Making it up as they go along
NSW Labor were well and trully on their way out before Canberra announced their new carbon tax plan.
As soon as the results from the NSW state elections were known, Tony Abbott (and others) began to assert that the proposed carbon tax had played a significant role in securing a historic swing to the Coalition (but note that Malcolm Turnbull has distanced himself from this position).
Even Bob Hawke agreed with this, confirming for me that he is a closet Tory. The carbon tax had no material impact on the NSW election, as we will see shortly, but politicians are entitled to try it on, to make a case, as it were. That is part of the job description.
It is then up to us, the voters, to accept or reject that case, that proposition, reminding ourselves of the classic Roman injunction of caveat emptor.
What is most disappointing is that journalists across the media spectrum soon jumped on the bandwagon, displaying a complete ignorance of or disregard for the facts. And journalists are not entitled to make a case, to fly a kite, to try one on. They are supposed to be critical, dispassionate, reporting facts – and giving opinions based on fact – rather than publishing fiction. If they want to write fiction, they should get themselves a suitable publisher and get off the front pages of newspapers. The facts, by the way, are not hard to find.
Here are the facts.
Fact 1: the swing that gave the Coalition government after sixteen years in Opposition has been evident for months, from well before the Prime Minister foreshadowed the introduction of a carbon tax. Newspoll gave the Coalition a 61 to 39 per cent margin as early as the middle of 2010, a margin that shifted little in the following months, if at all.
Fact 2: since the carbon tax announcement, as Possum explains, Labor’s fortunes have turned around and Abbott may have peaked – check out the graphs published by Possum, because they tell the story well.
Fact 3: the first credible poll on what Australians think of a carbon tax, again courtesy of Possum, makes it clear that more Australians are in favour than against (46.1 to 43.6 per cent) and that this is especially so in capital cities (49 to 40 per cent) and 59 per cent of Australians are still prepared to pay more for electricity if they think it will help combat global warming.
These are the facts that most journalists in Australia seem to ignore or be ignorant of or prepared to ignore for the sake of running a story. Relying on the facts, what we can say is that Labor had governed in NSW for too long and, at least lately, had governed very badly, so badly that 2 of every 3 voters wanted them out.
We can also say that the myth that the carbon tax had anything to do with the election result last Saturday is well and truly busted, as the Mythbusters would say. They would say that because, unlike Australian journalists, they rely on facts, rather than the assertions of self-serving politicians who believe, rightly it seems, that if you say an untruth often and loudly enough it may con some into believing it. The Goebbels propaganda principles live on, it seems.
Patrick Callioni is a former senior public servant, with the Queensland and Australian Governments, and is now the Senior Executive Advisor, Domestic and International Markets, with the Sustain Group www.sustaingroup.net. His books Compliance and Regulation in the Financial Services Industry & Waves of Change: Managing Global Trends in the Financial Services Industry are available at Amazon
