Sophie Mirabella has had a big week here at The Punch. Her piece having a go at the Aussie copycat version of the Occupy Wall Street protests on Tuesday went off. Stephen Harrington returned fire on Wednesday, reminding us of her crack at journos for daring to criticise the anti-carbon tax protesters a couple of months back.
Mirabella’s got a knack for sparking a good old-fashioned political firestorm. She’s pretty much the Shadow Minister for Pushing The Boundaries. But she took the responsibilities of that portfolio a little too far on Tuesday evening and found herself shooting a spectacular political own goal.
Mirabella was expelled from the House for 24 hours after repeatedly refusing to heed her Liberal colleague Deputy Speaker Peter Slipper’s instruction to sit down. What made it so particularly spectacular was that government’s carbon tax package, something Mirabella is no fan of, was up for a tight final vote in those 24 hours. She might as well have voted for it. To commemorate this cock-up, the Punch presents a few of what we think are some of the worst (or best) political own goals.
1. Mission Accomplished
The own goals gold standard.
On May 1, 2003, President Bush landed on the deck of a US Navy vessel in a fighter jet. Soon after, in front of a banner that read MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, the President declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq in front of a cheering crowd of sailors.
Initially, the visuals put Vladimir Putin’s shirtless tiger-hunting to shame in the propaganda stakes. But it was not to be. We all know what happened next. Iraq was gripped by a violent insurgency for years. Thousands of US troops were killed. Only in 2011, more than seven years later, is the US poised to withdraw the last of its troops (maybe) from Iraq by the end of the year.
2. Everyone who loved Robert Mugabe in the 80s
When Robert Mugabe was installed as Zimbabwean prime minister in 1980, he was hailed as a statesman-in-the-making by many in the West. I’m sure all of those political and media types hang their heads in shame at the mention of him today.
During his reign Mugabe has massacred many of his opponents. His land seizure policies have led to severe food shortages and starvation.
Inflation under Mugabe hit 100,000 per cent at one point. By contrast, inflation here at home right now is 3.6 per cent.
3. Bob Hawke’s poverty of credibility
The silver fox said no Aussie children would be living in poverty by 1990. A noble concept. But there are nearly 2 million Australians living in poverty today. It didn’t say much for his credibility. Neither does his fashion sense, really.
4. The Godwin Grech Affair
This was Malcolm Turnbull’s own goal.
Turnbull claimed Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan misled Parliament when they told the House they hadn’t instructed anyone running a government car scheme to help out one of Rudd’s car-dealer mates
Turnbull got his info in an email from the public servant Godwin Grech. Grech said he had an email from a senior public servant that proved it. Then the AFP raided his house and found the email was a forgery. Turnbull’s approval ratings plummeted. He was a goner.
Really, if you got an email from someone with the name Godwin Grech promising you a bunch of documents that would bring down the government chances are it wouldn’t even get through your spam filter. Turnbull was just a sucker.
5. An American crowd full of hate
During a presidential nomination primary debate for the conservative Republican party last month, a gay US soldier asked the candidates whether they’d reinstate the US “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military. Part of the Tea Party crowd booed the soldier and not a single one of the candidates on stage saw fit to defend the soldier, who was serving in Iraq.
Barack Obama put the boot in later that week. “You want to be commander-in-chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient.”
This isn’t the only time something like this has happened. In an earlier debate, Tea Partiers cheered at the concept of people dying because they didn’t have health insurance. A sick series of own goals for the Republicans.
6. The Great Moral Challenge of Our—- oh, forget I said that
Labor couldn’t get its ETS through a hostile Parliament. The Copenhagen climate change talks were widely regarded as a disappointment. Rudd had a choice to make: Go to an election on it, or wimp out.
He chose wrong. His polls went through the floor, he lost his job, the issue of climate change got caught up in a flim-flam over a citizen’s assembly and Labor barely held onto power at the next election. Nice one.
7. “There Will Be No Carbon Tax Under The Government I Lead”
Well, I guess that’s KINDA true. At least until it goes through the Senate in a few weeks.
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