THE Collective known as the ABC ran hot with the News Ltd Galaxy Poll yesterday as it indicated recycled Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was enjoying a burst of popularity.
As he would, just as a Celebrity Chef or winner of the Voice competition would resonate – for a moment – in the public mind.
But, and isn’t it curious, there was not a murmur about the analysis provided by the ABC’s own election specialist Antony Green.
Why, you may well ask? Why, indeed.
Probably because on Green’s calculation, the Coalition would handily still win the election were it called now.
“First Rudd PM Galaxy Poll gives Coalition an 8 seat majority,” tweeted Green on Saturday night when the Galaxy results were released.
Those ABC newshounds must have had their sniffers somewhere else.
Gauging by their gushing coverage of the poll result, it is fair to say, those sniffers were fairly close to the Prime Ministerial rear end.
One ABC announcer enthused over the result of the personal popularity portion of the survey which rated Rudd the better choice for prime minister by 51 per cent of voters compared with Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s 34 per cent.
“Now for the primary vote,” she said, with a tremor of hope in her voice.
The same poll showed the ALP trailing the Opposition 49 per cent to 51 per cent.
These results were well within expectation.
Just getting rid of Gillard would have given the ALP a huge sugar hit.
The hangover will come Monday when Rudd announces his new-look team.
His talent pool is now fairly limited.
Genuinely experienced individuals like Martin Ferguson are highly unlikely to want to go back into Cabinet having experienced the two worst Prime Ministers in history.
Much will be made of the rise of the handbag hit squad – but where else is Rudd to go with all the desertions?
The reality is that the females who will be elevated have shown their credentials in the most peculiar manner – their ticket to the top was bought at the expense of any principle they might once have held.
Childcare Minister Kate Ellis epitomised the lack of principle Friday when she insisted that integrity should be dumped if it meant giving up senior roles in male-dominated government “just to send a message”.
She told ABC local radio that: “I’m not really interested in sending messages . . . (but) we need to make sure that we have women in public life and we need to have more women in senior roles.
“I don’t think that anyone would be serving either Julia Gillard, the Labor Party or the Australian people if we decided to make some childish statement and walk away and leave us with zero female representation.”
Those silly, silly men who resigned their Cabinet positions must feel really stupid at being found to have made a pointless gesture.
Still, every woman who takes up one of the empty posts will be reminder to the public that the ministry they hold was once the province of someone who actually had a spine and believed in a principle.
Thank you, Ms Ellis, for reminding us what you and the sisterhood so clearly lack.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/piersakerman/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/spineless_sisterhood_to_be_rewarded/
