http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gillard-takes-on-abbott-in-the-populis...

Simon Crean had a pleasant surprise this week. He fronted up for an interview with the ABC's Fran Kelly and wasn't asked a single question about the Labor leadership and the incessant speculation that Julia Gillard's prime ministership is under imminent threat, or the divisive debate over ''foreign workers'', or the backlash against Labor's proposed media reforms.

Instead, Crean was pressed on the detail of Creative Australia, the nation's first cultural policy in almost two decades - a plan several years in the making, funded by new spending of almost $200 million, that Crean maintains joins the dots on a range of Labor priorities, from ending indigenous disadvantage and improving education to engaging with Asia and creating jobs.

''I was expecting all sorts of questions. I only got questions on cultural policy,'' Crean told his audience at the National Press Club a few hours later. ''So, when you put a good policy in front of people, when it's got substance, it's got vision, when it's got direction, people will talk about that and not be worried by the white noise [on leadership etc]. We should build support for this and embed it in a way that it is impervious from whatever change of government may happen.''

The answer was revealing on two counts: the contrast with the way other policies, like the plan for media reform, had been developed and announced, and the implicit recognition that the odds are stacked heavily against Labor retaining power at the election that Gillard has called for September 14.

If Crean's cultural policy was a case study in ticking the boxes (even if he conceded he would have preferred to announce it much earlier), Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's presentation of his media reforms was one in how not to win friends or influence people - inadequate consultation, poor explanation and a take-it-or-leave-it deadline of barely a week.

The plan was described, aptly enough, by opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull as a ''complete dog's breakfast''. But it wasn't the main focus of debate in Parliament.

That distinction, once again, fell to the debate on asylum seekers and foreign workers - and the populist and cynical politics played by the opposition on the former and the government on the latter. The conflation of the two was encapsulated neatly in one question to the PM from Tony Abbott in question time on Thursday: ''Isn't immigration by boat, rather than skilled migration, the biggest immigration rort happening under her government?''

Aussie wrote on Mar 16^th, 2013 at 7:46pm:



There's a thread on Creative Australia?

Aussie wrote on Mar 16^th, 2013 at 8:10pm:



If you don't like creative Australia then that's your problem!!

Why is Crean right?

Because for the passed 2 years - week in week out people have been speculating out the Labor leadership.

Why?

Because Labor has no other fresh message or ideas for the people they are supposed to govern for.

When the polls are bad - the go back to Workchoices

When the polls are worst - they go back to Abbott when he was a student.

At what stage does this Labor government come up with new ideas or at least allow others to come up with new ideas without M2 the ideas.

This is why Labor is toxic. This is why Labor is a parasite on this society.

In 5 years the best Labor has to offer are what?

NDIS??

It has buggered up everything else!!

So leading into the 2013 - voters would love to see new and fresh ideas.

Not like the ones in recent times that are based on rubbery figures.

I think the gillard camp started the latest rumor.

she needed to walk tall " I am still the ONE"..

for a moment it took the failure of the Rooty Hill experience off the front pages..a bit like Keatings Republic warcry when he needed to get out of the kitchen

[off the front page]

Yep..what would we do without thousands of Irish tradies and Eastern European prostitutes coming into the country on 457 visas.
We know it makes sense