When it comes to a serious policy debate or true structural reform Kevin Rudd has proven that he is ‘The Spoonman’ of Australian Politics, writes Benjamin Scott.
Max Moore-Wilton has been given many an epithet. “The Axeman”, “Max the Axe”, “The Bureaucratic Terminator”. Okay, I made the last one up. Nonetheless, the respected corporate director and former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet reportedly struck fear into the heart of many a Canberra bureaucrat. As a believer in smaller government and less state intervention I suppose I’ve always considered these sorts of comments a compliment. Our current Prime Minister has also had his fair share of similar comments, mostly relating to staff turnover as opposed to any genuine reform or any net reduction in the bureaucracy. However, I have the sneaking suspicion that Mr Moore-Wilton’s only public policy crime was to deliver some of the more efficient, direct and honest reforms undertaken in the Australian Public Service.
As someone who is frequently tasked with unpacking government communication strategy (that is spin for unspinning the spin) I’ll be completely up front: I absolutely resent how 24 hour and real-time news cycles have resulted in a large net-negative for political debate and public policy in this country. Before I am accused of being completely and utterly politically naïve, I must reassure readers that I am well aware of the inevitable symbiotic relationship between government policy, political debate and the news cycle. It would be futile not to work with it. In fact, even if Nikki Savva is correct in her assessment that political journalism is not much more than a “modern day protection racket”, I still believe it is necessary to work with it. Where I draw the line is being totally controlled by it.
We need look no further than the current Australian Government for numerous examples of this. “Education Revolution”, “the greatest moral challenge of our time”, “root and branch reform” or “the buck stops with me”. These statements, taken on their immediate merit, all sound very worthwhile and admirable. Now take them and place them in the context of the current government and their policy positions. I’ll be gracious and go as far to say the majority of ministers in this government actually deliver the above lines extremely well on the rapidly changing political stage. Yet, it’s when one takes the time to see what is going on behind the curtains and backstage of these performances that we find not much more than a few make-up rooms, a script rehearsal area and a large props closet. Public policy initiatives and the associated communication of them by government have ceased to work with a news cycle; it is now totally controlled by it. The aforementioned sound bites are simply products of it.
Again, I am not so naïve as to suggest this notion has begun with the Rudd Government. This is hardly a new phenomenon as governments of all persuasions have implemented public policy that was influenced by the news cycle and popular opinion, to some degree. It is as old as democracy itself. The difference being those words “to some degree”. What I honestly believe as unique here is that never before have we seen a single government’s initiatives and public policy agenda wholly owned by a news cycle. Whilst there are many commendable efforts from public servants and other third parties to soften this worrying situation, it has quickly reached an unsustainable level and the government is beginning to wear the repercussions.
There is no profound secret to the appeal of a straight-talking Tony Abbott. As is there no doubt that Abbott’s approach visibly irritates Kevin Rudd and his ministers. Witness almost every Abbott announcement that is more often than not considered by mainstream commentary; those talkback listeners, letters to the editor which form suburban ‘kitchen cabinets’. It is here that you would be politically naïve in the extreme to begrudge a politician for utilising all communication strategies within reach to promote such an image. Fortunately for Tony Abbott, the image is also the reality whereas in Rudd’s case, it is far from reality. Yet no one is saying Kevin Rudd has to be a ‘straight-talker’ because we all know that he is not. His attempts to talk tough and direct, such as his comments regarding the “revolting” Bill Henson or a more recent issue of a few drops of oil spilt off the coast of Queensland, tend to totally miss the target and just come across as odd.
What is disastrous (even politically fatal) for Rudd is that whilst he has attempted to craft and then totally control the image, he has now become a victim of the news cycle and failed in his objective. In fact, it is the very news cycle producing the Rudd government’s agenda that has become the Prime Minister’s own worst nightmare.
Take every recent government debacle that has been substantial fodder for the news cycle and the Opposition over the last few months. From the ETS, to ignored safety warnings in the implementation of various government programs and the monumental wastage in the school hall projects right through to the so called “root and branch” Henry Tax Review which the Rudd Government managed to turn into a fig leaf. Recall the obfuscation, excuses and buck-passing of Ministers, all the way up to the Prime Minister. Even Rudd’s objective with the current health debate appears to begin and end with a political fight against unpopular state governments rather than any lasting reform.
However, they say ‘Max the Axe’ struck fear into the heart of many a Canberra bureaucrat. In fact, Max Moore-Wilton was bestowed such a reputation by the bureaucracy and the media because his only real ‘crime’ was public policy considered unsensational to a media cycle yet was entirely admirable in its objective. Views such as this:
“Ministers and Departments do have an obligation not just to achieve the bottom line that is often the key outcome sought by private companies. We owe it to the community to establish public trust that we work with integrity and put public interest ahead of personal gain. Ensuring the transparency of our processes can focus our minds on the need for each individual decision we take to be justifiable in terms of strict propriety”
Personally, I would rather a Max ‘the Axe’ instigating a direct and honest series of reforms than a Kevin 07 still mouthing platitudes and replacing the entrepreneurial endeavours of private enterprise with the distortion of massive government spending. Recall again though, the excuses from Ministers on any number of its failed programs, the most recent being a remarkable trivialisation from the Treasurer in an interview with Ray Hadley, and Moore-Wilton’s message seems to be a very distant concept for the current Rudd Government.
This is a Prime Minister completely beholden and ultimately becoming victim to a news cycle that will still be here long after he is gone. If he still is, or indeed ever was that ‘nerd bureaucrat’ or ‘policy wonk’, he would have realised this long before now. Instead, Kevin Rudd has become The Spoonman of policy debate in this country, be it the welfare spoonfeeding or the series of blunted nothing statements. If Max Moore-Wilton’s only public policy crime was to deliver some of the more efficient, direct and honest reforms undertaken in the Australian Public Service, then Mr Rudd’s greater crime is to do no such thing.
Benjamin Scott is the Inaugural Vice President of the Young LNP in Queensland, was an LNP campaign strategist in the last election and a former staffer to politicians at all levels of government. He now works as a Government Relations and Communications Manager in the private sector.