The Liberal Party is digging up enough dirt for everybody

Cameron says:

05:58am | 28/10/09

Who dug up the dirt on the dirt email ?

Leonid says:

06:42am | 28/10/09

Gosh, it’s good to know that the dozens of taxpayer funded apparatchiks working for the ALP and the Greens would never seek to discredit anybody.

Brian says:

06:44am | 28/10/09

I’d like to see a more considered look at the question: exactly how policy-less is the Opposition, and it is unusually so?
I thought it was traditional for an Opposition not to reveal its policies in detail too far in advance of an election, lest the government simply adopt them or change the playing field enough so they were impractical.
‘Where’s your policy’ is a time-honoured call by any government to any opposition.
I don’t understand why it’s suddenly being taken seriously.
I see two explanations: either the media is adopting it as a shorthand for the particularly fractious arguments between Opposition members at the moment.
Or there really is some unusually deep lack of policy or position, even more than is usual.
Which is it?

Des says:

07:08am | 28/10/09

What is the problem with the dirt email? Malcolm cannot tell a fraudulent email from a genuine one why would we expect him to detect the difference between a dirty one and a clean one.  If they are looking for dirt they might well start with Wilson Tuckey’s mouth.

Garry says:

07:15am | 28/10/09

Desperate article to try and keep the heat off Rudd. So obvious! So boring! Nobody is interested in what the opposition are doing at the moment, all eyes are on Rudd I’m afraid. It’s laughable to keep reading these stories, while Rudd is at sea on Border Protection in this Country.

persephone says:

07:22am | 28/10/09

I find the ‘This is not to excuse the Government’s hypocrisy on asylum seekers’ line a bit rich - a totally throw away line with no attempt to back it up, because it’s obvious (apparently) how hypocritical the government is.

Leo, by any standard, that’s poor journalism. It’s not ‘providing balance’ or ‘stating a fact’ - it’s a throwaway slur which you obviously think you can get away with.

Quite willing to be convinced there’s hypocrisy happening out there - politicians are human beings as are as prone to it as the rest of us - but prove it, rather than just state it.

And try and avoid the compulsion to add gratuitous slurs on the government when writng pieces critical of the Opposition, just so you can then point to it to show you’re not biased.

A good piece of journalism will avoid that charge regardless.

smclennan@lycos.com says:

08:08am | 28/10/09

Will the current Liberal Party ever get anything right?

Ever?

Not only does this email further damage their ever-diminishing standing in terms of being any type of viable alternative, they’re also mistaken.

“While policy discussions are nice, the simple fact is that in opposition, the majority of our successful news stories are going to be ones which are a little quirky and which draw the attention of journos.”

A “simple fact”?  What rubbish.  In their never ending search for “traction”, if they were smart enough to actually come up with some alternative views, and game enough to communicate them, they might get the public to actually sit up and listen to what they have to say.

Watching Tony Abbott repeatedly refusing to answer Tony Jones’ question last night as to “What do you think should happen to these asylum seekers” was cringeworthy.

Ian Matthews says:

08:10am | 28/10/09

Your slip is showing persephone. He’s expressing an opinion in a blog run by a public company, so he can say whatever the company is prepared to publish - thank God and Rupert.
Applying your criticisms to the opinionistas at the ABC would be more appropriate.

mickey says:

08:31am | 28/10/09

Too young to remember the Hawke/Keating aNiMaLS?

The masters of digging the dirt with an office all to themselves.

persephone says:

08:43am | 28/10/09

Dear Ian
I’m sure Leo would like to think of himself as a journalist, rather than a tarted up Andrew Bolt.
Interesting to see that you expect opinion, not fact from Rupert and think that poor journalistic practice is all we can expect from this site.
I have a bit more respect for both Leo and this site than that.

Andrew says:

09:54am | 28/10/09

If an Opposition doesn’t have any alternate policy from the Government then they are failing.

It is all very well to say “We don’t like your policy” but if you can’t back it up and make the case for why your party should be in power ie “We disagree with their policy, here is what we would do instead and this is what we think would be best,” they you have lost the battle.

Steve says:

10:25am | 28/10/09

The public do not decide on the opposition’s policy until the next election is called. So it is only the ALP and the ALP’s apologists’ that are hyperventilating over “what are your policies????” This should not let the media off the hook for not applying any critical analysis to the government’s policy execution. How about some questions about what the Emissions Tax is going to cost us? Power up, manufacturing cost up transport up, equals; Jobs down, Loss of asset value.

Remember the cake question to Hewson’s on the GST
They say to Turnball:  “Where are your costings?” “What is your Policy?”
They say to Rudd
“Do you want a biscuit with your tea?”
Where did you get that tie?

Jarrod says:

10:35am | 28/10/09

Okay, let’s replace the word “policy” in regards to the opposition with “consistent stance”.  Are they for something or against it?  Or can they even decide?  Or are they more concerned with desparately trying to score points by making inconsistent statements?

Bruce says:

10:38am | 28/10/09

This is the “same old same old”. Digging dirt is part of the political process. As far as oppositions telling the current government their policies on specific issues, it will never happen, until just before an election. If you look at any political party who is in their fist term of opposition after loosing government, they are always “at see” scratching around for anything that might make a dent in a now popular government. This will go on for the first term and most probably the second term as well. You only have to look at the Liberal government after loosing in 1983. It took them years to find themselves. Also, if you look at Labor when they lost the 1996 election, they were just tripping over themselves, constant leadership changes, the Mark Latham experiment. It appeared they could do nothing right. How many times did the media call the Labor opposition “a basket case”.  Now Labor are in government and no doubt will be at the next election. One thing history tells me, no government last for ever, with or without dirt.

Patrick says:

11:08am | 28/10/09

I think you mean private company Ian Mathews, which is what news limited/corp is. A publicly owned company would be the BBC or ABC.

H in Adelaide says:

12:45pm | 28/10/09

@Brian 2nd Post:

In answer to your question, I guess the reason I personally take the question of “Where’s your policy” seriously is because I want to know what the Opposition stands for if I vote for them.

Labor is not perfect, but even if it got worse, why would I vote for the Opposition if I don’t know what they intend to do when they get into power?

I’m not welded onto the Liberal party or to Labor, when I vote I vote for the party (including minors) I think is the most responsible choice to vote for. If I vote for a party with no idea what their policy is, its not a responsible vote.

What about the rest of the punch readership, why do you want policy from the opposition?

Michael says:

02:28pm | 28/10/09

We just had 11 years of an Opposition without a policy or a credible leader. I just hope the Libs don’t spend that long in the wilderness.

glen says:

05:21pm | 28/10/09

Michael:  we have just suffered through more than 2 years of a government with a leader who is hypocritical and without a memory.  I just hope that we do not suffer another 9 years or we will all be lost in the wilderness.

adelaide says:

06:45pm | 28/10/09

There’s a zombie like element to the opposition. A policyless shuffle towards office. It might work!

Old Clive says:

08:38am | 29/10/09

The pot is always calling the kettle black, what policies came out of labor during those bad ten years that we had to endure under that man. Where were the alternative policies then and where are the viable ones now, the world is spinning on its axis around the sun and wobbling at the same time but not as much as labor is spinning the world with its bull. Don’t forget to renew your membership for the spinning wheel.

Dr Peter Phelps MLC says:

12:14pm | 26/05/12

In retrospect, Leo, I am pretty sure that I was right.