When winning is losing

3:57 PM, 26/2/2010 .. 0 comments .. Link

The recent uproar regarding the “great leaders debate” between Isobel Redmond and the Premier, Mike Rann, has shed light on one of the ALP’s greatest dilemmas in this election campaign: being slick and polished may not be a positive for media Mike. Labor sources have referred to the debate as a no-win situation. If Mike dominates, he will be accused of being overbearing or a bully. If he loses, he has lost his touch or is distracted by the Chantelois scandal. This no-win situation could potentially apply to all aspects of the election campaign, with traditional rules of campaigning losing relevancy. It must be asked: how did it come to this?



When history books are written about the Rann Government, the prevailing theme will not necessarily be its achievements, such as defence jobs or green energy (both of these are commendable, however). I believe that the prevailing legacy of the Government will be the manner in which the Rann team dealt with the media and the public when spruiking those achievements. The Government’s strategy for interaction with the media and the public has thus far had two prongs: carefully managed, slick media spin and arrogant bullying and intimidation. These should be carefully examined.



The first prong of the media strategy is the “spin unit”. The importance of the media in modern politics dictates that every political party is required to have a media strategy and focus. Mike Rann, however, as a former journalist, is perhaps the most media savvy political leader in Australian history. Every peep in the media made by a Government Minister must go through him and his pack of media advisers. Every Ministerial Office
has a media adviser (they are the most entertaining staff members by the way, I wasted many hours chatting with Sammy the Seagull), who is employed by the Premier, not the Minister. Every morning, they discuss media strategy at Rann Towers, reporting on upcoming events within respective Ministerial Offices etc. The main problem, in my opinion, is that any media strategy they employ should be akin to a puppeteer operating his puppet; the audience should never see the strings. Unfortunately for Mike, the crude way in which the Government has treated the media over the past few years has resulted in the exposure to the crowd of the puppet master. The mechanism of the spin has become the issue, not the announcement being spun.



The second prong of the Government media strategy is the bullying approach. Many scribes and talking heads have publicly stated that they have been on the receiving end of torrents of abuse from media adviser head-honcho Jill Bottral for publishing any slight against the Government. This kind of approach is fine when there is an overwhelming majority and public support, but when the tide has turned, as it has now, it is akin to having bitten the hand that feeds for the previous four years. Complaints by ALP spin doctors of bias by the media are merely the result of prolonged retribution.



The success of Isobel Redmond as an alternative leader has nothing to do with her policy ideas or competence to govern. I posit that her success is a direct consequence of her “no-nonsense, plain talking” approach. The public appears to be warming to a politician who doesn’t only talk in sound bites at designated media conferences. Even her ramshackle appearance is a breath of fresh air compared to the cavalcade of suits and ties that make up the Rann Government. Ironically, and herein lies the Government’s dilemma, it appears that the public prefers lack-of-style over substance.



Before writing this instalment I briefly looked at both of the major parties’ websites. The ALP website is vastly superior to the Liberal website - it is easy to navigate, has a brilliant colour scheme and every candidate can be found with ease (even the Young Labor hack candidates have beautiful campaign photos). The Liberal site looks incredibly cheap by comparison. I have no doubt that this disparity would be reflected in all areas of campaigning e.g. television advertisements, mail outs etc. Traditionally, the slickest campaign will result in victory on election day, or at the very least an improvement in primary vote. It is my view, however, that this will not be the case in this election; due to the prevailing public opinion that Rann has used spin to dupe the public in the past, the low-budget, “straight talk express” campaign of Isobel Redmond is having more success than it normally would. The only traditional rule that seems to apply in this election is that Australians still love an underdog; this is going to be the most closely contested election in some time.