"LIKE an episode of The Real Housewives of Melbourne, the “Get Abbott” show is trashy and predictable. Worse, bitching about trivial stuff to score points against the Prime Minister is done at the expense of focusing on what really matters. Sure, Tony Abbott is fair game. When he winks, he can expect confected outrage from his detractors. Enter stage left: Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young calls the Prime Minister a “creep”.
Never mind that it’s far creepier for Hanson-Young and the Greens to cling to asylum-seeker policies that ignore facts and encourage more people to die at sea at the hands of an evil people-smuggling trade. Others too would scale the heights of hypocrisy. Enter stage left: ABC host Jon Faine admits he first raised his eyebrows in response to hearing from a 67-year-old pensioner moonlighting as a phone sex worker and yet he still ridicules Abbott’s wink as some kind of private school boy reaction to the word sex.
While Abbott is fair game, his family deserves a higher bar. Not according to The Sydney Morning Herald, which last week published vague reports about some staff being annoyed that Louise Abbott is working at the Australian embassy in Geneva. No names were provided. Not even a quote from an unnamed source. Gossip and innuendo became the benchmark for dragging Abbott’s eldest daughter into the “Get Abbott” pursuit. Louise Abbott’s posting was made under Labor.
Similarly, reports peddled by The Guardian Australia last week suggested another of Abbott’s daughters, Frances, was given a scholarship other than on the grounds of merit. No public interest here either, no evidence of preferment, just more innuendo and gossip from a few students who didn’t get a scholarship.
Those who have pretensions of being the nation’s intrepid journalists should try focusing on matters of substance.
Come July 1, Clive Palmer’s Palmer United Party will control four Senate votes."
Read the rest at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/the-real-story-is-clive-and-his-puppets/story-e6frg7bo-1226933661868#
