I got this email from someone with whom I’ve been having an enjoyable correspondence for the last few months (though I’ve never physically met him). He’s an Australian, living overseas, in his twenties or perhaps early thirties (I’m guessing) and is ideologically predisposed right of centre parties. (I continue to imagine that I’m not really left leaning, but that my preferences towards the ALP over the Coalition are because the Coalition are so uninterested in policy and therefore just bad at it. But I know lots of readers won’t believe me, and they may be right.)
Anyway, I have his permission to reproduce his email to me.
Nicholas,
I don’t believe I have ever witnessed such a backward and chaotic start to an election campaign as has come from the Liberal Party. How can the party of business with people who have “real world” experience lack basic organisational leadership? In a party populated with lawyers and wannabe MBAs they are looking more like the keystone cops than professionals.
People considered the UK Labour campaign to be poor but at least they knew that local party organisation is crucial if the party lacks the financial horsepower for advertising. The Liberals (esp. LNP) look and sound chaotic in comparison without financial strength and little strategic or organisational ability to back candidates
Maybe you should run a post on your blog asking how the Liberal Party can be trusted running the country if they cannot run an election campaign?
Cruel but fair. It’s certainly been pretty lacklustre. Today the Libs proposed a change in the Electoral Act which would render nugatory a section of an act that yesterday promised never to change. Never ever.
They may be wrong. I imagine similarly.
“my preferences towards the ALP over the Coalition are because the Coalition are so uninterested in policy”
That may be the fine dividing line between left leaners and conservatives Nic. A certain restlessness for new policy form over the functional day to day management bump and grind. Grocerywatch, Fuelwatch, computers for kids, Pink Batts, BER, solar feed-in, green inspectors for green loans and the great moral imperative were certainly interesting and sometimes exciting policies but may ultimately have suffered from a distinct lack of temporal interest by the new policymakers themselves. OTOH conservatives may be less interested in new policy because they know the devil’s in the detail which is perhaps why our lefty PM is clutching for previous boat arrival policy nowadays i.e. the messy details have already been worked out for her. OTOH there was conservative Joe Hockey explaining to a restless red Kerry that biz was mainly telling him they’d had enough of change for the time being and to leave IR alone.
Oh, I almost forgot the RSPT too in all the excitement.
So did Kev by all accounts but he’s like one of those workers who asks for a reference upon leaving and you say ‘Get them to ring me for a reference’ and when they do its- ‘Ah yes Kev..a bright young chap and full of bright ideas but umm..aah..lacks a certain attention to detail and stickability if you know where I’m coming from?’..’Thanks’..click!