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Canberra Today 21°/24° | Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Moore / Duck spin not what it seems

SPIN is fundamental to success in politics. It has to be right. When the spin goes too far, bordering on the lie, it comes back to bite.

Michael Moore.
Michael Moore.
When there is not enough spin, not effective enough to sell the political message, the political goals are undermined. It is too early to say if Treasurer Joe Hockey and the Coalition have their spin right. However, it certainly is not the disaster of their first Budget.

Some commentators have interpreted the spin as an election budget, one suggesting that “if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck” then that’s what it is, an election Budget.

There certainly are large numbers of features that would lead people to this way of thinking and the Budget does leave the option open for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to call an election if the polling improves.

However, it seems to me that while the duck analogy works – it is a Muscovy rather than a Mallard.

All the hallmarks of an election Budget are there. However, they’re much more about voter proofing for an internal election. Protecting Abbott and Hockey from their own backbench and from voter backlash is more important at the moment than getting ready for a general election.

The spin has been all about “families and fairness”. Compared to the first Budget it is more about families and somewhat fairer, but compared to the Australian sense of a fair go, the Coalition has a long way to go.

The spin of the first election was about financial doom and gloom, when the Coalition would have us believe that the Australian deficit would take years to repair, we were on a downward spiral with our country in dire financial straits and only drastic action across government and community could bring about improvement.

There was no choice but to cut spending to even the most vulnerable as all Australians would have to shoulder their fair share of the burden.

The spin was a disaster. It was sold to the same formula as “stop the boats, end the carbon tax and abolish the mining tax”. The trouble last year was that the latter two (and other) tax breaks were for large companies, while the ordinary Australian family was being asked to shoulder the burden, to be the “lifters”.

Attacks on welfare were not measured and targeted. Almost anyone on welfare was feeling vulnerable in the previous Budget. This year the measures are much more moderate and targeted. This way the ideology of small government and hard work can still be the foundation for the conservatives without offending middle Australia.

However, the cuts will happen. The detail of the Budget is where the angst lies. Just one example from health is that half a billion dollars will come out of the 16 “Health Flexible Funds”. These funds support the provision of essential services in rural, regional and remote Australia. They are used for funding services such as Close the Gap in health outcomes for indigenous Australians, on-the-ground mental health services, managing vital responses to communicable diseases and delivering substance-use treatment services around the country.

Another example of failed spin that attacks families and fairness is the changes to paid parental leave – especially as they impact on public servants. The “double-dipping” comment of the Prime Minister simply does not stand up to scrutiny.

Removing access to the Government scheme according to one commentary “imposes an unexpected and unwarranted financial burden on hard-working families and denies employees access to freely negotiated conditions of employment. Such entitlements are not extraordinarily generous, but do contribute to allowing more time for breastfeeding, bonding, and child development”.

The disastrous image of the first Coalition Budget was so beautifully summed up by the smug comfort of the cigar-smoking Treasurer and his Minister for Finance.

This Budget is unlikely to fall as far into the abyss – but, despite the spin, it is certainly not a Budget “for families” and it is certainly not a Budget that is “fair”.

 

Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health.

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Michael Moore

Michael Moore

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