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| Image courtesy Vietnam War Cartoon exhibition |
The recent report from Department of Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezullo is a timely reminder of the Coalition's default position on the use of the politics of fear.
To quote Craig Emerson in this piece from Pearls and Irritations -
The Liberals have form when it comes to demonising outsiders. If it wasn’t the ‘‘commos’’ coming down through Vietnam to attack us in the 1960s, it was ‘‘too much Asian immigration’’ in the late 1980s, the asylum seeker boats of the 2000s allegedly carrying terrorists, the African gangs preventing Melburnians from going to restaurants in 2018, and the asylum seekers in 2019 who would kick Aussies off hospital and public housing waiting lists if they were medically evacuated from Christmas Island.
The "Reds under the bed" schtick of the fifties and the sixties worked very well for a while in that it kept DLP voters terrified enough to give their preferences to the Coalition, which led to our commitment to Vietnam, and the loss of blood and treasure that followed.
And yet, incredibly, Morrison was prepared to reprise it in a last desperate effort to cling on to power. This, from an ex-minister for Immigration and Border Protection who would respond to any inquiry about boat arrivals and turnbacks with the "on-water matters" cliche. The new Leader of the Opposition is a serial offender when it comes to resorting to the frighteners. Maybe it was something he learned as a Queensland copper.
China's system of government is anathema to Australians, but demonising it is scarcely going to convince the Chinese to abandon it. There are many countries with authoritarian administrations worldwide, but spruiking about the "drums of war" is childish. Managing our relationship with China is best done with deeds, not words, and it has nothing to do with jeopardizing national security in a cheap attempt to scare voters. As Emerson points out, we don't have to kowtow or sacrifice our sovereignty to acknowledge the economic and military power of China.
Perhaps the results of the recent federal election indicate that Australians have begun to recognise a dog-whistle when they hear it.
