One week in and the 2022 election has been predictably scrappy and cringeworthy. Two parties with no much inspiring vision bickering over personal attacks, “who gaffed the hardest” contests and overheated scare campaigns.
In the lead-up to tonight’s first leaders’ debate between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Labor opponent Anthony Albanese, those scare campaigns have dominated coverage.
Yesterday Morrison called a Labor claim that his government would put pensioners on the cashless welfare card “a disgusting lie”. The scheme, which forces welfare recipients on to a card which stops them withdrawing cash, or accessing alcohol or gambling services, is being tried out in a handful of areas.
The basis for that claim is a throwaway line Social Services Minister Anne Ruston made two years ago: “We’re seeking to put all income management on to the universal platform.”
And although the government has tried unsuccessfully to expand the scheme, Ruston and Morrison have repeatedly denied they would force pensioners on to the card. That hasn’t stopped Labor winking at it, and running a scare campaign that could be quite effective.
Labor has also jumped on to more comments from Ruston — nominated as Morrison’s health minister if the government is reelected — as evidence the Coalition would cut Medicare. She told the Senate in 2015: “Medicare in its current form is not sustainable into the future without some change being made.”
After Ruston appeared to equivocate on whether the government would cut Medicare, Morrison told reporters that no, there would be no cuts. But again, fears about Medicare cuts are politically potent for Labor. All Labor’s housing and campaign spokesman Jason Clare needed to do was point to Tony Abbott’s aborted promise not to cut Medicare.
It’s a sign we could be in for a rerun of the Mediscare campaign of 2016, where a highly effective, viral claim that the Coalition would privatise Medicare helped Bill Shorten.
But Labor is not alone in making spurious claims. Over the past few days there have been a few from the government. Yesterday a bit of Coalition “modelling”, laundered via the front pages of News Corp tabloids, claimed Labor’s energy policy would increase power bills by $560 a year.
“A binfire of lies!” Labor’s Treasure spokesman Jim Chalmers shouted.
The government won’t release the mystery modelling, so there is nothing on which to base the claim beyond years of attacks from the Coalition on energy prices.
The Coalition has also gone on the offensive over border protection. Morrison claimed Labor couldn’t be trusted to stop asylum seekers coming by boat. The basis for the latest attack was Albanese initially claiming Labor supported temporary protection visas, before explaining that it did not — the second time he had to clarify his party’s immigration stance in the past week.
Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said Labor supports Operation Sovereign Borders — the government’s policy of boat turnbacks and offshore processing. She argued the government was “lying” when it claimed TPVs were a key deterrent, given they haven’t been necessary since the boat turnbacks started.
Of course, it’s little surprise scare campaigns have such currency. The Coalition is trying to revitalise one of the great hits of the 2019 campaign, with Liberal Party advertising calling on voters to “Stop Labor’s retiree tax”. It’s a reference to the opposition’s 2019 plan to reform franking credits, dumped last year.
That policy led to widespread fears among retirees, contributing to Labor’s shock election loss. So too did a viral misinformation campaign about Labor introducing death taxes. Labor didn’t support one then and doesn’t now — but that hasn’t stopped senior government ministers from claiming it does.
So much of this election campaign — from Labor’s small target strategy, to the widespread belief that Morrison is an teflon-like presence on the campaign trail — reflects lessons learnt from 2019. And if that election showed us anything, it’s that scare campaigns can be brutally effective.
Of course the coalition has been constantly cutting Medicare. Every procedure that no longer has an item number is a cut to Medicare. They just cut telehealth, didn’t they? That’s pretty short sighted considering we’re only in Year 3 of the pandemic; so it’s ideological.
And there are at least 13 (I think) Age Pensioners already on the CDC.
And every Medicare co-payment, and every outsourced call centre, and every frozen rebate as costs and fees go up.
And still right wing commentators (eg Madonna King on this platform) loftily sneer about “scaremongering” on Medicare. Of course the LNP sets out to weaken, cut, destroy bulkbilling and Medicare. Privatisation by a thousand cuts.
And then that commentariat fail to include reflection on the Coalition’s/Murdoch media scare campaign waged against Labor’s negative gearing policy, unleashed around the same time – by Morrison, Turnbull, Dutton et al – all while sitting on Treasury advice that ran contrary to their BS narrative that “Labor’s policy to address negative gearing would shatter YOUR home values and the national economy” – Treasury as good as saying that Coalition government scare campaign of theirs was just political chancer BS.
This is a useful starting point:
https://johnmenadue.com/privatisation-and-the-hollowing-out-of-medicare/
No “pensioners on the cashless welfare card” :- “And although the government has tried unsuccessfully to expand the scheme…” what makes you think they’d stop at pensioners if they could expand the scheme? “Morrison said so”?
What is this “Spot the deliberate mistake”?
This whole stupid bloody media game of “Scotty says”?
…. What does Scotty do more than anything else? From his history in public life. What’s his first inclination …..
How many “train station car parks” did Scotty & Josh promise at the last election – three years ago : how many delivered?
Remember the promise of ICAC also, it sunk quicker than the Russian Battleship
How does he get away with it, apart from media protection? Hopefully voters will not forget as one is sure the media will…..
Was it his fault his “Morrison-Porter’s ICAC” was a rubber chicken model?
Yes!
Some of the LNP’s scare tactics will sink themselves by being ridiculous but the one about the retiree tax needs to be sunk emphatically by Labor because it is blatantly false and will do damage.
Perhaps Labor could point out that every time Medicare is cut, it is effectively a tax. Seniors, retirees etc will soon work out that they go to the doctors more than most.
Labor could do well by pointing out to voters the influence of US GOP and UK Tory policies on health, pensions, related services and taxes (plus refugees & immigration).
Some in the GOP are now proposing taxes for seniors including those on minimum income, as opposed to increasing taxes on corporates and the wealthy; their donors and/or think tank policies (radical right libertarian ‘public choice theory’) count more than actual voters or constituents ‘freedom & liberty’.
You need charisma to sell a vision because the sales pitch has to be laced with vision and hope – both of which require faith in the salesman because, ultimately, the product is the salesperson him/herself. Obama and Clinton did it with ease. So did Whitlam, Hawke and Rudd. Blair was another example.
If you lack charisma then you can’t generate the faith and you leave yourself open to accusations of being a try-hard fake.
Neither Morrison nor Albanese has charisma. Albanese might have a vision but if he tries to sell it, he will get monstered by Morrison and Murdoch over the banalities like Who’s going to pay? Who’s going to be worse off? etc
So both he and Morrison are trying to portray themselves as a safe pair of hands, except in Morrison’s case there is evidence he is not. While Albanese is allegedly unknown to the voters, it does at least mean he can claim that his safe pair of hands is clean. Morrison can’t.
Taylor’s “modelling” – isn’t that the same “modelling” he used to slag Clover Moore’s Sydney City Council’s travel expenses? The “incident” Morrison’s garbo cleared Taylor (and, by association, the Morrison government) of any involvement – after not interviewing any relevant bodies? …. Speaking of which, what happened to that criminal investigation by “Fuller Brush Inc” into ‘who was responsible for the Ruby Princess clusterfeck’?
And the others?