Politics is supposed to be a subtle art form. The aim is to make your party look good in the eyes of the voters - and to make those opposing you look bad. In that context, the old expression that " All is fair in love and war " - includes " and politics ".
It went horribly wrong on Australia day. One of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's bright young press secretary's decided to use his initiative to show leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott in a bad light. He called an official of the trade union movement - who happened to be of Aboriginal heritage - and informed her that Abbott was attending a function at a restaurant a few hundred metres away from the " Aboriginal Embassy " - on the lawns outside old parliament house.
It seems that an innocent remark made by Abbott about the age of this tent embassy was construed into a claim that Abbott was demanding that it be torn down - and this was the message delivered to the activists on site for an Australia day demonstration against what they term " Invasion day ".
From there, things got completely out of hand. An angry mob descended on the restaurant and this was far beyond that press secretary's expectations. Both he and his boss - the prime minister - were trapped along with Mr Abbott inside the building and there was a real danger of injury. The security people reacted - resulting in an unflattering photo of Julia Gillard being half dragged, half carried - with one shoe missing - to be dumped in her car and removed from risk.
That photo has been shown on world news services - and it is destined to reappear in the run up to the next election - time and time again !
The press secretary has fallen on his sword and resigned. What must have seemed to him as using his initiative to create favourable publicity for his political party badly misfired - but it didn't stop there. The next day those same Aboriginal activists who caused this trouble not only refused to apologise - they burned an Australian flag outside parliament house.
For the Labor government this has been a disaster. The look of sheer terror on our prime minister's face has been shown around the world, and much support for Aboriginal reconciliation has withered away with that disgusting scene of flag burning.
This " Australia day " is not a day to be remembered with pride !
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