Politics

Watch Richard Di Natale Have An Awkward Chat About Anti-Vaxxers In This Brutal ‘The Feed’ Sketch

Poor Richard.

by Joseph Earp  9 May 2019
Richard Di Natale takes on regional Greens in this The Feed sketch

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To paraphrase a quote from Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy being the leader of the Greens. Just ask Richard Di Natale.

Really, it should be the simplest thing in the world to communicate the message that it would be preferable if we didn’t all die in an agonising climate hellfire. But politics has a way of complicating absolutely everything, and before you know it, you’re having to sort out a thousand separate crises — from having a stern chat with members who keep going off script and preferencing anti-vaxxers, to dealing with the backlash after a party member stands down due to racist Facebook posts.

Those folks over at The Feed obviously understand the Greens struggle, and they’ve produced a sketch in solidarity for the embattled, turtleneck wearing party leader.

In it, a flustered and bespectacled Di Natale must make his way through a conversation with a regional Greens member named Lapis Lazuli, who starts things off with a Reiki shake and never swerves much closer to Di Natale’s level from there.

“Listen,” Di Natale says. “It is very difficult for me to make a dent in this election when I’ve got regional branches of The Greens preferencing anti-vaxxer parties. I mean, we’re a party of science. I’m a doctor.”

“And I’m an energy healer,” Lapis shoots back. “This meeting feels very structured.”

“That’s because I’ve got 10 minutes and it took me a long time to find this tree,” Di Natale answers.

It’s hard not to watch the sketch and feel at least a little bit sorry for the man leading the Greens. After all, at least Coalition members largely do stick to their script, even if their script is full of things like a touch of light climate change denial and a splash here and there of barbaric offshore detention policies.