How
is Labor coming to terms with its new role? How will the Opposition
make an impact with the government in control of the Senate, and what
sort of impact will it make? To rate its leading figures and their
performance, we’ve devised three new indices:

• The ALI (Agenda Leading Index):
how it sets the agenda, ranging from 5 for a new idea to which the
other side must eventually respond, to 1 for a knee-jerk reaction to
someone else’s idea.

• The PAP (Public Awareness Profile): how many people heard it, ranging from 5 for a barbecue stopper to 1 for statements no-one outside Canberra notices.

• The VCI (Voter Change Impact):
whether people will swing towards or go against the Labor party because
of the comment, ranging from 5 for good ideas that will win votes, to 0
for good ideas that no-one cares about, to -5 for idiotic comments.

Let’s try it on Kimbo’s main statements for the last week:

Because world oil prices have risen, the Australian government should reduce the petrol excise: ALI = 1; PAP = 2; VCI = 0

The IR reforms are bad because they will reduce worker’s wages and benefits: ALI = 1; PAP = 4; VCI = 0

Labor is not as bad as Mark Latham said because it is in government in all states: ALI = 1; PAP = 1; VCI = 0

That’s a grand total of 10 out of a possible 45. Perhaps the opposition tactics committee could do its own tally.