With Abbott, the satire often writes itself. Initially inspired by a scene from Predator (1987), the mindset behind the Mad Monk was, I thought, more suitable to a slasher flick.
Tip of the Iceberg
The Occupy Wall Street movement has, in the US and Europe at least, proven remarkably popular and resilient to pressure from the authorities. The ongoing arrogance of the elite ’1 per cent’ is probably as much a recruitment factor for OWS as the economic disaster precipitated by that elite. It remains to be seen if the movement can force reform in those nations most exposed to – and most angry about – the decoupling of capitalism from middle-class aspiration.
The Full Murdoch
The News Ltd. phone hacking scandal is the gift that keeps on giving for cartoonists everywhere, at least partially due to the unique charms of Rupert Murdoch as a walking caricature, sharing characteristics with both Mr. Burns and E.T. Here Murdoch has become, reluctantly for once, the star of his own show.
Abbottabad Academy
The killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces in a compound only blocks from a major Pakistan Army academy once again put the spotlight on the long and often mutually supportive relationship between Al Quaeda and the Pakistani military – a major beneficiary of US material support in the War on Terror.
Minority Government
As Tony Abbott’s wildly successful anti-Carbon Tax scaremongering gouged Labor in the polls, Julia Gillard appeared more willing to sucker punch her nominal partners in government than take the fight to the Liberals.
Dummy Spit
Bob Brown’s April 2011 exhortation to the Australian newspaper no doubt caused a few conniptions on the editorial board.
Yemen
One of the many striking (if not particularly surprising) revelations in Wikileaks’ dump of USDS cables was just how much of a double game the Yemeni government had been playing between the Americans, Islamist militants, and its own populace.
When Twiggy met Julie
Another romance, albeit more conventional was in the air when deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop joined homegrown mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest in a very well-heeled protest against Labor’s planned tax on mining profits. The mining sector’s fury, and Forrest’s populist anti-tax message to the WA electorate forced a rapid backdown from Kevin Rudd, hastening his demise as PM.
The face that launched a thousand sniffs
The ‘Troy and Adele’ affair that consumed Western Australian Parliament in early 2010 was a classic tale of forbidden love. When it emerged that perennially misbehaving Treasurer Troy ‘Chair-Sniffer’ Buswell was conducting a secret affair with Greens MP Adele Carles, accusations of impropriety, sabotage, misuse of funds, and moral turpitude flew thick and fast between the parties concerned. The media and the ALP made the most of this epic.
The Big F*cking Tony
The upswing in Tony Abbot’s popularity before the 2010 Federal Election brought him to within a hair’s breadth of the Prime Ministership. For many on the Left, the prospect of a fullblown conservative comeback so soon after the Howard era evoked almost mythical terror.
