Good article, Greg Barns! Would we have known about this outrage if we simply relied on the ABC to tell us? Thank you.
Shouldn’t we now also be asking why the ABC didn’t embarrass the prime minister and ambassador by publicly boycotting the event? Once more the Australian Government’s appeasement — like that of so many other governments — is simply endorsing the rogue régime this criminal now heads. This cannot end well.
The prime minister and the ambassador, by their indulgence, are not only undermining their own standing in this polity but they erode our Commonwealth’s dignified standing internationally. Our international standing is not safeguarded just because so many other government leaders are cringing and having selfies taken with this crooked, self-serving “deal maker”.
And were there any other Australian journalists who, following the example of their Pentagon colleagues the other day, joined John Lyons in solidarity to boycott the occasion? If there were, we should commend them and would very much like to hear from them. Well done, Pearls and Irritations! Such articles are very much needed now as we confront this many-sided deterioration away from the political effort to form an open, just society.