The Australian politics thread

[benchmark00]

[Burgey]

Been tried and failed before.

[benchmark00]

Been tried and failed before.

So has Luke Burt, doesn't stop the Eels selecting him week in and week out.

[Burgey]

Luke Burt's a gun tbf. Very good player.

Would trade Brendan Oake for a Hungry Jack's flame grilled Whopper though.

[Jono]

Piers?

Haha he is entertaining, must be said.

[stephen]

Turnbull calling it like it is.

[benchmark00]

Yeah, Turnbull dropping some truth torpedos #Winning.

[benchmark00]

Good to see Tanner is still an arrogant ****.

What a knob, I mean the **** writes a book on how the media has too much control over how politicians are viewed and what the public hears, then he goes on a political show and chooses what he will and will not answer. GFY.

[Redbacks]

Bolt will probably suffer from the same issue Sam Newman would if he didn't have 'them' to hold him back.

In my view:

a)They state a view of small scope that isn't factually incorrect, but then use poor induction to skew the claim and extend their view.
b) they play the battler card against people who are most likely quite well informed by attacking the fact that this person is conflicted in some way
c) they win pity and the support of cynical listeners

Repeat weekly = Successful Career. If he's pulling the strings then he is responsible for the topics, and should be able to set the tone i.e. it may not be info-tainment any more.

[howardj]

Warm the pies, cool the tinnies...it's Budget Night boys!

[Mr Casson]

Swan looks at the end of his tether and it's just flicked over to 9am. He's going to be a wreck tonight.

[Burgey]

Swan looks at the end of his tether and it's just flicked over to 9am. He's going to be a wreck tonight.

Will have his usual routine... Light breakfast, coffee and OJ. Down to the physio for a massage mid-morning, load up on carbs at lunch. Last minute video session in the arvo, bus to the ground, warm up.. Then game time.

[howardj]

Hanker for the Budget days of Tip Costello myself, when you could sit out on your driveway on Budget night and catch the middle-class largesse as he shovelled it off the back of the gravy train.

It's a big day for Treasuer's though. You're in Budget lockup all day - explaining the Budget in excruciating detail to the Press Gallery while they try to trip you up with gotcha questions. Then there's the performance pressure of delivering your speech to Parliament. This is followed by an intense round of media interviews that night. Then the following days are taken up in interviews and gruelling business lunches where you have to answer questions without making a slip up. Peter Costello once described it as sitting a week long exam.

[Burgey]

Apparently Swanny will be on with either Alan or Ray tomorrow morning. They'll give him a fair go and clear air to explain it all, I'm sure.

[Mr Casson]

Just finished watching Q&A from last night. What I first read of Lindsay Tanner's 'sideshow' talk left me with the impression that his crusade was against politicians' handling of the 24/7 media cycle, but last night he was evidently coming down harder on the media for perpetrating it. Whether that was a diversion from what he originally said or what he was more or less saying from the start I don't know as I've only read a small snippet of his book.

At any rate, he's lost the plot if he thinks he can tell the media how to do their jobs and which issues to focus on. Commercial media is going to keep doing what it always has, which is sell newspaper and capture audiences, even if the content it carries lacks substance. Tanner would say that it's impossible because the media are the real culprits, but getting politicians to change the way they handle the 24/7 news cycle is a far more achievable outcome, and really the only option available to anyone who wants to change the situation.

I've got a lot of respect for the man, but if he feels so strongly about the issue, and if he has any friends left in parliament, he should be following up what he's been saying in public with some encouragement to the people at the center of the 'sideshow' to take some initiative.