Doug PollardWong Way – Go Back
August 7th 2008 06:33
Penny Wong
In fact, all available stats indicate that the issue is, at worst, finely balanced, with roughly equal numbers for and against, with some polls flagging a majority in favour. As a cabinet minister she is obliged to toe the party line, but with a bit of finessing she could have indicated that, although forced to do just that, her true sentiments were otherwise.
One is reminded of the formulation used by the great Francis Urquhart in “House of Cards” – ‘You might say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.’ However, she lacks either the wit or the will – or maybe both – to come up with an equally telling formulation.
It’s not surprising – she is a monumentally dull public performer, a real backroom policy wonk.
The venom directed at her from gay advocates should not surprise her. After 11 years of the Howard government, in which we were never spoken to at all if it could possibly be avoided, suddenly we have a seat at the cabinet table, occupied by a minister who refuses to act on our behalf.
She tries to ignore the fact that she’s a woman, of Asian extraction, and gay, as if she is operating in some pure meritocratic vacuum. One can understand why – she wants to be taken on her merits rather than be seen as ‘the asian minister’ or ‘the lesbian minister’.
She’s reputed to be formidably clever and focused – but not, it would seem, clever enough, to be all she could be, which would be all the above, at the same time.
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