Tanya Plibersek is the first of Anthony Albanese’s 12 angels to pay the price for being a feminist sellout — defending their sexist male boss rather than fighting for women.
This is the damage the Prime Minister has done to his government.
Plibersek, one of the record 12 women in Albanese’s cabinet, has shamelessly decided to opine on men and boys allegedly acting badly to women.
Writing about two cases which, safely for her, have nothing to do with the government, Plibersek posted: “In less than seven days, an all-boys school and one of the nation’s most influential sporting clubs have been at the centre of concerning sexual assault allegations.”
Yes, these allegations against three young teenagers from Scots College are very troubling, and those against five players from the Sydney Swans even more so, given they involve adults.
But – note well — Plibersek chose to whack the people around them for not speaking up more clearly: “The responses to these allegations have fallen alarmingly short… They chose language that was passive and exculpatory.”
Actually, the Swans’ management acted firmly, apologising and axing all five players for the rest of the season for breaking team rules, before police have finished deciding if criminal charges will be laid as well.
So it seems Plibersek has mighty high standards for saying what needs saying about men mistreating women. Allegedly.
Yet this same Plibersek went missing when the spotlight was on Labor, and specifically on Albanese.
When Albanese was filmed agreed he’d like to “shag” singer Kylie Minogue rather than actors Rhonda Burchmore and Nicole Kidman, Plibersek didn’t call out this crude sexual objectification of three women.
She instead pretended Albanese had merely commented on Minogue’s singing: “If the Prime Minister is saying that he’s a fan of Kylie Minogue, I guess that puts him in a group of other Australians, including me.”
When Albanese was filmed sniggering at the “melons” of Japan’s female prime minister, even jiggling cupped hands over his chest, Plibersek didn’t call out that, either. She claimed people denouncing Albanese’s Benny Hill routine was making a “completely unnecessary interpretation of what the prime minister said”.
When Albanese and his henchmen destroyed the careers of two women – former Liberal defence minister Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown – by repeating false allegations that they’ve covered up the alleged rape of staffer Brittany Higgins, Plibersek did not defend the innocent women, but joined in the smear: “The central point here is that a young woman made an allegation that she had been sexually assaulted in her workplace and that it had been inappropriately investigated, even covered up by her employers.”
These are three examples of Labor treating women badly, and each time Plibersek said nothing, or, worse, joined in. Nor did she protest when the ABC, overseen by her government, showed a film fantasising about sodomising miner Gina Rinehart, a conservative.
But now she finds her voice, when the topic is a private school and three young teenagers – none of them a Labor politician.
How brave, Tanya. How principled. But where were you when the fingers were pointed at your own?
I know, poor Tanya. Do we really expect her to risk her career by standing for a principle? By risking the vengeance of a prime minister who refuses to admit a mistake?
She had to follow his orders, right? I mean, right?
OK, I’m being hard on her. In the end, the buck stops with chief buck Albanese, who is setting incredibly low standards for his government, and not just by himself making sleazy jokes that could get a CEO sacked.
Take Communications and Sports Minister Anika Wells, who blew an astonishing $1750 on dinner and drinks in Paris for herself, a staffer, an Australian ambassador and a guest, and then had to repay $10,116 she’d wrongly claimed as expenses for private travel, including for her husband to go see an AFL grand final.
She was not sacked.
Or take MP Luke Gosling, the government’s Special Envoy for Defence, Veterans’ Affairs and northern Australia, who faces two charges of physically assaulting the Northern Territory’s Administrator, or King’s representative.
He has not been made to stand aside.
Hmm. How did Plibersek put it? That’s right: “The responses to these allegations have fallen alarmingly short.” Those in charge “chose language that was passive and exculpatory”.
Well said, Tanya. Now say it again, but to the prime minister who left you open to the ridicule you’re now getting.
Tanya Plibersek is the first of Anthony Albanese’s 12 angels to pay the price for being a feminist sellout — defending their sexist male boss rather than fighting for women.
This is the damage the Prime Minister has done to his government.
Plibersek, one of the record 12 women in Albanese’s cabinet, has shamelessly decided to opine on men and boys allegedly acting badly to women.
Writing about two cases which, safely for her, have nothing to do with the government, Plibersek posted: “In less than seven days, an all-boys school and one of the nation’s most influential sporting clubs have been at the centre of concerning sexual assault allegations.”
Yes, these allegations against three young teenagers from Scots College are very troubling, and those against five players from the Sydney Swans even more so, given they involve adults.
But – note well — Plibersek chose to whack the people around them for not speaking up more clearly: “The responses to these allegations have fallen alarmingly short… They chose language that was passive and exculpatory.”
Actually, the Swans’ management acted firmly, apologising and axing all five players for the rest of the season for breaking team rules, before police have finished deciding if criminal charges will be laid as well.
So it seems Plibersek has mighty high standards for saying what needs saying about men mistreating women. Allegedly.
Yet this same Plibersek went missing when the spotlight was on Labor, and specifically on Albanese.
When Albanese was filmed agreed he’d like to “shag” singer Kylie Minogue rather than actors Rhonda Burchmore and Nicole Kidman, Plibersek didn’t call out this crude sexual objectification of three women.
She instead pretended Albanese had merely commented on Minogue’s singing: “If the Prime Minister is saying that he’s a fan of Kylie Minogue, I guess that puts him in a group of other Australians, including me.”
When Albanese was filmed sniggering at the “melons” of Japan’s female prime minister, even jiggling cupped hands over his chest, Plibersek didn’t call out that, either. She claimed people denouncing Albanese’s Benny Hill routine was making a “completely unnecessary interpretation of what the prime minister said”.
When Albanese and his henchmen destroyed the careers of two women – former Liberal defence minister Linda Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown – by repeating false allegations that they’ve covered up the alleged rape of staffer Brittany Higgins, Plibersek did not defend the innocent women, but joined in the smear: “The central point here is that a young woman made an allegation that she had been sexually assaulted in her workplace and that it had been inappropriately investigated, even covered up by her employers.”
These are three examples of Labor treating women badly, and each time Plibersek said nothing, or, worse, joined in. Nor did she protest when the ABC, overseen by her government, showed a film fantasising about sodomising miner Gina Rinehart, a conservative.
But now she finds her voice, when the topic is a private school and three young teenagers – none of them a Labor politician.
How brave, Tanya. How principled. But where were you when the fingers were pointed at your own?
I know, poor Tanya. Do we really expect her to risk her career by standing for a principle? By risking the vengeance of a prime minister who refuses to admit a mistake?
She had to follow his orders, right? I mean, right?
OK, I’m being hard on her. In the end, the buck stops with chief buck Albanese, who is setting incredibly low standards for his government, and not just by himself making sleazy jokes that could get a CEO sacked.
Take Communications and Sports Minister Anika Wells, who blew an astonishing $1750 on dinner and drinks in Paris for herself, a staffer, an Australian ambassador and a guest, and then had to repay $10,116 she’d wrongly claimed as expenses for private travel, including for her husband to go see an AFL grand final.
She was not sacked.
Or take MP Luke Gosling, the government’s Special Envoy for Defence, Veterans’ Affairs and northern Australia, who faces two charges of physically assaulting the Northern Territory’s Administrator, or King’s representative.
He has not been made to stand aside.
Hmm. How did Plibersek put it? That’s right: “The responses to these allegations have fallen alarmingly short.” Those in charge “chose language that was passive and exculpatory”.
Well said, Tanya. Now say it again, but to the prime minister who left you open to the ridicule you’re now getting.