Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Carr Diary 3: A Mere Flash in the Pan Really...

He briefly came to prominence...

"Albert Dadon is a Melbourne Jewish lobbyist. He has sought to influence Australian prime ministers and cabinet ministers on both sides of politics. He counts Kevin Rudd as a friend and Tony Abbott as well. He briefly came to prominence for giving a job to Tim Mathieson, Gillard's partner."  (Falafel factions, Likudniks & Carr: inside the battle for Israeli influence, Chip Le Grand, John Ferguson & Troy Bramston, The Australian, 11/4/14)

That's it? That's the lot? That's all he did?

You mean Albert's Australia Israel Cultural Exchanges, his Australia Israel Leadership Forums, and his Australia Israel United Kingdom Leadership Dialogues, which saw Australian and other political 'leaders', MPs, senators and media hacks shuttling back and forth between Canberra, London and Tel Aviv during the term of the last Labor government, was just a figment of my febrile imagination? (1)

You mean those pre-election breakfasts at Albert's Toorak mansion, described by someone in the know as "an opportunity for the ALP to sell itself [to wealthy Jewish donors]," were, to wax Shakespearian, merely "such stuff as [my] dreams are made on"? (2)

You mean those fabulous dinners for Julia at Albert's Italian restaurant, Bakini, were just idle fantasies on my part? (3)

Apparently.

"For all these things [ie for giving Timbo a job] he is unapologetic. And for Carr, he has polite yet powerful scorn. 'What he is trying to do is limit the rights of any members of the Jewish community to have any influence on the political process,' Dadon told The Australian from France. 'We have no apology to make to Mr Carr... for being part of the fabric of this society where we have a voice and influence in public debate. Everyone from car companies to cigarette companies... is trying to have some sort of influence and input in government. So why should we apologise for having a certain outcome by government?'"

Right... except Julia never ever said to Big Tobacco anything like: "I'm looking forward to taking our friendship to new heights during the next term of government." (4)

No, she took her 'friendship' with BT to a new low by introducing plain packaging for cigarettes.

(What a pity she didn't introduce similar legislation for Israeli products: those photos of cancerous tumours and emaciated sufferers that now adorn cigarette packets in Australia could be replaced on imported Israeli goods with images of tanks and warplanes in action, swaggering troops and settlers, checkpoints, apartheid walls, demolished homes and torched olive groves!)

"'There are no apologies to be made and the fact he is singling us out with a finger is reminiscent of a certain era when Jews were limited in having a voice in political debate'."

What are you trying to say here, Albert?

[(1) See my 25/10/10 post Record Rambam;(2) See my 20/8/10 post A Pre-Poll Breakfast Tradition;(3) See my 7/6/12 post Spilling the Cannellini Beans; (4) See my 20/8/10 post A Pre-Poll Breakfast Tradition.]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Failing to mention that:
1) the Israeli lobby is involved with vastly more parliamentarians (and journalists) than other lobby(http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/skys-the-limit-for-political-gifts-20120829-2514z.html), making them more of a risk to our democracy;
2) the parliament (and journalists) have a vastly different attitude to Israel than average Australians (http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australian_outlook/australia-israel-and-palestine/); and
3) The Israel lobby is pushing for the Australian Government to breach international law (http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/?p1=3&p2=4&k=5a&case=131&code=mwp&p3=4)

Anonymous said...

MERC,
I seem to remember Mark Latham wrote in HIS book a little jem about how the making of foreign policy and sausages had something in common.

The public can not be allowed to view either process.

I think Mark Latham was quoting Bismark.

Bob Carr sheds some recent light on the theory if the media hissy fit is any guide.