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Text of the page (random words):
and has since changed it was clearly different from the one it held previously although this change of position has been justified by malcolm turnbull on the grounds that things have changed since being in government it looked like an attempt to wedge the government for political advantage the government too uses question time to score political points via dorothy dixers as backbenchers read often in a stumbling manner a question written elsewhere and designed to give the responder an opening to attack the opposition the object is transparently clear the nt intervention initially had bipartisan support but by springing on brendan nelson during the apology an announcement of a bipartisan war cabinet kevin rudd quietly wedged him and when nelson nominated mal brough to that group and rudd rejected that nomination a pattern of adversarial conflict over this important initiative began which may destroy what promised to be unique and valuable bipartisanship adversarial press conferences and doorstops it s not just question time that provides an opportunity for adversarial politics the day after the federal parliament rose it was announced that head of treasury ken henry was taking five weeks leave during which he intended to spend time in a northern hairy nosed wombat sanctuary in queensland in a press conference wayne swan said that henry had worked day and night since the election right through the christmas period and that anyone working at such intensity with a busy schedule ahead needed a restorative break did brendan nelson who had roundly criticized rudd for placing the public service under work pressure commend him for granting henry leave no determined to score a political point he queried the wisdom of granting leave at what he considered to be a busy time and using a clever quip continued i m concerned about who is going to look after the muddle headed treasurer and he wasn t joking malcolm turnbull did likewise this exhibition of adversarial speak is another example why many despair of our political system always being contrary consistently taking the opposite position no matter what brings politicians into disrepute voters are smart enough to see the hypocrisy of this sort of behaviour yet politicians persist with it as if they somehow live in a bubble into which ordinary folk cannot critically gaze no wonder the electorate has become so cynical in an arranged doorstop we saw greg hunt fabricate a scary scenario from insubstantial data and suspect assumptions about the effect on petrol prices of a rudd government emissions trading scheme he insisted prices could rise by 10 20 even 30 cents a litre having concocted this tragic scene he then demanded the government guarantee that compensation would ensure that no one would be worse off with such a scheme the fact that this adversarial line was based on a flimsy proposition that was not in accord with the facts was of no importance its purpose was to provide a launching pad for an adversarial attack it llustrated the time honoured axiom of political life that truth is irrelevant perception is all that counts adversarial probing journalists at doorstops and press conferences and particularly radio talkback hosts and tv interviewers have become patently combative and at times downright aggressive and rude in interviewing politicians while we all want probing interviewers with the courage to challenge politicians their stated policies and their utterances why do journalists persist ad nauseam in asking questions that no prudent politician would or should answer recently fairfax media s neil mitchell tried to push the pm into answering what petrol would cost after the introduction of an emissions trading scheme despite being told by rudd that until the garnaut report was public and the government s green paper on the subject published no details could or would be given general comments by rudd about making the scheme as wide as possible were not sufficient for mitchell he aggressively insisted the pm answer his unrealistic question adversarial politics talkback style perhaps as a reaction to adversarial probing there are two words that are seldom used by politicians yes and no peter costello managed to avoid using them for years instead preferring let me make this point frustrated interviewers yearn for those blessed unequivocal words yet seldom hear them instead they so often get a long and convoluted response that doesn t answer the question and when it occasionally does a simple yes or no would have saved everyone a lot of time and irritation less adversarial probing might evoke a more forthcoming response abc s 774 radio host jon faine and abc tv s kerry o brien and tony jones are devotees of the will you guarantee or will you rule out syndromes hoping for a gotcha moment sometimes it s justified but at times it s sheer harassment in an effort to get a scoop while this approach may appeal to viewers when a politician of their non preferred party is being besieged it is still adversarial politics media style does our political discourse no favours and unnecessarily belittles our politicians that they put up with such verbal assaults is to their enduring credit adversarial journalism news bulletins can subtly engage in adversarial journalism with the words they choose a recent instance followed abc s lateline on 27 june where rod cameron said that given the current popularity of kevin rudd and his high level of public support he had about a year to promote his vision of an emissions trading scheme after which it would be much more difficult it was reported the next day on abc 774 morning news as time is running out for pm rudd to introduce an emissions trading scheme this impression of urgency is not what cameron portrayed a news writer s inaccurate take on the lateline piece cast cameron s comment in a different and erroneous light is this just careless reporting or does it reflect adversarial journalism countless examples of this type of reporting occur every day for an illustration of the difference between adversarial journalism and abalanced orientation to writing glimpse at four articles from the weekend australian of june 28 29 for balanced un emotive pieces that eschew pejorative comments see paul kelly s t he rudd alliance lenore taylor s t axpayers mugged through their children and mike steketee s they will be missed contrast these articles free of adversarial language with dennis shanahan s page one piece climate change splinters kevin rudd cabinet you don t have to go beyond the headlines and the first two paragraphs to see phrases like split on carbon costs deepest divisions over policy and politics since the election of the rudd government concerns are being aired there may be some truth in these adversarial statements but little supporting evidence is offered readers just have to take dennis at his word the language of adversarial politics language fashions and changes perceptions in adversarial politics exaggerated language is used to embarrass put down demean or diminish it is designed to give the user a win or an advantage over the other there are many examples back flip and its colourful variants back flip with double pike back down about face or the more benign about turn or u turn are terms used to indicate a change of mind or a different approach politicians are entitled to change their minds in the face of new evidence different thinking or changed circumstances the opposite sticking stubbornly to an outdated or untenable position is foolish so why not use terms such as change of mind or different approach or new tactic or changed attitude or revised position i expect journalists would see that as too wimpy adversarial columnists enjoy describing ideas proposals or political structures with which they disagree as being in tatters in disarray even a shambles or in chaos dennis shanahan often uses such terms to portray rudd initiatives that he considers faulty or failures these terms imply a disastrous turn of events yet usually nothing catastrophic has occurred so why not use less confronting terms parliamentarians making submissions to cabinet are sometimes unsuccessful the proposal is declined or deferred the individual is then described by journalists as having been rolled or humiliated or has rolled over and painted as a loser the inelegant terms me too and me too ism used throughout the 2007 campaign have a pejorative nuance implying a copy cat approach the product of a paucity of original ideas the words are applied by journalists when politicians indicate this is our policy and so we agree or we agree with that policy or that sounds like a good idea we ll adopt it no one has exclusive access to good ideas so why use uncomplimentary terms to describe those who adopt the good ideas of others more me too ism would be an agreeable antidote to unrelenting adversarial politics slogans and mantras slogans are part and parcel of the language of adversarial politics stunts gimmicks symbolism all style and no substance are frequently used control freak is another that has been applied to kevin rudd julie bishop used this slogan with gusto in trying to implicate rudd in the so called cover up of the belinda neal affair on the abc s lateline on 27 june john hewson who is no longer in politics and who usually gives a balanced commentary mouthed control freak time and again the slogan had firmly stuck in his mind and he worked it relentlessly yet what evidence has been proffered to support the control freak mantra it seems that all that can be gleaned so far is that written statements for distribution to the public are cleared through rudd s office is that unreasonable is it a serious restriction or is it a sensible approach to transmitting consistent messages to the public alternatives to control freak could have been having his finger on the pulse or aware of everything that is going on or directing traffic but they would not have had the desired affect that pejorative labelling achieves slogans and mantras are used because they work start a catchy slogan and soon many will be mindlessly repeating it it doesn t have to have much or even any substance so long as it sounds believable look out for the latest nelson quip mr rudd is all backswing no follow through is adversarial politics damaging our democracy those who despise adversarial politics find it to be contemptible a damaging affliction on our political system they resent the stifling impediments it places on governing on governments carrying out what they promised the electorate they would do they see it as focused on winning on gaining a political advantage rather than telling or establishing the truth or contributing usefully to the discourse it sets the teeth of the electorate on edge which turns off in despair voters would prefer politicians to be open and upfront more focussed on the good of the nation less willing to corrupt the usually worthy principles that brought them into politics in the first place adversarial politics may be an important reason the public has turned away from politics and has become cynical about the motivation and behaviour of politicians is there an antidote one would hope there might be in the new series on abc tv q a opposing politicians have shown that free from their party s line they can discuss all manner of topics sensibly and sensitively although they lapse occasionally into party slogans and indulge in point scoring most of the time they show how productively they are able to work together what a joy it is to hear politicians of different persuasions agreeing with one another or giving credit we are told that this is often the case when they are off camera in parliament in routine debate why could this not be the norm political discourse would be so much more productive and creative if deliberations were more collaborative more mutually cooperative more accommodating if the good ideas from all sides were accepted acknowledged and pooled what can we ordinary citizens do we might be able to bring about change if we who pay our politicians wages via taxes raise our voices against the use of exaggerated depreciatory derogatory and dishonest language by politicians commentators and columnists while the media might miss the theatre and the good copy adversarial politics provides the public would applaud a more measured approach free from the burden of adversarial behaviour so wasteful so unproductive so distasteful we could write to our parliamentarians individually or getup could get up a petition it might attract strong support responders to this piece may have other suggestions sadly though if history tells us anything any change for the better is probably a vain hope ad astra can be contacted at ad dots astra5 iati bigpond dots com posted in uncategorized 29 comments is australia s dead centre about to turn green posted by possum comitatus on july 10 2008 by ghandi the latest embarrassing shennanigans in nsw politics perfectly illustrate how the left in australia has now moved so far to the centre i e centre right that the right can barely distinguish itself the right has only itself to blame of course having moved so far towards the ultra right over the past decade that there is nowhere left for them to go but pauline hanson country so now we have weak liberal and national oppositions in the states and at the federal level that s not a good look for a democracy is it it creates the strong impression of a virtual one party state but this is what 21st century western democracy looks like it s the same thing in britain and the usa the corporate elite pull the levers the lobbyists push the deals the media hypes the message and the politicians face the cameras to catapult the propaganda voters get to choose between big business or big business lite and any other option is ridiculed of course the whole country has moved a long way to the right since john howard first took power and of course howard s friends in the media had a lot to do with engineering that social change just look how alan jones cheered on the cronulla beach race riots for example or how big media yes it s globalised now hyped the illegal invasion of iraq we australians have embraced the privatisation of everything that used to be publicly owned including the rocks and minerals beneath our feet nobody asks why we still pay just as much or more tax despite the government off loading all these responsibilities it s not politically correct nowadays to make such observations or to ask why tertiary eduction is now unaffordable to so many etc etc in this political environment there is only one australian party which retains the socialist ideals of the left and that is the greens so why haven t the greens been getting more public support particularly given the growing prominence of climate issues aside from some valid criticism of internal greens politics over the years i think there is only...