One on indulgence, your worship. For someone who dishes up such hearty helpings of intentionally provocative bile each week, conservative commentator Miranda Devine is extraordinarily averse to fair criticism.
Devine was (again) incensed by this column on Tuesday, after we pointed out that she'd launched yet another attack on Qantas CEO Alan Joyce in her Daily Telegraph column and on her summer talkback radio slot for something he didn't even do. We also noted that she'd given a very cosy interview to Joyce's rival, Virgin Australia's John Borghetti, in which she bizarrely cited Virgin's share price – all 22¢ of it – as proof of its commercial victory over Qantas.
This all follows a heated argument between Joyce and Devine at Lachlan Murdoch's Christmas drinks in December 2015, in which the host, his wife Sarah, then Tele editor Paul Whittaker and then News Corp Australia CEO Peter Tonagh had to intervene. Devine has repeatedly insisted that Joyce was the instigator and the Holt Street sentinels converged to protect her from the airline boss.
Five months later, Devine penned a particularly objectionable rant against the gay marriage "totalitarianism" of Joyce the "authoritarian dictator" [ed: is there another kind?].
Then she wrote another one calling Joyce an "angry leprechaun" and accusing him of using Chairmans Lounge membership to blackmail "anyone who's anyone" into supporting marriage equality. Seriously.
Devine has accused us of "attacking" her "on behalf of" Joyce to stay in the Chairmans Lounge (we're not a member). And switching from desperate to outright dishonest, yesterday Devine tweeted a photo of our old Qantas business card, inciting unwitting followers to believe we're currently on the Mascot payroll. We left Qantas more than seven years ago (back when Devine was still employed by Fairfax as a Sydney Morning Herald columnist) to work for Qantas competitor and Virgin ally, Etihad Airways.
If you ever wondered why @mrjoeaston keeps attacking me on behalf of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, wonder no more pic.twitter.com/8AxsrFYu5X
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) January 17, 2017
We're no mouthpiece for a former employer. Three years ago, when we believed it to be the case, we wrote that "at every turn, Joyce has been outmanoeuvred by Borghetti" and that "most tiresome have been [Joyce's] desperately manufactured diversions from his own underperformance". And at the 2012 Melbourne Cup, we wore the ire of Joyce lieutenant Olivia Wirth and then AWU Secretary Paul Howes for outing their nascent romance.
Devine can dissemble and divert with flimsy charges of bias and proxyism until the polar icebergs unmelt. Her irrational outbursts will still be embarrassing and her hostility – not just opposition – to gay marriage rights will remain abhorrent.
