tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post2696263418734578565..comments2023-12-06T00:23:28.790+11:00Comments on Press gallery reform: The reshuffleAndrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-4421114249496358322012-01-09T23:08:02.270+11:002012-01-09T23:08:02.270+11:00Interesting - thank you. The MSM didn't comme...Interesting - thank you. The MSM didn't comment on the fact that Treasury has five Ministers to work to now instead of three. Coupled with the public service cuts will any will receive the top notch advice they are sure to expect?<br />MangoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-59512335700607181232011-12-24T21:04:21.519+11:002011-12-24T21:04:21.519+11:00Happy Christmas Andrew and thanks for your work ov...Happy Christmas Andrew and thanks for your work over the year. You are a beacon of light when some of us oldies truly feel like giving up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-45248396904033514132011-12-22T00:04:57.318+11:002011-12-22T00:04:57.318+11:00For reasons associated with work (an unpleasant su...For reasons associated with work (an unpleasant subject, I know) I've neither read nor listened to much meeja for the lst week and a half. I do wish, however, that I had read this yesterday - and all the comments, especially AlphaETC's - would have cheered me up no end.<br /><br />Apart from Arbib, I don't thing the reshuffle is all that bad. However, I shall try to get to the links in the next day or so in order to form a more considered opinion.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I shall retire to my couch and refuse to contemplate having flu in summer.Fionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-39623199388001705732011-12-20T20:26:47.432+11:002011-12-20T20:26:47.432+11:00The opposite of a 'vicious circle'? A virt...The opposite of a 'vicious circle'? A virtuous circle! And, yes, the PM is waiting for the Press Gallery to stop writing crap & for Fran Kelly to stop talking crap to Michelle and Alison. Sigh. Mean Girls are Mean.Hillbilly Skeletonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-27159104918542018992011-12-20T19:56:10.204+11:002011-12-20T19:56:10.204+11:00Andrew: if the NSW Right is to be gutted federally...Andrew: if the NSW Right is to be gutted federally in 2013, that's a lot of seats that Gillard has to make up elsewhere. Perhaps a bit early for Antony Green style drilldown analysis, but a broad brush look at the state-by-state breakdown of your Gillard victory scenario would be interesting.m0ntyhttp://www.fanfooty.com.au/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-63255484523325003012011-12-20T19:14:09.468+11:002011-12-20T19:14:09.468+11:00Merry Xmas Andrew. And thanks for the plug. Your o...Merry Xmas Andrew. And thanks for the plug. Your own posts have been a "must read" source of consistent pleasure for me to read. Always a good day when there's new one.<br /><br />Onwards to the New Year!<br /><br />Bushfire.Bushfire Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-42107054501113142392011-12-20T17:45:40.259+11:002011-12-20T17:45:40.259+11:00Alpha: I agree with you about the riding orders of...Alpha: I agree with you about the riding orders of the new ministers. I'm thinking of how Howard set Kay Patterson up to fail and then replaced her with Abbott, who got everything he wanted to make Patterson look hopeless by comparison. <br /><br />Anon1: seen <a href="http://andrewelder.blogspot.com/2011/09/bet-against-mark-arbib.html" rel="nofollow">my earlier piece on Arbib</a>? Holds up well I thought. <br /><br />Anon2: I think the press gallery think that if they have a quote, they have all the facts you could possibly need. It's sad, really. A once-proud profession is headed straight for the cliff, and as we saw when NOTW went down in Britain nobody will miss them.<br /><br />m0nty: the NSW Right are busy defying political gravity at the moment. I think NSW will make little contribution to the re-election of the Gillard government in 2013 (oh yes) and that a re-elected Gillard government need not see overly many of them in its ranks, which will create whatever the opposite of a vicious circle is.<br /><br />Anon3: welcome. This has been a constant theme of this blog for some time now. The government's policy of getting on with it and keeping the press gallery at a distance should mean the press galler adapt the way they work, but not yet apparently. Change or die, is all I can say.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-14035724297276989932011-12-20T09:00:21.399+11:002011-12-20T09:00:21.399+11:00If I could articulate my frustration at the state ...If I could articulate my frustration at the state of mainstream political reporting in this country slightly better than a lonely scream into the night, I'd hope that it would be something along the lines of this article.<br /><br />The commentators you mention are beyond useless: they failed to predict every big moment of the last three years; and every prediction they make is wrong. <br /><br />What's worse is that they turn their anger and embarrassment onto others. Who is to blame for their failed - and frequent - predictions of Gillard's demise? Gillard, obviously. <br /><br />Doesn't she recognise their genius? Doesn't she know how important they are? Doesn't she enjoy being interviewed as if she were a Home and Away teen starlet appearing on the front cover of Dolly?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-38858875308350417542011-12-20T01:00:31.167+11:002011-12-20T01:00:31.167+11:00I feel the missing element of your ongoing analysi...I feel the missing element of your ongoing analysis of the Australian media, cutting as it is, is the murder-suicide pact that the press gallery and Sydney-based MSM journos have with the NSW Right of the ALP. Both of these decrepit institutions are on death's door, and their only remaining hope at relevance is to cling to each other as their ship plows into the iceberg. No wonder they feel no compunction in labelling the NSW Right as the alternative government, as that has been the continuous narrative they have pushed since they missed out on the original #spillard scoop.<br /><br />The journos' only contribution to understanding the Gillard government is publishing the faecal matter thrown from the direction of Sussex St. In their overtly stated quest to remain "Insiders", there's no point in the lizards sucking up to the Libs because they aren't inside anything important, and the powerbrokers behind Gillard have long since decided that journos are the enemy. Thus the post-Richo NSW Right and the press gallery, in conjunction with newsdesk occupiers centralised in Sydney, have no option but to conspire in naked desperation to save their existence.<br /><br />It's a race against time to see if the combined weight of the two doomed apocalypse birds dissipates enough by the time the election finally arrives to prevent them from sabotaging the government. Which will come first: Fairfax and News Ltd dismantled with the bits that make money surviving, but the futureless newspapers gutted; the federal wing of the NSW Right obliterated as they were at state level; or the Gillard government losing an election? All three are inevitable, but to me the last of the three looks the furthest away.m0ntyhttp://www.fanfooty.com.au/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-54369415207560194802011-12-19T22:47:31.335+11:002011-12-19T22:47:31.335+11:00Has the MSM ever been this terrible? Seriously, th...Has the MSM ever been this terrible? Seriously, the reshuffle reporting was absolutely woeful "journalism". <br /><br />The Press Gallery groupthink is becoming so transparent, it is like the sheep following the sheep.<br /><br />This groupthink simply follows the polling without regard for the bigger, longer game being played. <br /><br />Overall the polling trend has come back to the Government as policy words turned into legislative actions. Some of the reporting reflected this at the time. <br /><br />However it took just one rogue Nielsen poll and an insider's flop on Slipper deflection to turn the reporting back to vicious and unhinged.<br /><br />The ALP conference, reshuffle and Rudd gossip were all examples of groupthink removed from factual reporting. <br /><br />When journalism leaves out the facts in reporting, it just becomes crappy fictional writing. <br /><br />But to give credit to the @murpharoo piece, it has found a new bottom as it crashed through the floor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-12499273448200106992011-12-19T22:29:03.359+11:002011-12-19T22:29:03.359+11:00Agreed, very well written. And I completely agree ...Agreed, very well written. And I completely agree about Arbib - we all know what he has done to the NSW Labor Party, he has been accused of being an American stooge, and was completely shown up on the World Cup bid. For penance, he should be sent back to Sussex St until the Labor wins back NSW again. That should tie him up for some time. <br /><br />And keep him out of the way of the genuine talent coming through - congrats to Shorten and Combet, Ellis, and Roxon. Well deserved all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-61119712364604406662011-12-19T21:56:32.659+11:002011-12-19T21:56:32.659+11:00Another missing component of the MSM analysis is t...Another missing component of the MSM analysis is the strategic intent of the government, and I don't just mean the 'narrative'. Other than Albo's putting the Slipper into Abbott, most of the Government's wins this year have come from passing big stuff - carbon, MRRT, smokes etc - that, and I hesitate to say this, all signify 'moving forward'. But that too fits within a longer clearly staged strategy of using the first 5 months of the year for debate and negotiation, the next 5 for conclusion and delivery and the last for re-setting for the next stage. I haven't seen anyone connect the Slipper move to the reshuffle, but the two are clearly linked strategically. Surely the past 6 months success will encourage them to beget more. What new weaponry has Gillard directed her newly starred generals to procure and for what battles on what fronts? And conversely is there any chance the Opposition will offer more in response than a mounted donkey regiment? But no, the media's mostly gossip-mag superficial.<br />A further question for me is who is at the core of this government beyond Gillard. We knew Rudd had his gang of four. But who is in Gillard's gang? And who is she taking her wider political counsel from? Faulkner no doubt but there must be a few more like a Bob Hogg with whom she tests ideas and strategies. And for the sheer goddam novelty of it all perhaps even a former female polly like Joan Kirner or even NZ's Helen Clark. Richo even? A really smart journo who wanted to build a proper insider reputation well ahead of the pack would set about finding this interesting and important background strategic advice stuff out and doing general interviews with the key mentors. They would then be mysteriously prescient (at least to most of their peers) when the strategy starts to become apparent over the course of 2012/2013.<br />Lastly of meritorious note are a couple like Hartcher or Megalogenis who have inferred the big long-run national direction and are slowly joining dots back to government policy but they're more commentator analysts than reporters.<br />Anyhow Andrew I'd like to say have a great Xmas and a long relaxing break. But I'll need something to fascinating to read while I do the same so it's no eggnog for you and straight back to blogging by Boxing Day!Alphabajangodeltanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-9633360848808895312011-12-19T19:04:52.486+11:002011-12-19T19:04:52.486+11:00HS, we're all trailing in your wake ;)
Grog, ...HS, we're all trailing in your wake ;)<br /><br />Grog, I agree with you about one Dept per Cabinet minister. I think events will overtake McClelland's efforts, with the cumulative effect of disasters like the Brisbane floods and the Vic bushfires creating more and more bureaucratic momentum.<br /><br />Richard Marles is Parly Sec for Pacific Island affairs, and he's been pretty low profile. Even if there is no formal parliamentary role, I just thought it would behove the ALP even to put some rising star into his office and effectively do some work experience in foreign policy. Labor has had a cult of The Expert on particular topics throughout its history and it hasn't served them well (blogpost, if not a thesis, to come on that). <br /><br />Cheers Leroy.<br /><br />HS, wish I'd seen the interview you speak of. You might be right about the other stuff. BB used to post here too, and I leave the porch light on incase he's so moved to do so again.<br /><br />GG, always on the big issues are those folk.<br /><br />sprocket, by thy actions shall ye judge them; Lord knows the MSM don't know or care.<br /><br />SK, I agree completely about refighting the 2010 election. And they wonder why nobody buys their shitty product any more.Andrew Elderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-71924648002534619912011-12-19T14:09:38.375+11:002011-12-19T14:09:38.375+11:00IMHO the press gallery are still in the trenches f...IMHO the press gallery are still in the trenches fighting the 2010 election campaign. The govt, on the other hand have not only moved on but have their eyes well and truely on what is on our horizon. Exactly where it should be.<br /><br />If any of the press had actually paid attention JG was outlining where her focus was going to be in 2012, but despite repeating it ad nauseum in her announcement, the press gallery missed it because all they wanted to see was the oooh, JG is pissed with so and so and such and such is a Rudd supporter.<br /><br />The boy who cried wolf, anyone?Space Kidettenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-1843274297221214652011-12-19T12:17:58.990+11:002011-12-19T12:17:58.990+11:00I like the contextulising of your mainstream media...I like the contextulising of your mainstream media criticism. a reshuffle is to freshen things up, promote new talent, get rid of dead wood - sure. we get that. <br /><br />but what light does it shine on the policy thinking within the government?sprocket___noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-8266423575267869322011-12-19T12:10:44.214+11:002011-12-19T12:10:44.214+11:00Our witless MSM Press Gallery also missed Uranium ...Our witless MSM Press Gallery also missed Uranium to India and US base in Darwin. However, the PM has a new dog called Reuben.Greensborough Growlernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-88715428094947479082011-12-19T10:41:10.657+11:002011-12-19T10:41:10.657+11:00Bushfire Bill used to blog at The Political Sword....Bushfire Bill used to blog at The Political Sword. However he gave it away for the immediacy of Poll Bludger. We at TPS are much the poorer for it. Grumble. Grumble.Hillbilly Skeletonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-53133062115301728222011-12-19T10:38:24.629+11:002011-12-19T10:38:24.629+11:00Might I also just add that Bill Shorten proved his...Might I also just add that Bill Shorten proved his bona fides pdq last week, when, on Day 1 in the job of IR Minister, he set that malevolent IR munchkin, Chris Corrigan(proxy for Peter Reith's reawakened ambitions for a Senate spot and an IR-led Coalition storming of the government citadel), quickly back on the horse he rode into town on.<br /> Plus, he set that simpering excuse for a pretty boy political journalist, and no friend of the Labor Party(strangely, considering his OH), Chris Uhlmann back on his heels in the interview he gave to 7.30.<br /> Bill took no prisoners and took no BS. A portent of things to come next year, as Warwick McKibbon said at Josh Frydenburg's IR Forum, when the Coalition "just try to find a new name for Workchoices".<br /> Also, another dark horse who hasn't got a mention in despatches but which showed the genius moves of the PM in the reshuffle, Jason Clare has already proven that he will be more than a match for Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott when it comes to Home Affairs, aka 'Problems with Asylum Seekers'. His positioning over the latest loss of life at sea, as People Traffickers continue to exploit The Greens nonsensical position of only caring sooo much about Asylum Seekers once they have made it safely to Australia, and Abbott & Morrison's duplicitous hypocrisy of trying to blame a Minority Government for not being able to get legislation through that they, in principle, agree with but would not vote for in parliament, had both spokespersons yesterday strangely but exquisitely muted in their reaction.<br /> Sarah Hanson-Young just sounded like a dill, which you would when trying to explain the unresolved dichotomy at the heart of The Greens' Bleeding Heart position, meant to appeal to the unthinkiing Mung Bean Muncher in the electorate.(I keep thinking of Middle Aged 'Neils', from The Young Ones' when I picture Greens' voters. Oh, wait on, his name is Ian, Ian Rintoul).<br /> Not to mention Tanya taking it up to the self-important doctors(and I keep on wondering, why, when Qantas is telling Airline Pilots, who carry peoples' lives in their hands that, 'you're just another worker', why is it not possible to take doctors down a peg or two to Cuban levels for the same reason?); and Nicola taking it to the stuffed shirts in the Legal fraternity.<br /> I do believe that the government has the makings of being able to get Tony Abbott on the run, and maybe even on his bike.Hillbilly Skeletonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-31140122736657770622011-12-19T09:32:56.537+11:002011-12-19T09:32:56.537+11:00Thanks for the pointers to BB's posts; does he...Thanks for the pointers to BB's posts; does he only comment on Poll Bludger? He's good enough to blog by himself.ewe2https://www.blogger.com/profile/06176137381361256982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-17471203630522920392011-12-19T09:20:52.098+11:002011-12-19T09:20:52.098+11:00Hi Andrew. Thanks for the shout out, and for putti...Hi Andrew. Thanks for the shout out, and for putting into words the frustration so many observers of Australian politics feel at the quality of media "analysis" of what goes on in this country.Leroyhttp://twitter.com/#!/Leroy_Lynchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-4833521607507456262011-12-19T09:20:23.899+11:002011-12-19T09:20:23.899+11:00Good piece Andrew.
Bushfire Bill does make some g...Good piece Andrew.<br /><br />Bushfire Bill does make some good points about Emergency Management being a Cabinet position, but he also says it deserves its own Department. As far as I can tell it will remain within the Attorney Generals Dept. I am of the view that Cabinet ministers should, except in rare occasions, have their own Dept. A couple Cabinet Ministers in one Dept can be havoc for the realities of organisations priorities of resources within the Dept. <br /><br />I think the challenge for McClelland is to make the position worthy of a Cabinet spot by what he does and how he does it. <br /><br />Good suggestion about Garrett going to Indigenous Affairs, one I have long had as well. The guy knows the area like no one else, and also wouldn't have to worry too greatly about things said in the past when he was Midnight Oil. In fact in this case it would probably help him. It seems next year is going to be the year they look to change school funding. For that they need a Minister who can sell the tough policy. Not sure if Garrett can do that. <br /><br />Excellent suggestion about a assistant Foreign Affairs Minister. Has there ever been one? There should be. I guess usually they give someone a Parl Sec of the Pacific Islands or some such. That said, would you want to be a assistant Foreign Affairs Minister under Rudd?Groghttp://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-29049582286812862862011-12-19T09:15:29.083+11:002011-12-19T09:15:29.083+11:00I think points must go to moi, as I put a blog up ...I think points must go to moi, as I put a blog up on the 9th of September, at The Political Sword, http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/2011/09/11/It%E2%80%99s-time-for-the-Government-to-play-a-game-of-Musical-Chairs.aspx wherein I made the helpful suggestion to the Prime Minister, which she obviously took, to think about a Cabinet Reshuffle at the end of the parliamentary year. <br /> I am preparing the invoice for my services now. :)<br /> Although I must admit, I didn't see Nick Sherry coming down the road towards me. I guess I'll have to include a discount then for that reason. :DHillbilly Skeletonnoreply@blogger.com