I can't resist this:

"Having sandwiches thrown at her by school-children is very poor"

I'm sure with training they'll get better.

"Juliar is the one continuously bringing up the gender card..."

Correct. That is a different matter to sexuality which you, SM, and many others confuse with gender making you incapable of seeing the wrong in the radio interview.

The usual blind zealots on OLO are way out on their own, justifying the shock-jock's behaviour while the general public and his employer deplore it.

To throw any article at any politician by a child simply shows the parents have not taught the child respect. The kid should get '6 of the best' and the parents spoken to by the school head.

The shoe throwing incidents, by adults, because one disagrees with the government policy is childish and the throwers should be charged and publicly humiliated.

I was appalled that Pauline Hanson was spat on and had wine thrown over her, not to mention violence aimed at her.

The radio host that asked the PM about her partners sexuality should be sacked.

All these incidents show a dramatic drop in our social standards, unfortunately. My parents taught all us kids to respect others.

Although, I have to admit, politicians themselves have set the bar very low.

I have increasingly ,had long waits while my post was waiting to progress, that may be the reason it was posted twice,sorry.
We live in our time, some of us saw things other here never did.
I think Gillard got it a bit over the top.
But no worse than I spoke of the ex PM Mrs Jonh Howard, there I go again! being an Aussie!
I attract slings and arrows from my side of the fence for? being an average Aussie bloke* no offense but AG, After Gillard, it will be 25 years before we men want another female PM*
Awful bloke me, dreadful! must not say that! unless I am prepared to be PC best thing I cand o is go.

Belly well said.

You've got the ability to recognise that when you do it you are not taking part in a holy crusade or hiding behind some technicality.

The reality is that most us have had a greater degree of tolerance or mistreatment of those we don't like than those we do.

It's also the case that when it comes to mud flinging, negativity and scare campaigns, crossing boundaries between the public (double checked that spelling several times in case I missed the 'i') and private etc no party has a monopoly. At various times one may have an outstanding performer (Keating seems to be one of the most memorable for abusive put downs of opponents that I can recall).

Some people will set quite arbitrary boundaries on whats Ok and whats not which are generally self serving.

The reality is if we want our pollies, entertainers etc to do it differently we have to start demanding better from the side we support, not just our opponents. The partisan treatment of this is really support for the approach, just wanting special treatment for those they support.

For the record I did find some of the Vanstone jokes pretty funny but that did not make them Ok.

R0bert

Banjo: All these incidents show a dramatic drop in our social standards,

I think it also shows the Public’s perception of Politicians & the huge drop in Politician standards over the last 20 odd years, doesn't it.

With any luck in this Election, none of the main players will be re-elected. We can only live with hope.