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Perhaps the worst part of the Australian election campaign was the debate around transgender rights. Katherine Deves, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s handily chosen candidate for the Warringah seat, sparked controversy this week when she backtracked on an earlier apology for calling transition surgery “mutilation”.
Mr Morrison has resisted calls – including from within his Liberal Party – to release Ms Deves since tweets that had been deleted from her account resurfaced, including the original comment. about transitional surgery. In another tweet, she compared the campaign to ban transgender women from women’s sports to standing up against the Holocaust.
Mr Morrison has dismissed the reaction to Ms Deves’ comment as canceling the culture, and in an election season light on policy and heavy on spectacle, the issue has spawned many furious and disingenuous comments. title number.
To many, the tone and argument feel very, well, very American. It looks like a conservative conversation in the United States has been exported to Australia. Or is this something that reflects Australia’s own political urges or unresolved divisions?
This is not the first time culture wars and identity issues have been part of an Australian election campaign. But this time feels particularly ugly, given the topics being debated and the important language used.
John Warhurst, emeritus professor of politics at the Australian National University, said: “I think it’s more personal, it’s intrusive and I think it’s going to hurt those who get caught up in it.
It seemed to be an example of overlap with American culture, he said. “We have had political debates before about political correctness and sanity,” Professor Warhurst said. “Those things often arise in the US and are picked up in Australia by the people who use them to their advantage.”
Political analysts say Mr Morrison appears to be hopeful that Ms Deves’ views will resonate with religious voters in rural areas, in counties the coalition needs to win by May 21. , even if a moderate number of Liberal seats have to be sacrificed.
But will it work? According to Paul Williams, a political analyst and associate professor at Griffith University, the issue of transgender rights does not resonate as well in Australia as it does in the United States.
“You can see that culture war is at the heart of American politics,” he said. “I don’t think we’re at that point in Australia.”
“Central Australia seems like a pretty reasonable constituency,” he added. With economics at the forefront of everyone’s mind, issues like transgender women’s participation in sport are hardly a priority.
That’s not to say that there aren’t any voters who see politics through the lens of pro- and anti-politics. But do they have critical mass? No, Professor Williams said. And will the transfer of power decide their vote? Probably not, he added.
But he worries about the future. The campaign is particularly “presidential”, he said – motivated by the personalities of the leaders, not the policies of the parties. It is also marked by the “ubiquity” of the news, with different institutions formulating different realities for different constituencies, and by weaponizing issues like the right to convert. , he said.
He fears that “Australia will not only become as polarized but irrational as post-Obama America, where the old adage that you are entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to your own truth. I was completely thrown out the window. ”
“This idea of victory at all costs, victory over identity and disease, feeling and character – or at least the perception of character – but not based on facts, is a terribly slippery road. to go down,” said Professor Williams.
Now here are our stories of the week.
