[csaa-forum] election result

[Ian Stuart]

I find it somewhat troubling that a supposed Labour Government 
(Blair's) is looking at the models of a right wing government (Howard's)
for ideas on how things should be done!!!

What I find troubling that, if this is the case, then does it actually
matter which side wins?

Ian Stuart

>>> Shane.Homan at newcastle.edu.au 13/10/2004 5:04:28 a.m. >>>
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

Reviews Editor, Perfect Beat:
the pacific journal of research into contemporary music & popular
culture

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