Qu(ot)e?

Hugh Morgan, former CEO of Western Mining Corporation, has caused a bit of a kerfuffle locally, with his comments on dual nationality, reported in The Age, yesterday:

BUSINESS leader Hugh Morgan has called for dual citizenship to be outlawed, comparing it to having a mental illness.

In a speech at Deakin University last night, the prominent Liberal Party supporter and former Business Council chairman said a person with dual citizenship had "at least the beginning of a bipolar disorder".

Mr Morgan said citizenship was one of the most important elements of personal identity and would have a bearing on Australia's survival as a nation.

"I am convinced that if we took Australian citizenship seriously, we would not tolerate this bipolarity. If you are an Australian then that should be the end of the matter," he said.

...

Mr Morgan also weighed into the "culture wars", backing John Howard's criticism of the "dumbing down" of English teaching in Australian schools due to postmodernism and political correctness. He said post-modernism — which he defined as the belief that all versions of the truth were equally valid — threatened to cut the link between generations of Australians.

On today's Letters and opinion pages, Hugh cops a well deserved pasting for his remarks on dual nationality, which show two things; firstly that the Big End of Town is also the thick end of town and secondly, that Hugh might have served the mining industry much better as a pit-prop.

More on Hugh and his personal eminence-grise at Crikey. And you can read him in his own write at Henry Thornton's website. Here's a little gem which will have a lot of you feeling well below par:

The average Australian is more than $83,000 better off in real wealth terms (in today's dollars) as a direct result of the economic reforms of the past 20 years.

(cross-posted at Larvatus Prodeo)