
Issue No 3		05 March 1999

Campaign Diary

Radical Conservatives Raise Their Own Bar

By Peter Lewis

This Monday writs are issued for the state election, The phoney campaign ends and the real one begins; and the issue of stability, the need for it and the lack of it, is set to dominate the next four weeks.

The TV advertisements have begun in earnest, bringing the key campaign themes out into the open for the first time.

As Bob Carr cuts a Chandler-esque figure in adverts focussing on the Government's achievements in making the State safer, the Libs are throwing the mud with personal attacks on Police Minister Paul Whelan and plans to put a cop on every corner.

The Government will concentrate on their achievements and the virtue of stability, tapping into its belief that there is no real mood for change out in the electorate.

The Opposition is playing a more difficult game. On the one hand, they are trying to up the ante on law and order by creating the impression that the streets are unsafe.

But at the same time they are offering the electorate a fistful of dollars -- both directly through cash hand outs and indirectly through lavish spending promises, everything to free dentures.

The money comes from the privatisation of the electricity industry, an issue that has generated (no pun intended) widespread hostility throughout the community.

The problem for the Coalition is that the feeling of insecurity which their law and order theme is attempting to tap, is the same emotion that is fuelling the resistance to privatisation of a key sector.

As Labor has already discovered, the debate about electricity privatisation is not an intellectual or even an ideological one. It is a debate about change and whether people want to embrace what they perceive as a further step down the road to economic rationalism.

Coupled with an increasingly hardline industrial relations policy (see Workers Online Issue #1), which this week extended to a promise to cut unfair dismissal rights, the Coalition are now the Party offering the radical change.

Their problem is that radical change requires a climate of stability and confidence, the very themes the law and order spin is undermining.

Moreover, Labor is buidling on the theme with their own campaign highlighting their not insignificant achievements on law and order, like the nation's toughest knife laws.

On one level the Coalition's increasingly whacky campaign platform is an admission that the Carr Government has captured the centre ground during its first term.

It is also the natural result of the ascendancy of the Coalition dries over the wets which was personified in Chikarovski's open-Christmas coup over the more moderate Peter Collins.

The difficulty this presents for Chikarovski is that it is she who must articulate the case for change; and to do so she must dominate the news cycles, particularly the nightly TV news.

While Chikka's performances are said to be improving, the press gallery is still placing bets on when she'll break down in a media conference. They say she is tense, often trembling, and struggles to deal with left-field questions.

As long as she holds it together, this is manageable, the nightly grabs are so short that a lack of polish can be papered over. But if this nervousness crosses the threshold and becomes an official 'gaffe', then her campaign will hit trouble.

Remember TV news is all about images: big announcements, good pictures, gaffes and scandals. They are the images that provide the context for the all-important marginal seat campaigns.

For a Party advocating radical change, this requires a constant stream of credible images and persuasive messages, that engender faith in the aspirant leader's ability to deliver change without pain. Without them they will flounder.

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Issue 3 contents

Interview: How Organising Works
The ACTU�s Sarah Kaine is part of a new breed of union organiser who help workers stand up for themselves.

Unions: Big Boys Bank on Mergers
Mergers of the big banks are back on the agenda, and the Finance Sector Union is leading the community campaign against them.

History: Commemorating Our Dear Departed Equal Pay Activists
Two women who deserve special recognition and commemoration as part of our Women's Day celebrations are Eileen Powell and Edna Ryan, both of who played a crucial role in the struggle for equal pay.

Legal: New Judge Announces Zero Tolerance Of Pay Inequity In NSW
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission is training its sights on industrial raw-deals for women, and targeting the traditional under-valuation of women's work.

Review: Keep the Australia in Australian Television.
Local content quotas for Australian television are under threat from our Kiwi cousins.

Campaign Diary: Radical Conservatives Raise Their Own Bar
This Monday writs are issued for the state election, The phoney campaign ends and the real one begins; and the issue of stability, the need for it and the lack of it, is set to dominate the next four weeks.

» Unions Win Virtual Access To The Workplace

» Shaw To Snip At Gender Pay Gaps

» Living Wage - Round One To Unions

» Workers Fight Hotel Chain's Contracts Push

» No Picnic, No Pay

» The Modern Day Tales Of Robin Hood

» Nothing Casual About Woolies Drivers

» Unionists Flex Muscles for a Gay Time