If the “people’s forum” at the Rooty Hill showed anything it is that politicians should do more of these televised forums with voters.
Describing them as a high-risk event when you have screened the audience beforehand is a bit of a stretch. OK, they have some risks compared to the usual levels of control campaign managers want to maintain on their leaders’ movements. But campaigining politicians spend hours each day talking to voters about their concerns so they are well practiced for this kind of event – taking questions from people.
So much campaign coverage is about polished lines and stage management that it’s easy to forget the real transactional business of politics – discussing people’s issues and concerns off the cuff – is sweaty, nuanced, civil and can be a lot of fun.
The Prime Minister and opposition leader agreeing to the televised forum with unscreened questions from voters meant knuckles tightening every time an audience member took the microphone. Next topic?
Tony Abbott got video games. Julia Gillard got citizen-initiated referendums.
She also got a confronting question about Labor’s use of attack ads on Tony Abbott which the Liberals say selectively quote Peter Costello. “If you don’t have integrity on that”, Eileen said, “such a small issue, why should I give you my vote?”
Applause.
Gillard forcefully defended herself, saying she could point to pages and pages of similar comments from Costello.
The hour each that Gillard and Abbott spent talking to the audience was like a bottled version of their respective campaigns: Gillard was persuasive and methodical in the face of a long line of concerns; Abbott’s appearance had more of a carnival atmosphere.
Gillard was asked about same sex marriage by an angry young woman who wanted to marry her partner.
Abbott wrestled again with questions on the National Broadband Network, to some titters from the audience.
He also declared himself as “against the big end of town” when asked by one audience member if he was going to tackle bank profit gouging. “We love the banks when they are giving us money and we hate them when we have to give it back.” It was a knockabout line, part of his no-stage-for-me, I’m-one-of-you act for the night that won over the audience. (Participants placed chips in ballot boxes after the event and a clear majority indicated they had decided to vote Liberal.)
At the start of the night there were a handful of people in the audience who seemed like they had the potential to produce some serious heckling but it never materialised.
It was an evening of civil, reasonable conversations about problems facing the country. Gillard even asked people to say what was on their minds and shout out if they had a comment. Everyone sat and listened to the arguments.
At one point Abbott stuck his hands in his pockets. The Prime Minister wasn’t as witty as she was on Monday’s Q&A, but then nobody asked her whether she thought Mark Latham was a drongo.
It seems the swinging voters in the room found the event enormously helpful. At the end of the evening, asked to say if the event had helped make their minds up, almost the entire audience raised their hands.
One of them was Trevor Stevenson from Pendle Hill. He’s a storeman, an undecided voter. He got his electricity bill today – it was up, again – and his main concern was the cost of living. “Everything seems to be going up except for wages,” he said.
He wasn’t sure who to vote at the start of the evening. Now he knows he’s going to vote for the Liberals.
If you are among the many people who has despair about the quality and methods of political debate during this campaign this was something that could start to change your mind.
What about you? Did it help you make your mind up?
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@AndrewCatsaras Agreed. Kills more people than AIDS. Yet tolerated. Meanwhile: Good Insiders piece again Andrew.
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