Alastair Campbell says Australia must re-win argument for democratic politics
Briefing by News4U · First published
Tony Blair’s former spokesperson Alastair Campbell urged Australian politicians to “re-win the argument for democratic politics” after the alleged attack on MP Helen Haines, warning UK rhetoric quickly reverted after MP killings, The Guardian reported.
Speaking to The Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast on Wednesday, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief, said Australia must “re-win the argument for democratic politics” after the alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines in Victoria. [1]
Campbell said killings of British MPs Jo Cox and David Amess did not bring lasting cultural change. “They were followed by everybody saying the right thing about how our political debate culture had to change, about how we had to address online hate and polarisation, all this stuff,” he said, adding that overheated rhetoric soon returned. [1]
“We’ve got to re-win the argument for democratic politics because it’s under a lot of pressure right now,” Campbell said, citing Donald Trump as embodying politics he does not want to see spread. He also said Haines’s expected return to parliament could help people remember the consequences of political violence. [1]