Canberra is a special kind of place. “Special”, in the sense of the sort of “very special” people the Hallmark channel makes teary melodramas about. In the sense that we don’t let Canberrans play with the sharp scissors.
Of course, as they never tire of telling you, Canberra has the highest number of university graduates in Australia. Whereupon Kerry Packer’s remark about “educated fuckwits” immediately comes to mind. I mean, Canberra is the place that brought us this gem of cinematic genius.
Yes, Canberra’s “special”, all right. Naturally, it’s a place that only ever changes its own, very special, government from Green to Labor, and back again.
So it’s only natural that the head Canberran should pretend to sympathise with freedom protesters while sneering at them and trying to exploit their grievances for cheap political shots.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr extended an olive branch to the protesters occupying Canberra, before going on to declare they were doing a “dismal” job.
“I understand the protests are directed at the Prime Minister and that’s fair enough,” he said.
Besides his obvious insincerity, Barr clearly fails to understand that the protesters are not just unhappy with Scott Morrison, but burning with rage against the lot of them: politicians, left and right, and bureaucrats, media, the whole dreary cabal of Covidians. Turning up your nose and sniffing about Canberrans’ supposed superiority to those… people who’ve dared besmirch the leafy confines of the nation’s capital isn’t exactly going to mollify them.
Mr Barr pointed out that Canberra had one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 98.6 per cent of people over 12 already double dosed.
Canberrans have rallied behind businesses keeping staff and customers safe by abiding by vaccination rules, Mr Barr said […]
Mr Barr also hit out at members of parliament who were egging on protesters, saying current and former members of the coalition should know better.
“Should know better” than what? Actually, addressing the grievances of Australian citizens?
Outspoken Senator Gerard Rennick – who began withholding his vote last year in defiance of the government’s “vaccine mandate” – has vowed to continue to do so […]
Senator Rennick – who is unvaccinated – is expected to cause chaos outside the party room as well, telling reporters he had spoken to a key protest figure and was considering meeting with the group in Canberra this week.
Ugh! How dare he! Meeting with constituents! Doesn’t he know that politicians have far more important things to do with their time than be bothered with the petty whining of the commoners?
The retiring senator went on to say that Mr Morrison needed to pay more attention to the discontent of those unhappy with vaccine mandates, saying it could cost him the election […]
“This isn’t a political bubble issue … A lot of people don’t follow politics at all, right, but now we’ve made these people follow politics because they’ve lost their jobs, or they’ve been vaccine injured, or they don’t want their children vaccinated, or for the last two years they’ve been not allowed to see their grandchildren in a different state, or they’ve had issues with quarantine or something like that.
“We need to move on from these over-the-top restrictions … and get back to the old normal.”
The Australian
Good luck with that. The Covidians are never going to let us be free again if they have anything to say on the matter.
