Before any motive for the Helen Haines attack had been established, the Prime Minister held a national press conference declaring “there’s no place for political violence in a democracy.” Apparently, however, his concern doesn’t extend to an ordinary Australian who dares to put a One Nation corflute on his own private property.
A Victorian One Nation supporter is in hospital, savagely bashed, with facial injuries so severe he is unrecognisable and bleeding on the brain. His work van has been destroyed, leaving his family without an income. His children are now afraid in their own home.
The alleged perpetrator and his stepson were attempting to remove One Nation corflutes from the man’s private property when the homeowner disturbed them. And yet, police have now declared that this was not a politically motivated attack.
Not political? On what possible basis?
A man and his step son are (allegedly) caught interfering with political campaign material on private property. The homeowner confronts them and ends up brutally bashed, hospitalised and fighting to recover from horrific injuries. And that’s not politically motivated?
Why has political motive been ruled out when the (alleged) violence arose directly from interference with political campaign material. The political corflutes were not incidental to the circumstances. They were at the very centre of the confrontation.
And where, Prime Minister, is your national press conference? Where is your declaration that Australians must be free to express their political views without fear of violence?
Not a word from you. Not one. And the silence extends well beyond the Prime Minister.
When Helen Haines was attacked, politicians across the political spectrum couldn’t get to a microphone or social media account quickly enough. Statements of outrage. Condemnations of political violence. Grand declarations about democracy, tolerance and the right to participate in political life without intimidation.
Yet now, when a One Nation supporter is lying in hospital with bleeding on the brain following a confrontation over One Nation political signs, where are those same voices?
Where is the outrage? Where are the statements of sympathy for his family? Where are the declarations that every Australian has the right to express a political opinion without being intimidated or assaulted?
The silence is deafening.
You do not have to agree with One Nation. You do not have to share a single one of our policies to condemn what happened to this man. You simply have to believe that an Australian has the right to display a political sign on his own property without ending up in hospital.
That should be the easiest principle in the world for our political leaders to defend.
Instead, we have a political class that never stops lecturing Australians about tolerance, inclusion and respect, yet appears remarkably selective about whose rights deserve defending and whose suffering warrants public sympathy.
If the victim had been displaying a Labor, Liberal or Greens corflute, would the reaction have been the same? Would the political establishment have been so conspicuously quiet?
This isn’t just about one appalling act of violence. It is about a political culture in which some victims seem to matter more than others, depending on which political party they support.
Political freedom is not a privilege reserved for politicians, fashionable causes or people whose opinions the political establishment approves of. It belongs to every Australian.
And if our political leaders cannot bring themselves to condemn the savage bashing of an ordinary Australian in these circumstances, their endless speeches about inclusion and tolerance ring utterly hollow. The message their silence sends is appalling.
What a disgraceful display of political cowardice and breathtaking hypocrisy.