So much for civilised debate, Malcolm.

Last week, the Coalition for Marriage released their first ad as part of the ‘No’ Campaign in the upcoming Government Postal Survey on Marriage Equality, which is costing the taxpaying public north of $122 million. After a flurry of activity making sure people are on the electoral role to vote yes, finally the ‘No’ Camp have shown their core message to the people of Australia, to rally people to their banner.

In 30 seconds that felt like an eternity, the Coalition for Marriage showed what a group of people desperate to win in the face a foregone conclusion will stoop to, if no guidelines demanding basic facts, or denying bigoted dog-whistling are enforced.

From an intellectual standpoint, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more insulted.
From an ethical standpoint, I’ve never felt so sure in having a moral superiority over a group of people.
From a political standpoint, I feel vindicated in calling the Prime Minister a coward.
From the perspective of someone with LGBTQI+ family and friends, I can only imagine what these past weeks have been like and what the next few will do.

We start off with mother of four Cella White telling us of how her son was told by teachers at Frankston Secondary, if he wanted to wear a dress, he could, talking about the Safe Schools program. Which is a bold move, seeing as White has been accused about spreading misleading information about the Safe Schools program before, not to mention the bravery it takes to say such a thing about one’s own son, only to have the principal of his school twice reject her claim as ever happening.

And it goes on. Later on we meet Dr Pansy Lai, a paediatrician based in Sydney’s North Shore, discussing “when same-sex marriage passes as law overseas, this type of [Safe Schools-style program becomes] widespread and compulsory”. The Coalition for Marriage on their website gives half-mentioned examples such as Canada, and the UK, which, in both cases Dr Lai’s statement and the information provided by the Coalition for Marriage is patently false (Evidence is provided here).

All this ad became was a slight against the Safe Schools initiative, which will happen regardless of the outcome of the Postal Survey. The reasoning behind this is the postal survey is not about Safe Schools, it is about one sentence in the Marriage Act. What was shown by the Coalition for Marriage, other than the reassurance that “it’s OK to say no” was a complete abandonment of the issue, in favour of the worst Christian stereotype; Helen Lovejoy wailing for someone to think of the children.

This then is their agenda. They know their distaste for marriage equality will not sit well with the general population, owing to the fact the over 70% of Australians have spent a decade saying they want it, so instead they intend to focus on what they have always done: used children as a scapegoat, use every available platform to say every hurtful statement they can under the guise of “debate” then cry victim when there is any push back on their talking points whatsoever.

What is galling is the continued attacks, unfounded and convoluted, on Safe Schools, which is not even the issue being discussed , and seeing as they brought it up, here is the takeaway one may gather from any person who persists with calling for the removal of the program and offering no alternative:
They do not care if gay children kill themselves.
They don’t want gay children to grow up accepted, or happy.
They want the parents of gay children to understand that — to the vocal and hateful coalition of Christian groups who let a woman lie on National television about her son — they failed as parents, that these soldiers of Christ know what’s best for the Child’s soul.
And if any of them think this is unreasonable, then by all means, let them give us an alternative to the program. But until then, know that these people would not care and do not weep over the young LGBTQI+ deaths in this country.

But don’t worry, it’s ok to vote no.

I’m writing this at 1.30 in the morning three days after Britain voted to leave the EU in one of the most incredible displays of a country not considering its choices since anything the US decided not to do about guns.
I’m staggered, as I am sure the rest of the world is, at the result, and the immediate backlash which includes:
- France overtaking the UK as the 5th strongest economy in the world
- The British pound plummeting to the lowest it’s been in 30 years
- The British Prime Minister announcing his plan to resign
- Scotland announcing its plans to keep in the EU, as they initially voted, going so far as to consider a second independence referendum in 2 years.
- Ireland considering reunification and independence to stay in the EU
- Spain announcing plans to claim dual sovereignty over Gibraltar
- Britain’s opposition are tabling a motion of no-confidence against its leader, and
- An overwhelming number of reports across England of racially motivated attacks and verbal abuse directed at people seen as “not British” (that’s any colour not white, for those of not well versed in history).

In summarising the day after, James O’Brien said on his radio show:
“The single thing that we can all agree on now is that no one has a clue what happens now... It doesn’t have to be frightening, but nobody knows what’s going to happen next.”
He’s absolutely right, of course, this could be a time of tremendous hope and optimism, a one time superpower claiming its new place in the modern age and finding greatness again. As we’ve seen since the vote came through, most of the major markets have slowed or stopped trading in held breath and the world, it seems is waiting to see what else is going to happen.

But it’s not without its moments of deep suspicion. One of the Pro-Brexit side’s biggest mouthpieces, Nigel Farage, did a complete reverse on his claim that the money sent weekly to the EU should, if the Brexit happened, be relocated to the NHS. He denied ever saying that.
He said it on national television.
It was on the side of a giant fuckoff bus.
I could go into some of the many and myriad ways that Nigel Farage is a catastrophe, a melted waxwork pressed from the same mould as our own Peter Dutton, more outward of his batshit prejudices, compounded with a taste for leadership, only (and up to this point thankfully) never let loose in a ministerial portfolio. I could explain how he and his allies in the bid to make Britain leave the EU were, if not mistaken, blatantly lying to a disenfranchised people who’d lost faith in their political system. Rather, it is to the wilfully uninformed that we come to. The Independent is now reporting that people who voted to leave are requesting a second referendum. And the reasoning is fundamentally aggravating. To quote one woman : “I would go back to the polling station and vote to stay, simply because this morning the reality is kicking in.” It should.

From the Independent:

Electoral services workers have reported calls from people asking if they could change their decision after Friday’s result became clear, while some publicly admitted they intended to use a “protest vote” in the belief the UK was certain to remain in the European Union.

Now, amid a wave of backtracking from the Pro-Brexit camp on issues ranging from immigration, to the future of the NHS, if there is a legitimate reason to cast another vote by all means, yes. Vote again. It would be one rare time voters who were lied to get to show their displeasure satisfactorily.
Otherwise, and this is as sincere a statement as anyone will offer to anyone who is now scared of what they voted for: No. You asked for this. Deal with it.

Three years ago, Australia had a massive panic attack. As with all panic attacks and manic episodes, our nation was prone to lash out in irrational behaviour, which, it could be argued, we did.
We voted in a leader who was neither wise, nor compassionate, of substance nor, as it seemed, viable. He bought with him a cabinet that not only set about dismantling and disenfranchising their voter base, but tried to convince us succeeding the goals they had (cutting back our immigration, scrapping carbon tax, destroying the NBN) was worth breaking promises they made (cutting the ABC & Medicare’s funding, not providing a guaranteed 26 weeks maternity leave to expecting mothers and selling Medibank private, to name a few of the worst contenders).
Better or worse, however, we kept this pack of arguably undeserving individuals in power. When there was talk of recalling the Prime Minister, it was laughed down. Even as they cut the arts and planned to waste millions on a plebiscite for the apparently Herculean feat of recognising that some people want to get married differently.
My big problem with these people casting another vote, be it because they feel lied to, they feel like theirs was a vote of protest and was seen as unimportant, they feel they went in uninformed, or they plain just changed their mind completely undermines the idea of Democracy and even putting the vote to the people in the first place.
I’m not entirely sure why this is what I am so mad about. But it may be because I have always taken a vote as a very serious thing to do. I was told early in my life, however idealistic, that people fought and shed blood over a right to have their say. It’s been denied to Aboriginal people and women in this country, it the former’s case until fairly recently in our history. I treat it with an amount of respect and dignity I’m sure others don’t. And that’s fine too. But to protest the result of a vote to the point of demanding another is, even when it’s people of my shared beliefs and ideologies doing it, a situation in which I find myself utterly shocked.

“I didn’t think my vote would be important” has been said by many people who either voted to leave in protest, or by many who simply didn’t. Which should tell everyone whose ever told me their vote is unimportant how dire that statement is. And in this time of uncertainty, while the ugly bigotry that hid in the UK until this vote gave them a cause to throw off the decency society demands of them, while the pound continues to lose value, while the world stares disbelieving into a union jack- coloured question mark of a country, here in this country, we have a very clear, and very real choice to make next weekend as Australia goes to the polls. We have seen and heard what our current Prime Minister wants.

And the words “Caveat Emptor” are blazed across the sky.

“And I’ll put in 10 grand straight away, make it 20. And if she stays under, 50. What do you reckon guys?”

He said this to the knowing guffaws of the Triple M commentary team, and probably some of the listening audience. However, seeing as violence against women is a huge problem in this country, a concerned and unimpressed section of the community took to calling out the comments as vulgar, especially as they were made mere days before McGuire welcomed a new AFL women’s team into the Collingwood fold. Oh, and he said this stuff during the White Ribbon AFL round, which is aimed at prevention of violence against women.
Tact and timing never were strong points of McGuire, and frankly, it’s a bit tiring to hear him trot out the same standard of non-apology we keep hearing from this man, who, even after last year’s comments surrounding Adam Goodes and his treatment and behaviour regarding Jessica Rowe, still hasn’t learnt one iota of how jokes or indeed personal accountability work. When he finally did talk about these comments, what he could offer as his way of taking responsibility for his words was:

“[I’m] really disappointed that these comments have led to these feelings from people… I apologise and retract them in the spirit of what we’re trying to achieve, which is to look after women and children in our community.”

You hear that, folks? He’s ‘disappointed’ we didn’t get on board with what he was saying and that our opinion is different to his. He’s ‘retracting’ them for the women and children.
To wit and viz: I’m sorry YOU didn’t like my joke. Think of the children.

Here’s another piece of advice for Mr McGuire: Go Fuck Yourself.

Below is some of David Letterman’s comments after making what was perceived as a tasteless joke about Bristol Palin, a few years back:

“… and I thought, ‘Oh, boy, now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent.’ It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke.”

Here we see someone who at least had the humility and knowledge to admit that his joke didn’t go over well and that the onus to ‘sell’ the joke was on him. McGuire and the fleet of ‘ larrikin characters’ employed by Triple M (of which James Brayshaw, the North Melbourne Club’s president was one) may have shared a bit of an amusing in-joke with each other at the expense of a journalist they do not see eye-to-eye with as a consensus. Maybe they did this with the intent of sharing it with the audience, but fact is, it was perceived as tasteless. And demonstrably unfunny. The fact is he thinks it’s OUR fault we’re upset by his words, even though he cannot sell his own premise. “It’s the perception rather than the intent” needs to be drummed into this sort of ‘it was just a joke’ mentality that has pervaded some quarters of the Australian media landscape. You don’t get to dictate terms if people didn’t laugh.

Here’s a last piece of advice for Mr. McGuire: Please don’t insult the people who are unimpressed by your words by insinuating it’s on them if they didn’t like what you said. No one person is so beyond criticism that their words are safe. You messed up. Show some actual humility OR let someone else write your jokes. And you are unfunny. Channel 9 in particular has days and days of footage to prove this.