Manchurian candidate

Elections always throw up key words and phrases so lexicographers follow them with interest for both the politics AND the lexicon. But who would have thought that one of the first salvos in the election that is on everyone’s mind (though not officially called yet) would be the term Manchurian candidate. Morrison labelled Richard Marles, the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, ‘a Manchurian candidate’ before being required by the Speaker to withdraw the slur, which he did.  We can no doubt expect the term to come up in a revised list of Unparliamentary Language. Meanwhile Morrison has taken to mentioning ‘the preferred candidate’ as a way of referencing the previous slur that won’t attract a rebuke from the Speaker.

The Manchurian Candidate was the title of a 1959 novel (which became a film) by Richard Condon, an American author. The plot featured an American soldier in the Korean War brainwashed by Chinese and Soviet agents, who then returned to America where he continued as normal until he reacted to a specific trigger and became an assassin.  His purpose was to kill the presidential candidate so that the running mate (a puppet of the Chinese government) would take over.  The term Manchurian candidate has generalised to mean ‘anyone who is a subversive agent for another country’.  The obsession at the moment in Australia in terms of foreign policy and defence is the rise of China. Morrison has been revitalising the Yellow Peril prejudice that has been lying below the surface of Australian politics because he sees a political advantage in creating a sense of panic.  Richard Marles’ subversive act was to give a speech in Beijing in 2019 in which he called for Australia and China to strengthen ties, including political and even defence cooperation.  This may have been considered a friendly overture to China in 2014 when we talked about Australia and China establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership but America’s attitude to China (and therefore ours) has changed a lot since then. 

From Manchurian candidate where will Morrison go?  This is just the first entry in the 2022 lexicon of Australian politics.