Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has added his two cents to the political correctness debate after a number of television stars and political leaders spoke out against the “PC madness” taking hold across the country.
Challenging what is fast becoming the norm, former prime minister John Howard, journalist Ita Buttrose and a flurry of other well-known Aussies slammed the country for reaching an out of control level of PC in an article published by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.
But now responding to their claims, the current prime minister has given a response that is sure to irk many Australians who have become fed up with being criticised for speaking their mind. Turnbull told the daily paper that people’s concerns must addressed, whether they err on the side of political correctness or not.
“You’ve got to be honest with people. You have got to be fair dinkum and you have to acknowledge when people have concerns,” The Daily Telegraph reported Turnbull said.
Read more: John Howard, Ita Buttrose and other big names slam society’s PC agenda
His comments come just one day after well-known broadcasters, Alan Jones and Ray Hadley targeted the prime minister, saying he needs to lead the country out of PC madness.
“We are too PC. Our politicians wet themselves because they are terrified of being targeted. We need leadership from premiers and the PM,” Hadley said on 2GB.
Read more: Toy weapons to be banned from childcare centres: Report
In the exclusive report by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, three premiers, business execs, sports stars, famous celebrities and even a Victorian Cross winner called for Australians to return to a time of “common sense”.
Howard warned Aussies to expect even more political correctness, while Buttrose slammed a ban on toy guns and parliament sex bans, but above all, each person seemed to have had a gut full of today’s PC standards.
Read more: Little House on the Prairie author stripped of award for non-PC language
The examples of PC gone mad are absolutely everywhere and this is not just in Australia.
Earlier this year American author Laura Ingalls Wilder was stripped of an award by the American Library Association for the racism in the Little House on the Prairie books.
While her books were read and re-read by thousand, if not millions of children across the world over the years, it seems the famous author’s writing no longer fits with the modern way of life.
Over in Britain a mother even called for classic childhood fairy tale Sleeping Beauty to be banned from schools, claiming the prince in the story is actually sexually assaulting the princess because he didn’t ask if he could kiss her.