The people’s forum format is a bit like Twenty20 cricket. A strong start when you go in to bat second is critical.
Tony Abbott got his at Rooty Hill in western Sydney when he walked down off the stage and spoke to the audience from the floor. This week the Prime Minister was taking no chances, warming up the room by mixing it with the audience before her slot and kicking off her time talking about positive economic plans. The intent was clear: she was going to have a go, try a bit of tonking.
Not this time the stool on the stage, far from the crowd. A Prime Minister rolling into a town where the metro newspaper’s front page says the government is set to lose half a dozen seats in the state must, to stretch the cricket analogy, get on the front foot.
For a nation which dodged the GFC bullet there’s not much joy at Australia’s rude economic health. One thing the two people’s forums have exposed – first in western Sydney and then tonight at the Brisbane Broncos leagues club – is the depth of anger and suspicion directed at both sides of politics.
At one point the Prime Minister was asked why one of the first things she did after taking office was to get on a naval patrol boat David Bradbury, the member for the western Sydney seat of Lindsay.
It was a good question about one of the more cynicism-inducing media events of the campaign and Gillard had no wriggle room. She said Bradbury had been talking about the concern on illegal boat arrivals in his electorate and she wanted to bring him so he could tell people he had seen the border protection measures himself.
Tony Abbott, meanwhile, needed to come to Brisbane speak convincingly on the economy. He spoke about it all right and brought his numbers – mentioning a 17 per cent increase in rent and a 34 per cent hike in electricity prices in his first answer –.but there were some strange responses.
Abbott managed to out himself as a peak oil sceptic, and so far down towards the extreme end of the spectrum that host David Speers even had to step in and clarify if he was suggesting oil was a limitless resource.
He also said that someone earning $100,000 with three or four kids “ain’t rich”. Well they might not think they are, but someone with four kids who earns the average industrial wage might.
The Prime Minister connected marginally better with the Queensland audience than Abbott in Brisbane, but she got a string of ugly questions on Kevin Rudd and political integrity. Asked why voters hadn’t had a chance to cast their own judgment on Rudd, she said she had come to the view there was “pressing set of problems” including the Resources Super Profits Tax, but said she decided to call an early election because “who leads this nation is always a matter for the Australian people”.
There was some light, uncertain applause.
The reception for Abbott wasn’t exactly warm. He even said at the end of his slot: “Some of you obviously don’t think that much of me.”
Abbott got baited on his views on abortion, something women regularly raise as one of their obstacles to supporting him. A woman asked if he would consider banning abortions.
He gave a long answer about how he believed people should be having more children, borrowing Peter Costello’s line about having one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country.
Speers pressed him to answer the question about whether he would consider outlawing abortion and his reply was curt.
“That’s not my policy.”
This not far from the formula Gillard uses when talking about same-sex marriage, which came up again tonight to the same response. “My policy, the policy of the Labor party” is that marriage is between a man and a woman.
It does rather beg the question: that’s “the policy”, but what do you really think?
One of the undecided voters in the room was Catherine Neutze, a nurse who was a patient in a botched cosmetic surgery operation earlier this year. She asked both leaders - to Abbott in the wings on his way out the door, to Gillard from the rostrum during the forum - what they were going to do to protect patients from negligent doctors.
She was none the wiser at the end of the night. Her question is unanswered and it’s unlikely to be by Saturday.
There are only two days left of campaigning to go. Tony Abbott said he was going to be constantly campaigning from 7am tomorrow morning, suggesting he might not sleep until after polling.
If people like Catherine are still not decided on the issues that matter to them, time is pretty much out. Votes will be cast on secondary issues - governments can’t have policies for everybody’s individual concerns.
The audience gave Gillard a narrow win in tonight’s debate though she had the advantage of going second so was able to bag Abbott for some of his answers (including his suggestion that the global financial crisis lasted a matter of six to eight weeks, so the second round of stimulus spending wasn’t necessary.)
I suspect there were a lot of lessons learned from the first debate. Like don’t sit up on a high stool on the stage.
What a pity they’re over - the forums have been a blast of innovation in the interactions between voters and the leaders.
But Gillard seemed to connect marginally better with the audience too. She commanded the room, a reversal of Abbott’s dominance at Rooty Hill.
For the first time in the campaign, Tony Abbott tweeted tonight. It was just after he left the building. “Tonight was great. Will catch a few hours sleep and hit the road continuously from first thing tomorrow until late on Friday.” And he followed it up with a warning to the travelling press team to get an early night.
Taking to Twitter with two days of campaigning to go suggests Abbott knows he has to throw everything at it if he is to win. Even tweets.
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
Ukraine song pinches chord progression from The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. Fo real #sbseurovision
RT @GerardDaffy: @antsharwood all the talk over there is the grannies will win.they entered to get a church built,feelgood story
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it
An email was sent to almost every politician in Australia this week saying that someone should cut off…
Our special forces don’t always need special treatment
We admire them, but we’re not entirely sure why. We allow them to operate in the shadows; we rarely…
A good holiday is about unrest, not rest
Like a fat full-stop, it lay in my hand. A small orange – not exactly fresh, but purchased anyway…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
Michael S says:
"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone
Change Up! says:
I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more
Most commented