{"id":10656,"date":"2015-04-27T20:01:41","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T10:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelwyres.com\/?p=10656"},"modified":"2015-04-27T20:01:41","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T10:01:41","slug":"remember-when-the-turnbull-staffer-said-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/2015\/04\/remember-when-the-turnbull-staffer-said-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember When The Turnbull Staffer Said This?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sacking of SBS<\/a> reporter Scott McIntyre after a series of controversial tweets with respect to ANZAC Day has certainly stirred up a whirlpool of reaction, and fired up the free-speech debate in Australia.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull got involved, making sure that McIntyre’s tweets were seen by his boss, SBS managing director Michael Ebeid.<\/p>\n

\n\n \n
Turnbull Denies Influence On SBS Sacking Of Scott McIntyre<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/center>\n<\/p>\n

“Mr Turnbull, who has described the comments as “despicable”, drew them to the attention of SBS’s managing director Michael Ebeid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, whether or not Turnbull directly requested\/required\/suggested the sacking of McIntyre isn’t really the point. Personally, I doubt that he did, but his actions did put McIntyre and his employment directly in the firing line of SBS management.<\/p>\n

“But in his capacity as a reporter employed by SBS he has to comply with and face the consequences of ignoring the SBS social media protocol.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe – but ignoring the content<\/i> of the tweets for just a moment, all McIntyre was doing was expressing his view – who are SBS – (and Turnbull, for that matter) – to decide what is and isn’t an appropriate level of free speech?<\/p>\n

Is expressing free speech a breach of SBS social media policy?<\/p>\n

On the evidence – apparently so, and that’s a big concern. Turnbull’s basic view of the matter<\/a> was that the tweets were “offensive”.<\/p>\n

Perhaps they were, perhaps they weren’t – that’s the point of free-speech – not everyone is going to agree with what we say.<\/p>\n

McIntyre certainly wasn’t rude in his tweets, he just expressed an unpopular opinion.<\/p>\n

Boohoo – we all confront unpopular opinions every single day of our lives.<\/p>\n

Get over it.<\/p>\n

But how far should a public person, or someone representing<\/i> a public person go when it comes to addressing public issues?<\/p>\n

Remember when one of Turnbull’s own staffers said this?<\/p>\n

\n\n \n
’Get Fucked’: Turnbull Staffer Turns On Blogger<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/center>\n<\/p>\n

“Nobody challenges your numbers because nobody takes your psychotic rantings seriously. Nobody. Nevertheless they are all wrong. All of them \u2013 you don\u2019t have a clue about the existing deal, much less how it might be modified. Given what you write is a delusional fantasy that exists only in your own mind, you can get fucked.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turnbull of course, when it was brought to his attention tried to mop things up neatly:<\/p>\n

\n\n \n
Malcolm Turnbull ‘Regrets’ Staffer’s Outburst<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/center>\n<\/p>\n

“Turnbull, the shadow communications minister, addressed the spat on Twitter on Wednesday, posting: “Regret my staffer’s lapse into vulgar Anglo-Saxon in an email to a blogger. Charm remediation has been administered and equanimity restored.””<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So apart from an apparent tickle over the wrist with a metaphorical piece of soggy celery, the staffer wasn’t disciplined, and certainly was not separated from his employment.<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p>\n

While the tweets sent by McIntyre were in regard to a much more sensitive subject than that which extracted the definitive expletive from Turnbull’s staffer in 2013, Turnbull has seemingly made sure he was shot down for speaking his mind.<\/p>\n

If you are Michael Ebeid, when Malcolm Turnbull – (your boss) – rings you to bring some tweets to your attention, he isn’t ringing you to have a laugh about them – he wants action taken. Why else would he do it? Turnbull saying that it wasn’t up to him is nothing more than semantics, something he is very good at.<\/p>\n

You can express an unpopular view, and lose your job. Or you can tell a constituent to “get fucked” and all is sweet.<\/p>\n

Whether you agree with the sentiments expressed by McIntyre or not, Turnbull has managed to front up with a double standard that should be explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sacking of SBS reporter Scott McIntyre after a series of controversial tweets with respect to ANZAC Day has certainly stirred up a whirlpool of reaction, and fired up the free-speech debate in Australia. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull got involved, making sure that McIntyre’s tweets were seen by his boss, SBS managing director Michael Ebeid. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[100,616,558],"class_list":["post-10656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-auspol","tag-scottmcintyre","tag-turnbull"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10656"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10670,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10656\/revisions\/10670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}