If this is Germany’s post-colonial democracy, bring back Bismarck

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Horrid graffiti consisting of zero artistic talent is all over the monument.

The Bismarck Monument stands high above the port and looks down the River Elbe towards the sea. Symbolically, the statue portrays Bismarck as the protector of the city and the German Empire’s maritime ‘gateway to the world’.

The monument was completed in 1906 with some funding provided by Hamburg’s merchants. It was opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II and remains the largest Bismarck monument in the world.

In 2024, a €13 million restoration project, funded by the City of Hamburg and the federal government, was completed to address structural issues caused largely by additional concrete added during the second world war to create an air raid bunker.

Barely a year later, the statue looks disgraceful.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy is in Germany. He writes about the disgraceful vandalism of a Hamburg monument to Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who united Germany and founded the Second Reich. Apparently German activists hate him like activists in Australia hate James Cook. Those ignorant bratwurst-eaters should bone up on Bismarck, and the consequences of Wilhelm II dropping him in 1890. Bismarck would have renewed the non-aggression ‘Reinsurance Treaty’ he had with Russia, would have kept Austria-Hungary in check, and would never have antagonised Britain with a naval arms race. Thus, there would have been no World war I, and therefore no Hitler, Nazism and World War II. The world would have been a much better place.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, If this is Germany’s post-colonial democracy, bring back Bismarck.

Barnaby Joyce quits Nationals to sit on crossbench

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Barnaby Joyce has always been more than a politician. He’s a force of nature.

Today, Barnaby formally resigned from the Nationals, the party he once led with a mix of charm and chaos. He’s indicated he’ll sit on the crossbench and won’t run for New England at the next election.

That would be a mistake.

Reports indicate that Barnaby is considering running for a Senate seat with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

I think he needs to stand up as a One Nation representative for New England.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

‘My concern was Barnaby’s welfare,’ muttered Peter Dutton, in response to Barnaby Joyce’s claim that he asked the Nationals MP to quit. Twice.

As expected, today was the day Barnaby finally had enough of the factional games being played inside conservative politics. After a steak dinner with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, he announced his defection to the crossbench as an independent. Most suspect that he will hang around in no-man’s land for a while and see if the Nationals make him a frontbench offer. If not, it’ll be over to One Nation and – probably – onwards to a Senate seat.

‘I haven’t made that decision … I don’t know. Walking away in part from the party in Canberra is easy. Walking away from the membership is very, very, very hard. It’s just quite obvious, when they talk about generational change, that’s code for “get out of here”.’

He has expressed this sentiment on many occasions and yet the party has been quite happy to leave one of their most effective fundraisers in the wilderness.

There has also been some disappointing commentary from Senator Matt Canavan, who has perhaps also forgotten that many of his supporters moonlight as One Nation voters. ‘One Nation are good at stunts in the Senate, but they’re not so crash hot at winning votes in Parliament.’ True, but that is in large part thanks to the major parties stitching up democracy with preference voting – entrenching the powerful grip of the two-party system. Still, Mr Canavan says he has not ‘given up hope that we can convince him to return’. And he might be right – but it is doubtful that Mr Joyce would return for anything less than Nationals Leader.

Michael de Percy has the full story.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Barnaby Joyce quits Nationals to sit on crossbench,

Parliament cancels A Super Progressive Movie trailer: ‘It might offend someone’

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Cancelling the trailer was great marketing for One Nation's full feature-length movie.

What should have been a straightforward 5.30 pm event in Parliament House turned into a late-night 9.15 pm screening at Dendy Canberra after parliamentary services pulled the booking yesterday morning. The reason given: the content ‘might offend someone’.

The 90-second trailer and the first five minutes of the film (set in a dystopian ‘Naarm’) were shown to a packed cinema. Despite the short notice and the late hour, around half of the original ticketholders still turned up. Some had driven from Wagga Wagga, others from interstate. Dendy Canberra looked after everyone, and seeing it on the big screen with the big sound in layback chairs was impressive.

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

As a declared Liberal, I’m not a spruiker for Hanson and One Nation. But the treatment of her this week, including by Liberal senators, has been appalling. It even extends to Parliament House staff, responsible to Labor presiding officers, banishing a screening of the trailer – a mere trailer – to Hanson’s Please Explain movie out in January, which then had to be held elsewhere. Michael de Percy followed the screening around Canberra, and reported from the cinema. I do wonder about Labor and Liberal political judgment sometimes: if they victimise a political opponent as they are Hanson, she not only gets the attention they want to deny her, but they win her sympathy and support. Burkas and berks!

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Parliament cancels A Super Progressive Movie trailer: ‘It might offend someone’.

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