Crikey: Independents v the media: somehow it’s always about the men, 12th April 2022
Article by Bernard Keane
Excerpts about Zoe
A disparate group of female independent candidates have emerged to challenge political business-as-usual. But the coverage is about men and political parties…
Putting aside that Downer’s two former staffers Frydenberg and Sharma would have to die and be born again to have a chance of becoming great, he evidently believes only Liberals — and, he might graciously allow, Nationals and Labor — should be allowed to stand for office, which is apt for a man who belongs in the Tory party of Stanley Baldwin. The unsubtle implication is also that the best contribution the likes of Helen Haines and Zali Steggall and Zoe Daniel and Kylea Tink and Allegra Spender could make is to get out of the way and let the blokes get on with it…
In any event, that analysis is wrong and self-defeating. The independents exist because the Liberals long ago shifted to the right. The Liberals are the party of fossil fuels, which provide finance and staff for it. Fossil fuel companies have captured much of the apparatus of the Australian state, including the Coalition and much of the ALP. That’s why independents have emerged, to challenge this state capture. Minus the “moderates”, the Liberals would be exactly the same, just without Dave Sharma regularly backgrounding The Sydney Morning Herald about how unhappy he is to be rolling over yet again to the denialists…
