Gay and Lesbian advocates sometimes talk about the Bible’s six ”clobber” verses. But the word “clobber” got another workout this week in the defamation loss suffered by Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto.
Pesutto was found to have defamed crossbencher MP – formerly Liberal MP – Moira Deeming as a Nazi Sympathiser. She was awarded $300,000 in damages by the Federal Court, leaving Pesutto some $2m behind when court costs are taken into account.
In a secret recording of a meeting between Victorian Liberal leaders and Moira Deeming was played in Federal Court and excerpted in the Age, Pesutto says that ”There’s this very concerning perception out there that we are associated with Nazis.
“I’m getting clobbered.”
This was because a rally organised by Deeming had been gate-crashed by Nazis.
Deeming asked Pesutto why she was being blamed for “some random horrible people showing up”.
”Very obviously, I’m not a Nazi. And I don’t support Nazis.” Pesutto says Labor “have been itching for something to clobber me with, and this is it.”
Justice David O’Callaghan criticised Pesutto for his comments to the media: “In the case of the media release, the 3AW and ABC interviews and the press conference when bandying around words like ‘Nazi’ and ‘Nazi sympathisers’ and people who ‘associate’ with them or ‘help’ them and the like, it was incumbent on Mr Pesutto to be careful not to convey a meaning that he did not intend.”
Instead of clobbering Deeming by expelling her from the party, Pesutto has clobbered himself.
The intricacies of Liberal Party politics might be beyond the range of interest of many readers of the Other Cheek, but the machinations in the Liberal Party are a good jumping-off point to think about how Christians relate to society.
The contretemps in Melbourne was not really about Nazis. It only became so because of Pesutto’s verbal diarrhea. The issue was transgender and Deeming’s conservative views. The “Let Women Speak” rally featured UK activist Kellie-Jay Keen, who had spoken alongside a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys at a rally in the US the ABC reported.
“When did you first become aware that there were public allegations that Mrs Keen had shared platforms with far-right extremists?” Mr Collins asked.
“I never heard these things until Mr Pesutto put them forward,” Ms Deeming responded. The judge found the Keen link was not strong enough to justify Pesutto’s comments.
“just shut up” was what Pesutto was trying to say to Deeming.
And here’s an example of the same sort of clobbering from Queensland’s new LNP Premier, David Crisafulli.
As the Financial Review’s James Hall put it, “Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has shocked parliament with a motion banning any bills or debate on abortion laws, effectively ruling out any prospects to repeal termination of pregnancy legislation.”
This was to preclude the less-than-radical proposal that babies born alive after an abortion should be treated the same way as any other prematurely born infant – that is given every chance to survive. In other words, to do the same as the NSW 2019 Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 provides.
“To avoid doubt, the duty owed by a registered health practitioner to provide medical care and treatment to a person born as a result of a termination is no different than the duty owed to provide medical care and treatment to a person born other than as a result of a termination.”
Labor voted that the Queensland Parliament can discuss abortion. Many of the Christians in the LNP, including some well-known ones, voted that this small abortion reform not be discussed.
Chrisafulli is saying “shut up” to anyone who wants to talk about abortion. To Robbie Katter of the Katters Australian Party, who moved the Termination Of Pregnancy (Live Births) Amedment Bill, but mostly to people of his own party.
These events show a high level of discomfort about discussing “dangerous” meaning unpopular ideas. It’s not just the Liberal Party, but the political parties of all colours.
And churches, too. At one stage the Sydney Anglican synod had a ban on motions about women’s ordination. That no longer applies, there was a debate this year. State synods in the Uniting Church restrict comments on the media on controversial topics to official spokespeople.
The Liberal party might have more declared Christians in it than other parties but according to the wily observer of (and participant in) conservative politics, Lyle Shelton of Family First, many or most voted to support the party leaders who said “shut up” to their colleagues. UPDATE Moira Deeming will not return to the Libersl Party room after Pesutto used his casting vote to keep her out.
But here’s a radical thought: maybe the Christians should be the ones pushing for open debate whether in the Liberal Party, Labor or the Greens.
Not as bomb throwers, but simply becoming the free speech and free thought brigade. “We’ve got strong opinions, some of them are probably unpopular but we’re keen to discuss them” should be our attitude. Why not?
Those of us outside the bear pit of our parliaments should admire those who put their hands up to serve. But they should be allowed to speak up, too.