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Political Speeches And The Illusion Of Perfect Pitch, Marcus O'Donnell Jan 2013

Political Speeches And The Illusion Of Perfect Pitch, Marcus O'Donnell

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott’s speechifying at the opening of the Australian War memorial’s Afghanistan Gallery has been reported as a kind of momentary cease-fire between the rival leaders. But it was unmistakably part of the election campaign.

I happened to catch it live on ABC News 24.

Like any ceremony that marks Australian military involvement in America’s wars on terror it was a fundamentally dishonest display hyping “our” sacrifice with barely a mention of the horrific sacrifices of the Afghan civilians. That aside it was instructive.

Mostly it showed quite clearly why Kevin Rudd is popular and Tony Abbott …