Garrett under attack
They kept him out of the forests, they kept him out of the mines, they learned to keep him away from talkback radio hosts in airport lounges, they changed his attitude to uranium, and they almost kept him entirely away from climate change. If only they had kept him out of Australian ceilings.
Perhaps next time the Federal Labor Party tries to cash in on a musician’s popularity they’ll hire somebody more in line with their own radical agenda. I’m thinking Guy Sebastian or Delta Goodram.
After all the sacrifices Peter Garrett has made to become Australian Environment Minister, how ironic that he is now under attack, not over his tacit support for Tasmania’s toxic pulp mill; or Japan’s programme of slaughtering and refuelling in Australia’s Antarctic Territory; or West Australian gas projects that threaten cultural and natural heritage; or nuclear hypocrisy, but over dodgy electricians and Chinese formaldehyde.
He is being accused of disrespect for human life – Australian life – by an Opposition that was once re-elected on the backs of drowned refugees and who now happily seeks political capital in the death of young workers unfortunate enough to have found employment with the kind of morons who probably voted for WorkChoices.
The Liberal desperation was evident when they asked why Garrett didn’t suspend all ceiling insulation installations at the first sign of any problem. Keep in mind that this complaint comes from the party that claims to represent business certainty.
Garrett may have received a number of warnings of various degree from a number of people and organisations attached to various vested interests, that elements of his ceiling insulation program were questionable or open to abuse and mismanagement. He also received a number of letters commending changes he made to the program, and many, many more letters of support.
As long as the Minister didn’t actually write a letter that said, “bugger safety, let’s kill people” he should still hold his job by month’s end. For now, his greatest enemy will be boredom – boredom at the sound of Greg Hunt whining the same question paraphrased 15 different ways in Question Time, and boredom with Tony Abbott’s daily melodramatic escalation of his alleged crimes against the nation.
Because at this rate it can only be a matter of weeks before Garrett is accused of having murdered God himself, unless, perhaps, he can get his wife to smooth things over… with an iron.
