Another campaigning week, another personally addressed letter from Malcolm Turnbull. This one, I immediately noticed, managed to get the word ‘families’ into the opening line — Dear Ms, While Australia’s economy continues to grow, I know families continue to face pressures. It was beginning to look very much like some Rudd-style empathy for “working families” but then came the next sentence: That’s why John Howard and Peter Costello have together announced a strong plan for tax relief, which will let families keep more of the income they work so hard for. The rest of the letter was about the importance of the strong economy, etc, etc. Then a PS in small type: under “union-controlled Labor” … “families could face an extra 1.4% on interest rates if the reforms that keep our economy strong are reversed”. I don’t know whether to think it’s brazen or stupid to claim that interest rates will go up under Labor in the same week that yet another rate rise on the Howard watch begins to look inevitable.
Enclosed with the letter was a flyer on tax relief which features a photo of the only time John Howard and Peter Costello ever actually looked at each other, next to an Earth globe, which has absoutely nothing to do with tax relief but is possibly meant to subliminally convey concern for the environment. 
(I don’t think the burning orange background was a particularly bright idea in terms of subliminal messages about climate change.)
It wouldn’t be Wentworth without a significant independent candidate — this week Danielle Ecuyer announced she would be running. There was already a Climate Coalition candidate, so this is shaping up as a contest of the environmentalists. Looked at another way, it’s the contest of the lawyers — Turnbull is a lawyer, so is the ALP’s George Newhouse, so is Dixie Coulton the Climate Coalition candidate, who is married to a QC and Turnbull is also a QC and so it goes. Ecuyer was an investment banker, so she’s out of that particular loop. Meanwhile the Greens candidate is a Canadian migrant nurse who represents a vastly different eastern suburbs milieu, but one which is just as real.
A letter in the Wentworth Courier this week spells out the realities which confront all the independents (and minor parties): “Because both Turnbull and Newhouse (and Garrett and Rudd) support the pulp mill, I would suggest that voters have a good look at the other issues in this campaign before casting their votes”. [I'd guess that's written by a Liberal supporter, but he has a point.]
Turnbull is doing a pretty good job of letting it be known that he’s more of a small-l liberal than most of the Howard cabinet — he’s made it clear that he recently supported an extension of gay rights (which Howard nixed) and this week it’s said that he argued in favour of signing Kyoto in Cabinet. He’s working hard for the environmentally-and-socially-concerned Liberal sympathy vote — and my guess is that he’ll retain it.
An extra 1.4% on interest rates eh? That’s very clever, the precision of the figure suggests that careful scientific modelling has gone into the forecast.
Australia Post still doesn’t deliver to my little settlement. Occasionally that’s a pain in the butt but at election time it’s a constant joy and blessing.
So you’re saying he didn’t mention the environment at all? Seriously? I get the feeling Howard is going to grab that globe “Great Dictator” style, only to have it pop just before he hands it to Costello.
Careful economic modelling, apparently, by EconTech, who also found that precisely “316,000 jobs could be at risk”.
So you’re saying he didn’t mention the environment at all? Seriously?
Not one word.
the globe image could also signify firstly globalisation and the sense of interconnctedness that comes with new communicaions technologies in a globalised world. secondly it could also signify that howard and costello are ‘players’ on the world stage, thus shifting the meaning from things like service provision which require taxes to an imaginary world where it is better not to pay tax.
Seeing Turnbull up close in the flesh for the first time this week I was able solve the mystery of who he reminds me of, a jowly Griff Rhys Jones. Been bothering me for years.
Suz, this is turning into a rerun of the last Queensland state election with the main players fighting over the spoils of defeat.
I think Turnbull would make a fantastic leader of the opposition. He’s a bit too Hewsonesque, though, maybe he should donate his millions to renewable energy.
Sam, I think Turnbull would make a fantastic leader of the opposition
The problem with executive discipline in Australian parties, especially the two major ones, is that we dont see ministers or even backbenchers for that matter express themselves politically or on policy. They get hammered under discipine so hard that they lose their personality and often conscience.
Turnball was more interesting as a back bencher at least then he was proposing tax policy independently of the executive cabinet. Sadly, if anything we have seen executive discipline tighten under both Howard and Rudd.
Turnbull has been busy leaking cabinet discussions from six weeks ago that he wanted to ratify Kyoto but got rolled by his colleagues.
Why? To sure up his vote in Wentworth. And if it means undermining John Howard then that is just tough titties. First things first, thinks Malcolm, and that first thing is moi.
Nice one Malcolm.
I had a call from an opinion pollster today! In one section he read out a list of local political names and asked if I felt Favourable, Neutral or Unfavourable towards them and the second name was Lucy Turnbull (who was previously Mayor of Sydney). An interesting diversion (she was the only non-candidate name on the list.) I wonder what that was meant to show.
suz,
speaking of the lady of the house, got a 2 page letter from lucy all about darling malcolm, in the post today…by page 2, i thought she was going to tell us what a top root he was, just between us girls and all.
Jo, I got that letter too!