The Curious Use of the Double Negative

Angus Taylor. What can I say.

For someone who should be hitting it out the park, every time and every way, well … he … well … isn’t. Especially giving the accelerating economic mess train on which Australia is travelling.

Which raises questions about his future, at least in an “economic portfolio”.

The first thing I noticed was that Peter Dutton appointed a “Chief Economist” to his office:

The Opposition Leader has brought back economist and former Reserve Bank official Andrew Stone – who advised Tony Abbott – as the Coalition’s chief economist.

Now Stone was previously Chief Economist in Tony Abbott’s Prime Ministerial office, but (to me at least) there is a significant difference between advising a Prime Minister and advising an Opposition Leader. If nothing else, the quantum of resourcing in an Opposition Leader’s office is much lower requiring a level of ruthless prioritisation.

Then there was this this morning:

Asked about the row on Wednesday, Dutton said: “Well, Angus is not incompetent.”

Note the language and the curious use of the double negative. He did not say Angus was competent. He just said Angus was not incompetent.

Not the most glowing endorsement of his chief economics spokesman.

Makes me wonder … come the coming election, will Angus be shifted to something a little bit less stressful. Perhaps Shadow Minister for Local Government or for Sport.