The biggest controversy in Australian politics last week involved a Joy Division t-shirt

Everyone knows that Joy Division was one of the most important and influential bands in the history of rock. So much of today’s music descended from what they did in the late 70s and the first few months of the 80s. Each record collection needs to include a copy of the brilliant Unknown Pleasures. The t-shirt is one of the best ever.

However, some politicians in Australia didn’t get this memo.

On October 23, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was photographed coming off a government plane dressed not in the typical suit and tie but an Unknown Pleasures t-shirt. Five days later, the sh*t hit the band when Sussan [sic] Ley, the leader of the conservative Liberal (weird, I know) went after Albanese for his choice of apparel.

Ley stood up in Parliament in yelled at Albanese for wearing the shirt of an antisemetic band. Ley insisted that Alabanese’s choice of t-shirt was a “profound failure of judgement.”

Please. Yes, the group took its name from a group of “comfort women” in sexual slavery for the recreation of Nazi officers, but there’s nothing antisemetic about Joy Division.

And there’s some confusion as to whether this “joy division” actually existed. The term appears in a 1953 novel called House of Dolls, but historians say no such division existed in real life. I quote someone from Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum:

 “As far as we know, there is no historical records of any ‘wing’ of a concentration camp where Jewish women were forced into sexual slavery. I am not an expert on the history of punk music,” while there was terrible sexual abuse, most of the women trapped in this existence “were German social misfit prisoners imprisoned in Auschwitz for prostitution.”

Still awful, yes, but it still doesn’t make Joy Division antisemetic. The controversy, which, is completely manufactured in an attempt to score cheap political points and was in the news for a few days.

Jeezus, people. You should be pleased that your PM has such good taste in music, unlike President YamTits.

@stereogum A major political controversy continues in Australia after Sussan Ley condemned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for wearing a Joy Division t-shirt. In a speech to Parliament on Tuesday, the opposition leader said the PM’s “profound failure of judgment” was an “insult to all,” and that he should apologize. #JoyDivision #AnthonyAlbanese #SussanLey #Australia ♬ original sound – stereogum