‘Murdered steak’, burnt duck, and boat people – just another day in Australian politics

Steak and duck

While, in her own words, Anna Bligh might have ‘murdered the steak’, it was the LNP that probably managed to burn its own duck. In Australian politics negative attack ads generally don’t work. They can leave those taking out the ad with a bad taste in their mouths. Graham Young, from Ambit Gambit/Online Opinion, analysed voter responses to the major parties’ advertising campaigns during the 2009 election. Voters were turned off the parties’ messages by the negative advertising run by both parties during the campaign but responded more positively to ads that focused on the party or the party leader as doing and not on the other party or its leader. A number of journalists commented during the 2009 campaign that it did not look good for the LNP during the leaders’ debate when Springborg sought to talk over Bligh.

Given the timing and the obviously high cost of the LNP’s black and white ads during Celebrity MasterChef, the LNP leaves itself open to a number question, one of which is where did the money come from? Given that many of the LNP’s constituents would be farmers, it seems odd to run an ad attacking Bligh during a program in which she sought to promote Queensland produce. If comments in various Brisbane newspapers this morning are anything to go by, people view Bligh’s appearance on Celebrity MasterChef as PR, but also think that it showed her as someone just like them.

Ultimately, Anna Bligh might have pulled off some good PR, with the assistance of the LNP. Today’s announcement that Bligh has negotiated a new trade deal with Moscow will only add to this PR campaign, as it highlights that she is ‘running the state’ and bringing revenue into Queensland . This positive PR might have a greater impact on voters’ opinions and behaviours than negative advertising. I’m looking forward to the next parliamentary sitting.

Boat people

The campaign to demonise asylum seekers who arrive by boat has once again heated up. Andrew Bartlett has been blogging on the human rights issues surrounding these people for some time and, as Crikey contributors have noted, the number of people who arrive by boat is eclipsed by the number of people who arrive by plane and overstay their visas. This campaign seems to be about populist politics playing on people’s fears about ‘the yellow hordes’ and an ignoring of the displacement of people by war and terrorism. Such a fear was central to the way in which the Howard Government used ‘the children overboard affair’. In this case no child was ever thrown into the water, as was argued by the then government. As the reaction over Hey Hey it’s Saturday indicates, Australians might still be struggling with eradicating racism. It would be helpful for the government to present clear information about immigration, including illegal immigration, that mitigates the demonising of people. It seems that the Opposition believes that it still has traction over questions of immigration and border protection. It could be argued that the Rudd Government needs to show more leadership and take the moral high ground.

Conclusion

The media is a powerful force that politicians can use to promote their message—or to self-destruct.

The week in review (or why I don’t like Twitter grammar)

Accountability has been on the agenda at both federal and state level this week. On 4 September the Queensland Premier gave a speech to the National Press Club in which she repeated her call for a cap on political donations and a return to grassroots politicking. Unfortunately, only Crikey and The Australian appear to have reported the speech. Australian political culture is very much a face-to-face culture and grassroots politicking was an important element in Maxine McKew’s win in Bennelong in the 2007 federal election. Meanwhile, yesterday, federal parliament voted to reduce printing allowances (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/mps-pay-for-misusing-perks-20090909-fg9i.html), which have, at times, been abused.

While capping political donations (and donations are not necessarily monetary) and reducing printing allowances are important accountability measures, more is needed. They need to occur in all jurisdictions and not just one or two (given the federal nature of political parties). All jurisdictions could have lobbyist registers and ban success fees. Queensland’s lead to make lobbyists who also hold positions on government boards to choose between the board and the lobbying could also be adopted in other jurisdictions. Without an upper house (and the re-introduction of one is probably unfeasible) more could be done to enhance Queensland’s Legislative Assembly. While some commentators have argued that what works in Canada or New Zealand needs to be applied, it is important to note that these initiatives are guides. Policy initiatives need to be adapted to the jurisdiction before they can be adopted.

Yesterday, it was announced that crack teams would go into ‘poor performing’ Queensland schools to fix literacy problems. If additional help is being offered to students, then this move might prove positive. Yet poor school outcomes are sometimes linked to systemic issues that need to be addressed first. The fact that this move has been announced several days before the NAPLAN results are released is intriguing. Is this policy a knee-jerk reaction? Does it invite wider questions about the use of high-stakes tests such as NAPLAN as a means of holding teachers to account? This latter point raises the question of league tables, and the multitude of issues that come with them. There is a growing pile of literature pointing to and demonstrating the problems that come with high-stakes testing and league tables.

 In an attempt to draw the two strands of this blog together, I turn to Twitter. I do not like Twitter grammar. The lack of apostrophes, overuse of exclamation marks, and absence of full stops is somewhat disconcerting. Whoever writes Premier Bligh’s Twitter appears not to know the difference between ‘its’ and ‘it’s’. Perhaps the Premier’s crack literacy team could start here?      

Politicans’ use of Twitter could be an extension of the face-to-face personal political culture that exists in Australia, if they are indeed twittering themselves, as it could serve as a conversation between politician and constituents. In this way, the Internet clearly has become a significant element of political communication in Australia and thus it to might need to be subject to accountability measures.