Profoundly basic blogger and former many things, Cory Bernardi is adding “former Sky News host” to the impressive list of jobs he no longer does.
Our observation when the one-time Liberal troublemaker quit parliamentary politics — and during the truly spectacular failure of his far-right splinter party Australian Conservatives — was that he was somehow less than the sum of his parts. Despite his reputation as a guy who eschewed the dog whistle for a foghorn, who would roll up his sleeves and say the vile thing others would only hint at, he was always being crowded out.
Wanna use your parliamentary position to argue Halal certification funds terrorism? Or be sickened at the thought of an anti-bullying program aimed at protecting LGBTQIA+ kids? Join the clubs, buddy. Unfazed by allegations of war crimes against other people, or unconvinced by the whole “science” lark, whether climate or medical? So are the vast majority of your colleagues.
Indeed, there was an element of “going door to door trying to shock people” desperation in his final editorial — out now from behind the paywall! In one of the few specific allegations amid the general “corruption by Lefty elites” stuff, he insists without qualification that “COVID-19 really was created in a lab using US money provided by Dr Fauci’s organisation”, referencing the dispute around the origin of COVID, one of the animating obsessions of Bernardi’s time at News Corp.
Having claimed victory “at least in the short term” against “the injustice of both the COVID response and the Voice proposal”, Bernardi adds that there is much culture warring still to be done:
There are ongoing battles with the non-science of climate change. It’s evident that nothing we do concerning carbon dioxide emissions will change the climate in any way, shape or form.
Again, a moment’s reflection reinforces the profound absurdity of the holding-the-fort-of-Western-civilisation-against-the-leftist-barbarians schtick.
Look over the preoccupations in Bernardi’s farewell and see if you can find a single one that will depart Sky News when he does. The conspiracy of climate change, the inviolable truth of biological gender, Joe Biden’s incapacity as US president, the profligacy of government spending on Indigenous communities — we knew what he’d say before he said it, because there is near lockstep on these issues from everyone who graces that channel after dark. This will not change with whoever replaces Bernardi.
It may be the most painful thing for the self-confessed owner of such a monumental ego to confront — whatever his efforts, wherever he goes, every room he is paid to enter is filled with guys just like him.
