There's a reason use of the term "whiplash" took off in the 1960s. As car ownership increased so did the number of accidents. We began to take notice of the whiplash injuries caused when cars collided.

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On January 1,1975, it became mandatory under Australian Design Rule 22A for new vehicles to be fitted with headrests to prevent whiplash injuries, most often caused by rear-end collisions.

Pity there isn't a similar restraint on the conduct of our politics. Whiplash has been everywhere lately - and it's been a pain in the neck, not just for you and I but for the pollies caught up in it. The violent jolt that caused it was, of course, the Bondi terrorist attack.

Here we are a few weeks later, with Parliament recalled next week to debate hastily drafted hate speech laws targeting anti-Semitism.

Cast your mind back a few weeks, to when the opposition was loudly clamouring for a parliamentary recall and accusing the government of dragging its feet on anti-Semitism.

Elements of that same opposition are now sledging the government for acting too quickly and threatening free speech. Yesterday, Nationals senator Matt Canavan said he would oppose the legislation. No new laws were needed, he said, just enforcement of existing ones.

Whiplash!

When the draft legislation became public, the Coalition raised concerns about the bill's exemption of religious scriptures, which could serve as a defence if they were quoted for purposes of religious discussion. But conservative WA Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said he was unlikely to support the bill "because of its impact on freedom of speech and religion".

Whiplash!

Same thing from the government with the royal commission. For weeks, it said one would take too long, that urgent action was needed now. Then in the face of concerted public pressure, a royal commission was announced. It would operate to relatively tight deadline, delivering its findings and recommendations by the end of the year. The announcement totally undid much of the PM's public reasoning for not agreeing to one in the first place.........

© Canberra Times