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It’s been a busy few days of self-flagellation for PM Kevin Rudd, from the demotion of Peter Garrett to his appearance yesterday on Insiders. He’s “doing a Beattie” as the Queenslanders say, acknowledging that his government has made mistakes in a wide number of areas and failed to deliver on key promises, but apologising and promising to work harder.
Kevin Rudd said “I’m sure we’ll take an even bigger whacking in the period ahead and the bottom line is I think we deserve it, both not just in terms of recent events but more broadly. We’re taking a pounding because we haven’t been up to the mark.”
What risks does Rudd’s mea-culpa carry? Here’s what the pundits say:
The Age
Michelle Grattan: PM bares himself for a flogging, and may get it
Leaving aside insulation, there is a danger in talking up the government’s failings. Some voters who have been satisfied might think that if the PM believes they should give it a whack, perhaps they should.
Sydney Morning Herald
Phillip Coorey: Rudd’s humble pie leaves a bad taste
The government had tried to do too much. Its achievements had been lost, its mistakes accentuated and voters had not noticed any tangible impact on their lives.
Herald Sun
Laurie Oakes: Decisive Rudd to atone for failures
Rudd has promised to improve his communications skills, but recognises it will not be easy to shed his eye-glazing “wall of sound” technique.
The Australian
Dennis Shanahan: Kevin Rudd’s mea culpa carries risks
It is the end of a state of denial about Rudd’s public support, his management style and his priorities.
Glenn Milne: Seeing through a poor performance
Which raises an interesting question in itself; if Rudd is now admitting that Garrett’s maladministration is actually his fault why hasn’t he put himself in charge of fixing it? Another expression, this time not Latin and distinctly more contemporary and potentially applied to Combet comes to mind: fall guy.
Editorial: Kevin Rudd’s mea culpa should be a turning point
Many who meet Mr Rudd are amazed at his command of detail on a broad range of issues. This partly reflects his intellect, but it could also be a sign that he has acted too much like a national premier rather than the Prime Minister and is overly focused on the minutiae of government and not enough on the big picture.
ABC
Fran Kelly: Is this the end of Prime Ministerial Blah Blah?
But you can throw all the money you like at a problem and it won’t help unless you can persuade people that what you’re doing will be effective.
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21 Comments
Looks like he’s trying one from the Peter Beatie playbook (must have picked it up while he was a public servant in Queensland). The problem is that Beatie pulled it off because he really did sound and act like the Bloke Next Door, whereas Rudd’s rehearsed version still sounds as hollow as ever.
As A strategy it will work because the News Limited journalists rely on denial and the smell of a scandal to keep the story rolling on. By admitting to faults with the insulation program it leaves the News Limited journalists with no story. So when you don’t have a story then attack the personality and his style of your target (remember they did that to Paul Keating). I will be watching the News Limited response to this new development with interest.
Yet another false face of Rudd. Who is he? After 2 years of prancing around on the world stage with smugness and arrogance, puffed up by past opinion polls his ego has caught up with him. Now he reinvents himself again. Voters are waking up to you Mr Rudd.
KRudd has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he couldn’t say anything else.
The Australian people know this has been a gigantic stuff up and any rebuttal would be dismissed point blank. KRudd is an expert spin doctor, i don’t think any policitian of the past 40 years has done it better than our current PM. He has ‘mates’ everywhere, partnerships all over the place, it’s all happening for our PM, no need to worry. Wait a minute, all of a sudden he has some opposition and whether you like Abbott or not he is stirring the pot and our once unflappable PM is saying “we must lift our game” In other words someone is now looking at him with his hand in the cookie jar. It won’t be just those men in white coats circling KRudd, Tony Abbott is looming large in KRudd’s world of dreams. As the election approaches KRudd now knows it’s ‘No Time For Games’.
Basically he has attempted to head off the great Australian tendency to cut down tall poppies. If he and Labor got the advantage of media bias the Libs and Abbott get they would be massively ahead in the polls.
The big question is: will Sorry Day MkII also get into the new national school curriculum?
MACK THE KNIFE - did you say that about the media bias that Rudd Labor have had for the past 2 and a half years? Finally the media have woken up that Rudd isn’t who he was telling us and now the roosters have come home to roost. No one to blame but Rudd, and I’m sure there are a lot of Ministers in his own Government who are concerned about the job Rudd is doing also. I doubt if it’s all a bed of roses behind the secrecy of the Labor doors, they must be concerned about Rudds performance.
Hey JOHNFROMPLANETEARTH, which branch of the Liberal Party do you belong to? I’m just asking, because if you’re near where I live, maybe we can get together and talk about the weather, lamingtons, and whether you feel like me and agree the true and traditional knitting technique is the English and not the Continental. All over a smashing cup of hot cocoa. What do you think?
Does no one see the muscle of Labor Right flexing? Much like Nathan Rees in NSW, the demotion of Garrett was pointless, damaging and achieved nothing. As Crikey (the only one to point this out, AFAIK) said, Garrett was in the clear on Friday after a lacklustre and disorganised Opposition ‘attack’. So why demote him? There was a bit of panic within the populace, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. And of course, Garrett himself erred on the side of humanity (not a bad way to err, admittedly…), by trying to deal with every issue singly. This naturally was because there is very little to worry about.
I also, however, think of Menzies’ words of advice to Harold Holt: ‘Whatever you do, look after Artie”. Menzies knew that there were some up and coming Laborites (Gough Whitlam in particular) who would smash the Libs, but while Arthur Calwell was in charge, the Libs were pretty safe. I wonder if Mr Rudd gave Mr Abbott a minor victory so as to ensure that the Turnbullites (who do constitute a major threat to Rudd) don’t regain the ascendancy - particularly after Mr ABbott’s leadership has been such a joke.
I know, I’ve given two (not necessarily) separate explanations for essentially an inexplicable situation.
Hey George, sorry if the truth spoils your appetite. I just wooshed down a chicken and avocado sandwich with a choc/strawberry milkshake! My quack won’t like it, but it sure was tasty. No branch of the Liberal party would want a labor voter of 30 years. The only time in my life i never voted Labor was 2007, i finally woke up.
Rudd’s trying to change the story. Which is fair enough.
The insulation scheme was a bit of a stuff up in terms of administration. However fundamentally it was and still is a good idea. Administration of policy is actually a departmental issue, I don’t expect Peter Garrett to be an expert on how to install pink batts, I do expect him to understand the big picture, I do expect him to fix something once a problem is identified.
Greg Combet is fast becoming the fixer of difficult issues. My impression so far is he’s smart and competent.
The interesting aspect is Rudd is completely changing tack. He’s not going for the Teflon approach, he’s not going for the Howard approach of blaming the department (which in this case may actually have been truthful). What needs to be acknowledged is that the Federal government is trying to do (administer) a lot more things than it used to and that mistakes are being made and talent is stretched thin across departments.
Awww, come on JOHNFROMPLANETEARTH, get the Safari suit out and let’s reminisce about Menzies and all those good-old chaps. And while we’re at it, we can have a great big belly laugh about all that global warming malarky over a nice fire in the backyard incinerator. What do you think?
@Energy pedant: some good points, actually, and an approach this brain, inured by 12 years of Howard, didn’t consider…. that Rudd is actually trying to understand the electorate, and responding to its concerns… and of course, not blaming the department is Westminster protocol. I’d feel less anxious if Garrett had handed in a principled resignation…
Combet is still relatively untried, but he might be what you say he is. Certainly, Garrett isn’t the worst minister - my vote would be Penny Wong (sorry, Venise Alstergesen) - but there are better ones…
You see George, i would have to get a haircut,( it’s long) I look like Dee Dee Ramone! Give up listening to noisy alternative pop music and find someone to sew leather patches on my non leather jackets. I’m a worry i know.
JOHNFROMPLANETEARTH, I think we should meet anyways. You sound like the kind of person that would set be straight, especially with all this hot-air global warming hoopla, the solid father-figure this nation needs in the rock-hard Abbott, and the general stiff upper lift we all need to grow pronto! I promise to bring my fez hat and party documentation with me, just so we can reminisce.
surfer gosh these liberals get me
Who is he. an Honest man caring for this country got us through the GFC etc etc
If you dont know i will tell you in Europe where my family come from there is
27 million people out of work since the GFC
Howard sent us off to war. Weapons of mass destruction.
Come to think of it we dont have to say any more about this.
Only the second p.m. to loose his personal seat so i think that says it all about howard.
give up
Johnfromplanetearth
I REPEAT H O W A R D LOST HIS SEAT
MY SAY: And this means what? I’m not a liberal voter. I couldn’t give a stuff if Howard lost his seat, his replacement is doing a fine job of stuffing up every thing else since. You would be better off trying to find the Caps lock than having a go at me about our mad PM.
Hi JOHNFROMPLANETEARTH, great to finally chat to you on the phone. Roskam says hi, can’t wait to get together this friday with the gang. We’ve ordered some special pork pies for the occasion, so it should be smashing! BTW, forgot to ask you during the call, but could you mention it to Lordy Monckton about this Fri? Would love for him to come along and give one of his brilliant lectures on how to properly set one’s refrigerator up so that it assists with all this global warming naysaying. Look forward to Fri - and remember, nil carborundum illegitimi! Rah rah!
George: If you take cranberries and stew them in applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Eat that and keep a very large book with you at all times.
come on girls that’ll do