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| Issue No 120 |  |
23 November 2001 |
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Tool ShedSpinning Out of Control
Federal Liberal campaign director Lynton Crosby emerges from the shadows to take up residence in the Tool Shed after attempting to pull off the ultimate spin: that Howard's election win was based on fear and loathing was a "myth". That's the line that Crosby was peddling at the National Press Club as the Third Howard Government strives for the sort of legitimacy that its election tactics ensure they will never attain. After perfecting a campaign based on fear of terror and loathing of refugees, the Liberals now want to claim victory on merits. Crosby is the apparatchik who has worked with pollster Mark Textor to plumb the depths of the Australian consciousness over three successive election campaigns. It's called Wedge Politics and it's easy: - commission extensive polling to expose the prejudices of the population identifying specific groups who the majority resent, - send out coded messages in accord with these views via statements from the leader (referred to so succinctly by Laurie Oakes as the 'dog whistle') - implement specific policies to reduce the rights of these identified groups. Wedge Politics has guided Howard's approach to welfare, aboriginal affairs and, of course, refugees. Which is all down and dirty and very modern politics, the sort of work that gets mediocre governments reelected and gives politics a bad name. But to then come and claim it was a victory on the merits is worse than disingenuous. Crosby was at it again this week, releasing internal Liberal polling claiming that fewer than 10 per cent of voters made their decision on the basis of the refugees issue. On this basis he wipes away the Tampa as a minor factor in the victory. But according to the Liberals' own figures a further 29 per cent voted on 'leadership' an issue which the Tories worked tirelessly to fuse with Australia's refusal to fulfil its international and humanitarian obligations to the refugees. Why else would they have run their infamous advertisements in the final days of the campaign: "we decide who will come into this country" with Howard in full statesman mode? And it's emerging that this was just the subtle end of the Coalition campaign. The pamphlets emerging from the NSW north coast, where National Party candidates held on to once doubtful seats shows how much the government was prepared to destroy to hold power. In Richmond, where the Nationals' Larry Anthony held off a Labor Challenge with the help of an execrable flier with the following message: Will your vote bring illegal immigrants to the Tweed? In the Tweed, Country Labor's Jenny McAllister, the Democrats and the greens all want to end mandatory detention of unauthorized arrivals. This means illegal immigrants would be moved into low cost accommodation, like Tweed units and caravan parks. .... Keep Australia in safe hands, only the Liberals and Nationals are serious about illegal immigration. They say history is written by the victors. But thankfully, history is also written by historians rather than self-serving spin doctors and political hacks who want to gloss over their own outrages and claim some higher purpose. Make no mistake, history will judge the current government as one of our worst. Verging on the evil. That will be Howard's reward. And the architects like Crosby will remain in the Tool Shed of history for all time.
Nominate a Tool!
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   Interview: Civilising CapitalPeter Butler is a global investor with a difference. He believes that environment, shareholder democracy and workers rights make good business sense. Industrial: All In The Family In his opening submission to the landmark case, ACTU assistant secretary Richard Marles argues working hours are vital to life. Unions: Saving CinderellaIt is a modern day fairy tale - a Cinderella from the suburbs, worked like a slave from morning to night injured and then abandoned. International: Recognising ChinaGough Whitlam draws the links, past and present, between recognition of China and the continuing struggle to achieve a genuinely inclusive Australian democracy. History: The Speakers SquareA new book lifts the lid on Melbourne's radical past - including the soapboxes that dotted the city in the 1890s. Economics: Back to the PackThe big story in this year�s State of the States League Table is the end of the long reign of New South Wales at the top of the heap. Satire: Man Reneges On Promise To Leave The Country If Howard Re-ElectedA Sydney man has decided he won�t leave Australia despite the re-election of the Howard Government. Review: When Hippes Meet Unionists A new book investigates how links between politics and culture reached a high point in the 1970s
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