Smithson: Premier has more ‘flies buzzing in ointment’ than Writers’ Week fiasco |
As the Premier deals with a ‘public relations disaster’ over Writers’ Week, Mike Smithson ponders potential tensions with Labor’s frontline MPs who marched at last October’s pro-Palestine rally.
There’s an undeniable nasty vibe circulating across the political landscape since the horrific Bondi tragedy.
First came the shock of the deadly attack which left 15 innocent people dead at a Jewish Hanukkah festival in Sydney and then the recriminations.
The Prime Minister was forced into a potentially costly U-turn for him politically by resisting a federal Royal Commission and then having to take the logical path of giving it the green light.
In the past week controversial pro-Palestinian author, lawyer and academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah was axed, via email, from the prestigious Adelaide Writers’ Week for anti-Zionist statements she’s made in the past.
I’m first in line to reject censorship where it infringes on press or individual freedoms or enables a government or others to control the narrative, rather than allow sensible freedom of speech.
I also join the narrow chorus of those questioning the timing and actual intent of Dr Abdel-Fattah’s statements and the hurt they may have caused and still cause to Jewish people who’ve already been traumatised to the core.
The axed author and her comments have no link to what happened at Bondi beach, but there comes a point where climatic common sense plays a big part.
For other authors who’ve now chosen to boycott the Adelaide event, that is their prerogative entirely and should also be respected.
With high-profile withdrawals such as former New Zealand Prime Minister and author Jacinda Ardern, South Australia’s image is undoubtedly........