As the media continues to distort the tent embassy protest, the behaviour of Gillard’s office is under scrutiny. It’s another media debacle for the embattled PM, writes Ben Eltham.

“And that’s the real tragedy of the events outside The Lobby on Australia Day. Instead of focussing public debate on the substantive issues of Indigenous disadvantage and the dismal history of dispossession that has marked Australian history — events which began with the arrival of the British on 26 January 1788, but which continued well into recent living memory — the debate has descended into an maze of meaningless tactical tit-for-tat.

It’s an indication of how our political system, and the media that covers it, continually fail to grasp the bigger picture when it comes to the issues that confront our nation.”

Read the full article in New Matilda here.

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