Is that a dog whistle in your pocket or are you just Wilson Tuckey?
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Whatever you may think of asylum seekers, it is unexceptionable to note that, if a large number of Tamils seek to enter Australia after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, their ranks may contain former Tamil Tigers. The LTTE are an extraordinarily vicious separatist group who turned suicide bombing into an art form and wreaked havoc among Sinhalese people over several decades. Tamils will point to their treatment by the Sinhalese majority and say that therein lies the true reason for the savagery. From the point of view of the Australian Government, that’s not the issue, regardless of its merits. The Tigers are proscribed under Australian law. The assessment of the merits of the asylum claims made by boat arrivals will and should include their background and membership of proscribed organisations. That’s what Wilson Tuckey, the ever-more-voluble Member for O’Connor, was initially getting at this morning when he said:
Fair enough. You might call it dog whistling, but as a factual statement it can’t be objected to — certainly not in the way that it was reasonable to object to similar arguments made by John Howard about Iraqi and Afghan asylum seekers in the early part of this decade. Tuckey, however, then went further and suggested that it was possible a boat containing Tamil asylum seekers — no alternative meaning can really be attached to his reference to “one of these boats” — might tie itself to an oil platform on the North West Shelf and threaten to blow itself up. Suicide bombing style, see. Cos that’s what Tamils do, right? That amounts not so much to dog whistling as to blatant demonisation of people who appear to be genuinely in fear of their lives. Christopher Pyne was reported as immediately distancing himself from Tuckey’s remarks. There should be no need for anyone to distance themselves from Tuckey. He speaks for no one but himself on any issue. And Kevin Rudd demanding that Tuckey be dumped from the Liberal Party for the remarks simply gives Tuckey more profile, more encouragement and serves to make Tuckey a martyr for the xenophobes among us. I can’t see how the relentless focus on asylum seeker issues is helping anyone, given the scale of the problem. Oh, except the media, as ever looking for drama and conflict. They’re the ones who will truly be disappointed should Tuckey exit politics. |
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15 Comments
I run a stall selling Green left Weekly at Deagon markets at Sandgate. I have this little patter about the refugee situation which I trot out, “let them come, let them stay, they come from our wars anyway”. Just a little bit of doggerel to get the attention. Normally this gets a small smile or a thumbs up and once in while a frown. But last sunday was depressing, showing that the spectre created by Howard, Ruddock and Murdoch lives on, every time I came out with it I got attacked by people who really quite savage in their denunciation of illegals. The only other time I have been attacked with such ferocity and venom, including physically, was by members of the local Sinhalese community who attacked my signs which said “Justice for the Tamils”, a reference to the unacceptable conditions in the camps. There is no doubt that the Tamil leadership lost the plot since the end of the previous ceasefire, but then, they dont send pilotless drones to bomb Pakistani villages either, like we do, so i am not sure how to define degrees of vicious these days. On the plus side, at the market, I get people lining up to sign petitions against privatisation and for abortion law reform. We have been handing out the new Greens flyer on emissions trading and they are going like hot cakes.
Bernard I agree that our media, particularly the ABC, is putting way too much focus on this story.
After a month in Europe, I noticed that even though they have big issues with illegal immigration/refugees they don’t fill the airwaves with stories about the issue. Same with climate change with just a story from time to time. Even the introduction of a carbon tax by the French President didn’t dominate the media after a day or so.
Perhaps it is because we have just that much less news going on in Australia that any slightly dramatic issue has to be endlessly and minutely discussed
Tuckey is a disgrace. Tamils are fleeing with good reason.
And no, I am not of Tamil heritage.
Bernard
It is a basic journalistic responsibility to check facts. LTTE is not a “proscribed organisation” in Australia. It is listed as a Terrorist Organisation under tyhe United Nations Charter which Australia ratified even though it was not included by the UN.
Before creating unnecessary histeria by putting untruth you should check facts. these are sensitive matters and you have a resposnibility.
Senthooran
What is also mind boggling is the good folk of O’Connor continue to have their electorate associated with this half wit, brain dead imbocile. Hardly a day goes by without his stupidity being on show for the nation to wonder just how he justifies his position in the House. How Turnbull can allow the verbal garbage from Tuckey to continue beggers understanding, but perhaps it is true the Opposition Leader has no control at all over his party and it is indeed every man/woman for himself as the trouncing at the next poll looms nearer. The wimp from Dickson obviously has no party loyalty, the Mad Monk goes off on a bush walk all alone from time to time, the bossy Bishop would be more at home in a snake pit and so it goes on. Howard sure set these no hopers up when he decided to contest the last election as leader and lost both ways.
There will be some here of course who agree with Tuckey, it could be regarded as macho, a noble stand against the wicked Govt. Hopefully his fan club is few in number. There are pratts on both sides of the Parliament, none reach the lofty heights of stupidity as Iron Bar.
Tuckey should quit parliment to take up a career in stand-up comedy. With the right publicist I’m sure they could pitch his brand of ‘humour’ as being bitingly ironic.
As all rightwing loonies, Tuckey’s projection of his fear politics onto the ignorant amongst us is exposed again. This is an excellent time to examine his and his ilk’s lack of intelligence. Because he was able and to hide among those of good intentions and fewer intellectuals in the Liberal party and sliver into parliament he therefore thinks all groups have bad eggs in their ranks and at one level he is right. The issue is of cause, he and his type are usually the bad eggs in their groups. So never forget how effective a good scare campaign can be, it’s power should never be underestimated. Let’s face it, it got a man like Howard elected to P.M. of this great country for almost 12 long and darks years, yes, it seems unbelievable these days. So can someone please inform that Ironbar that the Tamil Tigers are not a wild man-eating cats and Sri Lanka used to be call Ceylon and is that little island just to the right of the southern tip off India.
Someone should remind Tuckey of his nickname, Wilson ‘iron bar’ Tuckey! He didn’t arrive on a leaky boat but I bet the person he allegedly took to thought he was pretty ‘terror-fying’? I don’t recall one alledged terrorist or sympathizer arriving by boat; or vicious rapist either for that matter - they were either born here or arrived by plane.
Tuckey probably still thinks that Nelson Mandella is a terrorist. Howard didn’t agree with the political and other sanctions against Apartheid either? People from El Salvador came here in the 80’s when the CIA/Military murdered several hundred thousand; same with people from Chile? Anyone with the slightest knowledge of history, the US interference/intervention in over 40 countries that resulted in civil wars, disappearances, tortures and deaths would no doubt realise that this maniac probably sided with the murderers. If it wasn’t so disgraceful he’d be a joke! Why won’t the media take that little germ on, and the rest of the racist Opposition? Sick of it!
There’s probably more than a handful of visitors who arrive by plane with visas that they weren’t very truthful about - at any time there can be 50,000 of them here. But of course, most are white, so that’s different - upstanding people all? Truly, this is now stooping to new depths of ridiculous nonsense on the part of the Opposition. Tuckey is a media tart, just like Fielding. He wouldn’t spoil a good rant with the truth!He’s on the side of James Hardie too - says it all really!
This statement is wrong and it’s stupid to defend it:
“If you wanted to get into Australia and you have bad intentions what do you do? You insert yourself in a crowd of 100 for which there is great sympathy for the other 99 and you go on a system where nobody brings their papers, you have no identity you have no address.”
Kate McClymont crime reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald just told all of abc (!) 702 drive listeners this: “I speak to many colourful characters including a passport fraudster who just got out of gaol. He looked at me as if I was mad when I said terrorists might be on boats. He said no way in the world, they would come to someone like me [and fly in”
Then Salusinszky and the rest of the panel noted it was business migration for the 9/11 bombers. And legal entry from a young age of the recently convicted here in Sydney.
In other words Tuckey is wrong. Keane here is wrong to miss the falsity and the innuendo and Turnbull is mad to be wedged back so bad on this. Even with all 5% of the One Nation fellow travellers the ALP from giddy polling heights will ride this to the beach with union leaders, churches, and civil society groups onside. Only our Crikey scribe here is redeemable his periodic lapses, the others are 3 strikes and out on the dog whistle for real.
Just to clarify, the McClymont attribution was not a direct quote, rather words to the effect of, and very close to a quote.
Why doesn’t he just sail off into the sunset. He is a laughing stock & the WA libs would be better off without his interference.
I imagine Tuckey doesn’t want to go because its too cushy a job. What else is he going to do? Sit on a porch somewhere and whittle wood? If he’d only take up a career in stand up.
Senthooran the LTTE was listed as a group to which terrorist asset freezing applies by the Australian Government in 2001. What exactly are you trying to argue? That it’s not a terrorist organisation? There’s plenty of dead Sri Lankans, including Tamils, who’d beg to differ if they could.
It cannot be left unsaid. Today the leader of Her Majesty’s (Loyal?) Opposition Malcolm the Mad accused the PM of being a hypocrite over his terminology of asylum seekers, a point well made BUT did the Mad one leave it there ? You bet your sweet life he didn’t and once again the big Turnbull foot ended up right down his idiotic throat. After earlier in the day at a press conference he (Turnbull) hurredley called, after the mentally failing member for O’Connor Tuckey declared terrorists would find the asylum seekers boats a wonderfully easy way to get into Oz. Turnbull the Mad declared his full support for Tuckey, nothing was said to make the PM get so uppity. Then bugger me, after Rudd sailed into Turnbull all guns blazing in QT, this pathetic excuse for a politician and supposed leader of the alternative Govt declared in a trumped up motion, he would never support anyone who indicated terrorists were using Asylum seekers as cover to get into Oz.
This mans utter contempt for anything but himself was once again exposed. he is surely the worst leader of a political party this country has seen, a disgrace. To make the whole day an utter act of Liberal stupidity, the queen of the vipers, Bishop the iceberg supported Tuckey completely.
There in is the Opposition revealed.