“Are you serious?” is one of three common reactions to the latest outrage emanating from the morality-challenged NSW branch of the Liberal Party: that its upper house MP Peter Poulos five years ago circulated explicit photos of a woman because she was a rival in a preselection contest.
The second reaction, spread over social media, is “Well, what did she expect?” because — and I can’t believe I have to type this — the photos were from a Penthouse modelling shoot some decades earlier. Apparently, according to this worldview, the exercise of agency over your own body is something you only get to do once. If you’re a woman, at least.
But back to Poulos. Let’s be clear about this: his reason for spreading the images was personal political gain. That’s implicit in his apology and statement that this was “a regrettable mistake”. Understandably, because the other possibilities are that he is a misogynist and/or a pervert.
Whatever the putrid truth about his motivations may be, this guy is a member of Parliament. On what planet is his behaviour tolerable? He wasn’t a 21-year-old when he did it — he was in his 40s, a hardened political veteran.
Which brings us to the third reaction, that of Premier Dominic Perrottet — a recent apologist for his own prior inexplicable acts. What did he think of Poulos’ conduct, he was asked? “Incredibly inappropriate”, Perrottet labelled it, just not inappropriate enough to warrant any sanction whatsoever. Instead, what he had for Poulos was forgiveness: “people make mistakes”.
A mistake is forgetting to put the garbage out. Posting explicit photos of another person without their consent is not a mistake. It is even further removed from a mistake than wearing a Nazi uniform to your birthday party.
Perrottet’s response wasn’t merely tone-deaf. It was on par with Tony Abbott winking in the radio studio when a sex worker came on the talkback line. It speaks with unmistakeable clarity of the sickness that has infected the Liberal Party so deeply that it can no longer instinctively distinguish the most gobsmackingly unspeakable, unforgivable outrage from political business as usual. And Perrottet, for all his oddities, seems to be one of the nicer ones. God knows what these guys are saying behind closed doors.
Least surprisingly, some “Liberal women” are apparently unhappy with the absence of consequences for Poulos. Not enough to go public with their concerns, but sufficient enough to raise them in internal party correspondence that’s been leaked to the media. Great, but at what point do they realise their silent presence is not changing a thing?
The politics of this are obvious. The Liberal Party will continue to lose votes — of women but also many men — if it continues to present itself as a collective of overgrown frat boys.
The ethics are worse. It is simply untenable to suggest that a party, which sees no reason to expel Poulos for what he did, has any remaining legitimacy as a serious party of government. Walking past this standard means this government has no standards at all.
Does Peter Poulos deserve to be expelled from Parliament? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
Actions should have consequences. Ministers / any politician paid by taxpayers should have high standards. The Morrison LNP completely ignored what the public expected.
Now, just when you thought the bar couldn’t be lowered any further, Perrottet, an apparently deeply religious leader, is unwilling to sack or significantly penalise his own MP for circulating a naked photo of a female who was a political threat.
From Berijiklian’s office shredding documents relating to the rorting of community grants and her embrace of using taxpayers funds for LNP gain, to Barilaro’s sliding in to a $500,000 job, to this – NSW voters surely must bin this apology of a Govt. They should look on the bright side – Matt Kean could be opposition leader, the place still needs him.
“Actions should have consequences”………………
If only.
The tone is set from the top, and without doubt Morrison had not a moral bone in his body………….
……there again, what can you expect from someone who devoutly believed that by some miraculous mental gymnastics it was possible to convert Cheezels (rabidly left wing) teachings into “Greed Is Good”.
I’m sure Perrottet has his own fantasy interpretation to provide him with spiritual comfort and instant forgiveness.
Quite how Matt Keane ended up associated with this sordid crew, and even more bizarrely, actually manged to get stuff done, is a far greater miracle than Morrison’s “Talking Eagle”.
Morrison wasn’t at the top. LNP leaders and the party as a whole are merely disposable factors in a far bigger game. The LNP and the conservative right in general are simply elements of the ideological game pursued relentlessly by the organisatons and corporations and individuals at the very top of the power structure, fossil fuels companies, banks, the arms industry and the enormous money they generate etc. Morrison, perrottet, Kean et al are extremely small fry in all this and they barely have an original thought in the entire process which is run by think tanks and strategists. The idea of individual integrity on the right is simply another mirage they may generate occasionally.
I was with you all the way until you uttered, ….” Matt Kean could be opposition leader, the place still needs him “.
In what context exactly? He is no different to the rest of them, lying and cheating and spinning the conversation to suit the narrative of the day, in front of the fawning press who hang off every word.
He caused more harm than good as environment Minister but suddenly purports to being the man of the hour “saving” everything in his path – but only in the hope that this lousy, lying, hypocritical, corrupt NSW government gets re-elected in March !
Yes he deserves to be sacked.
Posting a Penthouse pic to your mates when your young, forgivable. Reposting that pic 20 years later for political gain is unforgivable and should be a sackable offence.
It’s no surprise at all. It’s what they do. They are just rotten.
re LNP women: silence only benefits the oppressors – they clutch their pearls, but they are all complicit
Well articulated.
What is astonishing is that Poulos emerged as the successful candidate. A nominee with gutter practices should be deemed highly undesirable to represent a constituency. But no, instead, the sleazy act qualified him as the best Liberal available. It says everything about the power-broking swill who gave Poulos their support.