Politicians telling us to ‘turn the temperature down’ is peak hypocrisy – Amy Remeikis

Violence is being normalised in Australia, and legitimate democratic dissent is not the fire – it’s the alarm

The prime minister addresses the Helen Haines tragedy on 20 October 2026

There will be no reckoning. Not while Australia pretends that ‘both sides’ are to blame for Australia’s decaying political discourse.

This is not a comment on the abhorrent act against Helen Haines. We still don’t know the motivations, or the details of the police investigation. But we do know who was blamed, almost immediately.

In the minutes after the news broke of the alleged (someone has now been charged, and so language must change with it) attack, blame was ascribed by commentators, and later the broader political class, to people who had protested a genocide, those who wanted more climate action, and the Left in general. We are consistently told we need to ‘turn the temperature down’, but never told who is fuelling the boilers. So let us zoom out.

On the broader question of violence, we are a state and society that increasingly normalises violence. We’ve normalised a man killing a woman each week. We’ve normalised police bashing peaceful protesters. We’ve normalised throwing First Nations kids in jail until they kill themselves. We’ve normalised shackling women in labour. We’ve normalised delaying climate action even as we see the devastating impacts, and we’ve normalised an economy that prioritises corporate profits while people suffer.

And when there is pushback against any of what we are supposed to accept as normal, if there is dissent or protest or legitimate democratic objection, that is treated as the crime.

The calls for civility only ever come in response to legitimate democratic pushback – not the issues fuelling dissent.

That’s not to say that some people never take it too far, but in a way that never seems to apply to the Right, those who do become representative of an entire movement. There is no nuance – both sides are always equally to blame.

The pushback against provocation becomes worse than the provocation itself. We are a nation who will tone police people protesting racism, but not the racists. Pauline Hanson can suggest there are no “good” Muslims and not apologise, but then claim victimhood the moment anyone applies the smallest amount of pressure.

She and her supporters are not held to the same standard of those being told to ‘turn down the temperature’. The abuse that most politicians have outlined – legitimate and terrible abuse – is not the same as legitimate democratic dissent.

A group of protesters sitting outside an MP’s office, demanding higher standards of their leaders, is not the same as death threats and violence. But in criticising the legitimate threats, the political and media classes will point to democratic dissent as an example. Death threats are terrible, yes, we can all agree, but have you seen the protesters?

And what of our leaders who urge us to turn down the temperature? The same leaders who take selfies with Donald Trump – a man who has overseen the death of what was left of America’s liberal democracy and relished in the harm his administration has caused people?

Australia’s official policy as a nation is to oppose “the death penalty in all circumstances for all people” and yet our leaders were unable to criticise or condemn a plan to livestream an execution by firing squad, because it might upset Trump. Barnaby Joyce was able to call it out, but not the government. Is that turning down the temperature? Or stoking it?

Australia surprised its other allies, including the UK, by not signing a statement condemning Israeli settler terrorism against Palestinians in the West Bank, and refused to apply broad sanctions. The only reason which makes sense is Australia, now openly chasing a spot on the UN Security Council, doesn’t want to upset the United States and lose its chance. How many degrees lower did that take the social fever? Or again, does it just stoke it?

It was conservative commentator Andrew Bolt who rightly, and accurately, called out the insane campaign to paint Ben Roberts-Smith, who has been charged with war crimes after 22 of his fellow soldiers testified against his actions, as a hero who need not be bothered with the legal system. Bolt, who has made a career out of finding the bottom of the barrel and dressing it up as opinion, was the one brave enough to point out that sweeping the allegations under a rug would be worse for the nation than testing them in court. Andrew. Bolt.

Has the political ‘debate’ around migration turned down the temperature? Has supporting a genocide turned it down? Has ignoring calls for climate action lowered it? Has letting the RBA diminish our living standards so corporate profits remain untouched turned down the heat? Is having ‘rational’ people claim that raising the GST – which you and I have no choice to pay – is the smart way forward, while refusing to tax gas and other corporations, helped anyone simmer down? Is imposing gargantuan datacentres in our suburbs and towns, next to our homes and schools, without our consent, turning it down? Why is it the people pointing to the fire are those being told to stop being so vocal about it?

You can be civil and dissent. You can push back and be respectful. And you can have higher expectations of your democracy and leaders without resorting, or wishing violence. Pretending that those who wish for better for all are the same as those who seek control or supremacy over others is not lowering the temperature – it’s raising it.

Legitimate democratic dissent and pushback is not the fire, it’s the alarm. Suppressing alarms doesn’t put out the fire, it just leaves less time for us all to act.