"It's more time: a jingle that jangles" SMH 18/2/0
Feb 20, 2007 7:55:56 GMT 10
Post by dededom on Feb 20, 2007 7:55:56 GMT 10
*Comment: Well, if Damien and/or his management thought this was an appearance only event, not to be used for party political purposes, I'm not sure they were entirely successful*
*hint - I have bolded/underlined the relevant parts*
It's more time: a jingle that jangles![]()
Sydney Morning Herald
Anne Davies
www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/its-more-time-a-jingle-that-jangles/2007/02/18/1171733609472.html
www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/02/18/mucci_wideweb__470x426,2.jpg[/img]
It appears there's a new political party in NSW. Its livery is lavender and yellow, and its leader is a family man named Morris Iemma, with four children and a telegenic wife called Santina. The Iemma Party was formed just 18 months ago. Its platform is family, faith and community. Hard to argue with those values.
At least that's the impression strangers to NSW politics would have formed if they had attended the Labor Party's launch for its campaign to win a fourth term of government at Hurstville Entertainment Centre yesterday.
The only Labor logos in sight were in the hall where the coffee and tea were served after the event. No doubt that was so the media couldn't claim that there were no Labor logos at all.
And there were certainly no Labor luminaries, except Johnno Johnson. There was especially no Bob Carr, who led the party in office for a record 10 and a bit years.
This is just the latest chapter in Labor's attempt to disown its past and reinvent its history.
The website for the Iemma Party is the same. There's a tiny Labor logo in the bottom-left corner of the home page, scarcely more visible than a channel's watermark on your television screen.
Labor's focus groups are telling the party that people in NSW are still very angry at the 10 years of inaction during the Carr regime, when the key measures on services such as public transport and health went backwards and not forwards.
The trains ran later and later until they reached crisis point. The hospital waiting lists remained entrenched and emergency wards were often full, prompting ambulances to be sent between hospitals in search of beds on the weekends.
In fairness to Carr, there were some significant achievements: smaller class sizes in schools, repayment of state debt, a network of tollways built by the private sector and better wages for teachers, nurses and police.
The Opposition Leader, Peter Debnam, is fond of asking where the money went. Well, it went into repaying debt and paying increased wages - two things he supported.
But, at the same time, it's now clear the Government took its eye off the ball when it came to ensuring that the public's other major interfaces with state government - transport, utilities and hospitals - were up to scratch.
So Iemma's big challenge is to convince you, the voter, that he has the recipe to fix the problems left by the other bloke. (It must have been another Iemma in cabinet.)
The first message is to tell you that Iemma is new and different and he's only been in the job for 18 months. Step two is to tell you he's a hard worker with a plan, and step three is to tell you that he needs more time.
Yesterday's launch might have been "a small community gathering" but it was an event carefully crafted to deliver these three key messages to the television-viewing public, who will see just three minutes at best.
The lavender was chosen because it looks good on TV. The Australian Idol winner Damien Leith, who sang at the event, is wholesome and appeals to young voters, while the school students on stage spoke to the Government's strong suit - education.
The slogan encapsulates two of the messages, while Iemma's beautiful twin boys and his parents, and an old schoolteacher, speak volumes about those intangible elements that he wants to convey: family, faith, community.
The speech was suitably humble and talked of the big plans he has in water and education.
The Iemma cabinet, several members of which were booed by a small demonstration of anti-development protesters as they entered the hall, were safely scattered through the audience and out of harm's way.
Only John Watkins, who carried his three-year-old as well, was prominent in proceedings.
So Iemma needs time. The problem is that this campaign may not give it to him. On March 7 the December quarter national accounts will be made public, and they will also include breakdowns of state activity. NSW has already recorded one quarter of negative growth, and a second quarter of negative growth will allow the Opposition to argue that NSW is in a technical recession.
It's hard to know what the numbers will bring, but there have been few signs that NSW picked up in the lead-up to Christmas. Housing starts have remained flat and retail sales have struggled.
Debnam is banking on bad figures on March 7 to really drive home one of his key messages: that Labor has had long enough, and that it has sent the economy into a tailspin.
The last two weeks of this campaign are certain to get pretty ugly, with each party preparing to spend up big on negative advertising messages.
From the Opposition, it will be a familiar reprise on the poor public transport and hospitals, but with the added potency of a flagging NSW economy compared with other states.
In the hothouse of the campaign, it will be far more difficult for Iemma to combat with his usual refrain: that its the Federal Government's interest rates and not his policies that are to blame.
Labor will also turn to the negative, with an almighty scare campaign about job cuts in the public service.
So it's no wonder Iemma was basking in the rosy glow of a room full of friends and relatives yesterday. He's got to hope he can bank enough positive sentiment now to ride out the wave of bad news that will hit him in the final two weeks.
Anne Davies is the Herald's state political editor.
*hint - I have bolded/underlined the relevant parts*
It's more time: a jingle that jangles
Sydney Morning Herald
Anne Davies
www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/its-more-time-a-jingle-that-jangles/2007/02/18/1171733609472.html
www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/02/18/mucci_wideweb__470x426,2.jpg[/img]
It appears there's a new political party in NSW. Its livery is lavender and yellow, and its leader is a family man named Morris Iemma, with four children and a telegenic wife called Santina. The Iemma Party was formed just 18 months ago. Its platform is family, faith and community. Hard to argue with those values.
At least that's the impression strangers to NSW politics would have formed if they had attended the Labor Party's launch for its campaign to win a fourth term of government at Hurstville Entertainment Centre yesterday.
The only Labor logos in sight were in the hall where the coffee and tea were served after the event. No doubt that was so the media couldn't claim that there were no Labor logos at all.
And there were certainly no Labor luminaries, except Johnno Johnson. There was especially no Bob Carr, who led the party in office for a record 10 and a bit years.
This is just the latest chapter in Labor's attempt to disown its past and reinvent its history.
The website for the Iemma Party is the same. There's a tiny Labor logo in the bottom-left corner of the home page, scarcely more visible than a channel's watermark on your television screen.
Labor's focus groups are telling the party that people in NSW are still very angry at the 10 years of inaction during the Carr regime, when the key measures on services such as public transport and health went backwards and not forwards.
The trains ran later and later until they reached crisis point. The hospital waiting lists remained entrenched and emergency wards were often full, prompting ambulances to be sent between hospitals in search of beds on the weekends.
In fairness to Carr, there were some significant achievements: smaller class sizes in schools, repayment of state debt, a network of tollways built by the private sector and better wages for teachers, nurses and police.
The Opposition Leader, Peter Debnam, is fond of asking where the money went. Well, it went into repaying debt and paying increased wages - two things he supported.
But, at the same time, it's now clear the Government took its eye off the ball when it came to ensuring that the public's other major interfaces with state government - transport, utilities and hospitals - were up to scratch.
So Iemma's big challenge is to convince you, the voter, that he has the recipe to fix the problems left by the other bloke. (It must have been another Iemma in cabinet.)
The first message is to tell you that Iemma is new and different and he's only been in the job for 18 months. Step two is to tell you he's a hard worker with a plan, and step three is to tell you that he needs more time.
Yesterday's launch might have been "a small community gathering" but it was an event carefully crafted to deliver these three key messages to the television-viewing public, who will see just three minutes at best.
The lavender was chosen because it looks good on TV. The Australian Idol winner Damien Leith, who sang at the event, is wholesome and appeals to young voters, while the school students on stage spoke to the Government's strong suit - education.
The slogan encapsulates two of the messages, while Iemma's beautiful twin boys and his parents, and an old schoolteacher, speak volumes about those intangible elements that he wants to convey: family, faith, community.
The speech was suitably humble and talked of the big plans he has in water and education.
The Iemma cabinet, several members of which were booed by a small demonstration of anti-development protesters as they entered the hall, were safely scattered through the audience and out of harm's way.
Only John Watkins, who carried his three-year-old as well, was prominent in proceedings.
So Iemma needs time. The problem is that this campaign may not give it to him. On March 7 the December quarter national accounts will be made public, and they will also include breakdowns of state activity. NSW has already recorded one quarter of negative growth, and a second quarter of negative growth will allow the Opposition to argue that NSW is in a technical recession.
It's hard to know what the numbers will bring, but there have been few signs that NSW picked up in the lead-up to Christmas. Housing starts have remained flat and retail sales have struggled.
Debnam is banking on bad figures on March 7 to really drive home one of his key messages: that Labor has had long enough, and that it has sent the economy into a tailspin.
The last two weeks of this campaign are certain to get pretty ugly, with each party preparing to spend up big on negative advertising messages.
From the Opposition, it will be a familiar reprise on the poor public transport and hospitals, but with the added potency of a flagging NSW economy compared with other states.
In the hothouse of the campaign, it will be far more difficult for Iemma to combat with his usual refrain: that its the Federal Government's interest rates and not his policies that are to blame.
Labor will also turn to the negative, with an almighty scare campaign about job cuts in the public service.
So it's no wonder Iemma was basking in the rosy glow of a room full of friends and relatives yesterday. He's got to hope he can bank enough positive sentiment now to ride out the wave of bad news that will hit him in the final two weeks.
Anne Davies is the Herald's state political editor.
We could already guess that his good image and popularity must have had something to do with them asking him.