How stupid does Anthony Albanese think Australians are? And how little accountability does he believe his own office should face?
asserted
office → think → ?
Those questions become harder to avoid after his extraordinary attempt to recast a document questioning Helen Haines's integrity as some sort of tribute to it.
While Haines remains in hospital after losing both legs following the horrific incident outside her electorate office, the Prime Minister has chosen to defend the indefensible.
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Minister → avoid → indefensible
Earlier this week, I revealed that his office had circulated a dirt file about Haines to journalists last month, after she had the temerity to question the $6million grant to his local golf club.
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she → reveal → club
The dirt file raised insinuations about undeclared gifts and private interests without providing a shred of evidence to support them.
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file → raise → them
But that didn't stop team Albo from attempting to smear her.
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that → stop → her
An acknowledgement that his office got it wrong was available when the story broke.
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story → get → ?
So was an honest explanation of what he knew and what he intended to do about it, to improve the culture inside his own team.
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he → know → team
Instead, we got this:
'For context, Haines is an MP of the highest integrity.
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Haines → get → integrity
But that didn't stop team Albo from attempting to smear her,' writes Daily Mail political editor Peter van Onselen
'
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Onselen → stop → her
It's a list of funding asks from Helen Haines, just showing that people of integrity stand up for their electorate,' Albanese told ABC Radio.
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Albanese → show → Radio
Then came the breathtaking assertion: it contained 'no personal criticism of Helen'.
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it → come → Helen
Sky News journalist Trudy McIntosh, who received the briefing at the time, directly challenged Albo's spin on Thursday:
'That's not how it was handed around to journalists like myself at the time by members of the Prime Minister's office,' she said.
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she → receive → office
Questions about whether an MP received undeclared gifts aren't personal?
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MP → receive → gifts
Questions about private interests in projects for which she sought public funding aren't an invitation to doubt her integrity?
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she → seek → integrity
What would a personal criticism look like, Prime Minister?
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criticism → look → What
Others who received the document have all said much the same thing: it certainly wasn't meant as a tribute to a person of integrity standing up for their electorate, as the PM is trying to spin to us all now.
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PM → receive → us
Albo is trying to pass off his baseless 'dirt sheet' about Independent MP Helen Haines as 'no personal criticism of Helen'
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Albo → try → Helen
In the 'dirt sheet', Albo questioned possible undeclared gifts and private interests in projects she was requesting public funding for
The document did more than record funding requests.
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document → question → requests
Without supplying evidence, it questioned whether Haines had received undeclared gifts or held private interests in projects she wanted funded.
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she → supply → projects
A question mark doesn't magically turn a smear into a public service.
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mark → turn → service
And listing legitimate funding requests alongside those questions doesn't neutralise their meaning.
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listing → list → meaning
It supplies the scaffolding on which suspicion can be built, which was exactly what his office was trying to achieve.
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office → supply → what
Haines, incidentally, is an MP who gave up her Qantas Chairman's Lounge membership.
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who → give → membership
She was among the comparatively small group of parliamentarians prepared to surrender that particular perk.
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She → prepare → perk
Yet the Prime Minister's office invited journalists to investigate whether her advocacy concealed private benefits.
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advocacy → invite → benefits
Now Albo wants Australians to believe his staff were effectively celebrating her commitment to her constituents.
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staff → want → constituents
What an unfortunate coincidence that this sudden enthusiasm for celebrating Haines's integrity emerged right after she described the $6million grant to his local Marrickville Golf Club as 'pork-barrelling by design'.
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she → celebrate → design
Her objection was that the invitation-only scheme let his local golf club collect millions while clubs in her electorate couldn't even apply.
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clubs → let → electorate
Rather than explain why some communities got a cheque and others couldn't get through the door, Albo's office went digging in the mud.
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office → explain → mud
And now we're supposed to believe the dirt sheet was meant as a compliment?
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sheet → suppose → compliment
Even if we play along with the PM's fallacy, does his office routinely distribute supposedly flattering profiles of independent MPs?
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office → play → MPs
Where are the equivalent documents recognising their integrity and applauding their funding requests if that's how the PM's office operates?
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office → recognise → requests
And do those tributes also come with questions designed to sully reputations?
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tributes → come → reputations
Independent senator David Pocock isn't buying the Prime Minister's insulting reinvention of events either.
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Pocock → buy → events
'Trying to explain this away rather than acknowledging what happened, taking responsibility and apologising is not good enough,' he said.
'
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he → try → responsibility
Whether or not this behaviour was authorised, it was wrong, and there should be accountability.
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it → authorise → ?
There is more to this affair than an offensive document and an implausible defence that reflects Albo's tendency to gaslight.
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that → be → tendency
Sources with knowledge of the incident tell me deputy director of communications Joshua Lloyd produced the document after a morning communications meeting, having been directed to do so.
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Lloyd → tell → meeting
It places the question of who commissioned the document squarely alongside the question of who prepared it.
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who → place → it
I haven't established who specifically gave that direction.
asserted
who → establish → direction
…and 37 more, not listed.
The Aporia
