I first met Bruce Hawker when he gave John Fahey’s staff just 24 hours to pack their belongings after the 1995 election defeat and get out of Premier-elect Bob Carr’s new offices. At that time I was Director of Policy to Fahey.
Whilst bitterness is not in my nature I use events to define character – mine and theirs.
Bruce Hawker is a spin merchant. He moulds the message for electoral gain. So when I read his piece today on The Punch about the weekend elections I was not surprised. How does Labor turn a hostile 7.4% swing in South Australia and a hostile 12% swing in Tasmania into a win for Rudd? Easy: “It could have been worse.”
Orthodoxy would suggest that it’s best to take the lesson from an electoral backlash. Eat humble pie and recognise that the electorate has a message that it wants you to hear. Mr Hawker has a different view.
If, as Mr Hawker suggests, the economy is the best asset Federal Labor has at the moment then why is Kevin Rudd so determined to make health the biggest election issue?
If as Mr Hawker suggests, the Coalition is performing poorly on economic matters then why do more voters prefer it over Labor to run the economy according to both Newspoll and AC Nielsen? And the gap has grown over the last 12 months!
If as Mr Hawker suggests, there is no link between a weak State Labor Government and Federal Labor then why is Kevin Rudd so publicly distancing himself from Kristina Keneally? It is verging on outright contempt of his Labor colleague.
Yes, in Mr Hawker’s world it is all about creating a perception of the truth rather than repeating or observing the truth. It says something about Mike Rann that he praised a political spinner on election night rather than the people who helped him frame and implement good Government policy.
The truth is that there is political momentum against Labor everywhere across the country. I cannot recall such momentum in every state, territory and at a federal level operating in one direction all at the same time. Every relevant electoral test has worked against Labor over the last two years. Apart from unique local factors in Mayo and Lyne, the Gippsland by-election together with results in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania have all delivered a backlash against the Labor Party.
Most of these results have been affected by local issues but there is a common theme. Labor’s actions don’t match their rhetoric. The electorate in varying degrees is tired of over blown promises. They want substance not spin.
Promisingly for the Liberals Mr Hawker still writes the Labor lines.
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