Diary

Saturday, 28th January 2012

Why did the expert panel on Aboriginal recognition in the Constitution overplay its hand and try to slip in that mini-Bill of Rights? Australians are too smart not to sniff that one out. And what good would constitutional recognition be anyway — except for the profession in which I was trained? The fact that government and opposition are in favour will put everyone on their guard.

And while we’re on constitutional change, why haven’t the British woken up to the fact that there is not going to be a referendum on Scottish independence? It’s a plebiscite.

With a loaded question, plebiscites are nothing more than blank cheques on the Constitution. When the politicians get the answer they want, they fill in the details. So why doesn’t David Cameron take a leaf out of Australia’s book? Knowing how plebiscites were abused in the French Revolution and by the two Napoleons, our founders designed a referendum based on the Swiss model. The details are on the table before you vote, and not after. If the Scots could see what they are in for, they wouldn’t touch independence with a bargepole.

I suspect the British politicians won’t offer the Scots an Aussie-style referendum. It was only through plebiscites that they tricked the British into joining what costs them an arm and a leg: the European Union.

I see that Channel 10 executives have been ordered to smarten up, even to wear ties. I think it was the ABC’s Insiders that first decreed that male journalists should abandon the tie. But surely the ABC knows having journalists show more of their bodies does not ensure good TV.

There were several Insiders programs last year in which 100 per cent of
the panel came from the centre left. Having everyone agree how terrible Tony Abbott is or about offshore processing is as dull as dishwater. That’s why Ten’s Andrew Bolt is rating so well. For some reason you still can’t see him in most of the country.

While we are on clothes and the media, that tedious campaign against the male swimming costume surely had its day with Julian Burnside’s ‘paedos in Speedos’ tweet. Lifesavers obviously need to wear swimming costumes. Tony Abbott volunteered as a lifesaver (and firefighter) for years. Since he was genuine about this and wasn’t doing it for photo ops, no one knew about it until he became leader.

Dr Teo gave an excellent Australia Day address. But who put out the advance notice which suggested it was all about racism? Sometimes what others interpret as racism is just friendly banter. But other times it’s the weapon of last resort. I don’t lose any sleep over it. A republican site slammed me not so long ago as a ‘perma-tanned Indonesian-born blow-in’. When I was speaking at a conference in Melbourne, an immigrant himself asked his table ‘What’s a Chinaman doing leading Australians for Constitutional Monarchy?’ He didn’t realise that some of my best friends were sitting with him.

Dr Teo’s was a vast improvement on the 2011 address by Sir Michael Parkinson, who instructed Australians to become a republic — something they rejected in the 1999 landslide. That year I also gave the Australia Day address. This was in Melbourne under the auspices of the only Australia Day Council not taken over by the government, and thus the only one likely to invite me. Rather than talking about myself — a topic of limited interest — my subject was ‘They did not come alone.’ The point I wanted to make was that our institutions and values come directly from the settlement under the extraordinary influence of Tommy Townsend, Lord Sydney and Captain Arthur Phillip. Sir Michael’s provocative address dominated the media. Mine subsequently appeared in Quadrant.

Apart from being instructed that we must enjoy ourselves on Australia Day, shouldn’t we be reminded that it is our national birthday? When a former NSW Minister for Education was asked on air what the day was for, she replied that she thought it was the anniversary of Federation.

The lights were green in Pitt Street when a taxi turned on to the pedestrian crossing, knocking a slip of a girl to the ground. I helped her to the footpath. Leaning out of his window, and showing every intention of driving off, the taxi driver asked laconically, ‘You’re alright?’. My young companion, Jai Martinkovits, rushed over and stood in front of the taxi, instructing him to pull over, get out and give the required information to the girl. He did, a very large man of African appearance. We tried to persuade the girl, a Chinese student, to come to the hospital, but she had to see her educational manager. Jai is a Taekwondo brown belt and has recently been appointed to the position once held by Tony Abbott, then Kerry Jones and Thomas Flynn. Republicans had better be wary: monarchists are a tough breed.

With their endless lectures about cutting CO2 emissions, why is so much spent on government travel? A few years ago, someone from ATSIC went to Ireland with his wife for a conference which he apparently skipped. A reporter phoned the ABA secretariat and asked how often I had been overseas with a partner or spouse. ‘Never; he doesn’t fly first class and usually stays in budget hotels.’ The reporter sounded disappointed.

David Flint is a former chairman of the Australian Press Council and the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

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