Whereas different media shops suck as much as the wealthy and highly effective below the guise of doing a “record”, this 12 months Crikey desires to recognise the next honour: being a shitstirrer.
We’ve assembled our inaugural 2024 Shitstirrers Index for the ten largest nuisances to highly effective individuals, drawn from greater than 1,000 nominations from our readers (let’s simply say the time period resonated).
The hallmark of a real shitstirrer is that you already know one if you see one. However given we have been inundated with names, the council thought-about just a few questions to assist separate the great from the really nice shitstirrers.
We thought in regards to the largest shitstorms this 12 months and who was behind them. We weighed up who punched (up) above their weight, plus whose handiwork left an enduring influence. And entrance of thoughts: who had enjoyable and confirmed aptitude whereas doing it? You may learn extra about our rationale right here.
It’s been a superlative 12 months for shitstirring, and this week Crikey has relished celebrating our honourees (see these ranked 10-8, 7-5 and 4-2) and their accomplishments.
Regardless of the general power of the sphere, one individual has stood head and shoulders above the remainder. It brings us nice pleasure to award the highest gong to somebody whose shitstirring has outlined not solely the 12 months but in addition this session of federal Parliament. They’ve an uncanny capacity to get below the pores and skin of seemingly everybody — politicians, media commentators, common punters — and to make use of that capacity to drive consideration in the direction of their political trigger.
His political opponents visibly detest him. Hell, even these sympathetic to his trigger aren’t all too keen on him. And, most tellingly, essentially the most highly effective man within the nation, Anthony Albanese, very clearly fucking hates him.
You already know who I’m speaking about, don’t you?
1. Max Chandler-Mather
Max Chandler-Mather was swept into Parliament as a part of the “Greenslide” in Queensland on the 2022 federal election. However the member for Griffith wasn’t destined to take up as a lot of the nationwide highlight as he has. Little doubt, housing was all the time set to be an infinite situation, however Chandler-Mather has elevated it to the defining subject of this Parliament (and maybe the forthcoming election).
That truth Chandler-Mather annoys some is hardly information. A look at profiles of the Brisbane-based MP present it’s his defining attribute, with headlines like “Consideration-seeker or renters’ champion? The Greens MP driving pollies up the wall”, “Individuals suppose Max Chandler-Mather is annoying. Does he care?” and “Meet Max Chandler-Mather: the person getting below Anthony Albanese’s pores and skin”. (These are simply the headlines — you must see how wild a number of the copy is.)
What’s extra attention-grabbing is how he stirs the pot. Not like a number of the different esteemed members of this 12 months’s Shitstirrer Index, Chandler-Mather’s energy hasn’t come from leaking, shouting, protesting or squatting. In truth, wanting again at his defining moments reveals simply how inoffensive his strategies are. It’s simply his message, the truth that he painstakingly stays on message, and perhaps one thing ineffable about him that deeply frustrates and enrages.
When he used query time to rightly level out that Anthony Albanese is certainly one of many Australian property traders who obtain billions in tax concessions, the prime minister began slinging private insults. When he appeared on stage at a rally for the CFMEU, a union that till just lately had been affiliated with the Labor Occasion (albeit one going through some critical allegations), authorities ministers lined as much as kick the minor social gathering MP. Extremely, Chandler-Mather even confronted derision for saying he couldn’t afford to purchase a home on a wholesome parliamentarian’s wage for causes that embody how he personally pays free of charge meals in his voters. It seems like Chander-Mather pisses individuals off simply by respiration.
Is his preternatural shitstirring capacity innate or discovered? Is it the results of painstaking planning or one thing that occurs on the fly? Fittingly, Chandler-Mather frustratingly deflects when talking to Crikey, saying that it’s a staff effort.
“Whereas I used to be on the market within the media making a number of these arguments, I believe these arguments solely carried weight due to the big teams of volunteers and different individuals and organisers serving to,” he mentioned.
It was a few 12 months in the past when Chandler-Mather remembers realising simply how a lot animosity Albanese felt in the direction of him. Whereas being personally attacked, he recalled considering it was a giant mistake by the federal government.
“It’s like they virtually felt like their answer to the housing disaster was simply attacking us extra, and never simply me, however, you already know, individuals within the Greens and the broader motion,” he mentioned.
The tip of the 12 months was arguably a down second for Chandler-Mather and his prickly marketing campaign on housing reform. The Greens ultimately agreed to cross the federal government’s “Assist to Purchase” housing scheme after months of negotiations (and calling it a “lottery”) with out a lot to point out for it.
Was this a capitulation that confirmed the boundaries of individuals’s persistence for shitstirring? On the time, Chandler-Mather deftly spun the Inexperienced’s acquiescence as a brand new take a look at for the federal government. “If we come to the following election and there’s nonetheless a housing disaster — nicely, that’s a query Labor has to reply.”
Rather a lot is driving on the following few months to find out how we glance again on Max Chandler-Mather’s shitstirring. One factor is for positive: elections are fertile floor for mischief-making and truth-telling. We’ll see if our Shitstirrer of the 12 months will earn a spot on subsequent 12 months’s index.
Do you agree with our selection? Who would you may have picked? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au. Please embody your full title to be thought-about for publication in Crikey’s Your Say. We reserve the appropriate to edit for size and readability.
