Politics

Right-wing media gleeful at firefighter's support of Pauline Hanson

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Firefighter Paul Parker revealed his support for Pauline Hanson after his tirade against the Prime Minister (Screenshot via YouTube)

After his angry rant at Scott Morrison went viral, firefighter Paul Parker is now facing criticism for declaring his support for Pauline Hanson, writes Noely Neate.

YOU COULD ALMOST FEEL the glee from Chris “I am not a Right-wingerUhlmann when he tweeted:

'For all of those who are taking up the memorable catch cry of RFS volunteer Paul Parker. Here is a bit more context from an interview he did with @9NewsAUS. There is only one politician in Australia he doesn’t think should “get f-ed”. Guess who? '

That will teach you bleeding hearts with no respect for our Dear Leader and the office he holds — your firefighting hero loves your arch-enemy, Pauline Hanson.

It probably would have gone a little like that in his head, or in chatter with colleagues at Nine. This scoop was even better than his “Look! There are inclusive toilets in the Prime Minister and Cabinet's office! Gender politics gone mad, I tell you!” tweet.

Sure, as you can see from the tweet, Mr Uhlmann doesn’t actually say stuff like that, he just notices “odd” things, things that your “God Squad” talibangelicals or über Catholics find evil. Like maybe how gender is a tad more complicated than little girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and little boys are made of snips and snails and puppy dogs' tails. Of course, when Mr Uhlmann happens to notice these things, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and friends at 2GB happen to notice and action is taken, quick-smart.

Imagine how convenient it must have been for Mr Uhlmann to milkshake duck Paul Parker just after The Project reminded the nation that this volunteer firefighter spoke for many in the nation. When mentally and physically exhausted from fighting fires, he came upon a gaggle of media at the side of the road, leaned out of his truck, stared down at the news camera and said: “Tell the Prime Minister to go and get fucked”.

He said a bit more than that, but telling Scott Morrison to “go and get fucked” spoke for the vast percentage of the nation at the time.

The Prime Minister thought the nation had moved on and forgotten that he had gone for a Hawaiian holiday while the nation burned and it was cool for him to do that. Just before he abandoned us, he assured us that all was under control, no need for any extra attention or effort from the Federal Government to help as all those volunteer firefighters were doing a great job and want to be there.

What does The Project do? They invite Paul Parker on, stating that he was sacked.

Besides the “he said, she said” style back-and-forth between Parker and NSW Rural Fire Service, it put the spotlight back on Morrison, putting him under pressure to respond to allegations this man had been fired from his sainted volunteer firefighter role for his vitriol against the PM.

This also reminded journalists of the “want to be there” comment which, of course, slippery Scott weaselled his way out with:

"I never said, never said, that firefighters enjoyed doing this."

Notice the word “enjoyed”?

Many will be thinking “enjoyed”, “wanted” — who cares? Our Prime Minister figured he could go on holiday, assuming volunteers would do all the heavy lifting with no pay and very little support or thanks.

Not so journalists, which is what the Prime Minister and his lackeys rely on — technicalities and weasel words being argued over to distract from intent and reality.

The PM loves to slip in one word that is different from the actual question asked so that he can lie. bald-faced, knowing that one segment of journalists will say “we looked at the transcript and he didn’t say ‘enjoyed’” and quibble over semantics, without noting the PM didn’t actually respond to the question he was asked.

As usual, he just gave an answer he liked which technically gets him off the hook, but it's fine since word will get out he was “misrepresented”, which is what he wanted so he doesn’t look like such a bad guy.

This tried and tested tactic didn’t seem to work as well as usual this time.

Then along comes Mr Uhlmann, casting doubt on “victim” Paul Parker and throwing some shade at the “vigilante mob” at the same time, with his milkshake ducking of Parker.

For those not sure what milkshake ducking is, it is an internet meme which illustrates something wonderful being not-so-wonderful once a little background is taken into account. So, hero of the people Paul Parker, the volunteer firefighter from Nelligan, being a massive Pauline “it’s okay to be white” Hanson fan, fits that meme perfectly.

I mean, what “bleeding heart” wants to back Hanson?

Personally, I found it said more about the conservatives who thought they had a slam dunk with this milkshake ducking. Many seemed to think support for Parker would drop like a rock — as if those on the more progressive side of politics would be so aghast and throw their hands in the air in despair.

The problem with the progressive side of politics, as opposed to the conservative, is that they are just messy, they are not all in lock-step with a central one-plus-one set of ideals and even when they do agree, they all disagree on the ways to get to the agreed-upon place.

As funny as it was watching Uhlmann try to stir up social media – and conveniently distract from the PM’s shortcomings earlier in the day – it does not appear to have been that successful.

Sure, many are not happy Parker is a fan of Senator Hanson, but it doesn’t mean he is wrong about Scotty from Marketing.

Paul Parker may be racist and that is why he supports Pauline Hanson. Personally, I suspect he is just like a lot of others in my backyard who support her — because they believe she “cares”.

After years of National Party politicians telling us that the city and Canberra don’t care about us – but at least we have a seat at the table – Pauline Hanson swooped into those areas, sat in pubs, listened to people confused at a too-fast changing world, nodded her head and said she cared.

Though it will be fun to see the “how disrespectful is that firefighter?” crowd at Sky After Dark and Sunrise dealing with a man who they now find is as much a fan of Pauline as they are.

In fact, I'm hoping this revelation of Uhlmann's will actually help the "latte-sipping inner-city Lefties" – or whatever Deputy PM Michael McCormack and the Nats are calling urban dwellers this week – understand the mindset of the One Nation voter a little bit more so they can learn to combat Pauline Hanson's insidious and nasty grip on so many in the nation.

Either way, nice scoop, but big swing, no ding.

Read more from Noely Neate on her blog YaThink?, or follow her on Twitter @YaThinkN.

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