Egg on their faces

Friday, 20th August 2010

Win or lose, Tony Abbott has confounded Canberra and his Labor and media critics, argues James Paterson

In an article two weeks ago, The Australian’s Paul Kelly revealed that Rudd Government insiders privately greeted Abbott’s election as Liberal leader with glee, so confident they had his measure. A number were confident enough to do so publicly.

Take the Australian Workers Union boss and once teenage Trotskyite, Paul Howes, who didn’t hold back the day Abbott was elected leader, predicting that Abbott would be as successful as Liberal Leader as Barry Goldwater was as the Republican Party’s Presidential candidate in 1964. (Goldwater won just six states against Democrat Lyndon Johnson).

Or consider former ALP National Secretary Tim Gartrell, who shrugged off the threat posed by Abbott with the quip ‘now I know how the Libs felt when we made Latham leader.’

Bruce Hawker, supposedly the Labor Party’s premier strategist, even predicted the Liberal Party could split, as the ALP had done in the 1950s, with Malcolm Turnbull leading ‘new’ Liberals, which would devastate the ‘old’ Liberal Party.

Michael Costello, a long-serving senior Labor staffer, forecast just days after Gillard was elected Labor Leader that she ‘will win the next election and she will be Prime Minister of this country for a long time.’ Graham Richardson echoed that in these pages, divining that she would only step down as Prime Minister eight or ten years down the track. They may both still be right, but would be brave to repeat it after such a competitive campaign.

The Canberra Press Gallery has not covered itself with glory, either.

One suspects that Peter Van Onselen, contributing editor at The Australian, is already regretting these words: ‘Here is my prediction and I am well aware I will be held to account for it. Julia Gillard won’t just win the next election, she will increase Labor’s majority.’

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Eric

August 20th, 2010 2:57am Report this comment

Great article - spot on!

All too often, the media get away with making predictions to which they are not held accountable.

The press gallery are the ones who are supposed to be clued in and switched on, yet their attitude towards Tony Abbott demonstrates just how out of touch they are.

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