Australian federal election: 7 September

[Kieran McConville]

I thought this was a good article on why a Turnbull comeback would boost the Coalition's chances against Rudd: Malcolm in the middle: why the Coalition might turn to Turnbull | World news | theguardian.com

Interesting, yes. Still, the election has begun. To flip out at this point? Imagine the disarray, and never mind how middle-of-the-road electable Turnbull may be.

[Kieran McConville]

Originally Posted by cobl04

A lot of people on Twitter rebutting criticism with crap like "well I have to pay for the leftist propaganda of the ABC & SBS".

ABC may lean left but I don't see them being quite so obviously biased...

I would challenge the notion that the ABC leans left at all. It is a gutted shell of its former self.

[Axver]

Anyone who thinks the ABC and SBS lean left is kidding themselves. To whatever extent they do still lean, the ABC and SBS only lean towards whatever side of politics will give them what they want - money, independence, and money - and that just so happens to be the left. If Tony Abbott announced today that he would triple the ABC's budget and give SBS the Soccer World Cup for the next millennium, they'll come out all guns blazing for the Coalition I assure you.

[cobl04]

I can't remember what ABC was like before 2010 as I didn't care about politics then.

[Axver]

Incidentally, I see a lot of outrage about that Tele headline (as a Greens voter, I don't entirely disagree either, but in a different way to what they mean!), but it really does seem to depend on how you view the media's role in politics. Is it a neutral arbiter, can it be so, and should it be so?

As a teenager, I had this idealised perspective of the media as some fairly neutral ground, with news and opinion clearly delineated. Now, as a historian, I spend my days with nineteenth century newspapers, and this was a time when a partisan press was considered a normal and desirable aspect of society. Everything about the press was political. Rival newspapers tended to define the political divisions of towns, and leading politicians owned or wrote for the papers (and in those days contributions were not credited). I'm now so used to the partisan nature of papers that I find it unremarkable in today's press - to me press neutrality seems to be a failed ambition of the mid-twentieth century. The Murdoch press's reporting of news is clearly heavily skewed and the game's too far gone to stop that. This has been a great lost opportunity of the left; by not pushing hard enough, early enough, the Murdoch press managed to establish right-leaning spin as fairly typical of a paper, and the left has yet to seriously challenge it. Fairfax fucked this up hard. Even the Guardian has not presented anything more than a soft left perspective.

If anything, Murdoch's been more successful at this in Australia than the US. We may think of Fox when we think of blatantly partisan right wing politics, but although it's influential, it's essentially marked out a minority sphere of influence and that's it. Meanwhile, in Australia, Murdoch controls 60% of the press, including the only major dailies in many capitals, and his influence has seeped into the way other news outlets - like Fairfax and the ABC - present their news. Fox News wishes it had the influence and power over CNN, MSNBC, etc., that News Limited has here.

[Vlad n U 2]

I keep on reading the title as 'Australian fedora election' and I don't know if it makes me happy or angry.

[Kieran McConville]

I wholly agree that the press (or its online successors) are partisan, or will tend that way. And the rags of the nineteenth century may well point the way to a kind of future (or present, if you check out the blogosphere!).

The problem isn't so much partisanship, as partisanship that dare not speak its name.

Whither public broadcasters in such a world, I'm not sure. And that worries me. There should be something like an ABC. It just should be better than it is.

[cobl04]

This is excruciating. Liberal candidate for Greenway bumbles his way through a six-minute interview on Liberal policy and doesn't manage to get a single point across. Terrific interviewing as well, not enough journalists go this far.

Election 2013 | Day 1 - YouTube

[Kieran McConville]

Shit happens.

[Kieran McConville]

You know what really pisses me off about the beige drivel we are fed during election campaigns in recent years is that: politics really does matter. It matters like hell. You wouldn't know it from the 'go back to sleep, Austraya' crap the candidates parrot. I feel like a pillow is being gently smoothed over my face sometimes. You end up with the situation of a somewhat decent government that couldn't sell crack to an addict. Rudd is a little above average in this regard, but he's no Hawke, no Keating. Fortunately for him, Abbott is, to put it mildly, no Fraser or Howard.

At least in the pre-television era, the era of townhall meetings and speeches from the back of trucks, it was harder to get away with such disconnect, such pretense that a few thousand swinging voters are the nation.

[cobl04]

I saw Charlie Pickering unhinged last night. Unsurprisingly he said political discourse in Aus is "fucked", and he and Waleed Aly actually figured that it would be cheaper to hire cruise ships, boat in refugees in luxury than the current solution, and they'd still have money leftover to hire the Stones to perform on the way.

He also hates a lot of the stories he has to throw to on The Project, as well as Hughesy's shit jokes.

[The Sad Punk]

I'm honestly so depressed about this election already that I'm trying not to care much, lest I become even more depressed.

[AEON]

Originally Posted by The Sad Punk

I'm honestly so depressed about this election already that I'm trying not to care much, lest I become even more depressed.

That was me last fall here in the US

Hang in there

[cobl04]

Not sure why one beer is such a big deal.

[Axver]

The Tele's going to keep making absurd front pages because they know it keeps people talking. Why can't all Australia agree to treat the Tele like we would treat a common playground bully, i.e. ignore it and let it wither?

Originally Posted by Vlad n U 2

I keep on reading the title as 'Australian fedora election' and I don't know if it makes me happy or angry.

I'd rather a fedora election.

Originally Posted by Kieran McConville

The problem isn't so much partisanship, as partisanship that dare not speak its name.

Whither public broadcasters in such a world, I'm not sure. And that worries me. There should be something like an ABC. It just should be better than it is.

Good point about public broadcasting. It's a dilemma to which I don't have a solution either. The ABC and SBS are incredibly valuable to Austraia and could be even more so. But do you keep peddling some myth of press neutrality that they're meant to follow, or what? You can't say no politics, because that would eliminate not just most news but also most entertainment. This country would have almost no televised political satire if it weren't for the ABC.

Originally Posted by Kieran McConville

You know what really pisses me off about the beige drivel we are fed during election campaigns in recent years is that: politics really does matter. It matters like hell. You wouldn't know it from the 'go back to sleep, Austraya' crap the candidates parrot. I feel like a pillow is being gently smoothed over my face sometimes. You end up with the situation of a somewhat decent government that couldn't sell crack to an addict. Rudd is a little above average in this regard, but he's no Hawke, no Keating. Fortunately for him, Abbott is, to put it mildly, no Fraser or Howard.

At least in the pre-television era, the era of townhall meetings and speeches from the back of trucks, it was harder to get away with such disconnect, such pretense that a few thousand swinging voters are the nation.

I would love a return to the era when politicians really had to be fucking great public speakers - people of eloquence and charisma, capable of holding an audience in the palm of their hand and without the aid of microphones or other amplification. The worst part is that I don't see younger politicians coming through with the charisma of a Hawke. Who are the great rising stars? They are lacking.

[cobl04]

My mate from high school days Francis ran for the seat of Flinders in 2010, lost by about 20,000 votes. He was on Shitsville on ABC 2. He's a good public speaker.

Abbott is not, and his uhs and ers make it so obvious he's thinking extremely carefully about everything he says.

[cobl04]

"I don't oppose Islam as a country, umm, but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia."

Well, if anyone was worried about One Nation, they shouldn't be after watching this.

7News - One Nation candidate speaks out - YouTube

[Axver]

Well that was a damn good laugh!

[Kieran McConville]

Partly it's the advisors these people have. The young advisors who populate modern political offices (who often go on - hello Tony, btw - to become the politicians themselves) are sometimes satirised as having watched too much of The West Wing... I only wish they took account of the good bits.

As for Deputy Prime Minister Albo having a beer with Craig Thompson, everyone knows that Craig Thompson is guilty of 3591 credit card fraud charges, and was in on the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal, and also kicked a dog. I mean, the grainy photos show that it's dodgy as heck! Right?

[Kieran McConville]