In the immediate wake of Steve Bracks's shock resignation as Premier of Victoria, a decision in which the very public problems of his children played a major part, and after eight years as Premier that began when the oldest child was still only twelve, Bracks's replacement John Brumby has shown his Heffernan-hued true colours and demonstrated that he has learned less than nothing from his predecessor's life experience.
From today's Age:
'New Premier John Brumby has suggested one of the reasons he overlooked Tim Holding for the Treasury portfolio is that the young Finance Minister is unmarried and has no children.
Asked on ABC TV why he had chosen former education minister John Lenders over Mr Holding for the key job, Mr Brumby replied: "He's a bit older and has had a few more of life's experiences. He's a parent, father, husband. All of those things."'
Got political ambitions? You'd better get breeding, then, if you haven't already. And while you're at it, setting up a trust fund for the sprogs' counselling and rehab in fifteen or twenty years might be a prudent move as well.
4 comments:
I wonder if this comment from Brumby was of "the lesser of two evils" variety. Namely, the other reason was even worse, at least for Holding. The general feeling was that he didn't do a great job as Minister for Police.
A previous Opposition Leader in Victoria, Robert Doyle, referred to Holding once as a "junior woodchuck". It's not his marital for familial status that I would have focused on, just his lack of experience.
When Brumby was treasurer he was the policy guru of the government and had the reputation for being a bit of a hard-arse. Even a week or so in you can see an attempt to change that image. He went too far here. Heffernan referred to Gillard as "deliberately barren" which took that debate into very different territory.
Well, maybe. The likeness to the Heffernan comments is that both are insults to every childless and/or currently non-domestic-coupled adult in the country. If 'married with children' is what qualifies you for running the country, then there are an awful lot of jailed bank robbers, heroin addicts and sex offenders I'd like Mr Brumby to meet. And after that I've got a nice bridge he might like to buy.
Hear Hear PC!!
Holding is, I think, 34. I don't think anyone much would have trouble with the suggestion that he's not had heaps of experience. If he'd joined the public service, he'd be unlikely to have made it to management level by now. Sure some people would shout that age isn't everything (and it isn't) but they can't argue against the fact that it takes time to get experience. Being the Treasurer requires quite a bit of experience.
Why Brumby feels it necessary to equate experience with fertility is beyond me. No one's ever asked me about my sex life or contraceptive use in a job interview (thank god).
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