What a feast for political commentators yesterday; a main serving of economy, added side dishes of sexual assault gaffes and paid parental leave and a tasty no interest rate rise for dessert.
“Female reporters blinked,” reported Kirsty Needham and Phillip Coorey, when Abbott, questioned about debating Gillard again, answered: “Are you suggesting to me that when it comes from Julia, no doesn’t mean no?… She’s surely not trying to say to us that ‘no doesn’t mean no’.”
“Was Mr Abbott’s appropriation of the phrase no more than a poor taste joke or, as one Labor source suggested, a campaign ”moment” akin to that of the then opposition leader, Alexander Downer, who quipped ”the things that batter” when referring to domestic violence policy,” asked Needham and Coorey in The Sydney Morning Herald.
It was a stupid slip for Abbott but “all that did happen was that Abbott made himself the story for the first time in several very disciplined months,” says David Penberthy in The Punch.
But for Gillard yesterday it was all about the economy, stupid and she was helped along by the Reserve Bank announcement holding off on a rise of interest rates, leaving the figure at 4.5%.
Expect the Gillard camp to squeeze every last drop out of this. Malcolm Farr — who was on the campaign love bus with Gillard yesterday — writes in The Daily Telegraph:
“On Tuesday, ask for her favorite colour and you would get a lecture on how many Australian jobs were protected during the global slump. Check the time with her and the reply would be an account of how interest rates were 2.25 per cent lower than at polling day, 2007.”
It’s being talked about, but only to help themselves, declares Lenore Taylor in The SMH. “Is it too much to hope that Real Julia and Real Tony have a debate about Australia’s real economy and not the airbrushed version each has created to suit their election script?”
Peter Hartcher is unimpressed by Abbott’s economic stance. “Tony Abbott is offering Australia a faith-based economics policy — because there’s such a lack of vital detail that it requires deep belief in Abbott and his team. And that’s hard, because none of the Coalition economics team has even one day’s experience managing a national economy,” he writes in The SMH.
Comparing the paid parental leave plans by the parties is like warring parents fighting over the family car, writes Tim Colebatch. “Our mum, Julia, wants a cheap second-hand one to just get us from A to B. But our dad, Tony, says he wants a decent car we will not be ashamed of being seen in. And now we have to vote for which one we want,” he says in The Age.
Right now Abbott is streets ahead, says Dennis Atkins. “Abbott needs to find a way to ease back in this race and pace himself. Taking up Gillard’s challenge for another debate might do that,” he writes in The Courier-Mail.
Michelle Grattan in The Age sounds a warning about the shameless debate mayhem: “If you are cynical about politicians, tune out of the debate about another debate. In the argy-bargy over whether there should be a second encounter, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott are just responding according to how they see their interests. You can hardly blame them. But you’d think they’d be blushing.”
Abbott shouldn’t avoid the debate out of fear, says Mark Kenny at The Adelaide Advertiser:
“He thinks a fair/average performance by him or a stellar one by her would hand much-needed momentum to her flagging campaign. This is true. But it is a risk Mr Abbott, a skilled debater anyway, must be prepared to take if he wants to be prime minister.”
The latest Newspoll should have Gillard fretting, particularly in the marginals. “Labor could lose enough seats in NSW and Queensland alone to be turned out of office or left relying on independent MPs,” says Dennis Shanahan in The Oz.
It’s like the 2008 WA state election all over again for Chalpat Sonti at WAToday:
Labor – which should have strolled away with victory — went for a Liberals-in-power style campaign, offering itself up as a sensible economic manager, then tried to divert attention with trivial policy announcements such as closing the bar in Parliament, and a bit of muck-racking over the former Liberal leader Troy Buswell.
An unelected Premier, Alan Carpenter, and a few faceless — and ultimately useless — advisers who allowed themselves to be diverted by sideshows.
Meanwhile, the Liberals promised whatever Labor did (except for the bar) and ran a fantastically boring low-profile campaign, preferring not to stick their heads above the parapet and hoping nobody would notice.
Just like in WA, the unlikely is now seeming very possible. “The most pervasive and perhaps fatal perception in this election is that Tony Abbott is unelectable,” writes Paul Kelly in The Oz.
The States with the worst examples of Labor State Government waste and incompetence and the States that are worst for Gillard.
Big problem for her
If the econonmic fundamentals are so good – why did they dispose of Rudd who battled despite bureaucatic opposition to face up to the GFC and most importantly build confidence in the Australian Banking system – or has Labor forgot that gem as well
@1GMD,
The rolling of Rudd never had anything to do with winning or losing the election. Rudd consistently polled better than anything Gillard has so far managed (except possibly for one rogue newspoll).
In fact, you might consider Rudd to have been a victim of his own success. The Labor story on the economy – particularly surviving the GFC in such good shape – was so astoundingly good that this alone should have been enough to ensure them re-election. Doesn’t anyone remember Turnbull campaigning AGAINST the stimulus package? (Is it only me who doesn’t seem to have the memory of a goldfish these days?) Perhaps this is why some Labor powerbrokers obviously believed they could afford to challenge for the leadership and still win the election.
Of course, they never anticipated that it would even be remotely possible for the Liberals to manage to get through nearly the entire campaign without the economy being mentioned. Even if Abbott tried to avoid any discussion of it, and Hockey took a vow of silence for the whole campaign, surely the MSM would insist on bringing up the issue once or twice? Surely?
Hello?
The Real Tony popped out yesterday. The one that cannot accept the different lifestyle that others, like Julia Gillard, choose. The one with the Oxford University education that knows it is so superior to everyone else. The one that professes christian values but shows no christian compassion to people fleeing war torn countries, religious victimisation and worse. The Real Tony is nasty, vindictive, narrow minded and sexist. Nice he reminded us before election day.
Yeah my local member Joe Hockey has been missing in action. No response to emails and I’m yet to spot a glimpse of him around the electorate so far.
I knew the libs had sent Barnaby Joyce out for a 3 week ride across Qld on a horse to keep him out of mischief – but maybe there is another muster still going on out back of Bourke. Its got at least Peter Garrett, Joe Hockey and Wilson Tuckey sitting around the fire eating beans and watching the stars. I wonder who else…?