The Herald Sun has run a story that even by it’s own standards is much ado about sod all.
Under the shocking headline “Julia Gillard won’t be attending the Melbourne Cup” the story reads:
THE race that stops the nation won’t stop Julia Gillard’s most important overseas meeting so far.
While the focus will be on Flemington for the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup on November 2, the PM will be in Jakarta for high-level meetings about regional and global challenges with Indonesian politicians, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Ms Gillard has instructed her staff to keep her regularly updated about events at Flemington while she holds talks about asylum seekers and people smuggling, security and anti-terrorism co-operation, the economy, environment, trade and education.
Ms Gillard leaves Australia next Friday to attend an Asian leaders summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, and has decided to squeeze in important meetings in Malaysia and Indonesia on her way home so she does not miss any sitting of Parliament.
Fair enough. The PM misses the Melbourne Cup to attend high level talks in Asia. Nothing wrong with that – so why does the Herald Sun then invite readers to comment with the following question: Should the PM be at the 150th Cup? Tell us below – despite the fact, as the story later points out that “No PM has attended the Melbourne Cup for many years.”
So what is the point of this story or the question posed to readers, apart from perhaps to provide an opportunity for people to take cheap shots.
