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They should be jailed, he said. Punished for putting their own citizens into concentration camps without trial. He wasn't talking about an autocratic regime in Africa. He wasn't talking about China. And certainly not about Russia.
No, Tucker Carlson, too toxic even for Fox News, was talking about Australia and the state premiers who put their states into lockdown in the face of the pandemic. The far right, anti-woke American commentator was in Canberra, geeing up an audience of true believers, among them Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and Clive Palmer's anti-vaxxer senator Ralph Babet, who hosted the event.
If what Carlson was saying was surprising - Australia should develop nuclear weapons and kick American troops out of the country - the fact people paid good money to hear the rant was astonishing. Mind you, ticket prices had been sharply discounted, suggesting the speaking tour was yet another example of Palmer throwing good money after bad. Remember, the United Australia Party spent $100 million on the campaign that landed Babet his Senate spot, the sole UAP candidate to make it to Canberra.
Poor Clive. He's still convinced he can buy his way to power. Somehow mirror Trump's surprise 2016 win. Trotting out Carlson - whose February interview with Vladimir Putin was dismissed around the world as little more than a vehicle for the autocrat's propaganda - was a new low. And a pretty poor investment decision.
All up, Carlson's tour was a damp squib. All it garnered was the odd headline and mocking report.
There are some American imports that simply won't catch on here in Australia. Aerosolised cheese, peanut butter and jelly (read: jam), grits, Schlitz beer and Twinkies - they just won't fly. Nor will Tucker Carlson.
We have our own far right loonies, thank you very much. And a few on the far left too but they don't get gigs on Sky After Dark. They peddle similar nonsense but no one's watching.
Nick Bryant's The Forever War is a searing examination of polarisation and division in the US. In it he recalls how Carlson described the January 6 insurrection in a Fox News documentary aired before the commentator was shown the door late last year.
"'They were peaceful, orderly and meek,' ran Carlson's honeyed commentary. 'They were not insurrectionists. They were sightseers'," Bryant writes. Certainly not what the rest of the world saw on that bleak January day. It was a rewriting of history and not journalism.
Clive Palmer is free to spend his billions as he sees fit - as long as it does no harm. But imagine if he spent it on projects more worthwhile than importing a discredited American extremist to preach to the converted and deluded.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Is it past time Clive Palmer gave up on politics? Will firebrands like Tucker Carlson and our homegrown imitations ever be taken seriously in Australia? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- An iconic Australian amusement park with a chequered past has been listed for sale. Luna Park, in the harborside suburb of Milson's Point, has not been on the market in two decades and reports suggest it is listed for about $70 million.
- An unexpectedly large jump in the monthly consumer price index is unwelcome news for the Reserve Bank of Australia in its lengthy inflation battle. The monthly consumer price index rose 4 per cent over the 12 months to May, above expectations and up from the 3.6 per cent increase in April.
- More than 100 electric trucks, vans and tuk-tuks will hit Australian roads for a project to show freight companies how to lower their emissions. Logistics firm ANC announced the plan on Wednesday after the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) invested $12.8 million from its Driving the Nation Fund.
THEY SAID IT: "Extremism thrives amid ignorance and anger, intimidation and cowardice." - Hillary Clinton
YOU SAID IT: Long before Julian Assange, there was Wilfred Burchett, the first journalist into Hiroshima after the bomb who was later banished from Australia for reporting war from the other side.
"Never having heard of Wilfred Burchett I'm now enjoying reading about him. Thank you," writes Jennifer. "What a fascinating man, who was terribly wronged. Sadly that's what happens to those who oppose the powerful. Terrible how often Australia has abandoned our citizens to please the US and UK."
Allan writes: "The ongoing pursuit of Julian by the US government over many years is not dissimilar to the recent Chinese law introduced to stifle dissent anywhere in the world against Chinese doctrine. Taiwan most likely has the most to fear but should anyone feel comfortable knowing that if you poked the panda enough it will take steps to eat you and not in anyway different to the good old USA."
"Don't lionise Assange, don't praise him and especially, don't call him a journalist," writes John. "Journalism is an honourable profession and nothing in Assange's 'career' suggests he possesses that quality. He is, at best, a publisher, and there are plenty of shonks in that field."
Bill writes: "My mother in remote far north Queensland in the late 1950s told me about Burchett as I commenced high school. The Menzies mob saw Burchett as a 'commo spy', befitting with their Cold War propaganda. Remember, Menzies was trying, but failing, to win an Anti-Communist Party referendum, post Korea. I can see dear old [ASIO director general] Charles Spry in Menzies ear, whispering it would not be a good look for Burchett to be back into the country of his birth. Reporting of inconvenient facts was not a good idea, even if he only published outside Australia."
"I doubt the WikiLeaks data dump made the world a better place, but it did highlight a particular area of wrongdoing, which was being lied about," writes Sue. "To gain release from prison in a country in which the crime didn't occur, the person who didn't steal the documents (the actual crime) has to plead guilty to something else. Am I surprised? Not really. After all, the US is letting a convicted criminal run for president. I think Burchett got a poor deal too. History proved him to be on the right track in so many things."