By Denis Bright

Hoping a smooth campaign of boring photo opportunities, LNP insiders were obviously shocked by negative reactions to its Return to Neoliberal Normalcy Strategies. The leadership and policy vacuum generated by the LNP has generated unexpected focus on real policy issues which the latest round of pork-barreling has not arrested.

There was real wisdom in Labor’s small target response to the LNP’s bid for re-election. Negative reactions to falling real wages in the context of exploding housing and rental costs are giving new momentum to Labor campaign to achieve government with a substantial majority.

In the once marginal Labor seat of Griffith in Brisbane from the LNP’s 2019 campaign, the Liberal Party accepted the trends in polling by allocating preferences to Labor ahead of the Greens. On the latest YouGov polling, Griffith is now the safest Labor seat with 60 per cent of preferences going to Labor after preferences.

The groundswell for a change of government has built up during the past two years as more working poor and really disadvantaged constituents head to the weekly food distribution at a park near the West End CBD.

This is the darker side of neoliberalism which Scott Morrison refuses to acknowledge in his ideological commitment to the current economic system.

Such heartless attitudes prevailed in the discussion of fair affordable wage policies which have surfaced in the latter stages of the LNP’s plans to return to normalcy by provoking slip ups in those gotcha questions from the assembled media to Anthony Albanese.

Anthony Albanese in government can support +5 per cent increase in the minimum wage through the deliberations of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) on 7 June as promised without compromising any political conventions.

Labor is not attempting to control the deliberations of the FWC which was established during the Rudd-Gillard years to end the excesses of John Howard’s Work Choices. John Howard lot his own seat in 2007. Perhaps the precedent can be extended to Scott Morrison’s own seat of Cook which was temporarily won by Labor in 1972.

A federal government does not have the constitution powers to set wage rates in peace-time. Even the heroic Harvester Judgment of the Arbitration Court of 8 November 1907 was successfully appealed against in 1908. However, it was a moral victory for wages justice through the Arbitration Court and more recently through the Fair Work Commission (FWC) which was established in the Rudd-Gillard years to end the excesses of Work Choices: In the Harvester Decision, Justice Higgins of the Arbitration Court decided that 7 shillings a day, or 42 shillings a week, was fair and reasonable wages for an unskilled labourer. This became the basis of the national minimum wage system in Australia.

It was a ‘living’ or ‘family’ wage, set at a level which would supposedly allow an unskilled labourer to support a wife and three children, to feed, house, and clothe them. By the 1920s it applied to over half of the Australian workforce. It became known as the ‘basic wage’.

Additional amounts were paid to more skilled workers, for example an additional 3 shillings to a fitter or other tradesperson. These additional amounts were known as ‘margins’. In the Harvester Decision, a fair and reasonable wage for more skilled employees was for example 10 shillings a day for ‘journeymen’, or tradesmen.

Visiting the Transfield Factory in Sydney’s Seven Hills in 1986, Pope John Paul II commended Australia’s wage determination system which offered a fairer but not perfect deal for Australian workers. Having worked in a quarry near Nazi occupied Krakow, Pope John Paul was aware of the horrors of degrading workplaces.

Despite all the sweet rhetoric, Australians soon experienced horrors of that neoliberal recession We had to have in the early 1990s (Image Catholic Outlook 2016):

Image from caffestoria.it

Just 2 per cent of the workforce subsists on minimum wages. It is up to the FWC to deliberate on the flow-on effects of minimum wage increases to other awards.

The LNP is clearly divided on wages policies. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce indeed claims to be on Struggle Street. He is well aware of the extent of income and social disadvantaged in every country town. National Party votes there rely on persistence of the Joh era populism to keep disadvantaged voters in the fold.

Strutting Out from Struggle Street at Canberra Airport

Barnaby Joyce with partner Vicki Campion

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce often complains about his own financial circumstances as noted by Samantha Maiden on news.com.au (21 June 2021):

Resurrected Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce once complained he was so skint he was forced to kill his own meat – but he’s now doubled his pay by returning to the fold as Deputy Prime Minister on $433,575 a year.

The father of six will secure a whopping pay rise in his next pay packet that will increase his pay from his current salary of $211,500 as a backbencher.

Two years ago, the MP revealed he was doing it tough and was slaughtering his own farm animals to help reduce his grocery bill.

Scott Morrison’s warnings against supporting the maintenance of the purchasing power of minimum wages is regarded as one of the worst slips of the government’s re-election bid according to Economics Editor Ross Gittins of The SMH (13 May 2022):

At last, as the election campaign reaches the final stretch, we’ve found something worth debating. Anthony Albanese has found his spine and supported a big rise in award wages, while Scott Morrison says a decent rise for the masses is a terrible idea that would damage the economy.

First the politics, then the economics. My guess is history will judge this to be the misstep that did most to cost Morrison the election. Successful Liberal leaders – John Howard, for instance – knew never to be caught within cooee of a sign saying “wages should be lowered”. It’s not the way to woo outer-suburbs battlers to the Liberal cause.

Perhaps the plight of self-funded retirees will surface during the final week of the campaign. The trend lines in returns from some of the best superannuation funds like Q Super is not very encouraging as shown by the latest performance data to 13 May 2022.

As the latest YouGov polling shows a definitive swing to Labor outside some rusted-on LNP regional seats, the LNP has become an ideological captive of far-right minor parties as in the allocation of preferences to One Nation on the senate ballot paper across Queensland.

Desperate Preference Allocations for the Queensland Senate to Protect One Nation and the Other Maverick Parties

A lot can happen in the final week of campaigning as Australia finally returns to that Change of Government era which gave Labor control of both houses as early as 1910 and 1914. As self-proclaimed lovers of traditions the LNP should be pleased that social democracy is working again and finally extending to some of the most marginal regional LNP seats in Queensland.

A majority Labor government with ninety seats in the House of Representatives is still a possibility to achieve a long-term Labor government that is not dependent on constant negotiation with cross-bench members as in the Gillard-Rudd years after the 2010 elections.

Advocates of change should be campaigning until the final vote is cast in this still rampant COVID-19 era when it is still possible to chart a less colonial direction for our country.

By Denis Bright

The LNP probably hoped to creep back into government by a series of strategic photo opportunities and staged events like the Regional Forum in Rockhampton. Just what is the state of play in those 23 seats in Queensland which could make the differences between a real Labor landslide as in 1983 and a quite modest majority?

Even the staged release of the LNP’s plan for Regional Australia in Rockhampton became a flat and divisive event for the Coalition. Its rhetorical superlatives were summarized on the National Party’s Queensland site:

1. Strengthening the economy to deliver more jobs, more apprentices and working towards unemployment below four per cent.
2. Tackling cost of living pressures through a reduction in fuel costs, increasing housing affordability and reducing tax for regional workers and their families
3. Greater investment in regional infrastructure that will create long-term opportunities and growth to underpin regional prosperity
4. Building a better health system that will provide more GPs and health specialists in our regions and towns where they are needed.
5. Bringing back manufacturing to Australia that will reduce Australia’s reliance on others while creating local jobs in regional communities.

Even these motherhood statements were offset by differences between Scott Morrison and Matt Canavan on the issues of climate change as reported on Channel Nine News on 27 April 2022.

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has been ordered to “pull your head in” by a colleague as Prime Minister Scott Morrison worked the campaign trail in Queensland this morning.

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry rebuked Senator Canavan as she spoke alongside Mr Morrison in Rockhampton after the Queensland Senator suggested net zero targets were “dead” and should be abandoned.

Ms Landry said Capricornia was “one of the biggest coal mining electorates in the country” and claimed energy and farming industries in Far North Queensland were behind Mr Morrison’s carbon reduction goals.

When asked if Senator Canavan was being unhelpful, Ms Landry quipped: “Pull your head in, Matt.”

The Coalition appears to be splitting on climate change, with Senator Canavan describing 2050 net zero targets as “dead” just hours after Mr Morrison was forced to defend his government’s “absolute” commitment to it.

Large parts of regional Australia are now protected by those substantial majorities from the 2019 election result after distribution of preferences from far-right minor parties.

This election’s focus on wages and living standards might restore some normalcy to our electoral geography. However, these trends maybe offset by the diversionary politics of the far-right parties in Regional Queensland. Of the Queensland regional federal seats, Leichhardt (4.17 per cent margin) is currently the most marginal followed by Flynn (8.66 per cent margin).

The selective release of YouGov/Newspoll data keeps everyone guessing until the Murdoch press releases marginal seat data to sell papers during the final days of the campaign after Scott Morrison’s campaign launch in Brisbane on 15 May 2022. Brisbane is an obvious location for the campaign launch with the LNP currently holding 23 seats across Queensland and six near Brisbane seats. Voxpop which monitors the ABC’s Compass election surveys has not been able to supply details of trendlines in regional seats.

The state break-down of seats is a fairly meaningless figure because it misses out on the state of play in the marginal regional and outer metropolitan seats. The most recent Morgan poll offers a state-by-state breakdown:

The state breakdowns, which cannot be directly compared to last week’s due to the change in the preference calculation, have Labor leading 51.5-48.5 in New South Wales (a swing to Labor of about 3.5%), 61-39 in Victoria (about 8%), 57.5-42.5 in Western Australia (about 13%) and 62.5-37.5 in South Australia (about 12%). The Coalition leads 53.5-46.5 in Queensland (a swing to Labor of about 5%) and 60-40 from the tiny sample in Tasmania. The poll was conducted Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1401.

Hopes of wedging the regional electorates of Queensland in support of new coal mining projects, may have been dashed by the sudden rise to prominence of cost-of-living issues. The LNP’s best offsets against political change come from the diversionary politics of those far-right parties.

Great rhetorical emphasis is placed on neoliberal folklore about the importance of corporate giants for regional development. Waiting for the capital to trickle down to the regions from corporate giants has not occurred on Scott Morrison’s watch according to the latest Reserve Bank (RBA) charts on the multiplier effects of net capital flows into Australia:

Declines in the rates of net capital inflows into Australia occurred well before the COVID-19 crisis.

The LNP’s interference with capital flows on strategic defence grounds has not assisted. It has forced Pacific countries like the Solomon Islands, PNG and Timor-Leste to seek alternative sources of capital investment.

Here the LNP continues to reply on that accumulated trillion-dollar budget to massage economic indicators until after the federal elections when a return to normalcy will eventually prevail.

Across the three LNP electorates of Central Queensland in Dawson, Capricornia and Flynn, mining accounts for less than 12 per cent of overall employment on the Queensland Government’s regional profile. However, the LNP is depending on disciplined preference flows from far-right parties to compensate from the absence of an absolute majority in all three Central Queensland seats.

Paul Murray’s Pub Forum offered a talking point to promote the far-right of Australian politics.

Back in Central Queensland, the achievements of the corporate resources sector, coexists with appalling levels of disadvantage which are evident on recent social security data released through Centrelink to December 2021.

The extent to which social demography can trump the bizarre appeal of the Maverick Three has yet to be tested. Dog whistles from the Mavericks have a record of diverting the attention of voters in the regions away from unresolved local problems.

The Central Queensland seats of Dawson, Capricornia and Flynn host high rates of social disadvantage and dependence on social security particularly in the City of Rockhampton.

In 2019, inner-city booths in Rockhampton like Berserker swung strongly to the far-right. Labor won this booth after preferences despite a 16.77 per cent swing against Labor in 2019.

Some inner-city precincts in Rockhampton with twice the Queensland levels of social disadvantage from the 2016 census have been largely overlooked by years of populist rhetoric on Scott Morrison’s watch.

In Flynn, the LNP is promoting a new candidate who will face the Labor’s Matt Burnett who was a popular Mayor of Gladstone. The margin from 2019 is 7.62 per cent after preferences. This is one electorate which should respond to Labor’s current emphasis on living standards, protection of real wages and criticism of casualization of employment. However, the electorate includes many scattered urban and rural communities which have traditionally supported National Party candidates as shown in the AEC Electorate Map.

Expect YouGov/Newspoll to release its detailed local polling from regional seats closer to election day or even to conceal them from readers of the Murdoch press if the results are too unfavourable to the LNP. Meanwhile, many votes in Regional Queensland continue to be diverted by preference allocations from minor far-right parties who mobilised 26.4 per cent of primary votes in Capricornia in 2019 to ensure a record majority for Michelle Landry MP who is one of Scott Morrison’s local stalwarts.

Let’s hope that more volatility returns to Regional Queensland as in those landslide swings which brought double-digit swings to Labor after years of conservative populism in the past during the political high water marks achieved by great Labor luminaries since the Federation era when North and Central Queensland opted for federal Labor members and senators.

The Sportbet odds are less hopeful with photo finishes in Leichhardt, Longman and Brisbane and a close result in Flynn where both major parties are fielding new candidates.

All ten regional LNP seats except Groom have been held by Labor since John Curtin’s days as Opposition leader in the hung parliament of 1940. Restoring the Regional Labor heartland with needs-based policies will be an ongoing challenge after the election of Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister.

By 2353NM

Finland and Sweden are currently exploring joining NATO. The about face from long term neutrality has come about because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ABC reported recently that there has been a significant shift in the attitude of the Finnish and Swedish Governments from ‘don’t poke the (Russian) bear’ to a position of seeking allies for protection should Russia do to them what it has done to Ukraine. It could be Putin’s largest mistake as his border with NATO aligned counties doubles assuming Finland and Sweden apply for NATO membership and the applications are accepted.

So what does this have to do with Australian politics? Good question.

When the last elections were held in Sweden and Finland, the candidates for the leadership role, cognisant of the opinion of a majority of their communities would have probably rebuffed the idea of NATO membership if the question was even raised. Circumstances have changed – as has the opinion of the majority of Finnish and Swedish people. Their governments have reacted accordingly.

Australians only get one chance every three years to make a judgement on the capability of our federal political leaders. To make the best decision, we need to be aware and make a judgement on the potential leader’s vision, ethics and moral judgement. To borrow a phrase from the movie ‘The Castle’, ‘it’s the vibe, your honour’ because the things that will test us all are the things we have no idea about until they eventuate. This is far more relevant to our future than if an Opposition Leader forgets a statistic or a Prime Minister forgets where they are in a press conference.

The Coalition and some media are arguing that Albanese’s ALP doesn’t have the knowledge, skills or abilities to form a government, an illogical argument as the only way to get direct and recent experience is to do the job. When Morrison started work in the Prime Ministerial office, we didn’t even get a say in his elevation, as the only election he won was one of his political party’s Members of Parliament. At that time, he too had none of the experience in the job that he now claims is mandatory.

In addition, Albanese and a number of his ‘shadow Ministers’ were Ministers in the last ALP Government, a minority government that had to form a consensus with independents in Parliament to get anything through both Chambers. Current member for the seat of Kennedy, Bob Katter recently observed on the ABC’s ‘Q&A’, he was one of those independents and the Gillard Government never lost a legislative vote in Parliament, unlike the current Coalition Government. Albanese, as the then Leader of the House, was responsible for working to get the consensus.

So how is our media helping us get an appreciation of the ‘vibe’ of the two potential Prime Ministers? Generally they aren’t. If political rivals such as Bob Katter are happy to claim Albanese is willing to listen and compromise (which usually produces a better outcome anyway), surely the media should be discussing it – as it gives the rest of us some idea on how Albanese is likely to operate, should he become Prime Minister.

We also know that Morrison certainly changed his fiscally conservative tone during the early days of the COVID pandemic where his government aped the Rudd ALP Government of 15 years ago and effectively wrote cheques for everyone to keep the economy ticking over, albeit at a reduced rate. But the actions weren’t of his own doing, he was generally dragged kicking and screaming to the correct place by public opinion, state premiers or even at times his own MPs. Even then, according to Morrison, at various times he wasn’t responsible for holding a hose, giving an injection or ensuring there was a qualified person in the Happy Memories Aged Care home to provide care, empty the bedpan or provide adequate nutrition.

Someone who might be accused of having too much time on their hands has produced a cross referenced and attributed list of 995 ‘achievements’ of the current Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison Coalition Government, none of which are flattering. Yes, it includes the lack of action on climate change, the lack of creation of a federal anti-corruption commission with ability to investigate all federal workers using the same process and appointing political mates to government boards and tribunals. If ‘someone on the internet’ can produce a list like this, it can’t be that hard for the media to find out the information and report on it.

If the media in this country was doing its job properly, Albanese would be asked questions about how he managed the ‘Leader of the House’ role in the Gillard government, his skills and experience, vision for the future as well as the skills and experience of those around him.

We have some experience of Morrison’s management of government, his skills and experience as well as the skills and experience of those around him. The media should be asking Morrison his vision for the future, why his record doesn’t demonstrate his lack of accountability, ethics and morals and how he would do better if re-elected.

The biggest story in this election campaign is our gobsmackingly incompetent, bad faith media.

— Dr Sheep Person Podge (@noplaceforsheep) May 8, 2022

Instead, most media is letting bare faced lies (or strategically chosen statistics if you’re feeling generous) such as the Liberal Party’s recent social media ‘Look at the Facts’ advertising go straight to the keeper. Fortunately Crikey didn’t (paywalled).

Parts of the media are asking why there is an emphasis on dog whistling and gotchas in the current election campaign. As Laura Tingle recently wrote on the ABC’s website

In such times, perhaps the most interesting thing to emerge from our own leaders debate this week wasn’t what leaders said, but what a room full of uncommitted voters were asking about.

They didn’t want to know about trans people in sports or, for that matter, China or the Solomon Islands. They wanted to know what the two parties were doing about housing affordability, and nurses in aged care, and the NDIS, and electric batteries and vehicles, and what plans there were for dealing with disasters, and funding recovery from them, in the future.

In other words, they just wanted governments to do things. And to do them competently.

Maybe the same reporters complaining about the lack of discussion around experience and vision for the future should realise they are contributing to the general lack of knowledge around politicians’ experience and vision for the future. Their part of the solution should be to ask the questions people want to know about and report the responses without fear, favour or bias. It’s not that hard.

What do you think?

In some countries journalists are dying for freedom of speech. In Australia they are dying to ask something dumb. Free to read in @crikey_news todayhttps://t.co/5jTBLP48uy

— David Hardaker (@d_hardaker) May 9, 2022

By 2353NM

You should feel a bit sorry for Tim Banfield. While he did choose to become a member of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, then put his hand up to be the UAP candidate for the Illawarra based seat of Whitlam at the upcoming federal election, he didn’t deserve to be sacked as a candidate 24 hours after giving a ‘wide ranging’ interview to a local ABC journalist in February. He claims that candidates are only allowed to speak to other UAP members rather than the people they are proposing to represent.

“Because really, at the end of the day, what’s a politician there for? It’s to serve the local community and to serve the public.

“If you can’t do that then what’s the use of being in there.”

Mr Banfield, who is a founder of the Destiny Alive Church, said the party was run like a “communist party” with all control centralised.

Palmer’s UAP seems to have a problem communicating with those outside the party. The yellow and black advertising around the country promises ‘freedom forever’ but doesn’t even attempt to explain what the ‘freedom’ is and how they aim to get us there. Some time ago, we ventured onto their website and asked for some information on why we were lacking freedom, how the UAP was going to implement it and what benefits there were to the rest of Australia should Palmer’s UAP gain enough seats to form a government. Despite concerns about getting large quantities of spam email – we actually got nothing, not even an answer to the question.

Palmer is also known for his views on COVID vaccines. At the end of February, Palmer was rushed to a Gold Cost private hospital after contracting the Delta version of COVID and double pneumonia. According to a report on several websites, Palmer refused ICU treatment at the hospital and discharged himself. He then

called specialists in the US who treated former President Donald Trump …

where he was fast-tracked into a drug trial where they pumped a cocktail of five antiviral drugs into him.

Two of the drugs included ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which have not yet been approved by the Therapeutics Goods Association (TGA).

Palmer’s senior management contacted American gastroenterologist and Ivermectin advocate Professor

Thomas Borody along with a team of US specialists.

The US doctors worked with Palmer’s doctors to monitor his treatment at home, including having an ambulance waiting outside in the event he needed to be rushed back to hospital.

“I would have died otherwise, without doubt,’’ Palmer told Sky News.

It does seem to be Palmer’s way or the highway. What chance is there of any MP reliant on Palmer’s patronage representing the views of their electors rather than Palmer’s? Representing views other than Palmer’s worked so well last time – just ask Jacqui Lambie, who lasted all of 6 months as Senator reliant on Palmer’s patronage about a decade ago.

Are the two major parties any better? The ‘traditional pre-election budget wisdom’ of throwing truckloads of cash to interest groups hasn’t overhauled the government’s perceived popularity. It probably didn’t help that the night Prime Minister Morrison was slapping his mate Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on the back and congratulating him on delivering the best shot at an election winning budget, retiring Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells was in ‘the other place’ laying into Morrison for alleged bullying and autocratic behaviours.

At the end of March, Morrison and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet ratified a number of candidates for the federal election, rolling the State Executive in the process. The State Executive had been attempting to establish candidates in a number of federal NSW seats for months with a lack of support or assistance from Morrison and his supporters. The battle has turned legal with various groups arming themselves with lawyers and going to court – then appealing decisions that go against them.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells retired as her other option was to be placed in an unwinnable position on the Liberal Party’s NSW ‘Senate ticket’ as an outcome of the bickering. Fierravanti-Wells certainly isn’t the first to suggest that Morrison is not the ‘good Christian’ that rode in on the white charger to save the Liberal Party when Turnbull was deposed, and there could be just a little ‘spite’ in the timing and verbiage. It certainly was timed well enough to keep the discussion going around Morrison’s reported ‘his way or the highway’ behaviours.

Later the same week, NSW Upper House MP Catherine Cusack joined the fray. Cusack, who lives in North East NSW and announced her resignation from the NSW Upper House two weeks earlier over the lack of flood relief, stated she was a Liberal Party MP who would not be voting for the re-election of the Morrison Government. She went on to accuse

Morrison of having “ruined” the Liberal party and said he had “trashed” its values over two decades, as state director, “then as a scheming MP and now as prime minister finding loopholes in our constitution to delay preselections in order to get his way”.

She criticised Morrison for “forcing moderates to vote for [former Liberal and now United Australia party leader MP] Craig Kelly” when his preselection was under threat before the 2019 election.

She has warned she will vote against the prime minister over factional “scheming” and politicised allocation of flood relief.

“But he has outdone himself engineering a federal intervention to jump over the organisation all together.

“He got what he wanted at the expense of destroying our rules-based selection system and disgusting virtually every member of the NSW division.”

Crikey recently discussed the current war in the NSW Liberal Party and claimed that Morrison is up to his neck in the political intrigue. It seems the traditional mum and dad business owners that have supported the Liberal Party for decades are being pushed out and replaced by fundamental Christians, who are more interested in power for power’s sake than promoting a (small “L”) liberal philosophy. As Crikey suggests

It’s a situation as self-destructive as anything that’s going on in Labor – but you won’t read about any of it News Corp, not in any depth. Thank God they’ve decided to stay away from cheap political sensationalism at last!

What is it about conservatives and clinging to power?

What do you think?

By 2353NM

The ‘Gold Star of Dishonour’ for the most unedifying display in the first week or so on the 2022 Federal Election campaign is a tough call.

Is it George Christensen announcing his cynical candidature on the One Nation Queensland Senate ticket? If an elected politician runs for election and fails, or is disendorsed by their party, the taxpayer funds a ‘resettlement’ allowance of around $100,000. Christensen, who announced his resignation from the House of Representatives at the conclusion of the last Parliament has announced he is contesting the election as a member of One Nation. One Nation have placed him in the third spot on their Senate Ticket for Queensland, which makes Christensen almost unelectable. According to their website

We are a party that stands for Australia and Australian values. We defend our constitution and stand up against global agendas for the individual rights and fundamental freedoms of all Australians.

The team at One Nation puts people before politics and we will continue to fight for Australia and its citizens.

Facilitating an existing politician to potentially access a $100,000 ‘golden handshake’ is an interesting interpretation of ‘Australian values’.

Or is the winner the Australian media? Looking for cheap sensationalist headlines rather than actual reporting and information sharing has brought them to relying on the cheap ‘gotya’, rather than seeking out information and presenting it in a readily digestible package for their consumers.

A few weeks before the election, Prime Minister Morrison was asked the cost of various staple items including milk and petrol. He didn’t have an answer, which brought howls of how out of touch he was. If you pop down to the local Aldi, Coles or Woolies, there is a range of milk so vast, even a milk producer sent it up in their advertising of yet another variation on the theme some years ago.

Do any of the media actually expect the Morrisons to jump into the family car on a Thursday night and do next week’s grocery shopping? You’d hope the security people would ensure that won’t occur.

On Day 1 of the campaign, neither Albanese or Morrison covered themselves with glory according to the media. Albanese was asked what the ‘cash rate’ was. He didn’t know the answer. The question showed a lack of understanding, rigour and research.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese was asked straight up: What’s the unemployment rate and what’s the “RBA rate”.

He didn’t answer the second question at all and fumbled on the answer to the jobless rate.

Later he fronted the media and apologised for getting it wrong.

But immediately after that a journalist asked him again, “What is the cash rate?”.

He answered: 0.1.

This time, it was the answer the journalist was looking for, but in this case they were both wrong.

The cash rate, as set by the short-term money market, as of Monday, was 0.06 of a per cent.

It’s the interest rate banks pay to borrow funds from other banks in the money market overnight.

That’s different from the Reserve Bank’s “cash rate target” which is currently 0.1 per cent.

Morrison was ‘caught out’ on the composition of his cabinet, which is a little more concerning as he is the one that chose his cabinet. Education Minister Alan Tudge announced he would be resigning from his position in March. As at Day 1 of the campaign, Morrison correctly stated while Tudge had stood aside and an acting Education Minister had been appointed, Tudge still held the warrant from the Governor-General to hold the position and still was technically Education Minister. Regardless of the election outcome, all Ministers return their warrants to hold office at the end of the election process so even if Morrisons Coalition wins, there is no guarantee that Tudge will be in cabinet in the next Parliament. Arguably sloppy management but equally as arguably it could be a compassionate response to an employee of the Crown that is under severe stress.

Regardless of the media’s obsessive chase for the easy story, our political leaders are human and make mistakes. The wisdom of effectively ‘winding up a clockwork doll’ that looks like Morrison or Albanese every morning and expecting them to perfectly parrot overly rehearsed responses to expected questions day after day is ridiculous and shows there is no substance behind the facade. It really doesn’t matter if Morrison doesn’t know the price of milk or fuel for his car (which fuel are you talking about – E10, 91,95,98, diesel or even LPG?). It’s probably a good bet that anyone who drives an EV or relies or public transport with occasional use of taxis or ride shares has no clue on the current petrol price either. Chances are if he loses the election and retires he will probably have to be retrained in filling a car, pushing a shopping trolley, using an ATM and many other ‘life skills’.

Greens Leader Adam Band spoke at the National Press Club on Wednesday 13 April and said

Like, elections should be about a contest of ideas. Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society.

And instead, there’s these questions that are asked about – can you tell us this particular stat or can you tell us that particular stat? And those questions are designed to show that politicians are somehow out of touch and not representative of every day people.

Bandt is correct, What is important is that Morrison and Albanese do have an understanding that the recent significant increase in fuel prices has increased transport costs for a wide variety of goods, services and materials that come into the country, moved around the country and are exported from the country rather than how much they would pay for petrol if they took the Comcar into the closest petrol station on the way to their next engagement. In a similar way, while the price of a bottle of milk does influence your living costs, there are greater concerns than the media’s implied ‘crisis’ – if the price goes up 10 cents, no one can afford milk on their corn flakes every morning.

While Christensen is a deserving nominee – we expect no better of a politician that has been in the business of attracting attention to himself for years – the winner of the ‘Gold Star of Dishonour’ for the first week of the election campaign has to go to a significant proportion of the Australian media. While we all like to expend minimum effort in the successful completion of what ever job we are attempting, in a lot of cases we have to try harder. As most of us will not have the opportunity to talk with both Albanese and Morrison during this election campaign we are relying on the media to ask meaningful and relevant questions on our behalf. So far they have generally failed miserably.

What do you think?

By Melissa Marsden

Sunday’s episode of ABC Insiders showed viewers exactly what media bias is all about and how, come election time, even some of the most respected journalists can fall into the trap of playing double standards.

Despite some criticism of the Liberal government’s election campaign, more of the discussion focused on gotcha moments than actual policy.

Political Editor for news.com Samantha Maiden began the discussion by declaring that Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese needed to “sharpen up”, having days earlier been unable to provide the exact statistic of people currently unemployed across Australia.

In the same breath, when referring to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Maiden merely stated that he had committed a “blunder” at not knowing the price of bread and milk.

Maiden’s false equivalency between the two failings shows just how the media’s bias against the Labor party has flourished over the years.

Just last week in an article in The Advertiser (paywalled), Maiden said that:

“Unlike the “gotcha” questions the Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked at the national press club earlier this year … what’s the price of milk, bread and petrol? … these are not figures that bounce around and he should have known the answers.”

Everyone can forgive a brain freeze now and then.

Just think back to student exams, that moment you are asked a question you know the answer to but you just can’t pinpoint it. A number rarely brought up in everyday life.

The price of bread and milk however, for most Australians, is far easier to remember.

For Australians struggling to find employment, or are facing the increasing wave of underemployment, the exact statistic is of less importance than the consequences of that predicament.

Let’s remember that official employment figures fail to include Australians who are working casual hours, struggling to make a living wage.

Perhaps this is where gotcha questions have their merit.

Not to back politicians into corners where statistics get regurgitated like they are being read off a spreadsheet – rehearsed and memorised, not felt or experienced.

But instead to highlight the broader social issues at play.

Unemployment, insecure work and failings in the welfare system have left a trail of vulnerable, and at times angry Australians fighting to have their voices heard.

Both sides of politics have failed to adequately address this issue.

Scott Morrison has repeatedly told Australians that they will receive “a fair go for those who have a fair go”, failing to accept any responsibility for the conditions that force people into insecure work and welfare.

Likewise, Labor too have failed to commit to a revue into or action towards an increase in the rate of JobSeeker rates, instead choosing to emphasise an increase in social housing and rent assistance.

Maiden’s quizzing of both Albanese and Morrison’s awareness of simple living costs may have been ‘gotcha questions’ – however a journalist can only ‘get you’ if you are unprepared.

Perhaps what Maiden meant was that during a federal election campaign all politicians ought to be doing their homework before fronting up to the media.

Particularly when attempting to show the public who can both manage the economy and understand the everyday struggles of working and vulnerable Australians.

As a university student, a young person, a woman and a person with a physical disability, looking for opportunities to earn a living, whether or not a statistic was remembered plays less on my mind than the actual policies that are or aren’t on the government’s agenda.

Not to mention the economic, gender, age and ability biases that so often play into how people are or are not able to secure work.

Maiden said that the prices of bread and milk ‘bounce around’, is that supposed to be a reference to whether you opt for plain white, sourdough or brown, full cream, skim or lactose free?

As someone who has spent significant time counting every dollar before entering the supermarket you soon remember the price of 2L of skim milk is in the $2-3 dollar mark depending on the brand ($2.60 to be precise for Woolworths Lite Milk).

Semantic arguments about fluctuation in the prices of goods detracts from the core issue of inequality and disadvantage.

Regarding unemployment figures, perhaps instead of asking ‘why didn’t Albanese know the answer’, the media should ask ‘why is the consequences of unemployment and underemployment bigger issues in the public sphere’?

We shouldn’t forget that the media are after all the gatekeepers of knowledge in society.

Not only do the media report on political missteps and failings but they are also the ones who decide what is considered important enough to emphasise.

They are the ones who determine that the everyday consequences of increased cost of living, poor welfare and housing are less important in the day-to-day news cycle than whether or not a politician is or isn’t ‘on-the-ball’ enough to pull a fact out of the air in front of a camera.

As much as I respect journalists like Sam Maiden, perhaps it is the media who need to ‘sharpen up’ and put inequality back on the public agenda.

That is not to say some journalists haven’t done just that.

There is still much to be done before structural inequality is given as much weight as a gotcha moment.

This article was originally published on Independent Australia.