Thread by @iMusing

press gallery journalists obediently ensuring that a slur - so unparliamentary his mic was turned off - is crystallised in the minds of low engagement voters, by repeating it constantly. Same MO as his tax lies. Morrison will be pleased.

they are incapable of attaching the lies Liberals tell to the Liberals; or a rebuke of the prime minister to the prime minister; or economic and public health and national security vandalism to its factual source.

under cover of the pandemic they pretended that audiences and readers - expressing disgust as we came to comprehend exactly how press conferences work - just do not understand how press conferences work. Morrison grade gaslighting.

as if the defiantly ignorant treatment of Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins last week was not sufficiently shameful, they repeated the display when asking determinedly irrelevant questions of Holmes a Court yesterday.

the Independents need a competent party of government to work with on climate action, gender equality, and integrity in public administration. The Liberal Party is not that party. And the press gallery is incapable of informing voters of this crucial fact.

the damage done to the polity by press gallery journalists shovelling Climate200 and Voices policy positions into their hopelessly compromised and narrow minded perspective - pro-Liberal Party partisan politics - can not be overstated.

they are as unfit for purpose as the Coalition is for government.

anyway. I said all this in 2019, at length, including in blog posts published by the Australia Votes site convened by Paula Mathewson in an effort to reach a wider audience of people whose politics I do not share - in vain.

eg this “guide to the 2019 election” post pretty much could have been written yesterday:

imatthewsblog.com/2019/02/16/aus…

gallery journalists cling to their evidence-free claim that Voices candidates are somehow obliged - if they win a seat - to the Liberal Party. When these candidacies are literally premised on being an alternative to the Liberal Party.

leaving aside post-election incumbency matters for a moment - an overstated constitutional argument, or overstated in the paws of press gallery journalists - Windsor and Oakeshott formed government with Gillard because Abbott was ridiculous. Unpalatable. Not a partner in policy.

yes Oakeshott and Windsor were largely elected by voters who switched away from the Nationals. Voters who actively chose to reject the Coalition candidate. Still gallery journos will insist that candidates who explicitly oppose the Coalition are somehow beholden to the Coalition.

it would be funny if it was not so appalling that national press club members - who have studiously avoided mentioning the significance of the Voices movement for years now - are dealing with being forced to acknowledge (HeLL0 WiLL0uGhBy) by trying to dictate terms. Honestly.

hearing the ABC has given a platform to serial manners offender and murdoch columnist Greg Sheridan - hanging up on Trioli; losing his shit at Baird on #TheDrum - to promote misinformation about Voices candidates and democracy in general as we speak. No, I am not watching.

showcasing how deeply invested are journos like Sheridan, Speers and the crew in the status quo. And their barely concealed rage and open hostility toward wealthy white career-successful candidates standing against the Liberal Party in formerly safe tory seats.

white anger is dangerous and the palpable white anger sloshing around in the public domain right now - high level political and media operatives confronted by reasonable public policy, which they perceive as class betrayal - is getting extremely ugly.

press gallery journos complacently note that campaigning is in full swing - like it is some kind of insight - while ignoring the abuse of incumbent power that is inherent to corrupted Coalition strategy of repeatedly leveraging the actual federal budget for party political gain.