NeoCon writes:


What a pathetic pair you two are. You
spend your days tormenting yourselves about all things Conservative and
then spewing forth with irrelevant, misinformed, exaggerated and, quite
frankly, boring vitriol on Downer, Howard, Vanstone and any other
Liberal who comes within your narrow radar. Your latest lot of garbage
on Downer’s daughter is so petty, so demeaning to the poor girl and to
females in general, that it makes you look like the fools that you are.
I would expect nothing less from that Left-wing hairy-legged Misha [see right] but
I certainly expected better from you Eric. You are more intelligent
than your story suggests, surely!

Michelle Callander writes:
I
think this is a story without substance. I think the PM’s son working
as an intern at the White House is a much greater breach of propriety
than this. Is it a slow news day? Are sons working for a foreign
government somehow less open to scrutiny than a woman obtaining a
competitive scholarship?

Samuel Ward writes:
How
could anyone with a third class honours degree be awarded a scholarship
of any kind at any university – let alone a $50,000 scholarship at the
LSE? Third class honours are virtually a fail. Even upper second class
degrees will not get you a postgraduate position in many faculties at
Australian universities. When I was involved in selecting graduates for
employment somebody with a third would not even get an interview. The
unsuccessful applicants have every reason to be outraged. What about
the person who was number nine on the list and just missed out? He or
she has paid a huge price for what, on the face of it, looks like a very
dodgy selection process.

A Crikey reader writes:
I
don’t even like the girl but typically, your story about Georgina Downer
is inaccurate and misrepresented. I suppose your “stories” are part of
the appeal of your website but it’s the same reason your website will
never get any credit. Keep up the tripe… If I were Georgina Downer,
I’d sue your pants off. I bet she doesn’t because of who her father is. There’s irony in there somewhere.

A Crikey reader writes:
Now
that my derision has subsided, I feel moved to respond to your two days
of vilification of Alexander Downer, and now his daughter, for God’s
sake. What do you people know of proper conduct? (You have
criticised the absolutely proper ostracising of the low-life socialite
who Edward VII married). Now you are so small and narrow as to be
critical of a perfectly good Australian sense of humour in Downer. Your
attack on him in relation to his daughter is utterly and transparently
petty. I don’t recall much reference by you to the antics of the Left,
in such persons as that philanderer Hawke, Gough Whitlam, the
unspeakable loser Jim Cairns, and the man who effectively destroyed the
institution of marriage in Australia, Lionel Murphy. And your carping
only serves to highlight how desperately disappointed you must be to
find no real fault, so that you have to invent this rot, and highlight
what really little people you are. In ordinary company, Downer is a
consummately accomplished man, and it seems his daughter might very
well out-achieve him. Compare their accomplishments to you grubs.

Mike Burke writes:
Oh,
bullsh*t! Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I read somewhere in this
diatribe that Georgina Downer is a 25-year-old woman with a career of
her own? What right has Downer or anyone else to direct or expect his
independent adult daughter to limit her career ambitions because some
idiot journalist somewhere might exercise their political prejudice
against him on the basis of her actions? Grow up.

A Crikey subscriber writes:
What about Howard’s own son, Richard, in Washington?

Bill C writes:
Guys, get a grip. What you are saying is that Downer should have told his
25-year-old daughter not to apply for a Chevening scholarship. It might
embarrass him. Really? You know very well what his daughter (indeed,
anybody’s daughter) would have said to that. Get stuffed, Dad! And you
get stuffed too, Crikey! Have you looked at the Chevening selection
process? Where in it could Downer possibly slip in a “good word”? A
reference? From your Dad. Again, puh-lease! My experience (from having
supported, with references, a successful candidate – one of my staff)
is that it is a pretty tight ship.

Anonymous writes:
One
of Downer’s daughters was the top of the State in her Year 12 and was
offered a scholarship to Melb Uni. No doubt any other scholarships she
has won were earned through her own hard work, not her Dad’s influence.
Shame on you Crikey for dragging an innocent girl’s name through the
mud.

Mse writes:
Being the offspring of a
government minister in a contentious portfolio can also carry negative
career consequences. A friend who had the gross misfortune to be the
only child of the Minister for the Army in a Liberal/National
government when he turned 20 in 1966 was conscripted for Vietnam even
though his birth date didn’t come up in the lottery. With the potential
for allegations of political interference against his father, he really
had no choice but to cop it because it was all about perception. He
served his full two years’ national service including 12 months in
Vietnam, with my husband (whose number DID come up). He served as a
private in operational conditions alongside other conscripts and did
not ask for or receive special consideration given his father’s
position in the government. Perception again. Contrast this to the
nepotism you see in the ranks of the ALP in particular, where husbands,
wives, sons and daughters are the natural beneficiaries of office and
an easy ride. As you say, Crikey, perception is everything.

Longtime subscriber writes:
It
is a fact that bright, high-achieving families more often than not
produce bright, high-achieving children. Georgina Downer’s father,
grandfather and great-grandfather were all ministers, and arguably
statesmen, of note. I refer you to Scholars and Gentlemen: the Mackerras Family (Professors
Malcolm & Colin, and Sir Charles to name just three of the current
generation) as another example of a brilliant family down through the
generations. One could argue that privilege and wealth breeds such
success, but that is another argument entirely. Give the girl a break.
It must be embarrassing enough to have stories in the media about your
father in fishnet stockings and making embarrassing jokes and gaffes,
without having your own achievements questioned as being suspect!

Liz Johnston writes:
I
too feel sorry for Ms Downer, but she should not have taken that
scholarship. It reeks of the sort of politics you expect in Third World
countries. Surely Mr Downer would prefer to pay for his daughter to
study overseas without the assistance of a scholarship. His is the
government that supports user pays for everything.

Dave Clark writes:
For
heaven’s sake. Haven’t you heard the famous maxim to the effect that
one should not blame the sins of the father on the son? I have never
met her but why shouldn’t she be allowed to apply for and win such a
scholarship? Surely it’s pure fascism to blame someone for their genes –
something over which they had no control.

Tom Storm writes:
Doncha
think that an Aussie uni would jump at the chance to enrol – say
George Bush’s daughters for the prestige of having the offspring of a
world leader attend their campus? I would. Frankly Crikey – this sounds
a bit Monash-tic left wing proletariat bashing of patricians to me.

Rob Shilkin writes:
I
was angered by your piece on Georgina Downer. I have never met her or
her father. You have very gravely sullied her name and unforgivably
insulted her, by implying that she only won the scholarship because of
who her father is. Do you have any idea of the amount of hard work that
goes into preparing and applying for these honours, to say nothing of
the years of effort that precede it?

Graham Smith (ex pom) writes:
The
British public should be equally or more concerned that the British
Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office with their Chevening
scholarship are failing the people of Britain. Consider these facts. 1.
Mummy is/was a British citizen and I believe has family in Britain. 2.
Daddy was virtually an adopted Brit even to being a member of the
British Young Conservatives. (Incidentally Radley College is a private
school and not an Oxford Uni College, as the article implied). 3.
Georgina has probably been to the UK more times than she can remember.

With
these points in mind, one has to ask, how can Georgie have the
potential to improve ties between Australia and the UK and “contribute
to the maintenance of a strong relationship between the countries,” any
more than she has at present? I would think that there must be a very
strong case for banning anyone with her British antecedents from
receiving the scholarship at all. Surely the scholarship would be much
more productive (for Britain) if reserved for a real Aussie without
such close relationships with the “old country” or a child of new(ish)
non-British immigrants. As things stand, a person such as Georgie has
nothing to add to the relationship, and doesn’t qualify on academic
grounds.