Albanese should stop trying to play the presidential campaign
Somewhere along the line, election campaigning moved from being about vision and policies to being a hotchpotch of funding promises, a festival of pork-barrelling announced by leaders who are marketed as celebrities.
We are bombarded with an ignominious display of our prospective PMs’ personal lives. Photos with the dog are a must. I always wonder who actually looks after those poor benighted creatures since their owners are so rarely at home. Who is feeding the chooks and cleaning out the pen that DIY Scotty built at the Lodge since they live at Kirribilli?
Jen and the girls live with the constant presence of an official photographer. Consequently, we live with a constant stream of photos of Jen and the girls. When I visit the Prime Minister’s social media pages, I am greeted not by policy discussion but by photos of what he (supposedly) cooked last night.
Not to be outdone, Albanese is dragging his girlfriend by the hand along the campaign trail. Barely a press conference or interview goes past without him telling his log cabin story.
Anecdotes about disabled relatives abound. Encounters with individual constituents are recounted to show that our leaders are “in touch” with the people but, instead of solutions, they are offered a selfie.
We follow our leaders to church and the footie. We watch them exercise.
So ridiculous has this become that Morrison tries to convince us that, because he hasn’t changed glasses or lost weight, that is proof that he is best suited to offer a steady hand to steer the ship.
Someone needs to remind these two men that they are not vying for supreme leader. They will be the spokesperson for government should they gain or negotiate majority support.
Albanese is playing the wrong game.
Rather than ceding the stage to reporters asking gotcha questions, he could so easily say “My job is to communicate our priorities and goals and our strategy to achieve them. The strength of the Labor Party is a team of very capable ministers in every portfolio to answer questions about policy detail or relevant statistics. I am not a one-man show.”
Why do the two leaders spend so much time and money flying around the country to stage managed photo shoots with hand-picked crowds to make local announcements? Does the entire entourage really have to fly to Corangamite to announce a swimming pool or a few solar panels for the local bowlo?
Very few of us will have the opportunity to vote for either Morrison or Albanese. We need to hear from our local candidates if they are to be the ones representing us but they are sidelined in this celebrity circus of presidential style campaigning – a nodding head providing background for the aspiring star of the show.
Neither of these men are inspirational individuals. Instead of trying to sell themselves, they should be concentrating on explaining the what and how rather than the who.
After all, this is not an autocracy – yet.
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Return to home pageCouldn’t agree more.
Yeah, good article and I fully agree.It appears that we have descended into lowest common denominator popularity contests,like most of the dross on commercial television.Look at America,we’re not far behind and as a consequence,we get this airhead style of campaign,which drives those few who take any notice, to distraction.Not helped by the largely braindead media reciting their instructions from HQ.The voters are treated like idiots,with some justification.Despite this type of Southern Baptist Preacher bullshit playing into Morrison’s hands,he still stinks to high heaven,which speaks to the general revulsion in which he is held.No need to wonder why the ‘Teal’ Independents are scaring the shit out of the so called ‘moderate’ Liberals. Their success would be a welcome and important change in the way democracy needs to work in this country.From polling, it looks like only Labor would be in any position to form minority government.Bring it on.
There is a stark difference between Albanese and scumbo
Scumbo has no friends! He has others lining up behind him with the intentions of Brutus with Caesar but he has no friends; scumbo was put there by vested interest having made a faustian bargain with the likes of murdoch et al he has to do what they say. Scumbo has on vision other than remaining pm.
On the other hand Albanese has friends that he has cultivated during his long career as an mp in the parliament. Scumbo is a johny come lately from nowhere and defeated he will go nowhere.
The lnp latest mantra is a sewing doubt lexicon: Albo isnt up to it; Albo cannot manage a trillion dollar economy; what is not being said is that the lnp is the party of rorters! Rort for canstruct to administer policy on off shore refugees; which despite 1300000000$ the refugees still sleep on chickenwire beds!!! Angus Taylor’s water rights?? Airport land rorted and still no carparks
By calling the old age pension a welfare payment is a softening up process of transferring its administration to indue; not all at once but on a case by case basis which really means picking off pensioners one by one. The old age pension is a constitional right: Not a welfare payment,
Yes I agree on your description positioning a leadership celebrity style campaign. It’s saturation of every type of what is considered appeal or seeking attention! It’s focussed around how all of us gain marketing information. I may get it from repetition off my favoured media outlet. I may not forget it’s my civic or legal duty to vote.
It all seems an awful waste of money!
How to relay a message via a local candidate? Well I get that in a postal service paid by the party or candidate’s backers on message: dot points of policy positions.
Uhm ….. not one to push any conspiracy theories, I note that this American preferred Presidential style of political campaigning was identified as the preferred style of electioneering because it concentrated attention on one person rather than any team or team members. This was considered to make it easier for mug Australian voters to re-elect the sitting incumbents intent upon remaining at the pig’s trough of public funding for self-serving pecuniary interests.
The reference for those interested is Carole Quigley (1968) ”Tragedy & Hope; A History of the United States”, and the subsequent expose by Gary Allen, (1971) ”None Dare Call It Conspiracy”
Albo missed a chance on thursday to ask the what the question was. did the journo read the 6 point plan and what did he not understand then dismiss the gotcha question. He must have plans to answer these gotcha.
On your point, Albo has to win, he cannot take his own line. Unless he does an expose of scummo and his efforts. like the pensioners becoming welfare(great post Kark), labor will not win government. ps some time ago, I believed you when you said you were labor but I was wrong, kaye. You were not influenced by a glossy pamphlet, you practically wrote it. I have no doubt the bandit will have 3 friends winning by lib preferences.
I am not any political party. I think it the height of laziness and apathy to swear eternal political allegiance to any group. Once again, you are WRONG. How about you cease commenting about me and stick to commenting on the issues. You are really annoying me. As for your glossy pamphlet crap, I think over the years I have proven I have a reasonable knowledge of the topics at hand Your arrogant dismissal is patronising and rude. If you meant any of those many apologies, put them in play.
As for aged pensioners being put on the Indue card, there is absolutely no evidence for that and plenty to prove it is a grubby scare campaign just like the death taxes. It is dishonest and unnecessary. It demeans the Labor Party to continue with the lie.
Of course Scummo has a black dog and Albo a white one, because black lives matter.
Hey, I just realised, that photo exposes another FauxMo lie…….he DOES change glasses.
Kaye, he’d claim they weren’t really on his head… they were photoshopped.
The dog is photshopped too.
His PR team just couldn’t let Albo get away with a cute little fluffy white dog, so they got him one too and one that matches his new glasses.
I think the dog is real. It’s the shoes that are photoshopped. I really wish someone would ask about the chooks.
https://petapixel.com/2019/01/09/photoshop-fail-australian-pm-had-two-left-feet-in-official-website-photo/
They had to photoshop his left shoe and white pants because of the poo stains, after yet another visit to Engadine Maccas.
He just can’t reisist those McFurphys with Hot Apple Lies.
Kaye, the dog might be genuine, but I’m damn sure Morrison isn’t.
Like the concluding sentence ‘After all, this is not an autocracy – yet.‘, others may disagree….
According to Eve Darian-Smith, University of California, Irvine, in DeSmog article (2 May ’22):
‘*Rising Authoritarianism and Worsening Climate Change Share a Fossil-fueled Secret. There are clear connections between the fossil fuel industries and the politicians who are both stalling action on climate change and diminishing democracy – and it’s a dangerous shift, argues an international studies professor in her new book….
..In “Global Burning,” I explore how three leaders of traditionally democratic countries – Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Scott Morrison of Australia and Donald Trump in the U.S. – came to power on anti-environment and nationalist platforms appealing to an extreme-right populist base and extractive corporations that are driving climate change. While the political landscape of each country is different, the three leaders have important commonalities.
Bolsonaro, Morrison and Trump all depend on extractive corporations to fund electoral campaigns and keep them in office or, in the case of Trump, get reelected.*’
https://www.desmog.com/2022/05/02/authoritarianism-climate-change-trump-bolsonaro-morrison-fossil-fuels/
I am hoping against all odds, that the reason the tired and decrepit Old Labor Party allowed young Albo to run as leader is; not because he’s (not) very quick on the uptake (like his demented old party leaders), but because he very occasionally shows some sparks of insight, political philosophical optimism and usually manages to leave the scene without offending anyone, other than journlists. If the Labor Party fails this (NO-Lose election); we Australians have every reason to believe that Independents are the only hope for our Convict-Heritage-Low-IQ-Minded-… Wilfully Ignorant Voters!
Wilful Ignorance is Humanity’s greatest threat at present!
Last week i visited the Alpine heathlands and herbfields around Kosciuszko, and stayed overnight in a Jindabyne motel.
Whilst at breakfast i saw bits of ‘sunrise’ for the first time in years.
Amongst all the in-house advertorials and Depp-Heard pablum, i learned that the teachers strike was mainly organised by Socialist Alliance and that a dance by J Freydenberg was trending on Tictoc.
I also saw some montages of what seemed to be a bullshit braying comp between Mssrs Morrison & Albanese.
The PM ‘promised’ to conjure up 400000 new businesses, but, like all good magicians, wouldn’t reveal the secrets of the how.
The OL ‘promised’ to remove means testing for childcare subsidies, thus allowing already bloated piglets even greater access to the public teat.
Faced with such unappetising & nutritionally devoid fare as a breakfast accompaniment, i did not linger at the buffet.
re. ‘Wilful Ignorance’ (Mark Shields) and ‘unappetising & nutritionally devoid fare’ (corvusboreus), given that more than 50% of the brain’s cortex is associate with the processing of visual imagery, and its subsequent relegation by the heirs of Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, the man most associated with the development of the ‘arts’ of public relations and propaganda, as means to swaying the views of the masses, further explored by the French philosopher Guy Debord in his 1967 work, La société du spectacle – The Society of the Spectacle – a ‘critique of contemporary consumer culture and commodity fetishism, dealing with issues such as class alienation, cultural homogenization, and mass media, [Wiki] it’s not that surprising that it’s come to this poor state of affairs.
It’s been well-observed by those in the know that one of the greatest problems for us poor humans is our general level of susceptibility to gullibility, that willingness to simply accept things at face value.
That being the case, thus the story-tellers take full advantage to gull the masses, again & again.
Corvus’ senate HTV for the 2022 federal election (NSW).
[1] Georgia Lamb (SAP)
[2] Andrea Long (FUSION)
[3] Jane Caro (RP)
[4] Shireen Morris (LAB)
[5] Amanda Cohn (GRN)
[6] Jenny McAlister (LAB)
The 1st is a cynical ploy to funnel funds towards a party with reasonably sound policy, the next 2 are symbolic statements, and the last 3 are lobbed with the actual hope of landing one of the less-unworthy bums on a senate seat.
Ps the absence of dicks in my selected lineup is purely happenstantial.
Unfortunately cb, I don’t think SAP would get any money because they have to get 4% of first preference votes to be eligible. Last election, they got 0.43% in the senate for NSW..
Pauline Hanson picked up a cool $2,840,766.45 last federal election.
KL,
Truedat my ‘cynical ploy’ to assist SAP in securing enough primary votes to ensure electoral funding is, in light of current circumstances (10% of target), a naive pipedream.
Similar to how my environmental works & advocacy are, in view of the fact that my mind & heart know the planet’s bio-climate systems are irredeemably screwed, quixotic tilts at best.
However, flicking my droplets of piss towards the onrushing conflagation helps salve my soul by providing some kind of function for the form.
“action is the antidote to despair”
Hope may not always change the outcome but it can help us to cope with the journey. Do what you can and aim to improve – the alternative is a life of fear.
PS Be heartened by the fact that nature will prevail albeit with a different cast and hierarchy of species. It may the dawning of the age of jellyfish, algae and cockroaches.
The tardigrade shall inherit the earth.
Even tardigrades have to eat. And if you’ve got tardigrades, you can be certain something will evolve that eats them.