Why did the left hate Gladys Berejiklian?

Gladys Berejiklian was the first woman elected premier in New South Wales. She is the daughter of Armenian immigrants who did not begin learning English until she was in primary school. She was educated in the public system and for most of her life she has been a member of Girl Guides, whose mission is to empower girls and young women to grow into confident, self-respecting members of the community.

Berejiklian managed to the rise of top of the male dominiated NSW Liberal Party and she smashed the ceiling in 2017 when she became the first female premier of the state, and was the first to be formally endorsed by the electorate in 2019. Gladys Berejiklian is a migrant success story, a trailblazer for women and a leading moderate voice in Australian politics.

And yet the left absolutely despised her.

Is she not the sort of person you would think progressives would adore? A woman from a migrant background who smashed barriers and set an example for young women of the future?

Every day on Twitter there was unhinged hatred directed at the premier who has arguably led the best state response since the pandemic began. Her state experienced the most international arrivals, managed to avoid lockdown for most of 2020, and powered the Australian economy while Victoria languished through 112 days of lockdown. Alas, the delta variant presented a new challenge, but given Victoria locked down harder and faster than NSW did, and now has more cases, it is safe to say that criticism of Berejiklian’s approach in 2021 was unwarranted.

Perhaps the left were outraged at her government’s commitment for carbon emissions to be cut by 50 percent by 2030, matching the Biden Administration’s pledge and making NSW the most progressive state when it comes to climate action.

Or maybe they had a problem with a premier who did her level best to preserve individual freedom and autonomy while managing a global pandemic pragmatically and sensibly, rather than shutting down the entire state and inflicting mass pain and hardship on the most vulnerable in the community.

And seriously, is anyone actually outraged by the fact that Berejiklian had a relationship with a dodgy ex-MP that may, perhaps, possibly have compromised her? I mean, in the big scheme of corruption dealings, this is relatively mild. Personally, I’m more incensed by this week’s Worksafe report exposing the Victorian government’s negligence that led to the deaths of 801 people, but maybe that’s just me.

Let’s be clear: the left hated Berejiklian because she was so effective and she was playing for the wrong side. She was from team blue, meaning she needed to be destroyed. One only needed to look at one of the videos from a deranged YouTuber who shall not be named to know that the obsession with bringing down Berejiklian was unhinged, irrational and based on pure political bias.

The fringe dwellers labelled her #koalakiller despite her government introducing amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act that enforced a moratorium on the clearing of koala habitat. The outrage over the rate of koala deaths was also disingenuous given that the majority of these numbers were a product of the tragic 2019 summer bushfires, not due to government policy.

I also found it fairly odd to see women on social media sharing memes along the lines of ‘ding dong the witch is dead.’ You can bet your bottom dollar these same leftists were outraged about Tony Abbott’s so-called sexism when he stood in front of a ‘ditch the witch’ sign that targeted then PM Julia Gillard.

The likely outcome will be that Berejiklian will have no case to answer, and I hope that she will give politics another go at the federal level.

This sad episode in Australian politics has proven one thing beyond all doubt: the left have no principles. Even when you are a woman who started from nothing, rose to the top, had socially progressive and strong environmental credentials, you will be hated if you play for the wrong team.