The journalist labelled a "mad f---ing witch" by Peter Dutton hopes the Immigration Minister doesn't find himself on the backbench for accidentally sending an offensive text message to her instead of his colleague.

On Sunday night, the minister confirmed he apologised to the journalist for the text, which was intended for his embattled colleague Jamie Briggs, who stepped down after acting inappropriately towards a colleague while on an overseas trip.

 

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/journalist-samantha-maiden-hopes-peter-dutton-wont-be-demoted-over-mad-witch-text-mishap-20160103-glyn8q.html

Tokyo Shock Boys, eat your hearts out; you have nothing on our Liberal boys when it comes to performing dumb stunts, like abusing a reporter and then sending her the text. 

Or sooling a squad of Border Forcers on unwary Melbourne pedestrians, whose biggest crime is to fail to buy fair trade coffee beans.

Or joking about how climate change will drown out our little pacific whingers —with your microphone on. Dutton, Briggs — what a crack up!

Of course, as with all talent, our boys have to work at it. Make sacrifices. Some even forego their traditional R&R (rest and re-tool) Christmas break, courtesy of our taxes. While their colleagues, plus WAGs (and the odd former staffer), diligently beaver away on business-class OS junkets AKA "fact-finding tours", our own TSB's are hard at it.

It's not easy being a shocker. Our boys must punish themselves regularly to stay relevant and useful. You've noticed? Some see them as vital. After all, geese were a type of ancient early warning system for the Romans.

We've seen some beautiful shows lately. Eric Abetz wrenches himself away fromhis thesis on the link between abortion and cancer to campaign for an Abbott comeback. Abbott sets himself up, a sad capuchin, high above the others in his monkey pod cell, a leader in exile.

Former Built Environment Minister Jamie Briggs channels his inner ornamental snake to escape his minder, wild-life protector and "climate intellectual" Greg Hunt's watchful eye in the Ministry for Coal. Off the leash, Briggs drops a turd in Malcom Turnbull's honeymoon punchbowl.

#JamieBriggs sharing photos of staffer was worse than the incident in the bar, say lawyers. https://t.co/yXcy2xsmbz pic.twitter.com/tlohVyfGlK

— Financial Review (@FinancialReview) January 4, 2016

Honkers Bonkers Briggs sets off the rest. Top end trouper Nutso Dutton goes ape trying to protect all borders and ends up biting himself in the arse.

We can't blame Nutso Dutton. Decency and common-sense are raised in 'Ethics and Decorum for the Banana Bender Officer' a brief, optional module in Queensland Police training. Nutso Dutton may have easily missed it.

Or else he talked his way through it. Nutso has such a way with words that surely he will now be fast-tracked into Foreign Affairs — if Briggs will let anyone else get a look in. Nutso calls a reporter 'mad fucking bitch'.

Way to go Pete. And, wow,  take a bow, Samantha Maiden of the Daily Telegraph. We need more of your sort to keep sport and misogyny top of the flag pole. Bugger any other "national conversation". Let tosser Turnbull and his conga-line of positivity embrace change all he likes. Just, for the nation's sake, don't let go of the real stuff.

Immigration Minister Dutton calls Maiden a "fucking mad witch" not to her face, of course but in a manly, lovingly hand-thumbed and respectful text message. Wrong button! Dutton says she got the message "by accident". Dutton wants to be included in the national security boys' club. Seriously. This latest slip of the thumb will put his weights up.

Dutton's off the hook, no question. But has he bowled his last maiden over? Sam helps out with the sight screen. It was, an indulgent, if not forgiving, Ms Maiden who, reaching for another cricket analogy, called it a "solid sledge", but she has "accepted his apology". Meaning she is happy to encourage more.

Boys will be boys. Shit happens. And, after all, Sam is only a woman, or – as they like to say in the Queensland Police and too many places elsewhere – a "female".

Of course, it's the victim's fault. She asked for it by knocking Jamie Briggs' right to put the hard word on any sheila he chooses. Besides, Jamie had just 'paid her a compliment'. If he says she's got a beautiful body, does she have to hold it against him?  Political correctness has gone mad.

Maiden is on ABC radio laughing it all off to show that she enjoyed it, really. And the attention. It is the best damage control Turnbull can muster until he can find a wilted lettuce leaf to give his minister a public flogging.

Journalist Samantha Maiden hopes Peter Dutton won't be demoted over 'mad witch' text mishap https://t.co/k3rcfvvJsa pic.twitter.com/gd70ihybAF

— Federal Politics (@PoliticsFairfax) January 3, 2016

Wyatt Roy will be deputed, meanwhile, to message Julie Bishop to plan a hackathon on how this "change can be turned to advantage".

Our political circus boasts more than a few foggy ideologues, but not all of us are off with the pixies. Some question Briggs' right to circulate "before and after" .02. of our Hong Kong embassy, enabling meeja to republish the images. This reveals the victim's identity and trashes her rights to privacy and safety at the very least.

With a "mad fucking witch" here and a there, Pete Dutton and Jimmy Briggs toil selflessly night and day to discharge their public duty. They know their true function – their reason for being – is to remind us all how sexism and misogyny bubble along below the brew that is our "multicultural society" — a shonky phrase Mal Fraser made up to cover people he said we were happy to have crash our BBQ.

Migrants could bring a plate. Or two. Just as long as they left religion and politics behind. Shut up and listen; immerse themselves in the great Australian spiritual quest for ever more meaningless talk about sport.

Equality? Respect? Wash your mouth out. Most blokes in politics are just footy club jocks with a tie on. And the Ming Dynasty – the great white male club of self-interest – boasts many performers eager to remind us all of what the bafflingly broad church of the Liberal Party stands for — a return to the days when men were men and women were handy making the sandwiches out in the kitchen, or knocking up a plate of scones for your mate to take to the national picnic.

Whatever Pattie Menzies may have said to Robert Menzies in private, his Liberal Party was pretty much a blokes only do. It still is. But Ming would have had the balls to cull Dutton from the national conga line.

Ultimately, like the geese of ancient Rome, Briggs and the boys are a warning to all of us of the monumental injustice of our boys' club's claim to rule everything; of our political elite's deeply rooted misogyny and how, in 2016, it can still tap deep currents of Aussie blokes' fear of women; hatred; how increasingly, alarmingly, the boys are running amok in a way that makes the Tokyo Shock Boys look restrained, refined, even tasteful.

Labor demand Malcolm Turnbull act on Dutton’s ‘boorish’ mad witch comment https://t.co/gdmjikcvKh

— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) January 4, 2016

You can follow David Tyler on Twitter @urbanwronski.

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/malcom-turnbulls-tokyo-shock-boys,8543

Whatever Jamie Briggs' defenders might think about the seriousness of the incident in Hong Kong, two facts are irrefutable.

One: the incident was examined by an independent investigator appointed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Two: that investigator delivered a report that was considered by a wide range of ministers who unanimously decided Briggs had to go.

The fact that at least one of those defenders has seen fit to slip a photo and text messages to the media betrays a callous disregard for the woman. It was reprehensible for Briggs to distribute the images in the first place. Even more breathtaking is that he did so, by his own admission, after the incident came to the attention of the bureaucracy and senior figures inside the government. Some are questioning whether sending the photo - taken on his phone - is an offence equal to, if not worse than, the actual Hong Kong bar incident.

The leaking of the image was motivated by a deluded Neanderthal view that if she was in high spirits at some stage of the evening, she can't have been too wounded by anything else that happened that night.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/deluded-neanderthal-view-a-victim-caught-up-in-the-black-arts-of-canberra-leaking-20160104-glz6bn.html#ixzz3wJARA1W8 
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Words reveal the writer's mindset

The commentary regarding Peter Dutton's inappropriate texting seems to be focused upon his immediate apology, having a "laugh" about it and/or the journalist's preference not to pursue the matter further. This seem to me to be utterly wrong-headed. Surely the central issue is the mind-set that could give rise to such an analysis of the situation and cause such a text to be sent to anybody at all - whether or not delivered to the intended recipient. The context is critical here. Clearly the text was intended to reach a recipient who was expected to be  philosophically and ethically in sympathy with the import of the message. I for one do not want an individual with such a world view representing my country and/or making ministerial decisions on my behalf.

Susan Johnson North Maleny (Qld)

Clearly Peter Dutton and Jamie Briggs are of a like mind when dealing with women who don't agree with them. The prime minister should cast them both adrift and render them stateless, before they manage yet another round of abuse, masquerading as malfunction, further undermining recent attempts to eliminate both verbal and physical violence against women.

John Bradshaw Carlingford 

So was Peter Dutton apologising for sending the text to the wrong person or was it for its content? Either way, Dutton's support of Briggs for his self-confessed inappropriate behaviour is enough for Dutton's employer to sack him, let alone the language used towards a female journalist or anyone for that matter.

Glen op den Brouw Liverpool

Poor Peter Dutton. Not only did he send the text to the wrong person, he meant to write, "Mate you're a moron. You disgust me."

Carolyn Foreman Glebe

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/republican-referendum-was-a-whitewash-20160104-glyvln.html#ixzz3wJCEerZY
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By Paula Matthewson

We also know the woman put her concerns about the minister's behaviour in writing and that the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade forwarded it to his minister, Julie Bishop.

The matter was then referred to an independent investigator. The Cabinet subcommittee considered the investigation report and then Briggs was given his marching orders.

That should have been the end of the matter - Briggs paid the price not only for making unwanted advances towards a woman but also for abusing a position of power.

This wasn't a case of some random guy with beer goggles getting his signals mixed up across a crowded bar. Briggs was a minister of the crown who - in his own words - behaved inappropriately but not "illegally" towards a female subordinate.

Yet despite his carefully worded statement of contrition, the disgraced former minister does not appear to be remorseful and his supporters are now retrospectively trying to excuse his behaviour through actions that are tantamount to blaming the victim.

Barely two days after Briggs's resignation, a photo of the woman posing with the minister's chief of staff on the evening in question was leaked to a sympathetic media outlet, The Australian, along with her text messages sympathising with the chief of staff for losing his mobile phone that night.

This none too subtle move was clearly intended to undermine the woman's claims of being distressed by the minister's behaviour by showing she was enjoying herself that night, and that she didn't initially raise her concerns with the chief of staff the following morning.

Right on cue, comments started to appear on social media sympathising with Briggs, bemoaning that a man can't get fresh with a pretty girl these days without being accused of sexual harassment. Suddenly, and reprehensibly, in some quarters the leaked photos and texts pivoted public discussion of the event to the woman's behaviour instead of the man's.

This is known as blaming the victim or, in the popular vernacular, slut-shaming.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-04/matthewson-victim-blaming-takes-the-briggs-debacle-bad-to-worse/7065870

 

Managing editor Dave Donovan [Independent Australia] has been goaded into defending Peter Dutton in response to the continued roasting of Australia's highest ranking root vegetable by callous Twitterati jokesters.

IT HAS come to my attention that some people think Immigration Minister Peter Dutton should lose his job. They suggest that because this talented Australian has, arguably, made one or two minor indiscretions in recent times, he should resign or be sacked by the Prime Minister.

What utter nonsense! And a sure sign political correctness has gone completely mad in this country.

Before letting those fifth columnists at the ABC and Fairfax sway you with their vile propaganda, let me tell you a thing or two about Peter Dutton, and the core principles and values that have guided him throughout his outstanding career.

Petrock “Peter” Dutton was born in Brisbane on 18 November 1970, the favourite son of an upstanding local house brick and a prizewinning garden vegetable. After school, he joined the Queensland Police Service Drug Squad, where he was known to be highly effective working underground.

A man has many faces #Dutton the potato head is no different. Sick of being compared to a Brussels Sprout.. #auspol pic.twitter.com/zIeoecnZhO

— Andrea G (@AndreaGorman8) January 9, 2016

Dutton gave up Drugs – the Squad, that is – in the 1990s, deciding to go freelance, where he built up a highly successful business in a remarkably short period of time. He was soon unearthed by the Liberal Party of Australia, who planted him into the north Brisbane seat of Dickson. After weeding out former Democrats leader/turncoat and Labor Party shadow minister Cheryl Kernot from the seat, it was there that Peter Dutton’s Parliamentary career first blossomed.

In his maiden speech, Peter Dutton immediately affirmed his core values, speaking passionately about the evils of trade unions and the civil rights movement.

Dutton’s career further bloomed in 2004 when, after being re-elected, he was elevated to the ministry, being appointed as Minister for Workplace Participation. So successful was he in his main task of sneering at unionists that, in 2006, he was promoted to the post of Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Middle Class Welfare — a vital role in the Howard Government.

In 2007, Dutton was again re-elected, this time by the thumping margin of 0.26 per cent, where he showed his true character and commitment to the local community by immediately commencing a search for a safer seat.

Then, a few months later, in February 2008, Dutton displayed his dedication to traditional Australian values by striding decisively from the chamber during Kevin Rudd’s Apology to the Stolen Generations.

As Opposition health spokesperson from 2010 until 2013, Dutton distinguished himself via some of the hard-edged interrogation techniques he’d acquired during his years on the Force by asking the Labor Health Minister absolutely no questions at all ever in Question Time.

Exactly what is Peter Dutton? RT: Brussels Sprout Fav: Potato pic.twitter.com/X6CrHrfN25

— Sensitive Tony (@TonyIKnow) October 17, 2015

With a record like that, it came as no surprise to anyone that astute talent spotter Tony Abbott appointed Dutton as Minister for Health in his incoming Government. A committed reformer, the new minister was blocked by a ragtag Senate from ending waste in the public health system, such as through a GP co-payment aimed at discouraging poor people from visiting doctors when they were sick. His efforts were, however, recognised by the medical fraternity, with a poll in the Australian Doctor magazine ranking him as the worst health minister in 35 years.

With a record like that, it was inevitable that Dutton would continue to flourish, with Abbott in December 2014 awarding him the vital task of securing Australia’s borders. There, as Minister for Immigracism and Border Farce, Dutton continued Australia’s sensible policy of deterring irregular refugees in boats by locking them up in tin sheds on steamy, disease infested, third world islands.

Other notable achievements during his time in the Abbott ministry included the stalking of a Greens senator on a visit to the Nauru concentration camp and sending his Blackshirted private Gestapo into Central Melbourne to stop and detain anyone seen acting suspiciously ethnic.

But wait. It isn’t all just about work for the usually stoic Minister. He also has a lighter side — as shown in September 2015 when, just prior to a community meeting on Syrian refugees, he was inadvertently captured by an enormous boom mike swinging just above his head joking about the plight of Pacific Island nations facing rising sea levels as a result of climate change. Funny stuff. No doubt the islanders nearly wet themselves afterwards.

freeze frame of peter dutton's face when he realizes he's on mic pic.twitter.com/5bpJoDABai

— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) September 11, 2015

Soon after this incident, Tony Abbott was rolled as prime minister by Malcolm Turnbull — but did that did mean Dutton was gone as well? Not likely!

Dutton was by now fully embedded in the ministry and still had important work to do. Such as sending a raped, pregnant asylum seeker back to Nauru after she had requested an abortion and then lying about it afterwards. Such as calling a journalist a “mad fucking witch” and apparently intending to send it to his mate who had just been sacked but instead sending it to the aforementioned witch — who happened to be a reporter at a metropolitan daily newspaper.

Fortunately, in a victory for fair-minded people everywhere, the reporter – Rupert Murdoch employee Samantha Maiden − was quite happy to laugh off the incident, saying she hoped Dutton wouldn’t lose his job over this “strong sledge”:

 "…Mr Dutton is a good minister,” said Maiden, as well as “… a hard worker, [who has] made a strong contribution to the Government.”

Dutton: uh George Brandis: yes Peter Dutton: is there a way to get a text unsent? Brandis: no, Peter Dutton: but ASIO? Brandis: no D: shit

— Ben Eltham (@beneltham) January 3, 2016

Exactly. Peter Dutton is a good spud. It is contributions like his that have made the Coalition Government of Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull as productive as they have been. Before turning up the heat and frying Dutton − and perhaps causing a spill − people should let him rest and continue to grow in his position.

Yes, letting Australia’s highest ranking root vegetable continue as Immigration Minister is a sure recipe for success. And if anything goes wrong with his portfolio … well, who cares? They’re only bloody boat people, for Pete’s sake.

You can follow Dave Donovan on Twitter @davrosz.

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