The following comment was a response to a Grace Collier column in the Australian newspaper.
“Very tragic for Australia, when we have a person who was not capable of supporting herself and a child, governing the country. We need more capable people in Parliament.” ~ Peter.
The article highlighted the cost of living, big Government and the inane practice of labelling people; left or right. Ms Collier presented two versions of a welfare pitch by Jacqui Lambie. The exercise was to decide whether the reader favoured the left or the right of politics.
Most of the comments missed the point of the article. Not uncommon within the Australian readership, at least those who comment. Peter used it to attack Jacqui Lambie and politicians in general.
His comments were personal and spiteful. People like him are always bleating on about the quality of our elected representatives. I’ll openly admit standards need to improve but people can only vote for those who actually stand for election. And, at least Jacqui Lambie had the guts and the conviction to put her hand up and have a go. Yes, I criticised Jacqui’s behaviour when she first entered politics but she matured, modified her behaviour and she worked hard. Whilst I did not support her policy position that does not detract from the effort she put into the job and I admire her for that. And, I admire her for having the courage to stand up and get herself elected; twice.
Then we have the Peter’s of the world. Those who never get their backsides off the couch, preferring instead to sit on the sidelines criticising politicians, in this case Jacqui. When you challenge the Peter's to put their money where their mouth is and have a go themselves the response is typical; I’m too honest, it’s impossible for me to win a seat. I say BS to that. I can't vouch for the honest bit but it's BS to say you can't win when people like Jacqui have.
While Jacqui's first foray into Parliament was on the coattails of Clive Palmer (the less said about that the better) she achieved success in her own right securing a six year term in 2016. Something neither Mr Palmer nor the rest of the original Palmer MP's managed to do. So, if someone like Jacqui can get herself elected so can the Peter’s and the rest of his ilk. But they won’t even try. Why, because they are gutless cowards they’d never expose themselves to critical assessment.
We should criticise policy and poor performance however we should never criticise someone for having a go. And, we should never attempt to belittle someone based on their personal circumstances.
