Well, Luke Walladge’s piece from yesterday –“Labor man: if she won’t resign, caucus must remove Gillard” — certainly managed to piss you off. And stir some pretty insightful comments beyond the usual suspects.
To some, the ALP member, former staffer and campaigner is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the Labor government. His call for Julia Gillard to go “bravely prescribes more of the same suicidal thinking that has got Labor into its present mess. Ditch the leader, pass the spade, keep digging the same hole,” wrote James Burke.
It’s just the “same old, same old thinking. We don’t need more of the same — interminable, doom-prophesying verbiage from sources imprisoned by past experience,” wrote reader Gerri Allan. “This is a hung parliament, and no longer the traditional, historical, big-majority party rule fought out between the two majors. These could be times for exciting and innovative change, for appreciating brinkmanship, for getting into the political game with a sense of altruism as well as pragmatism … not about hankering back to high percentages of primary votes, seat counts and two-party-preferreds.”
Not to mention Walladge’s assertion that to install a female MP in the top job would just be another Gillard version 2.0. “I mean … words are STILL failing me,” wrote Kate Olivieri.
“Gillard has delivered good government and policy but crap politics,” despaired Richard Barlow. “Inflation, interest rates, debt, unemployment all low. Growth reasonable. Budget in balance. Major reforms in workplace laws, health, education, aged care, disability. World-leading policies in carbon reduction and broadband communications. Tax reform including income tax cuts. Over 250 laws passed in a hung parliament. Then the politics, knifing Kevin, Craig Thomson, Peter Slipper, and a seeming inability to cut through.
“It drives me nuts.”
We’re sure it drives Gillard nuts, too. But there’s the rub: the crap politics. You can’t ignore it, and it’s not all the media’s fault.
This morning we’ve watched the almost simultaneous announcement from the Australian Federal Police that they would continue to investigate the Cabcharge allegations against Slipper, set alongside cameras trained outside HSU headquarters in the wake of a police raid as part of Strike Force Carnarvon.
It’s part of the reason why Bernard Keane has placed Julia Gillard at No. 2 on The Power Index‘s Canberra list, and put Wayne Swan top of the tree. This morning’s events will make it even more difficult to capitalise on her great enduring strength — her “persistent ability to secure outcomes”.
Maybe if the focus off the media was taken off politics and onto policy Gillard might be better off but htat will never happne for as Stephen Mayne said on radio last week, Murdoch got behind Rudd thinking he would be the Australian version of Blair but as soon as it became apparent that was not going to be the case the attack was launched and it won’t stop until the libs are in.
Gillard is a political nong, but the media are woeful and ignorant.
They are back to ranting about Craig Thomson after a days break when it was found that Temby WAS NOT INVESTIGATING HIM, JUST AS HE SAID.
For years they have been on and on about a fucking credit card “misuse”as if he is a mafia don and in all those years have shown nothing at all.
And now they claim Slipper is being investigated for cab charge fraud, it is not possible to defraud a a cab charge or even worth bothering with when the allowance is a right.
You have no mention of Christopher Pyne? Surely his complicity in the Slipper (soon to be Pyne) affair is the biggest news of the year? where are you, Crikey? You spend plenty of energy attacking Gillard for… what exactly? and spare the villians.
The media, in the persons of most political journalists, IS to blame. Endless repetetive interviews of journalists by other journalists is neither news or political reporting. The media is running the it’s too late concept, and the polls are of course now reinforcing that. The “media” by and large who concentrate on this are the journalists sequestered in the weird new Parliament Building. The architecture of the building is a disaster for democracy. Politician’s offices are inaccessible, and the politicians have an office reached through those of their staff. This means journalists rarely see an unprepared politician, and now apparently believe that political reporting means concentrating on computer screens, leaks, and politician’s staffers. This is not political reporting. It is not even journalism. Its a low-on-the-alphabet-list non celebrity bore. A really good journalist can judge character, and, robbed of access can research: off-line.
Judith Pugh – It is a slef fulfilling prophecy, the media tells the public the govt can’t be saved, they then poll the public and get their own opinion reflected back at them and then report that reflected opinion as fact.
I would also like paraphrase Bernard Keane from last week when he said that the level of investigation into the slipper affair by journalists far outweighs any investigationg they have done on any piece of policy. It reminds me of a story I heard about my previous employers board meeting, they spent 2 hours discussing the telephone plan for corporate mobiles and 10 minutes discussing the multi million dollar investment in a new plant. The reason, they could understand the telephones.