Michelle Goldsmith’s misrepresentation of my words must be corrected (“US election food for thought for Australia”, Bendigo Advertiser, November 15).
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My letter of November 9 did not include an assertion, premature, myopically or otherwise, “that Tony Abbott will be Australia’s next prime minister”.
Instead I asserted that the consequence of Labor’s financial mismanagement, constant leadership battles and ever-growing list of incompetent legislation and grubby scandals will be a change of government.
If Ms Goldsmith believes a change of government means “Tony Abbott will be Australia’s next prime minister” then that is welcome news, but they are her words not mine. Climate change was not mentioned once in the three presidential debates held during the US election, nor did it feature in the billions of dollars’ worth of advertising which accompanied the Obama and Romney campaigns.
It was therefore clearly not an important issue for the majority of US voters and hence had no bearing on the result.
Nor, apparently, is it an important issue locally – I note the Greens and their climate hysteria were rejected by Bendigo voters at the recent council elections. “Food for thought”, perhaps.
Ms Goldsmith’s angry words regarding “Abbott’s track record on women’s reproductive rights” are easily countered.
For example, Macquarie University historian Dr Kate Gleeson writes of the morning-after pill debate: “Harradine’s anti-abortion legislation was passed with bipartisan support, with ALP members uncharacteristically denied a conscience vote, and Abbott’s fingerprints nowhere to be found on the deal.”
Margie Abbott accurately describes baseless chauvinistic attacks like Ms Goldsmith’s as “a very deliberate campaign under way trying to raise doubts about Tony and his relationship with women”.
As Labor and the Greens have failed so miserably in government, “playing the man” is all they have left. Like Tony Abbott, I have several daughters and I endorse his and Hillary Clinton’s identical statements on abortion.
Like them I believe it should be safe, legal and rare. Like them I believe it shouldn’t be seen as an alternative to contraception – does Ms Goldsmith believe it should?
As a “myopic conservative” I also endorse his often misquoted words regarding his daughters: “I should say how proud of them I am, how mature they are.
“They are able to make their own decisions ... but you know how parents are.”