So much to take credit for, so little effort! A Royal Commission instigated by a Labor Prime Minister; a Yes campaign in which the work done and harm suffered was by people other than the political class; a by-election won by a conservative man called John; a MYEFO presaged by strategic leaks to produce misleading headlines!

All bundled into a convenient narrative of the prime minister getting his thirtieth chance or his fiftieth reboot or his mojo back or whatever. It must be quite something, to repeatedly, endlessly, receive the benefit of the doubt on a national scale. Especially when any lingering doubt has long since departed the minds of thinking observers.

Because what the prime minister wants (ending the year on a “high note”) is indistinguishable from the national interest, right?

Yeah nah.

This month, between the house and the hustings, many long-term issues – the Uluru Statement, off-shore refugee camps, the NDIS – were put to the prime minister in a solo appearance on the ABC QandA program. It was a golden opportunity to show the intellect and statesmanship that allegedly forms part of his political repertoire.

He didn’t though, because it doesn’t, and he can’t.

The Terrible Show

Turnbull oozes a smugness that many mistake for charm. Then someone holds him to account for some dodgy nonsense he has said, or his government has done. Suddenly the smug-charm turns to outright condescension, he belittles and bullies, manipulates facts, and misleads his audience.

When host Virginia Trioli asked about a recording which, the evidence suggests, must have been leaked by security services, Turnbull implied she was impugning the spooks. He told Iranian Australian and ship-wreck survivor Yaser Naseri that he cares about asylum seeker deaths at sea (he doesn’t); he told Tommasina Owens of his fine grasp on the difficulties faced by her aging father caring for her brother with severe disabilities (he doesn’t). He did not answer Michael Doyle on his future vision for recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (he couldn’t).

This bonfire of vanities culminated when Teela Reid, who participated in the Regional Dialogues, asked about the Uluru Statement. After reeling off the usual spurious points – mischaracterising the Voice to Parliament as a House of Parliament (it isn’t); asserting that Indigenous MPs represent Indigenous constituencies (they don’t) – the prime minister used a technique called gaslighting.

Gaslighting is when the speaker not only distorts the question (“straw man”) but also seeks to make the other person doubt their own position, loyalties, or self-worth. Turnbull accused Ms Reid of disrespecting Indigenous MPs (she didn’t) while asserting that he himself has the greatest respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture, and people (he doesn’t). He put this argument while disrespecting an Aboriginal woman on national television.

For the record, Ms Reid remains confident of her position and respect for her people.

Yes Success

December kicked off with the passing of an amendment to the Marriage Act. Pushing on through measurable harm resulting in increased demand for mental health services, raising and dispersing funds not only for activism but for support, the rainbow community finally saw marriage equality made law.

When the prime minister, who did not campaign, rose to move that the bill be read for a third time – an essential step to making a bill into law – he accidentally gave a victory speech instead. The Speaker reminded him to do his job, and the error was edited from history. As is always expected of progressive punters – conservatives actually know they are the nastier bunch – the Yes folks generously shared their joy with all.

Responses to responses

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is a grave moment. Its scale is gargantuan: five gruelling years, more than 1.2 million documents; testimony from over 8,000 people; a 21-volume final report; more than 400 recommendations. By all accounts, the commitment, professionalism and thoroughness of the Commission were impeccable.

Did Turnbull and the (then) responsible Minister, Christian Porter, rise to the occasion?

On the last day of hearings, Porter was tweeting a selfie at the cricket with John Howard. He followed this up with an awkward speech thanking the Commission and survivors, and boasting about increased sentences for child sex offenders, a common political response with no known efficacy.

Presumably Porter had been tapped for promotion and was merely going through the motions.

“An outstanding exercise in love”, declared Malcolm Turnbull creepily, of a child abuse investigation. He also reiterated his policy of limiting and capping the compensation costs, which are to be borne by the Australian public. The policy rules out redress for victims with a conviction for a serious crime. Given that police routinely escalate charges against Aboriginal suspects, this will disproportionately disenfranchise Aboriginal survivors. The policy is racist, arbitrary, populist, and unjust.

Predictably, catholic church leaders conducted tacky, tone-deaf press conferences, speaking to the obscure theology of the confessional seal, and defending their vows of celibacy. On Insiders, veteran church-watcher David Marr called their defence of the confessional ‘barbaric’. Social media exploded. But the depravity of grown men who purport to be virgins discussing celibacy and theology when the true issue is sexual abuse of children went without comment from our political leaders.

Another by-election

If you thought the skin-crawling display from Joyce and Turnbull in New England (my write-up here) wait til you hear about the oratorical wit of Bennelong MP John Alexander.

‘John is an honest man’, Turnbull shouted at the happy throng, despite the fact that he had lied on a statutory declaration about checking his eligibility parliament. ‘A hard-working man’, crowed the PM, among other hackneyed descriptors invoking a tennis career rather than political career – because what political career?

In real life, this retiree-in-waiting bunks down in Bondi while renting his Moss Vale mansion for $1400 a night – without declaring it. He says sexist, racist and ableist things on camera. He makes non-apologies, and channels Donald Trump, saying ‘no-one has done more for people with disabilities than I have’.

This is not true. Thousands of people, including children, care for people with disabilities from dawn to dusk and every hour in-between every single day for a carer’s allowance that amounts to 7 cents an hour above the Newstart rate… so no, John. Stop lying.

MYEFO

The Mid-Year Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) was delivered by a man whose degree is in ‘applied economic geography’ and who has apparently now been informed that cutting wages dampens demand, and consumption, and growth.

The trick to MYEFO is for Treasurers to cut spending, preferably targeting people who conservative politicians hate, like students and migrants and children. This disinvestment in education and social cohesion is called ‘savings’. The budget deficit increase projection is revised downward, and presto! An economically illiterate press babble ignorantly about ‘slashing debt’. By the time financial journalists produce a more sober analysis, of falling real wages and rising public and private debt, the government got the headlines it wanted.

The caravan moves on

And there it is. A quick trip across the Australian political landscape reveals long-term issues like First Peoples justice and rights, our torture of refugees, and what was once enthusiastically sold as ‘debt and deficit disaster’, have gotten nowhere. It shows a prime minister with no vision for the future, and apparently no capacity to form one.

So season’s greetings! Thank you for your time, and for your shares and comments. I look forward to writing more next year.

*This post was first published by Independent Australia on Wednesday 20 December 2017