FED:Style under scrutiny, Gillard shows heart

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-2011
FED:Style under scrutiny, Gillard shows heart

By Paul Osborne, AAP Senior Political Writer

CANBERRA, Feb 11 AAP - During the summer of disasters, Prime Minister Julia Gillard
was criticised for her stoic and seemingly impersonal response to tragedy.

But during a condolence motion for the death of at least 35 people during the floods,
she teared up as she recounted some of the most heartbreaking stories of the floods and
Cyclone Yasi.

Among others, she spoke of teenager Jordan Rice, who died after asking rescuers to
save his 10-year-old brother, and toddler Jessica Keep who was torn from her mother's
arms in the floodwaters.

Tony Abbott was moved enough to concede Gillard had a "decent heart" before he made
his own contribution - perhaps trying to make amends for his description last weekend
of the Labor leader as "wooden".

But, the first week of federal parliament for 2011 was dominated by questions of presentation
and style, the rapprochement proved not to run deep.

By the end of the parliamentary week, Abbott had accused Gillard of having a "tin ear"

when it came to public unrest over the flood levy.

The prime minister shot back, accusing the Liberal leader of having a "tin heart",
referring to his party's call for political donations in a letter about the tragedy of
the floods.

It only needed mention of cowardly lions and scarecrows to turn it into an L. Frank Baum story.

Not that federal parliament was short of a good yarn this week.

Abbott became embroiled in controversy after the Seven Network aired footage of him
discussing the circumstances that led to the death of Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney during
a battle with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan last year.

In conversation with military chiefs in Afghanistan, Abbott said "shit happens", after
being told that no single factor was to blame for the death of Cpl MacKinney.

A senior soldier replied: "It certainly does, yeah."

Abbott later rang the soldier's widow to explain himself.

But the incident reinforced a view that Abbott reacts without thinking his responses through.

It was reminiscent of a 2007 election campaign incident in which Abbott had to apologise
to asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton after remarking, "just because a person is sick doesn't
mean that he is necessarily pure of heart in all things".

What compounded the problem this week was Abbott's response.

Asked during the news interview to explain the context of the remarks, he froze and
stared in silence for almost 30 seconds.

He later attempted to explain away the reaction as "dignified silence".

The incident came amid turmoil within the coalition over how it would fund the flood
recovery without Labor's levy.

Senior government figures have been egging on the coalition for weeks to come up with
another way of funding the recovery.

Abbott took the bait, revealing a package of budget cuts including funds for Indonesian
schools, suspension of Murray-Darling water buybacks and cutting off the river of money
going into the Building the Education Revolution program.

The launch of the plan was marred by Liberal insiders leaking that Julie Bishop had
argued passionately in the shadow cabinet against cutting foreign aid, which she said
smacked of a One Nation-style approach to the federal budget.

Other party insiders leaked against Bishop, saying she had accepted the aid cuts as
a legitimate budget saving but was trying to dodge responsibility.

The leaks appeared to stem from lingering tension over the deputy's role, which both
Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb are known to covet and which could in time become an albatross
around Abbott's neck.

Robb admitted it wasn't a good look: "It was a disappointing week for us, but I think
the air will be cleared and we will move on."

Bishop acknowledged there was "robust policy debate" in the shadow cabinet room, but
drew a contrast with "zombies" in the Labor Party dumbly accepting the prime minister's
direction.

The prime minister herself faces a leadership challenge of sorts, taking a new health
deal to the premiers at the Council of Australian Governments on Sunday.

The deal - forced on the government by state coalition governments - would scrap an
agreement reached by Kevin Rudd last year in which the states were to hand over a third
of their GST revenues in exchange for 60 per cent federal government responsibility for
hospitals.

The opposition was quick to paint it as yet another example of Labor being unable to
deliver on its promises.

Whether Gillard can convince the states to accept the new deal - based on a 50-50 share
of growth funding put into a single national pool - will be crucial for her to overcome
accusations of inaction.

Her government already faces pressure over the flood levy, the passage of which is
being delayed by a parliamentary inquiry and by crossbenchers who question the budget
cuts that accompany it.

Other major changes - securing the health of the Murray-Darling river system, putting
a price on carbon and the rollout of the national broadband network - also face serious
hurdles.

It will take courage, intelligence and heart for the prime minister to succeed.

AAP pjo/sb/jl/bwl

KEYWORD: NEWSCOPE FEDERAL (AAP NEWS ANALYSIS)

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