Christopher Pyne takes on Victoria's coronavirus battle as Pauline Hanson and Chris Lilley get cancelled on Q+A
"One Nation member caught in lewd strip club video"
A further peek at racism within the Australian right.
By Paul Johnson Posted 8 hours ago, updated 6 hours ago
VIDEO - Christopher Pyne criticises Victoria's quarantine protocols.
With nine apartment towers and 3,000 people in lockdown, the Victorian Government's handling of coronavirus quarantining was a hot topic on Monday's Q+A before leading into a discussion about racism and cancel-culture.
Key points:
* Victoria's quarantining of returned travellers was disparaged by Christopher Pyne
* Debate raged over whether the measures now in place in Victoria were too harsh
* One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was attacked for statements she made on Nine's Today Show
Former Liberal MP Christopher Pyne questioned why Victoria had used security guards to manage hotel quarantine, rather than relying on health officials or the police force in the first instance, as they were doing now.
"In South Australia, at the hotel quarantines, we have not just security guards, but also South Australian Police Force, public health nurses, doctors from the Department of Health, public servants — I mean, it's a whole full-court press," Mr Pyne said.
"My understanding is that, in Victoria, they've mainly been managed by the security firms, and (they) have said they've had very little training in terms of dealing with COVID-19.
- "One of the reports was that they had four minutes of training before they were sent in to the front line, if you like. And I think that process has clearly been found wanting." -
"No, I don't think it's too heavy-handed," Mr Pyne said.
"I think the states and the nations that went hard early on social distancing have proven to have had the better outcomes, and I think Victoria was very much part of that until, obviously, very recently."
But fellow panellist, Nine Network entertainment reporter Brooke Boney, felt the measures in Victoria were draconian.
"I think it is heavy-handed," Ms Boney said.
"I can't imagine walking out of my house and having police standing there saying, 'Oh, sorry, Brooke, not today. Also, no-one's allowed to come and see you. It doesn't matter what you've got inside — we'll try to make sure you've got the things you need within the next 24 to 48 hours'."
Cancel Pauline Hanson, Chris Lilley, or both?
Ms Boney was asked about One Nation leader Pauline Hanson being cancelled by Nine's The Today Show for calling residents of those Victorian apartment blocks "drug addicts" and "alcoholics".
She said she felt "heartbroken" by the Queensland Senator's comments.
"I was thinking about all of those kids sitting at home watching, all of those people trapped in their apartments, watching and thinking 'this is what Australia thinks of us — is that we're alcoholics and drug addicts', and that's disgusting," Ms Boney said.
QandA @QandA What can be done to protect the residents of Melbourne’s locked down towers from further vilification? And what can be to ensure these residents have access to daily necessities? #QandA VIDEO 6:01 7.9K views 9:51 PM · Jul 6, 2020 41 people are Tweeting about this
But another panellist, Shadow Environment Minister Terri Butler, called out Ms Boney's defence of her employer Today for booking Ms Hanson, citing Ms Hanson's past use of racist language as a reason to expect more of it from her.
"She's been a public racist since 1996, she used her first maiden speech to say we were in danger of being swamped by Asians and her second maiden speech to say we are in danger of being swamped by Muslims," Ms Butler said.
She described Ms Hanson's views as a "business model", but Mr Pyne disagreed, saying she is representative of a wider part of the Australian electorate — and a ratings mechanism for some in the media.
"Pauline Hanson believes the things she says, she has been consistent about it — consistently bad," Mr Pyne said.
- "I've been surprised watching her over 20-odd years but her views have not changed very much, but there is a cadre of people who agree and believe what Pauline says. -
"And they have been the one party from the non-Labor side of politics that has been quite electorally successful in the last 20 years."
[The Greens walk out on Pauline Hanson's first speech in the Senate.] Pauline Hanson's maiden speech to the Senate saw Greens party members walk out.(ABC News: Matt Roberts)
"On the other hand, I think the blackface of some of the comedies that have been taken off by the ABC… I think that's the right thing to do, because that's modern, and it's completely unnecessary, and it's clearly racially profiling black people in an inappropriate way."
Q+A had received a letter from the family of Filipe Mahe, a former student who the central character of Summer Heights High, Jonah, was allegedly based on.
The letter read: "My husband, Filipe, had the character Jonah From Tonga based on him when he was at his most vulnerable. He's felt exploited for years. Why is it that most Australians feel he should 'get over it', and how does Chris Lilley and the ABC get away with this without an apology or explanation?"
Ms Boney took Lilley to task over not apologising, but rather releasing a clip to his personal YouTube channel.
"Chris Lilley, that same week when we took all of those programs off air — he released an unedited clip or some extra part of Jonah From Tonga, even though this man had said this really upsets him — and you've exploited that for comedy," she said.
- "He hasn't come out and said 'I'm sorry', he hasn't come out and said 'this is a learning moment for me'. I think that's disgusting." -
Asked whether the ABC should apologise, panellist and comedian Shaun Micallef said it wasn't for him to decide, but if he was in Mr Mahe's shoes he would be "ringing up and knocking on the door at the ABC" to pursue the matter.
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