As Tim Dunlop rightly observes at Blogocracy, at least 90% of the Labor leadership story is directly traceable to the interest journos at The Australian have in running with it, and indeed, as Dennis Shanahan implied last night, to his own one-sided interpretations of Newspoll.
Where’s the “analysis” of Howard’s 3% drop in approval ratings from the same Newspoll?
And it’s not just leadership.
Julie Bishop and the Australian’s resident history warrior, Dr Kevin Donnelly, claim that Carmel Tebbut’s mistake over the significance of Australia Day shows that our schools have been corrupted by postmodernism, etc, blah, blah. Were similar conclusions about TEH EVILS OF POSTMODERNISM AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS drawn when the very same Ms Bishop couldn’t name prominent Australian explorers?
Is the government being held accountable because the civics programme which has failed to impart to students worthy details about the Governor-General’s duties is actually a federal government initiative which has had almost 10 years to get its message across? Has anyone pointed out, aside from Queensland education minister Rod Welford, that introducing a “stand alone history subject” would mean students in small regional high schools which don’t have the resources to teach the full gamut of subjects would miss out on it altogether?
Not only are obvious questions not asked and conclusions not drawn by much of the meejah, nothing much that doesn’t fit a ludicrously biased political spin gets more than minimal space in the Murdoch flagship. And if the news isn’t there, it’s invented to justify the spin. One lesson in civics should be that Australians deserve better than the right wing postmodernism of the Murdoch press.
Who said that?
No idea. Is this on the final exam?
The Rodent in yesterday’s Australian; in an attempt to blunt the attack made by the SAS, ALP candidate for Stirling.
Delightfully ironic!
Fair go WPD, all you Lefties want to stick the retrospectoscope up the fundament of alleged failures.
But you won’t stick it up our many successes, like Gallipoli, will ya?
Patriotic, Mainstream Aussies can’t get enough of the retrospectoscope for our triumphs.
On the other hand, why do you hate Australia so?
“Where’s the “analysisâ€? of Howard’s 3% drop in approval ratings from the same Newspoll?”
I thought the Newspoll “news” was that Rudd and Gillard outstripped Beazley and Macklin by 2 to 1 as preferred opposition leadership team? it seems to have been that rather than the Howard/Beazley equation that has set the hares a runnin’
Maybe the best comparison, Geoff, is with the Newspoll that Shanahan used to kick off the leadership under threat theme. How “disastrous” was the drop in Beazley’s leadership rating compared to the unnoticed drop in Howard’s this week?
“How “disastrousâ€? was the drop in Beazley’s leadership rating compared to the unnoticed drop in Howard’s this week?”
Not very, obviously, but Shanahan apart, the context is what’s driving the Beazley leadership story: the gaffes, the Rudd/Gillard dream team etc, etc. The ABC’s Canberra gallery ran the “something is in the offing” line pretty hard last night.
But as Tim says, Geoff, how much of it is smoked out/created by the media spin itself?
As Albanese said last night, no one writes stories about the fact that Labor’s been ahead on the 2PP for most of the year.
Mind you, I’m equally as frustrated with the Labor leakers and stirrers - if they could just get on with the bloody job, they might win the election.
Mark re
Too true! The Rodent delights in saying he went to a public school. And for those with a sense of irony you can see the evil result.
No values, no ethics and certainly no HISTORY.
“Retrospectives are interesting but they’re not very relevant”
BTW, did Howard study History when he went to Uni?
I think (know) not!
Katz, To whom did you say the Gallipoli ’sucess’ belongs ?
The same show has been playing in NSW. NSW Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt has been taken to task for some ill-informed coments re the history of Australia Day.
I hear talk from senior members of the Liberal party that Cossie is going to have a tilt at the leadership if Howard’s ratings slide on the next newspoll. They feel that something must be done to stop the year-long slide in opinion poll ratings that have spread from the two-party preferred to Howard’s own credibility as Prime Minister. His ratings have become so bad that even a Labor party headed by it’s bookish foreign minister, Kevin Rudd, looks to be in a position to challenge Howard at the polls.
Howard’s leadership has increasingly come into question among the rank-and-file of the Liberal party. The federalist expansion policies introduced in the workchoices legislation have faned the fire of discontent among his beleaguered state-level Liberal party colleagues. In addition to this, his continual promotion of a conservative social agenda together with his small-vision on tax reform has alienated Howard from the moderate economic rationalist side of the party that draws it’s ideolgy from the traditional liberalist heritage of the party. It is widely felt that Howard has little respect for the liberalist traditions of the party and as such no longer represents the bulk of its members.
Costello’s superior handling of domestic issues would distract from Howard’s bogged-down foreign policy agenda which has come under increasing pressure due to the Democrats success in the American mid-term elections. While many within the party acknowledge that Howard’s foriegn policy failings aren’t entirely of his own making, much of the blame lies with Alexander Downer’s clear incompetence and ideologically driven rhetoric, they feel that Howard must go in order to demonstrate a new direction for the party. No doubt, any change in the party leadership would see Howard’s long time allies, Downer and Abbott, relegated to the back bench.
Sorry, just imagining what The Oz’s op-eds would look like if I worked there.
Heh.
You should send Rupe your resume, mick!
I don’t need to, he’s watching now aren’t ya big fella!
Tomorrow’s Oz is running the story that Beazley has given up his opposition to shuffling the front bench. Dennis Shanahan can barely hide his excitement that “the embattled Labor leader” has had his hand forced by the media storm he helped to whip up.
Here’s the thing, I’m sure Beazley was always going to do a bit of a shuffle, he just deined it because he didn’t want to do it in response to the media and he didn’t want people worried about losing their portfolio’s during this sitting of parliament. Now he looks like he caved because he announced it after all this pressure.
The changes that have been mentioned in the Oz all sound pretty good though. It’s a smart move to elevate Emerson, another Queenslander, to the front bench. Queensland is the state they need and the more Queenslander’s that gain a high profile going into the election the better.
Speaking of those evil Stalinist Teachers indoctrinating Students…………..
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20845206-2702,00.html
Teachers give kids anti-Lib tracts
Justine Ferrari, Education writer
November 30, 2006
SCHOOLCHILDREN in NSW have been used to take home union leaflets from teachers planning to strike in the national day of action against the Howard Government’s industrial laws.
Students at Jindabyne Central School in the Snowy Mountains and Dubbo Primary School in the state’s west were given copies of the NSW Teachers Federation leaflet outlining its opposition to the Work Choices laws.
The federation has distributed about 500,000 of the leaflets, which explain that teachers will be striking to protect their students from the new laws. The leaflet is titled: “A message from teachers to parents about your child’s rights in the workplace.”
and, you all know how the rest of the article pans out
Julie (Miss Penelope) Bishop is merely sucking on the Murdoch nipple…this go at the educators & public schools & their liberal-minded (Maoist or Socialist in Aussie), & their evol post-modernist, gay tolerant, anti-patriotic, Christmas Hating, Christian bonking funders type o’ crap has done the American circuit for nigh on a decade…tried & worn BS from the mouths of BIG MOUTH STRIKES AGAIN bores like Bill O’Reilly & Sean Hannity.
I guess His Highnarse & Freakmaker, Rupert (Mordor) Murdoch is gettin’ short on ideas & reckons he can smuggle into his p/t homeland a few used & abused GAMES & VOODOO Dolls.
Julie, get stickin’ them pins into yer most hated Lefty…& smile for the camera…you just might be the next weird-arsed show on FOX.
Sorry Dear Reptile, but we know yer tactics like we know yer shows…the King Howie & SantaGrinch Costello show just ain’t doin’ it for me these days…all fast food & no nutrition…i’m a Gardening Australia & Dr. Who addict these days.
Never did like yer mirror image…Monty Burns.
Because the rightwing have framed their attacks in the history wars that Australian history is a string of factoids - how many ships were there in the First Fleet? What year did Phar Lap win the Melbourne Cup? etc. - be prepared for gotchas like this. One pollie says Australia became a Federation in 1900, another one says Whitlam became PM in 1969, SHOCK HORROR GASP BULLSHIT headlines from the Murdoch press. The whole idea of Australian history will depend heavily on self-motivated authors and a few intrepid academics.
Yeah the whole Australia Day story is one hell of a beat-up. It stemmed from some figures which showed that a large number of Australian students did not know what Australia Day was about. Donnelly and co of course drew the logical conclusion, that is that its a product of the rampant postmodernism in our schools.
Nobody seems to have taken the time to consider a less paranoid explanation. Most people celebrate Australia Day with things like a barbeque with friends and family or by going to see some fireworks. Unlike, say, the Anzac Day march these customs don’t actually have anything to do with the meaning of the day, so it’s only natural that young people might be a tad ignorant about what Australia Day is about.
So in order to instill the message of Australia Day, what can we do to make sure the youngsters get the correct picture?
Perhaps John Howard to inaugurate a special Prime Minister’s Australia Day Message to be broadcast on TV on Channel 9. A couple of hours in length would seem about right. He could go over the main facts of Australian History. A refresher course for the nation enlivened by the Master’s querulously insisting bottom lip.
Then to lighten the proceedings but to make sure the people is learning, Ed McGuire could run a TV quiz for viewers to test the skill against in-studio National Treasures (Moonface, Lawsie, Stan the Man, Bolt).
You lefties certainly are a wierd bunch but I do like reading the crap in the full knowledge that JH will still be the PM after the next election. I suggest you all just get used to it.
Of course, you know what’s going to happen when the Rudd/Gillard team takes over? The Murdoch media spin machine will trash Rudd is an aloof academic out of touch with middle Australia and Gillard is a childless, socialist and godless careerist. You can imagine the fecund Denis Shanahan will be rubbing his hands together to run that latter line.
The new Labor leadership team will be derided as “untried and unfit” to govern. I’ll bet you dollars to donots that there’ll be lots of front-page shots of Howard in his best suit, arms extended in fatherly pose in front of the flag, next to photos of Gillard in her empty kitchen.
Regarding Mick’s observations about a Costello challenge, I think this will happen only if the Labor leadership changes. Labor will use the new generational story for its benefit (and Howard can’t use the interest rate lie against these guys, who weren’t around in the early 90s).
Mind you, I’ve given up hoping that the moderate small ‘l’ wing of the Liberal Party (is there anyone left there?) will draw the line with Howard’s drift to the far right. That these people have stayed quiet (save the Brandis ‘rodent’ outburst) in recent years through children overboard, the slandering of Kirby, the Iraq debacle, AWB and all the other Howard lies leaves me thinking they are not liberal at all.
Whatever happened to the centre of Australian politics? Does anyone represent us any more??
Colonel,
The centre is a point equidistant from points either side. Do you know for certain where the points are?
Ms Prism, I do know that the right in Australia is pushing the boundaries at its end, which means the natural centre is probably now where the centre right used to be.
That would make me centre left according to the new political spectrum, even though I regard myself as an economic and social liberal. That is why I feel disenfranchised.
The Colonel - sorry, I wasn’t really being serious. I was just using the same level of analysis as we are getting in the Oz with regard to the current breakout of leadership speculation. I was just being coy and pointing out that you can spin the results both ways. Personally, though I’m not one of Kim’s biggest fans I can’t see anyone else leading the ALP into the next election. Changing now wouldn’t be a good career move for the new leader nor do I think it will help the ALP.