Benjamin Haslem
Federal Shadow Treasurer and leadership contender, Malcolm Turnbull, has gone out on a limb and criticised the police raids on Sydney's Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, where a number of pictures by Australian photographic artist Bill Henson were seized.
This runs counter to the PM Kevin Rudd and Turnbull's own leader, Brendan Nelson, who were quick to endorse the raids on the grounds the pictures contained semi-naked teenagers and were therefore child porn.
Leaving aside my own views on the raids, I don't think Rudd and Nelson had much choice. Condemn the raids and the political damage would be far greater for both than backing the police. Rudd has upset the arts community but they're unlikely to support the other side and Rudd would have been confident that Nelson would fall in line.
Showing leadership is one thing but choosing what many voters would consider weird art to stake your claim would be silly.
So what's Turnbull thinking? Is there a strategy behind his words? Is he, as a colleague suggested here at Jackson Wells, strengthening his credentials as a "true liberal".
Turnbull admits to owning two Henson photographs, which hang in his Sydney home. But they don't involve nudity; so he was free to criticise the pictures removed by police without copping the charge of hypocrisy.
This is high risk stuff by the former merchant banker. In 1993 then Labor PM, Paul Keating, made great play of then Opposition Leader John Hewson having a "Ferrari in the garage".
Turnbull risks painting himself as another rich elitist out of touch with common values.
On the other hand, is he trying to distinguish himself from Rudd (seen by some as Howard-light) and Nelson (who is finding it hard to define himself)?
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