Readers weighed in with a slightly scary sense of relish to vote for a veritable cavalcade of arse hats. It was neck and neck between Pyne and Fielding for the auspicious honour of being named the most painful politician of any parliament, Gerard Henderson won ‘Australian bore of the year’ by a country mile, Kyle Sandilands, who did nothing much this year at all really, nabbed ‘The Eddie’, and, tying the year of disastrous corporate meltdowns into a neat bow, ABC Learning won ‘The Groves’ for “spectacular corporate misadventure.”
But it was ‘The Valdez’ that proved to be the real nail biter — Gunns took the gong ‘For an individual act of environmental vandalism’, beating former PM John Howard out by just 0.6%. Scroll down to peruse the results, and enjoy kicking them while they’re down:
The Ironbar: for the most painful politician of any parliament:
The Delta: For the Australian bore of the year:
The Welcome to Country: for most overused expression in public rhetoric:
The Eddie: Most undeserving but overexposed media personality:
The Albrechtsen: For Australia’s kookiest public commentator:
The Groves: For most spectacular corporate misadventure:
The Valdez: For an individual act of environmental vandalism:
View the full Crikey Readers’ Choice Awards results here.
No real surprises here, however I believe that Crikey readers have missed on the ‘Welcome To Country’. ‘Working families’ was very much a relic of 2007 and the election year – the timely answer would have been ‘decisive action’.