THE conferring of an Australian knighthood on the Duke of Edinburgh was a dumb decision.
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Prince Philip would have more awards and honours bestowed on him than most Australians would have teaspoons.
Surely there are more deserving characters than the good prince for such a high honour.
Worse still, he’s not even Australian.
Now it’s understood that’s not an essential criteria, but perhaps it should be in the future.
Really, all the Duke has had to do over the past 60 years is to be the Queen’s consort as she’s travelled the world free of charge.
Admittedly, he has supported the development of young Australians through the Duke of Edinburgh award and is the patron of scores of organisations.
Fair enough too, but they certainly aren’t what you would call hands on roles.
To say the least the choice was poor and will further alienate the Prime Minister Tony Abbott from the Australian people.
Presently, Mr Abbott appears to be going out of his way to do exactly that.
This latest controversy follows the fallout from last year’s disastrous budget that is still haunting him.
Certainly the PM can’t take a trick at the moment and there are already rumblings of discontent surrounding his future.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and the former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison are now being freely touted as possible Liberal leaders.
If Mr Abbott is forced to fall on his sword he will have nobody to blame but himself.
Yes, he won a tight election in 2013, but that gloss is diminishing by the day.
Whether he’s getting bad advice from his inner sanctum, or he’s just not listening to his backbenchers, he needs to get his act together and now.
The Prime Minister is in a perilous position and poor decisions such as this simply aren’t helping his cause.