GetUp has garnered oodles of headlines this morning by buying their way in on a surfing lesson with Tony Abbott.
As no doubt you’ve all read (which is what makes the activist group so very clever), Abbott will be spending quality time out the back with Afghan refugee Riz Wakil — who placed the winning bid for Abbott in the Canberra Press Gallery’s Mid-Winter Ball charity auction. Wakil intends to tell Tony about his time in Curtin detention centre [insert lots of coverage on the refugee issue here]. Campaigning job done.
If his eBay total of $16,000 is anything to go by, Abbott’s the most popular man for the job by oh, thousands of dollars — but let’s remember, he’s not the prime minister … yet.
Since when do you need to buy time with an opposition leader? And won’t this just gift the Coalition with some extra invaluable images of their leader gadding about in a wetsuit, paddling into a line up and hanging 10 with a refugee in tow?
The government’s border protection policy is no picnic either. Nor is their (non) stance on climate change — an issue that GetUp has been solidly banging on about for years now.
It took a television show to be savvy enough to buy the ear of the actual leader of the country, plus his Treasurer. Not to mention their bare feet, for the bargain basement price of $12,600.
Jeepers, hasn’t former refugee, Riz Wakil, been through enough wretchedness already…
I don’t agree with the position taken here. Everyone knows that Tony Abbott has been setting Labor policy for the past 6 months on everything from Asylum seekers to climate change.
I’m over GetUp – have been for quite a while now. Do they seriously think their token refugee will have ANY influence on the mad monk? Talk about stupid!!
I agree – GetUp would have been far better off “buying the ear of the leader of the country”. Maybe that is what they think they are doing – future tense! Of course – that would fit with the mentality of that lot. Dream on!!
What the fuck is the connection between border protection and refugees? Jesus weeping I am sick of that crap.
The absolute right to seek asylum and cross borders to do it is not fucking border security, it is anti-border security.