Music

“Very Uncool”: Jimmy Barnes Drags Peter Dutton And Political Scare Campaigns On ‘Q&A’

There is no more savage burn than being described as "uncool" by Jimmy Barnes.

by Tom Clift  4 June 2019
Jimmy Barnes slams Peter Dutton on Q&A

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Australian music legend Jimmy Barnes has hit out at Peter Dutton during an appearance on Q&A, accusing the Home Affairs Minister and the Liberal Party of using scare tactics that he described, in peak Barnsey fashion, as “very, very, very uncool”.

The moment came after government MP Nicolle Flint launched an attack on GetUp!, claiming the activist group waged a “long and sustained” campaign against her in her seat of Boothby. “They enabled and encouraged a level of anger and aggression I hope that we never see again,” she said. 

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“I thought the Liberal Party did the same thing with immigration,” remarked Barnes. “I watched every night. I watched Peter Dutton not know the difference between a refugee and a terrorist.”

After a hearty round of applause from the audience, the musician continued.

“I think the mismessaging that’s gone on in this election, the scare tactics have really been brutal,” he said. “I think it’s dishonest. I think it’s uncool.”

When host Tony Jones pointed out that there had been a big swing to Dutton in his electorate, Barnes had a simple explanation.

“Fear,” he said. “Pure fear. When people think they are being attacked. Like I said, the difference between a terrorist and a refugee, we all know it. But it was rammed down our throats that they were all the same, and they were coming to get our jobs, coming to kill us. And it just wasn’t right. It was very, very, very uncool.

Barnes was backed up by writer Sisonke Msimang, who said there had been “a really terrible tenor to the political campaign” and that the Liberal Party had “a lot to answer for in that regard”.

“There was just so much scaremongering and fear tactics, and so much aggression and anger that came from the Coalition side,” Msimang said. “And I think that what GetUp! did in many instances was mirror that, so I think it’s a bit rich to suggest that they were aggressive when in fact we know that the Coalition used a very similar tenor of conversation.”

Watch it below.