Rudd's OS meet-and-greet trumps the Fitzgibbon affair

Rudd’s OS meet-and-greet trumps the Fitzgibbon affair

What should have been a tricky week turns out to be another bottler for the PM, writes Patrick Baume.

Apr 02, 2009

A great poll and happy snaps with world leaders swamps the Fitzgibbon problem and what should have been a tricky week turns out to be another bottler for the PM, despite his personal proximity to the area of trouble his Defence Minister has found himself in. As pure speculation, would Fitzgibbon be in more trouble if Defence hadn’t tried to knife him first?

Peter Costello back up the list for reasons we certainly can’t fathom (well actually we can, it’s our job — and it was pretty much all because of the latest poll and his kind offer of help to Joe).

Colin Barnett leaps thanks to gas, BankWest and trading hours, while a slew of Cabinet ministers take the place of the Queensland State identities that have had their moment in the sun until the next one comes round in 18 months or so.

TW	Move	Position	Politician	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	PM	Kevin Rudd	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	*30,018*	1,000
2	12	Cabinet	Joel Fitzgibbon	422	605	352	314	*13,266*	423
3	2	Opp Leader	Malcolm Turnbull	202	239	122	511	*8,692*	269
4	-2	Qld Premier	Anna Bligh	289	98	90	463	*6,421*	235
5	1	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	359	133	57	339	*5,511*	222
6	2	NSW Premier	Nathan Rees	201	202	129	320	*6,552*	213
7	3	Independent	Nick Xenophon	191	53	12	241	*3,124*	124
8	4	Vic Premier	John Brumby	222	77	17	123	*2,395*	110
9	9	Shadow	Joe Hockey	58	66	43	256	*3,532*	106
10	16	Backbench	Peter Costello	159	36	22	194	*2,541*	103
11	-4	Cabinet	Julia Gillard	172	98	40	44	*2,055*	88
12	7	NSW Opp Ld	Barry O’Farrell	117	43	32	93	*1,737*	71
13	16	Premier	Colin Barnett	167	45	8	52	*1,251*	68
14	3	Cabinet	Peter Garrett	109	19	30	109	*1,588*	67
15	13	Cabinet	Penny Wong	74	18	13	112	*1,419*	54
16	11	Shadow	Tony Abbott	98	22	30	52	*1,084*	51
17	-2	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	62	44	4	91	*1,444*	50
18	12	Cabinet	Lindsay Tanner	50	48	3	70	*1,286*	43
19	5	Qld Opp	John-Paul Langbroek	72	19	2	24	*537*	29
20	5	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	40	12	27	35	*724*	29

These figures perhaps show the problem for the Federal Opposition even more than the polls — a lack of cut through even to talkback and even when you whip out the “yellow peril” card. Maybe it actually doesn’t work anymore? Crazy talk, I know…