Enough carping Steven – it’s time for solutions
TOM RICHARDSON: This is all Steven Marshall’s fault.
He did, after all, point out that it’s been weeks – quite a few weeks, actually – since I last got seriously stuck into the Opposition.
It must be our turn, he effectively argued.
So this is really his fault because, after all, one must be even-handed, mustn’t one?
So while it may seem a trifle perverse to write in discontented fashion about the Opposition the day after Jay Weatherill’s first, and quite possibly last, budget as Treasurer — a budget that brought down the largest deficit in South Australian history — the Opposition Leader has literally asked for it.
And, after all, there’s a reason the Liberals are mere bystanders amid such a golden opportunity to reap political reward. They can’t really say anything about Weatherill’s budget because they haven’t really got anything to say.
They can’t criticise Weatherill for profligacy. They can’t criticise him for harsh budget cuts. They can’t criticise him for anything much.
Because at least the Government has been out there doing things. The seven strategic priorities may sound like convoluted management jargon or a phrase from the Neil Craig playbook, but at least they are a statement of intent and ideology.
"I’ve had enough of the Liberals being content to be the carping voice at the end of a news story, rather than framing the visionary narrative at the head of it."
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The Opposition has an ideology, of course, a Liberal ethos built around the primacy of the individual – in short, every man for himself. That’s why they knocked the previous-leader-but-one for announcing too many policies, then tried to knock off his successor for not announcing anything.
And now, perversely, Steven Marshall is adhering to exactly the same small target strategy, and they seem to think he’s some kind of messiah.
He’s not the messiah. In fact, he’s a very naughty boy.
Let’s not forget that Marshall ran in a leadership ticket against Isobel Redmond because he was so disenchanted with the Opposition’s general lack of policy direction.
When, not long after, he took the leadership, he cut short a media conference because “I have to roll up my sleeves and go and do some work”.
Perhaps he just went off for a beer instead. Certainly if there’s been any hard work going on, the public hasn’t seen the fruits of it. He even promised a detailed policy on public service jobs within “weeks”. It’s now been 18 weeks – surely that’s enough?
Sure, I get that the Libs believe their message will be lost amid the bluster and melancholy of the federal election lead-up. I even get that they think, or at least claim, that they can’t tell us what they want to do in Government until they know the state of the books.
I get, too, that they reckon Labor’s so on the nose it’s easier to let the Government flail, and coast into power like Steven Bradbury at the Winter Olympics. They can have that strategy if they like; that’s their prerogative.
Mine is to say I’ve had enough of it.
I’ve had enough of the Opposition believing it’s good enough to wait until the Government announces something – anything, from a road underpass to a duplicated roundabout – and then bob up whinging about the cost, or the lack of consultation, or that it’s too little, too late.
I’ve had enough of the Liberals being content to be the carping voice at the end of a news story, rather than framing the visionary narrative at the head of it.
It is unacceptable, nine months out from an election, for the Opposition to continually get air-time merely to carp about Labor’s allegedly poor governance, without being willing to answer a single question about what they would do better, or even differently.
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Will they have different spending priorities? We don’t know. Will they cut business taxes? No idea. Will they demand more ruthless efficiencies? Um…dunno.
The truth is, we know virtually nothing about the Liberal Party’s priorities in Government. And that’s kinda scary.
"Weatherill’s budget was so beige and inoffensive it’s a wonder he didn’t fall into a microsleep as he delivered it."
So while this week is all about the record deficit and the latest in a long line of promises to return to surplus in the forward estimates, at least that’s something Labor has put out there and explained why it’s happened and what it hopes to do to fix it.
The Liberals are very good at identifying problems. Till now, they haven’t been so great at identifying solutions.
And it’s such a shame, because this state doesn’t need a small target Opposition; it’s already got a small target Government.
Weatherill’s budget was so beige and inoffensive it’s a wonder he didn’t fall into a microsleep as he delivered it.
The Premier clearly believes this isn’t a time for ebullient promises, but for dour administration. His re-election pitch will be predicated on being a safe pair of hands on the fiscal levers; it will effectively be: “I know you’re sick of being promised diamonds and receiving dust, but I’m not promising anything much, except to deliver what I promise.”
There was none of the swagger of Foley’s budget days of yore, nor even the faux-showmanship of Jack Snelling’s awkward photo opportunity last year, when he invited TV cameras to catch him warming up for Budget Day with a boxing session at his gym. Mind you, I used to go to the same gym as Weatherill many years ago, so I can assure you even such a gauche photo opportunity would’ve been pretty dull; his routine, as far as I could tell, consisted of slowly warming up for quite a while, before quietly commencing his warm-down. (Mind you, he probably still goes, while I have long since given up, so the joke’s on me, I guess.)
There was the usual media build-up to this year’s budget, but the traditional round of “drops” (phony leaks to media outlets) betrayed the lack of any excitement in the document itself. In fact, the story generously gifted to the TV media on Monday was so bland (the establishment of an office of Co-ordinator-General to oversee housing stimulus grants) that not only did no-one cover the story, but even the two ministers who fronted the cameras to announce it didn’t bother mentioning it.
But, while it may have been an inauspicious start, the state budget must now herald the start of a genuine policy debate. The Liberals have no more excuses; they now know the state of the books, and they must enunciate their vision for South Australia and explain how they intend to realise it.
This state deserves better than to become a microcosm of the distasteful slanging match to which Federal politics have descended.
There were literally news stories going to air last night about there being 100 days to go before the federal election. The tenor of that observation appeared to hinge on there being, correspondingly, 100 days until a grateful nation gets to kick the Gillard Government out on its ear. There now appears no doubt about voters’ intentions, and yet, there is little enthusiasm in any of it either.
There is no sense the electorate is inspired to vote in a Tony Abbott-led government, merely that it has tolerated the incumbent for as long as it is willing.
But the state Liberals will not have that luxury with Weatherill; voters will still demand a reason to vote for Steven Marshall, rather than just a reason to oust Labor.
He is yet to give us a convincing one.
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