Contempt is becoming a "buzz" word leading to election day
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Contempt. Noun. The feeling that a person or a thing is worthless or beneath consideration.
Contempt is a word that is getting banded about a bit lately from politicians of all brands.
It's becoming a bit of a "buzz" word when one wants to throw some shade over a political opponent.
But it is time we as voters took a closer look at who is saying what about whom and if it has any merit.
Recently Deputy Premier and National Party leader John Barilaro said Dubbo Independent candidate Mathew Dickerson was treating voters with "contempt" because he won't release his business accounts to show voters (and his opponents) what he has spent on his election campaign.
You may recall the Daily Liberal broke the story that Mr Dickerson was being investigated by the NSW electoral commission about his campaign expenditure; then we reported when he was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing by the commission.
Barilaro said, "Politics is all about trust now, if you believe you've done nothing wrong, then show us the figures. He feels he doesn't have to, if that's how he treats people, with that contempt, well I hope he pays the price at the polls."
In response, Mr Dickerson said he would "love to see the National Party show all their expenditure as well."
Last week Premier Gladys Berejiklian fobbed off a journalist's questions about Newcastle's light rail with a glib "Oh, that's operation normal for them." Some fairly prominent people accused the Premier of treating the journalist and therefore the broader community with "contempt".
Labor has accused the National Party of showing "contempt" for voters by making promises that hinge on the local candidate being elected, "You'll only get this if you elect the Nationals". In Orange it was a sports facility, here, although less blatant, it's a hospital carpark, in Mudgee it's an upgrade to toilet facilities at a school.
One could argue that there was contempt shown to voters in all of the examples mentioned.
Contempt is toxic; it says "I am better than you." All we can hope as voters is that enough of us remember politicians are not "better" than us, they work "for us". The only way we can change a toxic political culture is to vote for the least contemptuous candidate.
Good luck with that on March 23.