Rodney Croome . gay advocate

Political wrecking

Are Tony Abbott's homophobic remarks part of a bigger political picture?

"Stunned" is probably the best word to describe how LGBT Australians and many of their fellow citizens felt when, on Sunday night, Tony Abbott said he is threatened by homosexuality, and when he explained this sense of threat a day later by declaring homosexuality “challenges orthodox notions of the right order of things”.

Abbott has rightly been condemned for his bigotry.

Even conservative columnist, Andrew Bolt, felt Abbott went too far, although he wrongly agrees with Abbott that such prejudices are common, and unfairly blames some homosexuals for helping perpetuating them.

What I felt wasn’t being discussed was why Abbott has changed his tune from 2008 when he took a far more benign view of things same-sex, and even condemned former PM, Paul Keating, for what were, in comparison to Abbott-2010, much less homophobic remarks.

This is an important issue. The stark change in Abbott’s views shows that his recent homophobic comments are about more than just a lack of tact or fore-thought, as some people believe. For Abbott to shift so dramatically, there must be something strategic about his pronouncements.

So I wrote this piece, looking at the damage Abbott’s comments will cause, how out of synch they are with mainstream Australia, and most of all, why he has changed position.

I answered that question with references to Abbott's political backers and the conservative Christian voters who "defected" to Rudd in 2007 but who feel a bit taken-for-granted and Abbott hopes to bring back to the Coalition.

What I didn’t deal with, because it’s a bit hard to explain, is the possibility that Abbott is throwing rhetorical bombs around (on homosexuality, female sexuality, bibles in school etc), to cause maximum political disruption.

He is not only disagreeing with the Government on everything, as an Opposition leader should. He seems to be trying to explode the cultural assumptions upon which government social policy-making is generally based, or at the least drag debate so far to the right that common ground is impossible to find.

This is the strategy currently pursued by the Republicans in the US.

They refuse to accept any of the assumptions or objectives to which the Obama administration is appealing in its pursuit of reform on everything from health care to "Don't Ask Don't Tell", to the point where the US seems almost ungovernable, certainly unreformable.

And that’s the point: wreck all your opponent’s plans so you look like the only viable option come election time.

Time will tell if Abbott will do the same on, say, Rudd’s hospital reform. If he does, then we will look back at his offensive remarks on homosexuality as just the beginning of a much bigger campaign of political divisiveness and spoiling.

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In other news, most of which is from last week,

Mardi Gras got some coverage.

As did homophobia in sport.

As did Garry Burns.

Transgender human rights were unusually prominent with developments in NSW, Queensland and WA.

A national charter of rights got some unusually balanced coverage in the Australian.

The Vatican copped a serve, as did the US lifetime gay blood ban.

Robert Dessaix fell foul of China’s HIV ban.

And

Josh Thomas revealed he has a boyfriend.