The Oz general election is on a knife edge. There’s no doubt who the BBC is supporting. Here’s the profile of Labour’s Gillard:
* Welsh-born former lawyer
* Taken to Australia as a child in 1966 for the warmer climate
* Known for her pragmatism and sharp tongue
* Seen as intelligent and determined
* Lives with her partner, a hairdresser
* Faced criticism from conservatives for not having children
And of Tony Abbott:
* Nick-named the “mad monk”, relating to his brief training as a priest
* Renowned fitness fanatic and former student boxer
* Socially conservative on issues such as same-sex marriages and abortion
* Known for gaffes and has frequently been caught swearing on camera
* Climate change sceptic
To decode: that nice Ms Gillard is pragmatic, intelligent and determined, is not married but has a nice boyfriend, and has been unfairly attacked for not having children. In other words, a BBC role-model. Horrid Mr Abbott is a nutter, a fanatic, dares to believe in traditional family values, is gaffe-prone, and – boo,hiss, worst of all in the BBC hate stakes – dares to challenge the climate change idiocy of Ms Gillard(who wants to cripple the Oz economy by introducing eye-watering green taxes). So, for the BBC, it’s we love Gillard, that lovely lady from Wales.
That’s the article with the carefully-chosen photos of Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott that deegee pointed out on the Open Thread. The BBC just keeps piling it on!
The homosexuals at the BBC (OK that’s most male beeboids) do seem turned on by the fact that Abbott likes to wear tight swimming trunks, this does seem to turn male beeboids on.
Yes, BBC World’s hourly summary of the news headlines in its 3 sentences or so on Australia’s general election was careful to include a reference to Abbott’s nickname (crucial for the BBC to include that in the briefest of summaries), and said Abbott fought a `surprisingly’ strong campaign. Surprising to whom?
The herbert in the studio then looked on a real downer when he had to share the news with us that exit polls suggested Gillard probably hadn’t achieved an outright victory
Well, an Aussie journalist, Michael Dodds, was on the News Channel last night &, when the interviewer inevitably mentioned that Abbott was called “the mad monk”, replied “yes, by his critics!”
The BBC’s Nick Bryant is always calling him that (and, as Martin says, mentioning his ‘budgie-smugglers’ too!).
Yes, good spot Robin. They are falling over themselves to promote Gillard. Sickening bias.
Since the BBC usually go in for wishful thinking, their suggestion of a hung parliament may be a rather good omen.
Climate change is ever-present, but it sure looks like politics is, in many countries, swinging away from the utterly unsusbstantiated mann-made global warming looney toon!
Aaah great catch Ian!
The BBC can be relied upon to betray their hopes and fears, from outright socialist win before to hanging onto the desperate hopes of a hung parliament.
Sound familiar? Oooh yes, they did the same thing in the Italian/New Zealand/Chilean/UK elections, they gob off predictions of socialist victory and then fall back onto rageed defence lines until defeat looms.
I await the BBC reaction to the greens electoral showing.
Yes the BBC’s track record of forecasting election results is absolute crud – as anyone would expect
The election could be hugely important – because if Abbott wins, there will be a major leader willing to challenge the whole climate-change behemoth that the BBC promotes through every type of programming.
The BBC has failed to say that in terms of first votes, Labour has been trounced – it only hangs on through gaining the second-preferences of Green voters. The result is still touch-and-go, but I am hoping that Aussie plain-speaking will win out.
….and even if Abbott does not win outright – does not get the necessary 76 seats in the House of Represntatives – the Labour Party has taken one hell of a pasting and would be hanging on by its teeth.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/21/2989827.htm?section=justin
If Abbott is level-pegging with Labour, it looks like 3 of the 5 independents may favour him over Gillard.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67K1E020100821
Australia certainly can teach us a thing or two about political backbone. We simply dont have our own John Howard’s and Tony Abbot’s, and there’s other calibre Ausse conservatives as well who leave ours standing.
Something I will say, as much as I dont like cut of Julia Gillard’s gib, it was an honourable thing to call a general election when she deposed Rudd.
The BBC doesn’t say a word there about Gillard’s policies or where she sits in the political spectrum. They do mention that she was criticized by “conservatives”, which means she’s not one. But then the BBC says nothing else, which means that, as she is not a conservative, she holds all the approved thoughts, so need to mention her position on any issue at all.
Yet the BBC makes sure to point out three different policy positions (unapproved thoughts in this case) of her opponent.
David,
She’s from Wales
She’s a female lawyer
She’s unmarried
She’s not right wing
She fits the BBC template – no policies needed.
4pm news coverage on BBC is all about how Gillard might retain power with Green voter support – and gives her a quote.
How come no quote from Abbott – he had said that Gillard and “Labor had lost legitimacy”. Obviously a quote for the BBC memory hole. And bury the facts that Labour has been heavily outvoted in terms of aggregate popular first-vote, that this is Labour’s worst primary vote since the war.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/labor-has-lost-legitimacy-abbott/story-fn59niix-1225908330454
Labor looks to be in a right mess post-election. Again, no mention of this from the BBC :
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/labor-faces-spell-of-soul-searching/story-e6frgd0x-1225908333039
It’s interesting the things they don’t say.
Tony Abbott was born in London. Why is her Welsh birth important for her and irrelevant for him?
Tony Abbott has a law degree and was a Rhodes Scholar at Queen’s College, Oxford and graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) in Politics and Philosophy. I don’t think university degrees are any real indication of suitability for political leadership (look at Obama) but why is her profession relevant for her and not him? BTW Abbott was a professional journalist for some time.
Both leaders claim to be strongly pro Israel. Needless to say the BBC didn’t mention this!
Its always surprising what the BBC leave out in their supposed in depth analysis and reporting.
On this and on so many other issues – it would be cheaper for all of us if the BBC cut back its useless journalist overmanning and just collated itas news from a BROAD spread of each country’s media plus feeds from the wire services.
There has been more – and more reliable – information posted right here on this lowly blog over the past few days than in the entire BBC TV and radio coverage and its £100 million-a-year website.
John I’ve often wondered why the BBC can’t do what Sky does and use local journalists for much of their overseas reporting, Sky will often use local journalists (it must save a fortune) but the BBC insist on not only sending ONE team of beeboids to cover a story but often several to cover the same thing. The BBC really are wasteful tossers.
Martin, be careful what you wish for. The BBC is using local journalists now for their online reporting in the US, and look where that’s gotten us: a JournoList groupie, an Obamessiah campaign worker, and their twatter buddies!
The BBC uses local journalists in Palestine Authority/Gaza. They are all directly under the pay of Hamas or Fatah or so intimidated they may as well be.
Abbott was a professional journalist for some time.
Ah, that would explain why he snubbed the Beeboid. He is fully conversant with the way of the Beeb and knows that he will be stitched up no matter what he says.
Bless. It’s like a bad parody. Only it’s our national news broadcaster… at ‘work’.
Obviously the finest standards of journalistic integrity and editorial oversight guided these summaries. If from the Kim Jong Il School of selective puffery and Mandelson Stiletto Dojo of negative spin.
They really can’t help themselves, can they? And this about some pols t’other side of the planet. I’m amazed they didn’t do a broadcast/print combo with the Graun a la Clark County to help the good folk of Oz find the ‘correct’ path.
At least careers in writing estate agency blurbs beckon, should any escape the wall when the revolution comes.
One can only wonder what others they could concoct:
John Prescott
* Noted climate change rapporteur and frequent traveller
* Keen staff extra-curricular activity supporter
* Good with kids
* Fitness fanatic (dietary)
* Classic car owner
* Avid lawn sportperson
* Noted ‘evolutionary’ opinion holder
* Didn’t go to… boo hiss.. public school (like most Beeboids)
* Didn’t go to… boo hiss.. Oxbridge (ditto)
Anyone In Hated Coalition (which is splitting, daily, if Aunty can arrange it) plus other folk not on the right side of ‘the list’
* Eats babies
* Eats more babies
* Has babies for breakfast
* Takes babies from single mothers scheduled for sob story on Breakfast News tomorrow.. and eats them!
etc…
It’s editorial by commission of all propaganda techniques, and omission of any hint of professional probity. I’d love to find out what any fair and balanced Australian voter would think of such a selection if so presented by an in-theory objective news outlet.
Thank heavens one does not have to watch, read or pay… er… oh.
Love it!!
It does seem to resonated elsewhere in the political infirmament, too:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100051242/tony-abbott-believes-in-god-but-not-in-eco-taxes-no-wonder-the-elites-dont-like-him/
Now, which ‘elite’ might he mean?
BBC reporting eg Nick Bryant has suggested that Labor gets credit for avoiding a recession.
Rubbish. Australia avoided a recession because the economy was already strong when Labor took over from John Howard, and there has been big and increasing demand for OZ minerals eg from China. Also – banks in Australia and New Zealand were not drawn into the crazy involvement with the US property market scams (fomented by Democrat policies and politicians). So there was no need for the sort of emergency measures required in the UK and US.
It is amazing that with such a strong economy (and improving OZ dollar) the Labor Government should lose so many seats. Now THAT, for example, is what the BBC should be telling us.
We’ve recently celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain (well, not if you’re on the BBC) and no doubt soon we will be remembering the stoic British spirit that saw us through the Blitz. Maybe that also might be a suitable occasion to recognise the propaganda blitz the BBC is currently waging against the outcome of British democracy? What is that distant humming in the sky? It is the serried ranks of BBC propaganda formations about to drop their payloads from the airwaves. Can Britain take it? Not if there isn’t a Spitfire in the sky we can’t. B-BBC can only provide the radar stations, our elected politicians need to do the rest.
The BBC line of attack is now clear, Tony Abbot has failed to achieve a majority/ has failed to convince the electorate/ has failed win a clear mandate/ has failed to beat the ALP in a convincing fashion!
Note the liberal use of the word FAIL in the BBC reports with Nick Bryant telling us the election was a soap opera(no it wasnt it was an election) and the greens with just one seat are now the power brokers(no theyre not, not with one seat they most certainly aint).
So the BBC in full socialist spite mode sprinkle the words fail and failure about a man who has in fact won the Australian election and come from nowhere to win AND made history by beating a first term party.
But as the BBCs own ALP supporter states at the end of his report, the last hung parliament ended in tears very quickly so he fully expects/hopes a Liberal coalition will fail too.
When is a victory a defeat? When the BBC says so of course.
The BBC-NUJ branch, and its global political conspiracy is to propagandise for Labour/Democrat political parties everywhere, especially around election-time, in Britain, USA, Australia, France, Italy, Netherlands.
Oh dear !
The Australian election isn’t going the way the BBC would like.
Ms.Gillard (Jacqui Smith clone ?) enjoying a landslide would have given the BBC no end of pleasure.
Where to start ? Well here’s three areas :
1) The British public are stupid and Gordon Brown was a genius.
2) Global warming IS real.
3) The time is now right for Queen Elizabeth 11 to throw herself off the top of Windsor Castle.
So regardless of the Australian set back, undaunted, the BBC will no doubt return to areas 1,2 and 3 as soon as possible.
Did the ALP policy of demanding a republic have any bearing on the ALP defeat?
You can bet the BBC will stay silent on that particular issue.
I noted also that Gillad left her ‘modest house’ according to the BBC – does this imply Abbot is another Eton-eduated millionaire etc etc 😎