The people of New South Wales aren’t the only people getting a treat. It may not be as good for one’s mental health as a nice picnic, but Victoria’s is nearly as diverting — former premier and Crikey‘s-estranged-granddad-who-hates-us Jeff Kennett’s twitter feed. Overnight he warned:
You are on notice Trolls, the goodies the silent majority are riding over the hill and coming to rescue the State
And they are not part of the Premiers [sic] social media team, paid for by us, but citizens tired of the abuse, of the loss of what Victoria was when the best State in Aus
What is he talking about? What can it possibly mean? Who is he talking to? It’s possibly the apotheosis of his posting career, though it has some serious competition. Frequently, Kennett has used Twitter as a place to direct the energy he used to expend making quite fantastically offensive comments at corporate lunches.
Digging a trench on the wrong side of history
It’s not just Stephen Mayne that Kennett likes to row with on Twitter. He also felt the need to speak up during the fallout of the Tim Worner/Amber Harrison affair. After Harrison and Worner had an affair and Harrison was made redundant, she went HAM on Twitter, posting love letters and documents so sensitive that none of the reports on the matter could specify what they were without risking legal action.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Harrison’s conduct, some would argue it wasn’t a brilliant idea (legally, given Kennett’s history or even just generally) for Kennett to get involved. But he did. He sent a series of tweets Harrison’s way telling her “stealing from your employer is unacceptable” and “what we do not like is you releasing commercial documents that have nothing to do with your claim, and is not your property”.
From Taylored to Jeffed
It’s the most modern of political faux pas: making a positive comment on one’s own post, clearly believing you’re logged in as someone else — an act we call “getting Taylored”. Kennett’s addition to this glorious tradition is a disappointingly low energy one, we’re sad to say.
Just “agreed”? Not even “at last someone says it” or something? Seems a waste.
I predict a riot
Unsurprisingly, the reign of current Premier Daniel “Dictator Dan” Andrews, has been a frequent topic for Kennett’s more… shall we say, florid, posting. After Andrews delayed announcing further easing of lockdown last October, Kennett got so upset he forgot how to spell the word throw (oh and how not to encourage widespread civil disobedience):
Encourage businesses to prepare to open and then again slam the door in their faces. I say open up businesses, and let this control freak through [sic] us all in jail…
He may have meant that as nothing but bluster, but given the Andrews government’s tendency to send the cops to people’s houses for social media activity, it was a risk.
Sounding the alarm
Following on from the logic that the phrase “I don’t want to sound racist” invariably precedes a statement that will breach the Racial Discrimination Act in six distinct and horrifying ways, last month Kennett tweeted “I do not want to be alarmist” before claiming he had inside information that the state’s lockdown was going to last until into the new year:
I do not want to be alarmist, but I have just heard from two different sources, food companies being briefed tonight the Victoria’s lockdown will last to the New Year. If that is a fact, our society as we know it, famlies [sic], children, small business won’t survive without great pain.
Victoria’s Industry Support minister swiftly replied that “food companies have been told no such thing” and describing Kennett’s tweet as “irresponsible bullshit”.
Kennett should confine his inane and inflammatory comments to the football. This it his limit. He is buffoon who is clearly out of his depth when it comes to anything more complex. (In fact, the more I think about it, he would make a good mate for Trump.)
Every time I hear the name Jeff Kennett, I cringe. As an ex Victorian who watched Kennett dismantle democratic institutions, dismantle railway infrastructure and more vandalism, I rejoiced at his demise.
Then I moved to Tasmania and was horrified to find his ugly face in the local news. Hired as a consultant by the Liberal Government his serious focus was to reduce the number of local government areas and make Tasmania “more efficient”.
With no understanding that small councils in remote areas provide the only means of employment for many and can respond to community needs that would not be provided by a large central organisation located many hours away.
There is a role for every member of society. Unfortunately, Jeff’s ego is preventing him from adopting a role more suited to his lack of talent.
He wasand still is the Father of Randite Neo-Liberaloism in Australia. Apres Lui, Le Deluge!
What is it about the Australian Military that gives us such trained idiots?
No one else will have them – and they only want numbers?
Why would a sentient would enlist?
Jeff is giving back to the community when we all need a hearty laugh. Kennett should resist all temptation to employ a good editor & a proofreader. The unabridged form is just dandy.
Hear hear! Let there be more “irresponsible bullshit” 🙂
He is deplorable.
FYI. Hawthorn AFL Club (under Kennett & others) was one of the last AFL clubs to recruit a First Nations player. It was a deliberate policy which it could not sustain in the public arena of strange draft picks and other recruitment tactics that resulted in Nil First Nations players being listed. Because of this racist approach it ended up ‘gifting’ very talented indigenous players to its opponents.