<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/article/2024/may/31/barnaby-joyce-ditched-his-rm-williams-to-protest-green-energy-wait-until-he-finds-out-about-his-new-boots>
"Earlier today, as I was reverse Google image searching a picture of Barnaby
Joyce’s feet, I wondered if I was perhaps taking this too seriously.
The National party MP has been attending parliament without his habitual RM
Williams boots in protest against the owner of the classic Australian fashion
brand, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, whose company Squadron Energy is building wind
and solar developments across New South Wales and Queensland, including in
Joyce’s electorate of New England.
Joyce told
2GB radio on Wednesday that the idea came to him at Beef Week in
Rockhampton. He said he had no issue with Forrest personally, but objected to
the “swindle-factory so-called windfarms all over our area”.
“I thought I’ll make a statement so people will say, ‘why are you doing that?’”
he said.
Well, mission accomplished. But I remain confused. Because in the place of the
RMs at question time earlier this month was a pair of Ariat cowboy boots.
Specifically, my image searching revealed, the Cowpuncher VentTEK in the dark
brown/golden mustard colourway.
According to the product description, the boots are designed to provide “a soft
landing when you jump off the feed truck or off your horse”, while the vents in
the scrolling “keeps you cool in the heat or in branding season”.
This is fine. I’ve got nothing against a good pair of Ariats, though as a horse
rider in the English disciplines my Ariats are a pair of half chaps. (That also
precisely ages me, for anyone who follows equestrian fashion trends.)
They’re also more comfortable than RM Williams – Joyce said as much in that
interview. They’re a work boot, and he is at work, and as a person who wears
farm boots literally everywhere I cannot begrudge him on an aesthetic level.
But what perplexes me is why he chose Ariats. Ariat is a quintessentially
American brand – it’s named for the racehorse Secretariat. This would be like
an American politician trying to appeal to their patriotic base by wearing
boots called Phar Lap. The main argument for Australian politicians wearing RM
Williams is that they are an iconic Australian brand – although before Forrest
bought it the brand was owned by LVMH, more commonly known as Louis Vuitton.
The Australiana is, in the theatre of parliament, the whole point. We don’t
give visiting dignitaries an Akubra and a Driza-Bone because they’re
appropriate bureaucratic attire. If this can be cancelled out by a mining
magnate following the economic winds and investing in renewable energy, a
decision that whatever other motives you might ascribe is clearly that of a
billionaire making a business decision, then we may as well have been wearing
lace-ups this whole time."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
