THE Federal political contest resumed in earnest this week, being ignited by the "Tent Embassy" fiasco on Australia Day, fuelled by a couple of poor polls for the Government, and with Gillard and Abbott delivering major speeches.
The "Tent Embassy" fiasco could have, and should have, been avoided. Abbott’s initial statement, while probably difficult to avoid some comment as he was responding to a media question without notice, and while probably well meaning, was easily seen as insensitive, especially on what many alternatively call "Invasion Day".
This was then callously whipped up by a Gillard staffer, and a union mate, to create an ill-conceived "protest" outside the Lobby Restaurant, just down from the old Parliament House which, in turn, saw an even more ill-conceived response (read: over-reaction) from Gillard’s "Security Forces", which led to her and Abbott being unceremoniously "dragged" from the scene.
In my first-hand experience of such situations, including previous death threats in some cases as well, the best response would have been for Gillard and Abbott to have simply walked out early on in the proceedings and attempt to speak with the emerging crowd, and attempt to answer their questions.
The issue has since been sustained by again ill-conceived and inconsistent "explanations" by Gillard and her union mate as to how and why the issue got so out of hand, leaving doubt and confusion such that Abbott has been able to call for a Federal Police Inquiry.
So the issue will linger, as part of the 24-hour media contest, for even more time, unnecessarily.
The first polls for the new year brought bad news for the Gillard Government, with a minor poll suggesting Rudd was still preferred (by twice as much) to Gillard as Labor Leader/PM, and the main Newspoll suggesting no improvement in the government’s primary vote (stuck at 30 per cent), a further decline in Gillard’s personal satisfaction/performance rating, and a substantial, sustained, election-winning margin for the Opposition.
As expected, these poll results soon reignited leadership speculation publicly and revealed further rumblings in the Labor ranks, all heightened by Simon Crean’s ill-conceived intervention, stating that Rudd could never be PM again.
Clearly, the leadership question is a festering sore on the government that will need to be addressed, sooner rather than later, if they are to have any hope of making a contest out of the next federal election.
Their problem is that the electorate wants Rudd, and his party, especially key members of the caucus, and especially those who instigated the coup against him last time, hate him.
However, the key question is how long will her colleagues continue to follow Gillard off the electoral cliff?
And how long will it take for them to realise, baring Abbott imploding, that neither Shorten, nor Smith, nor Combet, would have much of a show against Abbott anyway.
Indeed, the electorate would easily see failure to return to Rudd as a further slap in their face.
Gillard and Abbott gave good, aspirational speeches attempting to delineate their values, priorities and agendas for 2012, but both were again short on real policy detail.
Nevertheless, the battle lines were clearly drawn, promising more of the same, in what will be a particularly volatile and difficult year when, more than ever, the electorate will look for leadership and good government, not further political game playing.
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