{"id":15124,"date":"2021-01-28T05:13:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T05:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmatilda.com\/?p=139914"},"modified":"2021-01-28T05:13:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T05:13:45","slug":"scott-no-plan-scott-no-spin-some-simple-media-advice-for-anthony-albanese-invoice-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/28\/scott-no-plan-scott-no-spin-some-simple-media-advice-for-anthony-albanese-invoice-to-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott No Plan, Scott No Spin: Some Simple Media Advice For Anthony Albanese (Invoice To Follow)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to win an\nelection at the end of a global pandemic that left your nation, comparatively,\nunmolested, then the standard Labor Party \u2018playbook of spin and obfuscation\u2019 is\ngoing to need some tweaking. Chris Graham helpfully weighs in.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overnight, the Leader of the Opposition decided to venture where Opposition Leaders whose \u2018leading is unappreciated\u2019 really shouldn\u2019t go\u2026 Laura Tingle, on ABC\u2019s 7:30 program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sure enough, Anthony Albanese popped his head up last night<\/a>, smiling like a man certain that he needed to appear to be smiling like a man who was certain of his future. And then, as you might expect, it all went to hell in a hand-basket, really quite quickly as it turned out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few minutes into the interview, in response to a question from Tingle, Albanese decided to remove any doubt in the minds of his critics about whether or not he should be leading his party to the next election, a scenario which will almost certainly occur later this year if Prime Minister Scott Morrison has any sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
ABC journalist and Walkley Award winning political reporter, Laura Tingle. (IMAGE: Screencap, ABC 7:30)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over to Laura Tingle: \u201cDid you let Scott Morrison get away from you? I mean, his nett approval rating compared to what it was after the bushfires last year has sky-rocketed and there\u2019s now a big gap between the two of you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cue what we in media management circles like to call \u2018the\nquivering jowl\u2019\u2026 followed closely by \u2018the stunned mullet\u2019\u2026 and then the \u2018Kamikaze\nsound-bite\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albanese: \u201cNo, not at\nall. One of the things that we\u2019ve seen is that because people during the\npandemic had wanted leaders to succeed, of course, ah, that has led to an\nincrease in their approval, because if they don\u2019t succeed then people have been\nconcerned about their health, and about their jobs, and their standard of\nliving.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. Let\u2019s see if we can break that down: People really wanted governments not to fuck\nshit up, and governments didn\u2019t fuck shit up, so people were really happy about\nthat and it made Scott Morrison more popular. Duh, Laura.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albanese\u2019s reply, obviously, is as confusing as it is stupid. It\u2019s one thing to concede that your opposition did well. And in the case of the Morrison government\u2019s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, Albanese should<\/em> concede that, because the Morrison government mostly has<\/em> handled it well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s another thing altogether to concede that without offering an explanation for why<\/em> they did well\u2026 known in this media management circle as ‘The Jolly Green Giant Elephant In The Room That Is Also On Fire\u2019. So here\u2019s what Albanese should<\/em> have said, as, you know, the Leader of the Opposition seeking to be an alternative to the incumbent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Overall, I think the federal\ngovernment did a good job managing the pandemic, just like all state and\nterritory governments did. Compared to the rest of the world, we have fared extremely\nwell, so far.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s an undeniable fact, and Scott Morrison \u2013 along with all state and territory leaders, Labor and Liberal – can and should be rightly proud of that fact. But it\u2019s important for people to remember why Australia did so well. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in\nliving memory, a Liberal-National government decided to listen to the science\non a major issue confronting our nation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Morrison did that in part because he was overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. But I think it was mostly because Morrison knew that unlike other challenges that play out over longer timespans, he would almost certainly still be around at the end of the pandemic to be held accountable for whatever he got wrong. That’s very rare in modern politics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 was a clear and present danger. Morrison deferred to the experts. So good on him and the LNP for finally doing their jobs, and listening to the scientific experts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that was \u2018Scott Morrison of March 2020\u2019. Let\u2019s not forget \u2018Scotty from Marketing of January 2020\u2019, or \u2018Scotty from Marketing of December 2019\u2019, when he was holidaying in Hawaii while our nation burned, while his party was refusing to acknowledge that human-induced climate change played any part in the destruction.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That denial \u2013 that refusal to accept established science as the only sensible way out of the problems we\u2019ve created for ourselves \u2013 is part of the DNA of the modern Liberal-National Party. It\u2019s their default position.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Federal Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese. (IMAGE: Screencap, ABC 7:30, January 2021).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next federal election\nwill be about the future of our country, and how we emerge from a global\ncrisis. There\u2019s never been a more important election in our time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if anyone\nseriously believes that Scott Morrison and the Liberal-Nationals have had a \u2018Road\nto Damascus moment\u2019 \u2013 that they will now defer to the science for all future\nevidence-based policy – then they don\u2019t really understand the depth of the LNP\u2019s\ndetermination to ignore reality when it\u2019s convenient.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to sound\ninsincere on this Laura \u2013 I genuinely believe Scott Morrison should be congratulated\n\u2013 along with all state and territory leaders \u2013 for their hard work and stewardship\nthrough one of the most challenging crises in living memory. They\u2019ve done a\ngood job.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Prime Minister\u2019s\ncase, I think that earns him the right to be heard by the nation about what his\nplans are for our future.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the first question I would ask him is this: After a long, sobering year, what, if anything, has your party learned about embracing the science and listening to the experts on that other great, urgent challenge that confronts our nation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should ask him Laura, you should ask him if the LNP party-room has shifted one iota on the issue of accepting, let alone confronting, the reality of anthropomorphic climate change. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the answer is they haven\u2019t. They haven\u2019t shifted at all. If anything, I predict their position will harden, because they\u2019ll use \u2018economic recovery\u2019 as a short-term excuse for getting back to the business of ignoring the science and the \u2018inconvenient truth\u2019 that is staring us all in the face, and scorching a land that they say they love.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Morrison\u2019s\nhandling of the pandemic is a good legacy for any Prime Minister to leave \u2013\nthat should be acknowledged. <\/em>But if we really do care\nabout the future of this nation \u2013 if we care about the future of our children, our\ngrandchildren \u2013 then we can\u2019t afford to pretend that the LNP will forever more put\nthe science first, and the politics second.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the simple fact is they won\u2019t. As I said, science denial is part of the DNA of the modern LNP, and those beliefs are as virulent as the virus that forced them to briefly abandon them. But if you really believe they\u2019ve changed Laura, then ask them how their policies<\/strong> have changed.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the Labor Party\u2019s leadership on climate change \u2013 or Aboriginal affairs, or worker\u2019s rights, or any number of other issues \u2013 and it\u2019s record of abandoning evidenced-based policy when it\u2019s electorally convenient is similarly appalling. So the above is only intended to trick voters into forgetting that and winning an election. I.e. business as usual for the ALP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re welcome. The invoice is in the mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Scott No Plan, Scott No Spin: Some Simple Media Advice For Anthony Albanese (Invoice To Follow)<\/a> appeared first on New Matilda<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on New Matilda<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to win an election at the end of a global pandemic that left your nation, comparatively, unmolested, then the standard Labor Party \u2018playbook of spin and obfuscation\u2019 is going to need some tweaking. Chris Graham helpfully weighs in. Overnight, the Leader of the Opposition decided to venture where Opposition Leaders whose \u2018leading […]<\/p>\n

The post Scott No Plan, Scott No Spin: Some Simple Media Advice For Anthony Albanese (Invoice To Follow)<\/a> appeared first on New Matilda<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1730,3267],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29174,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15124\/revisions\/29174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}