MY OPINION
HOLD YOUR TONGUE, PM
RETAIL REALITY CHECK
While everyone had something to say about ‘the slap’ the Prime Minister should have kept quiet, writes Jane Stephens.
I
t is The Slap that continues to reverberate around the world. It kicked off when actor Will Smith did his ’nana over a harsh joke Oscars host Chris Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith. Will Smith strode onto the stage and clocked Rock, and then there was rocking all over the world. The immediate responses were strange. Smith was consoled, Rock disappeared – so the instinct was to comfort the perpetrator, not the victim. The Academy Awards room, the online and TV audiences and the internet went into overdrive. Some celebs said they wished their man would stand up for them like that. Some said picking on a person’s health condition was not cool. Many were rightly horrified at Smith’s violence. But soon after, when he went up to accept the Best Actor gong, he said he was sorry – sort of. Then the flames were fanned here, when the Prime Minister made mention of it on Brisbane radio. Why on earth would he weigh in? Why didn’t he just back away, sensing danger? With an election looming it would have been prudent, but in an effort to be jolly and friendly, our PM couldn’t help himself.
He was asked if he had ever felt the need to cross the floor to slap someone in Parliament. “I’m also fiercely defensive of anyone who would say anything about Jenny too, so I can understand it,” he chortled. And he added, somewhat lamely: “That’s not how you roll.” Good grief. He missed his chance to note that a physical response to a verbal lashing is never okay, even if in defence of a loved one. He also could have said violence should never be conflated as a sign of love. He could have said women as empowered as Jada or Jen are unlikely to need a knight in shining armour. But he didn’t. And wait, there’s more. Upset is rippling over the ill-conceived action of the juniors in the PM’s party – the Young Liberals – when they joined in the reaction avalanche on social media. They posted a mocked-up version of a still of the incident, positioning Rock as hard-working Australians and Smith as Labor’s higher taxes. The meme (now taken down) has led to a political skirmish on both social and legacy media. And so the rocking around the world continues. These are strange times.
Jane Stephens is a USC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
Ashley Robinson has caught a glimpse into the future, and it’s made him realise that retirement may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
M
y dearly beloved had a small operation the other day on her right hand, which she normally does everything with. I mean everything. And I was engaged to do everything for her, except for one thing which I begged her to use her other hand for – lucky for me she was successful. The other week I wrote about being in lockdown, which was a window I looked into for retirement and didn’t much like the view. Being the right hand of the boss of me was another reminder that in retirement I will need a hobby – one that gets some distance between us on a semi regular basis (well, let’s go for regular). I was pondering how much I would delve into being the right hand when I heard a reverse beeper in the driveway. It was a click, pick and pay Woolies truck delivering to the new neighbours, which made me think about old mate’s version of pick, click and pay last week. She clicks, or in fact points, her fingers of her left hand, I pick and pay. Great system. I tried to talk her into letting me go grocery shopping by myself but got a roll
of her eyes and a “by the time I explain it all to you, take pictures it will be easier to both go. At least I know what to do.” As painful as that trip to Woolies was for both of us, I still learnt more about old mate. Like she picks everything she needs for her flock of birds whether on special or not, apart from refusing to pay $1.50 per single passion fruit. But everything else has to be on special, especially if it’s something I want. The Arnott’s biscuit aisle didn’t have one bloody special ticket in sight, so no biscuits for the fat boy. We painfully got through the list, the looking, the checking what weight or metric volume, expiry date versus price. Wow. We ended up at the deli and she headed straight for the prime grain-fed Wagyu beef, not on special. She didn’t even ask how much a kilo it was, just ordered it and I picked it up in its own special brown bag. As I fondled the beautiful lump of meat I thought, finally something I like. It must be the way I was looking at it because she said, “George will like that”. Alas, it was for George the kelpie cross. Another window for retirement and another bracing view of what’s to come.
Ashley Robinson is the manager of Alex Surf Club and the chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors. These are not the views of My Weekly Preview publishers.
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