Speaking with actions

Russell Broadbent doesn’t need me to defend him against unfair criticism, but I can’t let Daryl Rogers’s intemperate letter (‘Living off taxpayers’, Gaz 10/10) pass without rejoinder.

There’s no need to wonder when Mr Broadbent was last seen locally. He’s often pictured in the Gazette attending community events.

Casting him as a supposedly stereotypical politician ‘living a life funded by the taxpayer like the rest of them’ is informed only by populist prejudice.

There’s plenty of evidence that, when in Canberra, Mr Broadbent is not simply politicking on his own behalf. Again, the evidence is frequently reported in the Gazette.

One example is his taking up the cause of local community-based aged care institutions, which it seems are disadvantaged in the allocation of federal funding compared with investorowned operations. In this case,

Mr Broadbent backed his words with action, resigning in protest from relevant parliamentary bodies, at personal monetary cost.

Then there are his courageous and principled speeches in parliament on racism and treatment of incarcerated refugees, which put him at odds with his Coalition colleagues and Government.

These are not the actions of a politician ‘like the rest of them’ (which itself is an unwarranted slur on the many other worthy members of parliament).

I don’t know Russell Broadbent personally, and have only spoken with him once, by telephone,