1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:05,040 S1: Hello. It's Jacqueline Maley here. The host of Inside Politics, 2 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:08,000 S1: Tony Wright, the associate editor of The Age, has been 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,360 S1: writing for 50 years. He's the master of what we 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,360 S1: call the political sketch. Sketches are akin to a verbal cartoon, 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,279 S1: and when done well, they capture a moment in politics. 6 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,320 S1: Today we bring you Tony's sketch, published this week titled 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,400 S1: Nation's Worst Government. Jane Humes hyperbolic historical claim. 8 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,800 S2: Jane Hume will never be accused of understatement, but her 9 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,600 S2: return to the coalition's frontbench appears to have excited her 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:45,920 S2: to new heights of endearingly bonkers hyperbole. Hume, having been 11 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,040 S2: elevated to deputy leader of the Liberal Party after former 12 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:53,240 S2: leader Sussan Ley cruelly condemned her to a period in purgatory, 13 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,000 S2: is clearly not about to let mold grow on new 14 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,240 S2: opportunities to lay it on thick. Thus, when she was 15 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,360 S2: given the microphone on ABC radio on Wednesday morning, she 16 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,360 S2: set about sprinkling fairy dust on the ailing coalition's new 17 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:17,440 S2: frontbench while denouncing with relish Anthony Albanese's labor outfit quotes 18 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,679 S2: we want to prosecute Labor's failures. It's the worst government 19 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,640 S2: in this nation's history, she declared. Hang about the worst 20 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:31,480 S2: government in this nation's history. Give it time. It might 21 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,000 S2: yet gain the exalted position of worst in history, but 22 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,840 S2: it's got some very stiff competition. Hume herself, after all, 23 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,240 S2: was a minister in Scott Morrison's government. We shouldn't dwell 24 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,960 S2: on the memory of Morrison, period. Of course, it being 25 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,000 S2: too painfully recent for reasoned judgement. Let's scroll back then, 26 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:57,280 S2: through the Gaga, Tony Abbott and tortured Rudd-gillard-rudd periods. Tempting 27 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:00,960 S2: as it might be to invite spirited argument about, which 28 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,960 S2: was worst, a knighthood for the Queen's husband, anyone, or 29 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,330 S2: a real Julia moment in quest of escape from Kevin 30 00:02:09,330 --> 00:02:14,210 S2: Rudd's relentless undermining. Now, let's go back a bit further. 31 00:02:14,770 --> 00:02:18,450 S2: What about the prime ministership of Paul Billy McMahon? Such 32 00:02:18,490 --> 00:02:23,250 S2: a champion, liar, backstabber and leaker that Gough Whitlam dubbed 33 00:02:23,250 --> 00:02:28,450 S2: him Tiberius with a telephone, McMahon will retain forever the 34 00:02:28,450 --> 00:02:32,570 S2: title of silliest PM in Australian history, which naturally places 35 00:02:32,570 --> 00:02:37,970 S2: his short lived government 1971 to 1972, in contention as 36 00:02:37,970 --> 00:02:42,609 S2: the worst. Famously, a journalist once asked McMahon about his 37 00:02:42,610 --> 00:02:47,690 S2: vision for the future. He frantically flipped through his voluminous 38 00:02:47,690 --> 00:02:52,930 S2: briefing notes before declaiming oh no! Nothing about the future here. 39 00:02:54,130 --> 00:02:58,369 S2: Whitlam replaced McMahon in the Lodge and remains much lauded 40 00:02:58,370 --> 00:03:03,210 S2: for his numerous achievements in upending Old State Australia and 41 00:03:03,210 --> 00:03:06,290 S2: remaking its future. But the last year of the Whitlam 42 00:03:06,290 --> 00:03:09,450 S2: government must be in the running for the worst in history, 43 00:03:09,450 --> 00:03:13,850 S2: or at the very least, most mind boggling. The secret 44 00:03:13,850 --> 00:03:18,410 S2: and fruitless attempts to borrow billions through a shady commodities 45 00:03:18,410 --> 00:03:24,970 S2: dealer named Tirath Khemlani. The various ministers who misled Parliament 46 00:03:24,970 --> 00:03:29,609 S2: over this and other would be secret loans. A married treasurer, 47 00:03:29,610 --> 00:03:34,690 S2: Jim Cairns, declaring he had a kind of love for 48 00:03:34,690 --> 00:03:38,210 S2: his private secretary, Junie Morosi, when just about everyone knew 49 00:03:38,250 --> 00:03:42,250 S2: what kind of love it actually was. Oh, and Whitlam's 50 00:03:42,250 --> 00:03:47,530 S2: own spectacular misjudgment for appointing his own executioner, John Kerr. 51 00:03:48,530 --> 00:03:50,890 S2: Skip much further back, and you'd have a rich choice 52 00:03:50,890 --> 00:03:54,890 S2: regarding which government of the indestructible Billy Hughes was the worst. 53 00:03:54,930 --> 00:03:59,250 S2: He was prime minister, representing three different parties in less 54 00:03:59,250 --> 00:04:05,610 S2: than eight years from 1915 to 1923. Having split his 55 00:04:05,610 --> 00:04:09,010 S2: Labor Party by demanding and failing to introduce conscription during 56 00:04:09,010 --> 00:04:12,410 S2: World War One. He was expelled by the party, leading 57 00:04:12,410 --> 00:04:16,410 S2: him to form the National Labor Party before switching to 58 00:04:16,450 --> 00:04:21,610 S2: the Nationalist Party all as PM. You would bewilder yourself, 59 00:04:21,650 --> 00:04:23,610 S2: trying to figure which might have been the worst of 60 00:04:23,610 --> 00:04:27,809 S2: the governments. The peripatetic Hughes served during his 50 years 61 00:04:27,810 --> 00:04:33,850 S2: as an MP. All up he represented six different political parties, 62 00:04:33,890 --> 00:04:39,450 S2: led five, outlasted four and was expelled from three. As 63 00:04:39,450 --> 00:04:44,450 S2: an aside, he never joined the Country Party. His explanation 64 00:04:44,490 --> 00:04:47,810 S2: you have to draw the line somewhere. And then there 65 00:04:47,810 --> 00:04:51,010 S2: was the government of Jim Scullin. He had the great 66 00:04:51,010 --> 00:04:54,490 S2: misfortune of becoming prime minister within days of the New 67 00:04:54,529 --> 00:04:59,090 S2: York Stock Market Crash of 1929, which soon enough condemned 68 00:04:59,130 --> 00:05:04,089 S2: Australia to the Great Depression. Though Scullin himself strived mightily 69 00:05:04,089 --> 00:05:09,570 S2: to cope, the economy and political enemies, including Labour rebels 70 00:05:09,570 --> 00:05:13,610 S2: who crossed the floor against him, conspired to bring him down. 71 00:05:14,810 --> 00:05:19,370 S2: He was gone within three years. His one term labor 72 00:05:19,370 --> 00:05:25,500 S2: Labour government smashed by Joseph Lyons United Australia Party, reducing 73 00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:30,540 S2: the ALP to just 14 of the parliament's 76 seats. 74 00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:34,659 S2: We won't go on. Though we could, for the title 75 00:05:34,660 --> 00:05:41,100 S2: of worst is splendidly subjective. Choose your own. Meanwhile, we 76 00:05:41,140 --> 00:05:45,300 S2: await Jane Hume's merry promise on Wednesday's radio outing that 77 00:05:45,300 --> 00:05:49,860 S2: the latest coalition frontbench will soon enough be, as she says, 78 00:05:50,100 --> 00:05:54,219 S2: ready for government and to change Australia for the better. 79 00:05:59,020 --> 00:06:01,700 S1: You can read all of our political news on our websites, 80 00:06:01,700 --> 00:06:08,180 S1: theage.com.au or SMS. Before you go, follow Inside Politics and 81 00:06:08,180 --> 00:06:12,539 S1: leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. I'm Jacqueline Maley, 82 00:06:12,580 --> 00:06:13,820 S1: thank you for listening.