Redefining competence
|
Much of the Coalition’s enormous success in becoming not merely electorally competitive but to reach the verge of forming government lies in its successful selling of the idea of competence — Labor is incompetent, we are competent. Simple. It’s true that Labor’s abject failure to explain just what a good economic manager it has been — as evidenced by yesterday’s GDP figures and the number of Australians in work — is partly to blame for this. Labor has also been the target of a deliberate campaign of distortion and deceit by News Ltd and, to a lesser extent the ABC, that has portrayed successful programs like the BER as “debacles”. Nevertheless, great credit must go to Tony Abbott, who spotted Labor’s weakness, homed in on it, and use all his political skills and aggression to exploit it. Regardless of the result, Abbott’s campaign should be a playbook for generations of politicians to come. There’s accordingly a rich irony in the fact that, on the cusp of victory, Abbott and his economic team have today been made to look like innumerates in front of the three independents who will decide their fate. In response, Abbott tried to re-define competence. Economic competence, he insisted this morning, was not about costings trivia like what interest rates were used to calculate savings. Perhaps — but then what is competence, then, if not attention to detail and an obsession with ensuring the utmost care with taxpayers’ dollars? If competence is not found in sound and thorough process, where is it? Is it demonstrated in outcomes? In economic growth, for example? In keeping Australians in work? In a low inflation rate? And who, specifically, is competent — the politicians who take the credit for decisions but who duck responsibility for failures, or their public servants who advise them and carry out their instructions, frequently well, sometimes poorly? And why are governments competent or not? A government that does nothing has less risk of making errors than a government commitment to change and action. Competence requires much more than just showing up. |
|
|
|
12 Comments
You’ll have to look it up in the “Limited News Dixshunry” - and follow there instruxshuns “Apply as applicable”, just like them - there’s one on the Left hand page “for others” and then, on the other hand, there’s the one they apply to themselves and their party - just like “Yore Write to Gnomes or Whatever”!
i don’t know that newscrap was any more deceitful, unethical or unprofessional than the abc.
The word competence and this mornings debacle of a press conference featuring the 3 stooges of the Coalition, is so far removed it could well be light years away.
Never have I witnessed such a disgraceful exhibition of sheer inability to tell the truth or accept the game is up on the contrived hiding of figures, until demanded by 3 independents who have shown more ‘competence’ in 12 days than Abbott and his cronies in 9 months.
Added to the debacle ,was yet again another timid softly softly approach to questioning these Coalition bandits, by the majority of the main stream media. They are a disgrace to journalism.
News is no surprise but why aren’t the Liberals being held to account by the ABC and Fairfax? Abbott, Hockey and Robb are hopeless and have now been shown up as liars but they still get an easy run from the media.
Sorry I missed that “press conference” - “(Rupert’s) Three Stooges Meet the Baron” (or was it “Uncivil Warriors”, “Cash and Carry”, “Half-shot Shooters”? I like em all) - did “Moe” Abbott use the monkey wrench or the plunger on Larry and Curly Joe ….. m-nyuck, nyuck, nyuck?
Not wanting to defend the media here, but we should remember that Abbott is a difficult target because he has the ability to believe that whatever he is saying at any given time is completely true. His responses to tough questions therefore come across as credible, and by the time it is established that a particular response was a complete fabrication, the news cycle has moved on, and he is doing it all over again on some other issue. This phenomenon is fairly rare - most politicians know when they are lying. I think Bill Clinton had it, and probably Tony Blair as well. If these people begin to have doubts about something they have said, all they have to do is repeat it to themselves, and everything is alright again. It requires a journalist with a lot of front and determination to nail people like this.
“Regardless of the result, Abbott’s campaign should be a playbook for generations of politicians to come.”
God forbid! Spare us that horror! Tony Abbot’s daily campaign appearances and pronouncements as reported in our media were a blight on our democracy.
If the Independents decide to trust him with our future it will be make a mockery of even their much praised careful consideration and deliberations of the past days.
I have been trusting that they have long known they could not trust him, even before his mendacious manoevring through the election campaign, but have given him due time to make his case to them more for the benefit of their constituents than their own peace of mind. If that is not the case then democracy in this country is indeed in a parlous state
The media also has greater access to his “history” too, if they’re worth their salt, and should be able to reflect that, and ask a few pertinent questions based on that history - let alone ask why he would change his habits of a lifetime - just because he’s been so constrained during a campaign - after, if, “winning” this “beauty contest” the tabloid media has been running!
The Labor Party did undersell their success and the big debt lie of the opposition went unanswered. In a downturn the government is justified in creating money to obtain real improvement is the assets of the community. The money spent on the school buildings could have just been spent on unemployment benefits, and thereby wasted. That would have meant people would have moved for good incomes in the building trades and the building material supplies businesses to subsistence incomes on benefits.
Banks create money all the time and their behaviour gave rise to the false boom of the Howard/Costello years (by creating money at about twice the necessary rate).
The government does not have to pay back the money created . It owes the money to the Reserve bank which it owns on our behalf. Abbott admitted to being an economic ignoramus but that ignorance did not give him the right to continually lie about debt.
The electors of the western suburbs of Sydney have again voted against their best interests.
Wilkie to support Labor, just announced.
Hopefully now with Wilkies support and the liberal budget lie exposed at least two of the independants will be smart enough to side with labour, no prizes for guessing which two may get them across the line.
‘Abbott’s campaign should be a playbook for generations of politicians to come.’
I’m very surprised to see you write that. It seemed to me to be nothing but aggression and having any factual content was simply an irrelevance. It may have worked in capturing votes but that can hardly be cause for celebration.
Given the reports of Labor’s round the clock effort to control media reports, it’s inability to tell a good story is astonishing and inexplicable.
As for News Ltd, every headline is an editorial. I guess it must sell to the converted but for me the result is that I do not trust a word it prints.