ANALYSIS

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull allowed himself to be diverted by two distractions this week, but only one was truly worthy of his attention.

Like the rest of us, the PM would have been horrified to witness disturbing proof of abuse being meted to young offenders at the NT’s Don Dale Correctional Centre Monday night’s Four Corners expose.

The distraction Turnbull was right to address

Mr Turnbull wasted little time announcing a royal commission on the territory’s juvenile justice system after seeing the footage from the NT’s Don Dale Correctional Centre.

There are risks of course in taking what might appear to be unilateral action, even when it is in response to what most people would agree to be a crisis. The PM tried to avert this by briefing the media on the steps he took before making the decision, and getting cabinet approval for the terms of reference.

Mr Mundine has called on Australians and Indigenous people to take real action by addressing the root causes “head on”.

Nevertheless, the Labor opposition appears determined to be dissatisfied with the PM’s actions. Despite Labor MPs lining up on Tuesday morning to support an inquiry, the opposition then found reasons to crab-walk away from that initial support.

Meantime, Nyunggai Warren Mundine, Labor’s former national president and now adviser on Indigenous issues to Malcolm Turnbull, wrote on Friday that calls for royal commission merely satisfied the outrage of elites, and the inquiry itself would not solve the underlying problems for Indigenous people exposed by the Four Corners program.

Drawing on his own experience and extensive research into the root causes, Mr Mundine wrote “Anyone who’s stood face to face with real violence, who’s lived in communities where dysfunction festers, who’s seen how terrifying someone wasted on substances can be, knows that social breakdown will continue after the Royal Commission.”

In light of authentic calls for action such as this from Mr Mundine, Mr Turnbull was right to ignore Labor’s self-aggrandising criticisms.

The distraction the PM should have ignored

In case the PM remained in any doubt that Labor had become more devoted to its own interests than those of the nation, former PM Kevin Rudd’s meglomanic run for the top job at the UN a test of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership provided another reminder.

His intelligence may be off the charts, and he may be a big picture person, but the former PM’s micro-management style and aggressive personality rendered him unfit for that role.

“Unsuitable”: Former PM Kevin Rudd will not receive the government’s endorsement for his UN bid. Photo: AAP

What’s more, a conga-line of Labor MPs have publicly attested to his unsuitability.

Having been slapped down by voters for its civil war, Labor has patched over the rifts that erupted during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years.

Yet by pressuring the Turnbull Government to nominate Mr Rudd for the UN role, it is now trying to pretend those days never happened.

Some Labor MPs have even suggested Kevin is well-credentialed for the role, slipping from denial into outright delusion.

Mr Rudd’s former right-hand-man Anthony Albanese beseeched the PM to do the sporting thing and “back the Australian”.

Labor MPs may be trying to rewrite its past but there is no reason for the PM to help them do so.

Accordingly, Mr Turnbull’s decision not to nominate the former PM’s run for secretary-general of the UN was not a concession to Liberal conservatives as Labor suggests, but simply the right decision.

Tanya Plibersek says the PM’s decision shows he’s being held hostage by “right-wing extremists” in his Cabinet.

When announcing this on Friday, Mr Turnbull explained: “I do not want to add to his disappointment, but the threshold point here is: … Do we believe the would-be nominee is well suited for that position? My judgment is that Mr Rudd is not, and I’ve explained to him the reasons why.”

Australia would have been a laughing stock if it had nominated (and by implication, endorsed) Mr Rudd – a former politician who’d not only been roundly criticised and defeated by one party but also pilloried by his own.

Acting Labor leader Tania Pliberkek, speaking from Townsville on Friday, claimed the decision was based on partisan politics, rather than the national interest.

In reality the opposition’s push for Mr Rudd was more about rehabilitating its own reputation than it ever was about elevating an esteemed Australian to an influential and powerful international role.

Paula Matthewson was media adviser to John Howard in the early 1990s and then worked for almost 25 years in communication, political and industry advocacy roles. She is now a freelance writer and communication strategist. Paula has been tweeting and blogging about politics, the media and social media since 2009 under the pen name @Drag0nista.