Taylor and Hume’s ‘Tarzan and Jane’ 1950s revival
Taylor and Hume weather today’s crises with yesterday’s ideas, from negative gears to cappuccino multiculturalism, writes Dr Michael Galvin.
IF YOU WANT TO make a film about the soporific era of the 1950s, especially focusing on the government Robert MenziesOpposition Leader Angus Taylor and Deputy Jane Hume They would be the perfect actors you are looking for. Taylor was the very model of the 1950s vicar Menzies and Hume was his perfectly haircut wife from Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs.
They both look and talk as if they were born for their roles in this journey down memory lane.
This brings up a surprising thought. Of course, Taylor is too old-school for the last Liberal governments (Abbottexcluded). But he’s also too old-fashioned for the job. Howard State. Or even fraser Government, for God’s sake!
Yes, you need to return to Menzies immediately to reach Taylor’s natural habitat. In just a few days it has shown itself to be anachronistic indeed, navigating a bubble of time and space that is surprisingly alien to most Australians.
It’s already obvious Susan Ley‘s nine months on the job were a period of pointless conquest. He was so unbalanced that it was impossible to know whether he was saying what he thought, thinking what he said, or thinking seriously about anything.
But things are different now with Tarzan and Jane (and their sidekick somewhere, Cheeta). All the old drugs of the 1950s are back with a vengeance. There can be little doubt that Tarzan and Jane truly believed them.
For example, how often in the last few days have we heard some variation of the following expression: “The more you tax something, the less it gets; the less you tax something, the more it gets.”? Jane seems particularly struck by this rhetorical conceit. It drips from your tongue like honey. It’s as if this is so obvious that only an idiot would doubt it.
And yes, this claim may be true in some cases. For example, tobacco consumption. This may also be true when it comes to building new homes.
But when it comes to existing homes, tax policy doesn’t matter. You can do whatever you want with the tax policy, but it won’t cause the number of available properties to suddenly disappear or change the number of available properties.
And it’s worth remembering that around 80 percent of tax-advantaged investment money going into housing goes into existing properties, not anything. expansion of housing supply.
Of course, Tarzan and Jane will defend the negative trend with their lives if they have to. A more egalitarian and more sophisticated tax approach is unthinkable for them. So is the idea that there may be a link between the lack of new homes and the self-interest of millions of Australian property owners whose primary interest is in increasing the value of their property.
Who wants to contribute to the supply when its shortage increases the scarcity value of your existing property?
This article is based on the idea that Tarzan and Jane were true believers of the 1950s. This idea is reinforced with almost every cliché that comes out of their mouth.
For example, Tarzan’s Jane in love This particularly reckless generalization about Albanian State:
“This is the worst government in the history of this country.”
Albanese’s government is far from perfect, but the phrase is being circulated along with claims that the moon is made of green cheese. It is both absurd and politically useless.
The question then becomes: How can Menzies Jane convince herself that this nonsense is true? Because the beliefs accepted as they are in his own mind determine that this must be true.
To achieve this result, Jane needs only a few logical steps:
First, by definition, the less in power the Coalition is in power, the worse the government must be. Second, the Coalition has never had less power than it does now. (Or a more dominant Labor government.)
ipso verbThis Labor Government has to be the worst in history for the fact that it was the most electorally dominant government while the Coalition was the least dominant. It’s that simple for Tarzan and Jane.
We can look forward to many more examples of the Menzies team holding on to old beliefs to solve new problems. This will be true of economic policy as well as social policy.
A particularly favored example emerged in Tarzan’s first speech after being elected Liberal Leader. It is worth unpacking at some length.
Struggling to find something positive to say about multiculturalism in the middle of a speech that was mainly about attacking “bad” (sic) immigration and defending the (Anglo) way of life, a reflective Taylor referred to the ubiquitous cappuccino of his childhood in Cooma to exemplify what he sees as one of the great achievements of post-war immigration.
Seriously, can anyone find a lower common denominator for successful migration or social cohesion than a cappuccino? Even Senator Pauline Hanson He probably allows himself this little deviation from his own Anglo fish and chips lifestyle.
Does Taylor not realize what a gutless and insipid sign of successful multiculturalism he has chosen as his example? This is on par with what any redneck in a bar in Australia might say if asked to say something positive about immigration. Food! Food!
Doesn’t he realize that Italian immigrants – sticking with the cappuccino theme – have excelled in every aspect of Australian society and professions, and that focusing on a hot drink as an example of their contribution is actually a veiled insult? A condescending trivialization.
Of course, Taylor could have used a bagel, a falafel, a tandoori, or a banh mi to make the same point, but each of these examples would have required some courage and capacity on his part to prosecute a particular polemical political point.
This was never going to happen; Not with the central 1950s cast of Tarzan and Jane (and, let’s not forget, Cheeta).
Dr Michael Galvin is an adjunct researcher at the University of Victoria and a former media and communications academic at the University of Victoria. University of South Australia.
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