http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/tim-gartrell/ Tim Gartrell is the Chief Executive Officer of Auspoll. Tim joined Auspoll in November 2008 after almost a decade of applying social research and managing the research process in federal and state election campaigns. From September 2003 to October 2008, Tim was the National Campaign Director and National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party.  The highlight of this period was his role as the National Campaign Director for Federal Labor in its 2007 federal election victory. From 2000 to 2003 Tim had direct responsibility for coordinating research into public opinion and voter attitudes for national campaigns. He has also worked as a campaign organiser, an industrial advocate and researcher, an adviser in the Keating Government and the Federal Labor Opposition and as the Media Manager and Community Liaison Manager with South Sydney Council. Tim holds a Master of Arts (Communications Studies) and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.  He has also completed the Management Development Program at the Mt Eliza Business School and is an LEADR accredited mediator. He also draws on his political experience to commentate on public affairs and federal politics. He is a regular guest on Sky News’ Playing Politics program. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-one-conclusion-from-newspoll-is-turnbull-is-cactus/ I’ve never been one for obsessing about The Australian. They have an editorial slant to the right, but they also have some very high quality journos who I like to read. As a result I buy and read their paper every day and filter out their leanings. I’m sure plenty of others do the same. Yesterday, their front page (“Rudd loses ground in his homeland state and the bush”) blew up the filter.  It’s one thing to take a news angle on one part of a poll at the expense of a more complex message.  It’s another to ignore what should be, for one side of politics, an enormous, wailing emergency siren with big flashing red lights on top in order to substantiate a headline like that. In their article, Matthew Franklin and Samantha Maiden claim “public support for Labor has plunged in regional Australia and fallen in Kevin Rudd’s home state of Queensland” as well as “a big jump in support for the Coalition among voters living outside the capital cities.” While no questions on the ETS were in the poll, the ETS was inserted as a possible cause. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tim Gartrell) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-one-conclusion-from-newspoll-is-turnbull-is-cactus/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-one-conclusion-from-newspoll-is-turnbull-is-cactus/#item1336 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:43:17 +0000 Tim Gartrell | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-a-truce-in-political-donations-arms-race/ Finally the secret is out – no one wants the current practice of political donations and campaign fundraising to continue. Business became sick of it long before the GFC cut their lobbying budgets. Most realised that donating became more of a risk than an advantage and most influential business people realised they could get a meeting regardless of donations. Some have even worked out that you don’t need to pay $10,000 a month for a lobbyist to get you the appointment. Politicians have grown to resent the drain on their most precious commodity – time. Time to think, time to work on policy and speeches, time to meet people without the unspoken pressure of donations and most importantly the precious remaining time to spend with family and friends.   feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tim Gartrell) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-a-truce-in-political-donations-arms-race/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-a-truce-in-political-donations-arms-race/#item806 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:00:55 +0000 Tim Gartrell | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/heavenly-hate-mail-and-the-lindsay-pamphlet-scandal/ “You lying Labor bastard” read the mail from north-west Tasmania, “Piss off”. It was hate mail from heaven. Let me explain. It was mid 2007 and I was Labor’s National Campaign Director. We had started a nation wide campaign about a less popular aspect of the Howard Government’s policy agenda. Part of that campaign was an informative pamphlet about the finer points of the policy. It was, of course, sprinkled with the odd bit of political rhetoric and carefully constructed messages. The hate mail was return mail.  A loyal Coalition voter had decided to give me a bit of “what-for” with a thick black pen. It was heavenly because I knew the pamphlets were actually going out to voters (a constant anxiety for any campaign director). I became even happier as the weeks rolled on and the Coalition hate mail intensified from across the country. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tim Gartrell) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/heavenly-hate-mail-and-the-lindsay-pamphlet-scandal/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/heavenly-hate-mail-and-the-lindsay-pamphlet-scandal/#item397 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:40:06 +0000 Tim Gartrell | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/liberal-partys-14-year-weapon-of-mass-distraction-costello-higgins/ I have a friend in the Liberal Party. Not someone I agree with but a friend nonetheless. His name is Brian Loughnane and he is their Federal Director. Every so often I used to join him for coffee. In the beginning it was like a meeting in Panmunjeom (that hut in the Korean Demilitarised Zone) although the back verandah at the Kurrajong Hotel in Canberra was a bit less formal. The discussion was not as intense. Most of the discussions were pre-negotiations about the leaders’ debate in the federal election. Nothing was ever given away, no information traded and loyalty to your leader was always a given (whatever the circumstances). After a few of these meetings we’d chat about politics (usually in the US and the UK) and I grew to like the bloke. One of the reasons we got on was a mutual sense of how difficult our respective jobs could be. He had done tough stints as Downer’s Chief of Staff in Opposition and I was more than half way through a decade long stint at the ALP National Secretariat. Both of us had seen politics and politicians at their best and their worst. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tim Gartrell) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/liberal-partys-14-year-weapon-of-mass-distraction-costello-higgins/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/liberal-partys-14-year-weapon-of-mass-distraction-costello-higgins/#item325 Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:40:19 +0000 Tim Gartrell | Author bios | The Punch