Conservatives and Rudd
Uncategorized - - Posted on June, 27 at 12:31 pm by Ken L
The Coalition has had trouble trying to discredit Kevin Rudd since the day he got the leadership. They spent most of 2007 trotting out a series of childish personal attacks: Rudd went to a night club, Rudd exaggerated his childhood deprivations, and most memorably that testament to Peter Costello’s political genius Mr Speaker, Rudd had dinner with Brian Burke.
None of these had any discernible impact on public attitudes to Rudd; if anything they made him more human and therefore more likeable. The November election and subsequent polling confirm that Rudd is extremely well-liked and the Coalition has flailed around this year trying to find a consistent theme that might get traction with voters.
The best it can come up with is that Rudd is ‘all spin and no substance’. Its faithful followers in the blogosphere have loyally picked up the theme and parrot it every chance they get. Rudd hasn’t done anything, they complain. He has no policies, they whinge.
But aren’t conservatives in favour of small government? Surely they should be pleased if Rudd isn’t doing anything. But then again logical coherence and consistency were never strongpoints for the opportunistic Coalition and its hangers-on.
I suspect that what the Sons of Howard really want is a Whitlam style reform program to attack and they’re pissed off that Rudd has no intention of giving them one. And what exactly are they urging Rudd to do anyway? Knock five cents a litre off the price of petrol. Brilliant guys, what a comprehensive progrram.
In truth, much of the population seems quite uninterested in politics, which is only to be expected after Howard’s endless, indescribably tedious campaigning. Perhaps they are the true conservatives who understand that after 11 years of Howard’s reforming zeal, we have a conservative government once again and sport can resume its rightful place on the front page.
Mind you, it does make political blogging a somewhat arid prospect.
Posted in Uncategorized |
June 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Maybe all that’s really needed to get the disengaged public politically engaged is some fiddling with concepts.
Call the speaker the umpire instead. Give him a whistle.
Get Julie Anthony to sing the anthem at the start of every question time.
Get the video replay thing happening.
Show video but not sound at half time.
Make them all slaves to their sponsors.
Make sure the commentators are all totally biased boofheads with a natural instinct for sensationalism.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Well the last one’s already done.
I do like the whistle idea. And maybe yellow and red cards?
June 27th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Seeing I dont consider myself conservative,think Rudd is all spin and not much else,and cannot see what he has done,I am a little surprised by the calling in of arms of the Whitlam type,as what the Liberals want.No sense of reality yet I appraise,just the regurgitation of those who already let Australia down badly.
June 28th, 2008 at 8:07 am
I believe that Mr Rudd has been deliberately holding back from taking any substantial policy steps because the Senate would have automatically squashed them anyway. Let’s wait and see what happens when parliament takes up after the winter break.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:27 am
But aren’t conservatives in favour of small government? Surely they should be pleased if Rudd isn’t doing anything. But then again logical coherence and consistency were never strong points for the opportunistic Coalition and its hangers-on.
Actually, size of government is currently very big. So there’s plenty to do in terms of reducing it.
In fact, btw not doing anything it will actually grow bigger and bigger.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Are you seriously arguing that the Coalition wants to reduce the size of government? Maybe you can remind us of the spending cuts in the alternative prime minister’s alternative budget.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Ken,
in your own words you said that conservatives favour small government.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Your point then is that the Coalition and their cheer squad are not conservative at all, but unprincipled opportunists? I agree completely.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Well at least we agree on something. That’s certainly true at the moment.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I was having this exact same conversation with an expat Aussie which I was in Dubai on Thursday. He needed someone to fill in the blanks about what’s been happening in Australia, since it seems that not much is making news. Which is sort of the point.
I think Rudd, through any objective measure, isn’t doing ‘much’ at the moment other than making statements and gestures. Enkew is probably right that the lack of Senate control is a factor, since the few things he has tried to do have been stalled (alcopops tax, medicare levy changes etc).
But the question isn’t whether or not he is doing anything, but more that it is the conservatives themselves who are crying out for a bigger government. They seem to be saying that Rudd (ie the government) should be controlling petrol prices, controlling grocery prices, controlling airfares, investing in renewable energy, investing in hybrid cars, controlling bank fees, but at the same time they object to the potential creation of a ‘nanny state’ by Rudd.
I tend to think that any new PM is going to spend a while getting a feel for the lay of the land, and working out what needs to be done and how best to do it. And without control of the senate yet, Rudd would be foolish to push through too much legislation. I am happy to give him until after the winter recess to see if things change.
As for the conservatives, I think they will whine and moan regardless of what he says or does, regardless of whether it is a big or small government type initiative.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:39 am
But the question isn’t whether or not he is doing anything, but more that it is the conservatives themselves who are crying out for a bigger government. They seem to be saying that Rudd (ie the government) should be controlling petrol prices, controlling grocery prices, controlling airfares, investing in renewable energy, investing in hybrid cars, controlling bank fees…
Andrew, well spotted: I’ve been meaning to work up a post for a while on how the conservatives are the ones who seem to be yearning for a command economy, while constantly paying lip service to Teh Market… Some time I’ll get around to it…
July 1st, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Downer himself seems to have alluded to the confused messages that the conservatives have been sending out of late. In the piece by Planet Janet today, is the line:
—”Mr Downer, who was in London last night, warns that the Liberal Party has lost the ability to sell its core message on individual freedom, and needs to construct a “broader narrative” to compete with Labor.”—
In other words, the major parties are no longer easily distinguishable by fundamental ideology - freedom versus control; small versus big government. I agree with him here. Each party will just adopt whatever populist step is needed to win an election. And the oppositition will always criticize the action taken, demanding that small governments should be replaced by big governments, or vice versa. Or that governments should control the economy more, or less, or whatever.
At their heart, the major parties are disposing of their fundamental beliefs.