Mood:
incredulousTopic: aust govt
'A good machine is a quiet one' - Eric Roozendaal, NSW secretary of the Labor Party, Sussex St, now MP in the NSW Parliament.
When the 2020 Summit was originally announced about 3 months ago it was a big circuit breaker in the 24 hour news cycle. If you go back to the cut and thrust and trend in real politick coverage for about a week prior you will notice it was all about the devastated reputation of the Iemma ALP Govt.
We are not quite sure what exactly was the particular whiff of corruption or incompetence at that time 3 months back out of so many these many last months.
Now all the momentum in the real politik coverage on brand ALP as the "effusive" praise for PM Rudd winds down over his whirlwind global tour, is the upcoming 4 Corners developer donations scandal, on a past week of disastrous coverage, not least the front pager by Frew et al in the Sydney Morning Herald last Saturday:
12 April 2008 Secret files expose the sway of developers - National - smh.com.au
With our addition to the chronology building on that great insight here:
12 April 2008 Developer heaven in NSW as the Big Media 'ordered' in 2005-6?
Mood:sad
Topic: nsw govt
Also the set piece main 2020 Summit has some real internal flaws and risks which have been amply identified by both the 4th and 5th estates, as per our summary round up here:
12 April 2008 Grown ups summit a tame affair with climate change credibility gap?
Mood:party time!
Topic: aust govt
So the 2020 "shindig" would be an unwise PR strategy for brand ALP this coming week as any kind of "circuit breaker" (and they do know their PR job) because it could well be an electric shock still.
Brand ALP neeeds another 24 hour news cycle circuit breaker badly, and it has to be something well in their control (like an appointment of GG) and it has to be quite big to be convincing. Enter high achiever and highly telegenic Ms Quentin Bryce, no doubt a favourite of the Qld ALP machine, and "safe". Like long suffering Donna Moss, Ms Bryce is not only brainy but she is also like "a long glass of milk" to quote the final series of West Wing.
Janel Moloney as Donna Moss in West Wing TV series
Pure of heart and soul, synonymous with wholesome, by all accounts. Wonderful PR material on all the front pages today 14 April 08, as she no doubt deserves her whole life. Only Ms Bryce you are being used by the patriarchy and one presumes you have the wit to know it too, and maybe rise above that? Or not?
For mine this lady would have been an even better GG material not least for her handle on relations with China here:
Sarah Ferguson May 17, 2007
Sarah Ferguson is a reporter for the Channel 9 Sunday programme. Before joining Sunday, Sarah worked for the SBS programmes Dateline and Insight. She came to Australia in 1999 having worked as a journalist in Europe and the US.
As Deborah Cameron has asked in her federal politics Q&A with Phillip Williams (usually ACT Stateline) as we write 9.06 am on 702 ABC 1(14th April 08)
"Were you surprised by [PM Rudd's] announcement so quick out of the blocks?"
Cameron did not mean to imply a cynical calculation, but it is so revealing that she picked up the significance of the jolting lack of warning. Will this profound Rudd diversion work to smother the smell of the Iemma Govt on brand ALP? Like air freshener in a can over the corpse of a dead cat?
We doubt it, but maybe it will.
