Parliament back. And they're off ... really off

Parliament has only been back for two days and already we're witnessing the election in full swing.

The PR opportunities (aka photo ops) are abundant.

Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott has been filmed 1. on the roof of a house looking at solar panels (climate change) and 2. in a supermarket with Joe Hockey talking about food prices (economy and the battlers). Their conversation was pathetic.

And all the while, we have the ubiquitous PR minders nodding approvingly in the background. Get out of shot, people.

At this stage I'm ready to switch off. Then again, I'd still have to look at the stills in the Papers.

Picture: Ray Strange, The Australian.

Rudd "smart" on climate change

That Kevin Rudd is a clever fella. He's bagged other nations to make it appear as though he's tough on greenhouse emissions, knowing the others would never reach the targets. This makes Australia appear to be the world policeman on emissions. More importantly, it makes Rudd look like a concerned citizen at home. It's all about the next election, of course. Countries are only concerned about their domestic affairs.

Rudd's blog fails the democracy test

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has dived deeper into cyberspace with his blog. This follows his folksy tweeting.

Unfortunately, the blog is a cynical and futile exercise because (a) it is not really his blog, and (b) it is not democratic.

Is anyone gullible enough to believe he produces it? Sure, he may write the occasional post, but he has plenty of PR people to do the technical hackwork, and reading and vetting comments.

I joined the throng and made my first comment on climate change ... and was rejected – presumably because I had a link to my web site.

However, that's where the democratic nature of the web is being usurped by the PM. Allowing a free and frank flow of information is essential on the Net, and in any healthy democracy. If the PM can't stand the heat, the he should get out of the kitchen.

As I mentioned, he's not really monitoring it, as any blogger worth their weight in words does.

Personally, I'm not really interested in what simply appears to be another PR exercise, aimed in re-election.

prLAB

Election a PR bore

I’ve refrained from too much comment on the forthcoming Australian election. But as we near the end, with six days of campaigning remaining, I’ve faltered. I’m fed up and bored.

Following Labor’s campaign “launch” (again) today I could not help but feel how uninspiring it all is – and not just Labor. Kevin Rudd was monotone (bla, blah, blah). So was Howard.

There is nothing visionary about either Party. It’s simply come down to a series of daily pork-barrelling promises, accompanied by the ritual PR photo opportunity. Stock-standard and boring. Does anyone remember what Howard promised yesterday.

It’s all simplistic spin – fairy floss for the masses. Where is the substance and the leadership? It’s just about spending, in turn fuelling inflation (there goes your tax cuts, folks). Come to think of it, where's the imagination?

Despite this lack of lustre, and our ability to radically change our direction, we will continue to vote as lemmings – Labor or Liberal.

Into the election

We're just finishing week one of six in the federal election campaign, highlighted by John Howard's promise of tax cuts and a negative advertising campaign. Opposition leader Kevin Rudd has shown nothing, except a nice wardrobe.

I would have thought Rudd could have matched Howard's $34 billion "promise" with a counter plan to spend the equivalent on government services, such as health, education, water, roads (well, maybe rail).

People have indicated they would rather the government spend money that way. Rudd should be pushing the line that by the time the tax cuts start next year (and end in 2011), they will be eaten by inflation.

Tax cuts are really a simplistic offer to a mostly gullible public, who can't remember what Howard promised before the last election.

Let's have some real vision. What about de-politicising the Public Service?