As an old rugby player, once-in-a-while cricketer and very indifferent mid-handicap golfer, Outsider knows better than most how difficult it is to step up to first grade.
And thus, he was somewhat amused when a little-known Queensland Liberal National Party backbencher decided to take on two former first-graders – former Labor Prime Ministers Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd – on the question of superannuation policy.
It seems that Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick took umbrage at Keating’s suggestion that the campaign being waged on superannuation policy was being prosecuted by a “baby-faced Liberal” something which prompted the tyro politician who hails from that centre of progressive thought, the Darling Downs, to challenge Keating to a debate.
“It’s time your arrogance and ignorance were called out,” Rennick wrote to Keating on his Senate letterhead. “I am more than happy to debate you publicly as to why it’s time for a new way of thinking in Australia and why your legacy should be confined to the dustbin of history where it belongs.”
Outsider believes Rennick really meant that Keating’s legacy should be “consigned” to the dustbin of history but doubtless the former Prime Minister got the point.
Outsider confesses that he doesn’t know much about Rennick (why would he) but a quick search of his profile indicates that he has earned a Masters degree in taxation law and “he has repeatedly accused the Australian government’s Bureau of Meteorology of falsifying climate data, and tampering with climate data to ‘perpetuate global warming hysteria’”.
Should be an interesting debate. Could someone buy the jumbo box of popcorn please.
