Letter

In response to Tony Abbott’s history of Australia wants us to be proud of men like him

Colonialism sanitised and disinfected

Tony Abbott is a man displaced in time and place. His approach to the world derives from an 18th century Great Britain imperialism and colonialism of the white Caucasian superior being category. He would have fitted perfectly into the feudal and monarchical fabric of that time as a loyal example of the courtier dedicated to serving his monarch in the lively expectation of honours to be bestowed for faithful service to unaccountable power.

Abbott must find life in the 21st century wholly unattractive in its inclination to see pomp and circumstance as retrograde and its propensity to strip away the false narratives in which barbarism was clothed by those he admires.

In reading any history written by Abbott it is necessary for the reader to be able to distinguish between courtier-like embellishments of the criminality of empire and the truth.

Abbott has always had difficulty in distinguishing between the two!

— Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041