Michael ThornIt is not enough that Liberal Democrat Senator, David Leyonhjelm bears more than a passing resemblance to New Zealand comedian and well-known ABC satirist John Clarke.
Now he’s even borrowing his schtick.
The good Senator appeared on ABC’s Lateline last month, for a panel debate on the merits of the Personal Choice and Community Impacts Senate Inquiry.
With Leyonhjelm channeling his best John Clarke, and Lateline presenter Emma Alberici sounding every bit like Clarke’s straight man Bryan Dawe, Senator Leyonhjelm managed to effortlessly skewer his own Inquiry while ably demonstrating what happens when an unbending and extreme political ideology is allowed to trump common sense.
With respected public health leader Michael Moore’s presence the only real clue that this was not parody but a genuine interview, Alberici served up a buffet of legislated life-saving measures for Leyonhjelm’s endorsement.
Bicycle helmets? “No.” Motorbike helmets? “No… [but] I don’t intend to do anything about motor cycle helmets.” Seat belts? “No.”
Says Leyonhjelm: “Adults wearing bicycle helmets is an excellent example. There is nobody who is going to get hurt if you fall off and smash your head. Nobody else is going to be hurt.”
Clearly that’s incorrect – in the broader sense. Yet in his dogged pursuit of individual freedom and liberty, Leyonhjelm appears perfectly willing to deny the inconvenient and obvious truth to the contrary in order to advance his own political agenda. In doing so, he just appears foolish.
Challenged by Alberici, “Well your family will be hurt by that, surely?” Leyonhjelm glibly replied “so okay your family might be upset if you don’t change your undies every day…”
That insensitive response, remember we were talking about head injuries, exposes the flaws in a cruel ideology that purports to place the rights of the individual first and foremost, yet at the same time is perfectly happy to dismantle the very structures that protects those same individuals, and consequence be damned!
As Moore rightly pointed out, as a result of the head injury incurred while riding without a bike helmet there is a very high financial and emotional cost to the individual, their family, and to the community.
No surprise that on the subject of cigarettes Leyonhjelm isn’t in favor of plain packaging or high taxes either. The way he sees it, smokers actually provide a windfall for society saying: “It makes people die earlier and that actually saves the economy money.” No word on secondhand smoke.
Under Leyonhjelm’s new world order, individual freedom is apparently off the chart, but compassion appears in short supply.
Libertarians such as Leyonhelm would have you believe that the evidence-based public health measures that we enjoy in a developed country like Australia, the measures that keep us safe and improve our quality of life, are the work of the political elitists.
That incorrect view is perhaps influenced by the knowledge that public health measures impinge on all our rights to a degree – just as taxes do. This is what it means to live in a civil society – after all it’s not the jungle.
While Leyonhjelm and his libertarian ilk shout loudly they are for the individual, in their rush to tear down the measures that keep us safe, they frequently benefit powerful vested interests and place an unconscionable burden on the rest of us.
And while Leyonhjelm sees only a battle of political ideology, the view from the street is far different.
Because when everyday Australians embrace and benefit from life-saving public health measures, they don’t see competing philosophy, but instead common sense measures that keep themselves and their loved ones safe from harm.
Leyonhjelm’s Lateline appearance wasn’t his finest hour and his subsequent spinning (Why adults do not need nannies, AFR, 24 Sept 2015) to undo the self-inflicted damage is a joy to behold. While there is a degree of irony that the former Chairman of the Shooter’s Party would shoot himself in the foot so publically, I’d hate to do anything to discourage any future media appearances.
Because public health has nothing to fear from Leyonhjelm or his Inquiry. Far from it, the more Australians are exposed to his extreme beliefs the better.
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