Talking Point

Talkback says no to tax cuts

The Age.com.au

Prime Minister John Howard and treasurer Peter Costello will be surprised to learn that callers to talkback radio this morning were overwhelmingly critical of the federal government's $34 billion tax cuts package that they announced yesterday.

Channel surfing in Sydney today indicated a similar response.

SMH readers howl down tax cut plan

Like talkback radio, online discussion forums are often infiltrated by hacks pushing party political lines and endorsements of policy. But if Sydney Morning Herald reader comments regarding the Coalition's $34 billion tax cut plan are to be believed, the policy is not exactly universally popular, despite the announcement putting Labor on the back foot and re-inforning their opponent's "good times"economics credentials.

Many SMH readers complain the tax cut cash is a bribe (what do you expect?), will fuel interest rate increases or would be better spent on health, education and infrastructure. In an online poll in The Daily Telegraph, 47 per cent of people said it would not change their vote while 45 per cent said it would make them more likely to vote for the Coalition.

With the Coalition spend-a-thon well and truly in full swing, how far will Kevin Rudd go with his tax policy?

PM's seat in weakest position

The Australian.com.au

Therefore I can inform readers of a unique feature of this election. It is the first time that a prime minister is contesting the median seat. There is no case of a prime minister contesting a seat weaker for his party than the median seat.

Malcolm Mackerras points out that no PM in history has been in a weaker position in his own seat than John Howard is today In Bennelong.

Managing the election debate

It’s interesting, at least for the political junkies, to see Howard proposing that Sky News host the election debate. Given the majority of Australians don’t have pay television, it’s likely the mainstream news networks and the national broadcaster will only take snippets of the debate for their news programs. In previous campaigns, Howard was beaten in the debates by his opposing candidates. This time around the PM clearly does not want to take such a risk given the appalling opinion polls. He is attempting to manage the risk by limiting his exposure with Sky News and proposing the debate be held in the first week of a six week campaign.

2007 election observations - the announcement

I haven’t had a chance to wade through the mountain of election coverage in this morning’s newspapers but there are a couple of immediate observations I made in the last 24 hours.

The interviews with both Howard and Rudd conducted by 60 Minutes last night and again this morning by the Today Show showed the PM was focused, disciplined and unwilling to stray outside the tight boundaries of his key messages. His central argument was the Coalition had the strong and experienced leadership to maintain and even improve a robust economy.

On the other hand, Rudd seemed nervous and loose and was easily distracted by questions that he could not easily bridge back to his key messages. The stripper incident and the perceived lack of experience in public administration were just two examples. I was also unmoved by the ALP advertisement last night highlighting the 22 per cent interest rates when John Howard was Treasurer in the 70’s. My memory does not stretch that far back as I was barely of school age alongside millions of other Australians currently paying off their home.

The ACTU Work Choices ads, which again aired last night, are a much more powerful symbol of the failure of Government policy in the minds of many people. They've worked in the past given their focus on real people so the ALP administration should learn from that experience.

Clutching at political straws

From SMH.com.au

If he could mobilise the entire 7 per cent, the Government would be back in business with 51 per cent of the vote, all else being equal which, of course, it never is.

An impossible ask. Howard's strength is clearly the economy but today's Nielsen poll showed just how far the PM is away from victory rather than delivering a glimmer of hope. It's a view not lost on those at the Liberal and Labor Party functions I attended last week.

Google election site launched in Australia

Google Australia has launched a few ways to help you stay up to date with the Federal election.

In what the company describes as a world first, political junkies will be able to find out what their local MPs are up to, search for political news seat by seat and locate their electorate via Google Earth.

If that wasn't enough information, a dedicated Google/You Tube channel - "Australia Talks" - will feature election content and be a forum for discussing Australian politics and the election.

It's YouTube week in Federal Parliament

Social media seems to be one of the topics of the week among our political commentators. But while our politicians are increasingly using social media tools like YouTube and MySpace to carry their political messages, creativity seems to be sorely lacking. Check this latest piece on YouTube from our PM John Howard. It hardly oozes the fun, vibrant and irrevant tone to videos YouTube users have come to so dearly admire. The PM's stiff and conservative style clearly makes him the wrong person to be delivering the party's message in this forum. The hammering the video got in the comments forum is evidence of that and according a few people speaking on tonight's ABC Radio PM program, a John Howard policy mesaage would be the last thing they would log onto YouTube for.

Full credit to both parties for recognising the legitimacy of social media. But rather than replicating the standard approach of talking to a static camera, maybe they would be better to find people more connected, popular and credible with YouTube style audiences and develop creative ways to deliver their messages.

Libs shunning MySpace - Report

From SMH.com.au

The Federal Liberal Party appears to be snubbing MySpace, after the social network publicly criticised the Liberals' response to its new Impact political channel.

With a string of disastrous polls spelling death for the Howard Government you would think they would be using as many communications channels they can get their paws on to get their message out there.

MySpace friends flock to Rudd

Friends mean a lot in politics and if MySpace is any indication Kevin Rudd will romp it in come the next federal election. Almost 6000 people have become the Labor leader’s “friend” in MySpace, compared with a dismal eight lonely souls barracking for the Howard Government. Individual Government ministers seam to be fairing better with Malcolm Turnbull boating 126 friends and Joe Hockey registering 339 fans.

The presence of our elected leaders on MySpace points to the growing use of the Internet and its social media tools by political parties to reach increasing disparate and disaffected audiences, particularly young people. The Australian media, once dismissive of social media as a flash in the pan, are also recognizing its power as a potent political weapon with the Sydney Morning Herald declaring the “You Tube” election in a feature article last Saturday.