Sam Mostyn has called for a return to civility. When was that, exactly?

Tony Abbott, Piers Akerman, Kevin Rudd (Image: Private Media/Zennie) Addressing the CEW Bean Foundation yesterday, Governor-General Sam Mostyn made a plea for a return to civility, saying she had received feedback from numerous Australians who “wish for us to return to habits of disagreeing well, respecting and listening to those whose views we may not always agree with, particularly those who we’ve never met and can attack from afar”. “It’s an old-fashioned concept, perhaps, but reflective of our modern demands and needs of the Australian community,” Mostyn added. Old fashioned is right.

When exactly was this golden era of civility and restraint? 2020s? It’s certainly no time in the past eight years. Indeed, a search for the phrase “return to civility” in the news archives of Factiva returns more than half its hits in the years since 2016. And the calls weren’t limited to the US or Australia — pundits and politicians were dreaming of a more civil time in spots as diverse as Indonesia , Ireland and Zambia .

Islam, net zero and ‘woke’: Welcome to the Tony Abbott risk to Western civilisation scale Read More 2010s? So maybe prior to 2016 gave us a civil debate? Alas, Australia certainly wasn’t doing so — in 2012, one public figure was moved to call for “a return to civility in political debate”. “I sometimes regret the deeply personal tone that creeps into some of our political debate,” he said. That was then-opposition leader Tony Abbott, w.