If you were to have gone along to the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday to watch Sydney take on Essendon, you would have been in the company of none other than Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. However, an image shared by Turnbull online has been causing a huge backlash from Internet commentators.
While at the football game at the SCG on Saturday, Malcolm Turnbull shared an image on Facebook and Instagram which showed him holding a beer in one hand, whilst holding his granddaughter Alice with his other arm. Captioned with the phrase “Multitasking at the footy,” it wasn’t long before a bevy of angry commentators took aim at the PM.
The subject of their ire seemed to mainly arise from Malcolm Turnbull’s seemingly irresponsible choice to hold both his granddaughter and a beer at once. “Does anyone see anything irresponsible with an adult hold a baby and juggling a beer,” wrote the aptly-named Allan Beer. “And when was drinking while holding a child OK? I find it disgusting to see people breathing grog all over baby’s but sadly I’m not surprised by Malcolm doing it.”
While some quickly got over the alcohol aspect of the image, with Tim White quipping “But it would a-ok if it was a hot coffee right?”, others quickly took aim at Malcolm Turnbull for his role in the upcoming gay marriage plebiscite. Sam Silcock seemed to capture the essence of many of the comments on the page by writing “Multitasking by wasting tax payers money whilst insulting LGBT community.”
Others took aim at more varied targets, criticising Turnbull for taking time off when he should be attending to clearly more important things. “Shame you can’t multitask and get the NBN right ya nob,” wrote Lewis Cook, while Jake McGuinness simply stated “Pity he can’t multitask and run the country.”
On the flipside though, many came to the Prime Minister’s defence, with a clear portion of the Facebook commentators praising Malcolm Turnbull for being willing to show off his human side. “I can’t believe I can still even be surprised by some of the comments here,” Kate Rogers wrote.
“Trying to use politics as a reason the man can’t take a little bit of time out to watch a footy game with his grandkid. And having a go about holding a bloody beer near a child. (…) This is just a lovely photo – why does there always have to be an agenda behind everything.”
As the ABC notes, Malcolm Turnbull was today seen in Sydney’s CBD at a same-sex marriage rally in which urged Australians to vote ‘yes’ in the upcoming plebiscite. “Throughout my public life I’ve sought to ensure same-sex couples are not discriminated against and their entitlements, be it in respect of medical benefits, taxation, superannuation or employment, are no different to those afforded to heterosexual couples,” he said.
“Why then shouldn’t those same rights now be extended to marriage?”
