[csaa-forum] election result

[Shane Homan]

Hi, 

I've been viewing this debate from the temp. vantage point of Liverpool, UK, where many news items have appeared about how Australia does policy 'better' - the Blair government is looking at our policies on pensions (superannuation), education and health as the models to follow. We're now exporting ways to sell and manage the transfer of public responsibilities to the private.

In terms of 'the loss of the west' for Labor, what hasn't been reported /researched is the strategic use of the media in their western suburbs seats in Sydney. Jackie Kelly spent substantial sums to place a 2 page liftout in the Penrith Press newspaper every week ('Kelly Country) which displayed her 'westie' credentials as a local member: Jackie playing pool at the local pub; Jackie walking her children; 'Protecting Medicare', etc. This has masked the occasional slips that reveal her real thoughts: Jackie advised her low-wage electorate to hire a cleaner if domestic fights arise from housework; Jackie countered the decline in higher education funding by telling the media her electorate weren't too fussed about university education. 

I've witnessed the transfer in my own family in this electorate from being solid Labor voters, to Lib / One Nation voters (sounds like an Oprah confessional), where people have long memories; the "17 per cent interest rates" under Hawke/Keating confronts wider appeals to policies of more colective ambition. As Don Watson has noted, everyone is 'aspirational' - yet even with a lad from Green Valley as its leader, Labor has been, I suspect, outwitted in both substance and style (and I'm not talking about a preference for Meatloaf over Britney here!)

cheers
shane

Dr Shane Homan
Cultural Industries & Practices Research Centre
School of Social Sciences
University of Newcastle
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia
Ph: 61 - 2 - 4921 6787
Shane.Homan at newcastle.edu.au
fax: 61 - 2 - 4921 7402

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