David Flint and his extreme rightwing chums are looking to set up an Australian version of the U.S. Tea Party movement. Senior correspondent Barry Everingham is most amused.
David Flint is becoming more loopy as the days roll on; his latest ridiculous fantasy is to link the rightwing CANdo organisation – which he runs in tandem with Australians for Constitutional Monarchy – with a Cory Bernardi thought bubble, loosely based on the idiotic, unpatriotic, lunatic, Tea Party cowboy outfit, which almost made the U.S.A. the world's laughing stock.
Now to give Flint his dues he isn’t the only “celebrity” connected to CANdo: Alan Jones, Australia’s most reviled broadcaster, is a patron, along with the highly regarded yet even more highly misguided businessman Hugh Morgan, who my late wife and I have known for many years, in spite of his extremist right wing leanings. Jones, of course, is someone no decent Australian would want to be seen with.
Another CANdo cum Tea Party aficionado is Jai Martinkovits, who Flint is grooming to eventually take over ACM when Flint is either removed – which we hear isn’t too far away – or voluntarily retires — which means, in effect, he dies on the job. I have been warning Jai for some time to be more discerning about the company he keeps, but he takes no heed. Jai, you will eventually rue the day you didn’t take my advice.
Now, late last year Flint and young Jai went public about this Australian Tea Party nonsense, which means the “sponsors” of ACM – there are no members as such – will at last realise that ACM is, despite Flint’s claims to the contrary , a political organisation whose roots are deep inside the furthrest rightwing extremes of the Liberal Party. That faction is peopled by the likes of the foul-mouthed Sophie Mirabella; the extreme homophobe Cory Bernardi, the thuggish woman-hating Tony Abbott; the frontbench representative of Cardinal Pell, Kevin Andrews; the impossibly named Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and, for God’s sake, my own local member, the loud-mouthed Kelly O’Dwyer — to name but a few.
Now, Flint has really crazy ideas about the role of this "Australian Tea Party", not the least being the return of corporal punishment in schools.
The Indonesian-born, silver-haired, icon then made a startling admission in respect to his claim – he had indeed been caned when he had spoken out of turn in Singapore, which may explain a lot about Flint and begs the question of whether the caner got as much pleasure from the incident as the recipient — after all, David did say he didn’t step out if line again. That, of course, is a value judgement, as there are many – nay, thousands – of people who think Flint steps out of line every time he opens his mouth.
As an example, he says the reaction to comments his mate Jones made about Julia Gillard’s father "dying of shame" were an overreaction!
He says half asylum seekers of the arriving on boats are not genuine refuges and he wants protect the legal rights of citizens to denigrate each other without fear of legal action.
If that isn’t un-Australian, please tell me please what is.
He even defends the anti- gay marriage comments of his idol Cory Bernardi and seems to think that gay marriage could result in legalising human sex with animals!
As though that isn’t enough, he has a bizarre prediction that legalising gay marriage might even see local Muslims call for the legalisation of polygamy, which he fears, if it came about, could cause a run on the welfare system.
This seems to me a hint of ridiculing his Indonesian heritage – his own genealogy – about which most people in the same position would take some pride in – and, on further examination, perhaps may throw up some burqa wearing relatives.
But Flint is Flint and he is the gift that keeps on giving – to the Republicans.
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