ".
Let's skip past "B" (Brumby, Bongiorno, bishops and Board, Equal
Opportunity) to "C ". There we find Couchman, as in Peter the 3LO radio host who lost Mr Kennett as a regular guest after being
"so negative ". There's also the churches, plus Jenni Chandler,
Bob Carr and local councils, which lost their elected councillors
for a
while and have been warned they could lose them again.
It's sad to see how many people the Premier has had to shush lately.
And
all about silly things that have nothing to do with making this
state
great: allegations of favorable treatment for companies run by his
friends,
conflicts of interest, our gambling culture. No wonder his victory
speech
on election night was a bare-fanged howl of triumph.
I can also see why the Herald Sun should reconsider its fussy
opposition to
the Premier's proposal to scrap by-elections. Can't we see there is far too much criticism of the government
already?
Can't we see how much work we all need to do to enrich this state
and the
people who are shoulder-to-shoulder with the Premier?
Get with it, or get clobbered.
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