Maestro of mediocrity

The maiden speech of Australia's current Prime Minister and war criminal, John Howard, was delivered to Parliament on September 26, 1974.

Fortunately for us, Howard kept his address to the nation mercifully short, but he had no doubt laboured over it for some days as all new Members must, so that he would express, to the full measure of his intellect and eloquence, his core values and widest visions for the Commonwealth.

Unfortunately for us, the speech was entirely pedestrian, irksomely authoritarian and unbelievably narrow. It was a token of things to come for John Howard and the nation he helps to shape. For example, this maestro of mediocrity can scarcely see past his nose for solutions to a multifarious problem known to all societies -- social dislocation:

"Australia can only be taken out of the possibility of social dislocation if, firstly, we receive leadership and, secondly, there is preserved in the community a united attack on the problems of inflation," he said categorically in his First Big Speech.

He is a crafty lawyer but he has the passions of an accountant. Some people, it's said, know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Speech in full

Tagged: australia, authoritarianism, john+howard