Left putting elites first
THE shocking terror attack on British concert goers — many of them pre- teen girls — is so despicable it defies any adequate description or response.
It represents yet another grotesque assault on the things we all hold dear in life: innocence, friendship, community and fun.
They were all torn asunder in Manchester as what appears to be a “lone wolf’’ suicide bomber detonated his evil arsenal on the most defenceless and blameless of victims: children.
At the time of printing, the death toll is 22 but, with dozens more seriously injured, sadly that figure may rise.
It is hard enough for adults to process this madness.
But many of us this morning will be faced with our own kids’ questions about this insanity. What do you say to them? There is no perfect answer. The response, of course, depends upon a child’s age.
There will be many today who, quite understandably, will be imposing a media ban within their homes to shield their young ones from the depressing onslaught of reports.
Perhaps, for older children, it boils down to this: There are bad people in the world.
For one reason or another they have hatred in their hearts and a will to harm others.
There are not many of them on the planet and you are safe with us.
It is sobering to reflect that soon there will be teenagers entering adulthood who never knew a world without terror. The 18th anniversary of 9/ 11 is just two years away.
We feared then that terror would become a permanent shadow over our world. Sadly that appears to be the case.
In the face of this it is understandable for people to become more insular, less accepting, more hostile to strangers in what is seemingly a more dangerous place. If at all possible, we must resist such urges. The more we celebrate the wonders of life in Australia, its beauty, its prosperity and most importantly its hard- fought freedoms, the more profoundly we show the terrorists that they will never defeat us. THE silence was deafening.
As the North held its breath awaiting word from Brisbane about a royalties offer being struck for Adani’s $ 16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine on Monday, something very strange was happening inside the walls of Queensland’s Parliament.
The Bulletin had arranged with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s minders that they would let us know via text message the instant a deal had been struck so we could break the long- awaited news in Townsville as soon as possible.
Details would follow, but the Bulletin was keen to break the news to the thousands of readers desperate to hear that certainty had been provided to this regionbuilding project, which would deliver thousands of jobs and muchneeded economic salvation to several regional Queensland economies on life support since the mining boom went bust.
We had lined up local longterm unemployed families desperate for a job with Adani and alerted community and business leaders that we would be calling them for comment after the story broke.
Adani would also be contacted for its reaction ahead of a crucial board meeting in India to decide on the go- ahead for the project. But then nothing happened. Here in Townsville, it is sometimes difficult to get an understanding of what is happening in George St, but all our usual insider contacts were giving us nothing.
From what we could gather, the Cabinet meeting had ended but the expected announcement was taking a strangely long time to happen.
What was the hold- up?
Palaszczuk minders finally texted back to say they were not sure the issue had even been discussed.
Very straight questions drew extremely obtuse responses: “I don’t think that was in the agenda … I wasn’t in there but my understanding is it was not on the agenda … neither Adani itself nor the issue of mining royalties were on the agenda … I don’t know how much clearer than that I can make it …”
Soon it became clear the Labor Left had pulled a fast one, refusing to discuss terms for a royalties deal that would upset their inner- city Green backers ( arguing it would break a Labor election promise not to help fund the mine) and delivering what may prove to be a mortal political wound to a Premier struggling to keep her hands on the reins.
The timing could not have been more politically perfect for the factional rebels, led by Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, who was installed as a peace offering to the Left and whose Green backers were largely responsible for delivering the Palaszczuk team into office with their preferences.
By forcing a stalemate in the Cabinet room, the Left has orches- trated fronts:
1. Adani has had no choice but to defer its board meeting on the project until it has certainty around the royalty arrangements crucial to its investment decision. This predictably led to Left- wing media trumpeting that Adani has “pulled the pin” on the project.
2. The Premier, who leads the Right faction and who has bravely stood up to the slick, millionairebacked PR machine of the “Stop Adani” movement to fight for Labor’s working- class core in regional Queensland, has been embarrassed.
Trad and the Labor Left have used wedge politics to put their own political survival ahead of that of regional Queensland.
It is typical of politicians of all colours living inside the parliamentary bubble, where too quickly their admirable motivation of fighting for and serving their communities is replaced with an obsession with votes and doing anything they can to keep their jobs – in this case at the expense of the Labor core, ordinary Queenslanders who are sick of being overlooked in favour of inner- city elites. a major victory on two