Party room vote drawn as classic saloon showdown in Knight toon

In the aftermath* of the Labor Party and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese winning the Federal election by an absolute landslide, the losing Liberal Party had to choose a new leadership team after their man, now referred to in the past tense, the petrol-pumping Peter Dutton, lost his seat.

The new leadership team was set to be elected at a post-election Liberal Party room meeting, and the contest was between Shadow Treasurer* Angus Taylor and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley. Yes, that’s right, a woman candidate putting her hand up to lead the conservatives*. To make things even more interesting, Indigenous former Country Liberal Party (CLP) Senator and now new Liberal Party member Jacinta Nampijinpa Price put her hand up to be Angus Taylor’s deputy.

You could sell tickets to this contest, so it was an obvious choice for my daily cartoon.

The first thing that came to mind was that this was like a good old fashioned film, with a western style shootout.

I imagined the dusty mainstreet of a town similar to a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, with all the Liberal leadership contenders* gathered to the fray*. Angus Taylor, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Sussan Ley and Coalition partner and National Party leader David Littleproud all packing pistols, in full gunslinger’s regalia*. The showdown is imminent. This was a fun cartoon to draw but it needed something extra. But what?

I thought about the politics of PM Albanese’s huge win. Albo was Prime Minister again, winning a second term with a huge majority, and to a large extent, the unexpected victor. And here were the Liberals, reduced to a rump*, fighting over who would be leader of what’s left of the party.

So for Albanese, this Liberal leadership contest was just entertainment. To illustrate this, I had Albo sitting on a chair in the main street with a box of popcorn watching it all play out. The popcorn symbolises* that this is pure theatre for the prime minister.

My next cartoon was about the result. Sussan Ley, in a historic win, was elected leader of the Liberal Party. The first woman to do so. But had she been handed a poisoned chalice*? The Liberal Party had never had such a bad result, its stakes were at an all-time low. Ley had a huge job ahead of her. It looked like a woman had been handed the job of cleaning up after men. This was a worthy topic for a cartoon.

Taking that concept of cleaning up after the boys, I drew Sussan Ley standing among what looked like the aftermath* of a trashing of Lib headquarters, with blood, guts, overturned furniture and broken windows. In the cartoon, Ley makes the observation that despite her ascension* through a male dominated world to lead a major political party, here she was, back in the role of cleaning up after men. Oh, the irony*.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• petrol pumping: this refers to an election promise to cut the price of fuel
• Shadow Treasurer: shadow ministers are a group of opposition members who closely examines the work of the government and offer alternatives, so the Shadow Treasurer watches financial management and interrogates the Treasurer
• conservatives: refers to a very broad group that usually promotes smaller government and is less focused on issues of social equality; its members are sometimes right-wing but others are moderate; conservatives often believe in the value of traditional practices in politics and society and can resist change and more progressive ideas
• contenders: a competitor or nominee in a contest
• fray: a battle, fight, skirmish
• regalia: emblems, symbols, decorations recognisably belonging to royalty or a particular group, in this case cowboys
• reduced to a rump: a political expression referring to a popular cut of meat, it means the party was roasted, as in cooked
• symbolises: uses symbols in cartoons art, literature, films and so on to represent ideas
• poisoned chalice: a glass holding a poisoned drink, this expression refers to something that seems very good at first but which does great harm to the person who receives it
• aftermath: the period after an extremely unpleasant or traumatic event
• ascension: going up, including rising up the ranks of an organisation, political party
• irony: in this case, when a situation is noticeably different from the way it appears or was supposed to be, often humorously so

EXTRA READING

Bandt’s parliamentary party over

Albanese’s Labor scores landslide

Little to celebrate in Budget break

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which party won the election in a landslide and who is Australia’s prime minister?
2. Who is the new leader of the Liberal Party?
3. Peter Dutton lost his seat in the election – what special role had he held while in office?
4. How many females have led the Liberals?
5. Mark Knight drew on old western films for inspiration – what item does he give Mr Albanese in the cartoon that is also a universal cinema reference?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Values, identities and actions
Choose one of today’s Mark Knight cartoon and answer the following questions about the work:

What values does this cartoon invite us to think about?

Who is this cartoon speaking about? And who is this work trying to speak to?

What actions might the viewpoint in the cartoon encourage?

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
How can cartoonists like Mark Knight encourage or change people’s opinions on a controversial subject or topic?

Do you think his work needs approval before going to print? Explain your answer.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
1. What happens next?
Imagine these two cartoons are part of a story that is made up of three cartoons. Think about what the third and final cartoon could be and draw the final part of the story.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Being able to draw is only one of the skills needed to be a great cartoonist. Write a list of all of the other skills that you think cartoonists like Mark need to do their job.

Next to each skill, write a sentence that explains why that skill is important or helps them to do a great job.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability, Media Arts, Visual Communication Design