Richardson: Labor’s first post-election crisis
The Weatherill Government never really got the hang of crisis management.
Which is a bit of a shame, as so much of its relatively short life has been spent trying to manage crises. For much of Weatherill’s first two years as Premier the specific crisis was of child protection, but it was his administration’s ham-fisted handling of the controversy that allowed it to become mired – and briefly crippled – by the fallout.
By the time the election was imminent, the Premier was so spooked he relented to re-hire Mike Rann’s one-time spin doctor Rik Morris, by no means a Weatherill favourite but an apparatchik reputed for his nous in damage limitation (in truth, that’s mostly because there was so much damage to be limited in Rann’s latter days).
In the post-election honeymoon aura, Weatherill has been keen to establish himself anew; Morris, his mission accomplished, has sailed back into the relatively calmer seas of SA Tourism, and the Premier has determinedly adopted a persona that speaks of measured, controlled determination. It’s a façade that could find itself buried somewhere among the toxic groundwater beneath Clovelly Park.
This then, is Labor’s first post-election crisis.
It may or may not be a public health crisis; the objective evidence suggests not. But it’s certainly a political one. The Government was flat-footed before the Opposition raised the matter in parliament and has been wrong-footed ever since.
It has hit every wrong note; the Premier responded to Steven Marshall’s initial parliamentary probing by acknowledging “some preliminary advice has been provided to the Government about a significant issue in relation to environmental protection”.
However, he went on, “I do not want to add any further remark in relation to that today because we also have advice to say that there is a very extensive communication strategy which is being prepared.”
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A communication strategy? Of course he meant a strategy to notify residents, but for a Labor Government that has spent a fortune on highly-remunerated communication strategists over the years – of which Mr Morris was but one – the phrase was spectacularly ill-chosen. It seemed to imply: “Yes, we’re aware that Housing Trust tenants’ health may be at risk due to toxic groundwater pollution, but we’re working on a way to spin this so that it won’t sound that bad.”
As soon as the sentence had left Weatherill’s lips, the “communication strategy”, such as it was, was in tatters.
"The Liberals, despite remaining admirably po-faced, were cock-a-hoop to find themselves genuinely relevant for the first time since March."
The Liberals’ gambit prompted authorities to hastily revise their own notification timeline.
By 4.15pm on Wednesday Environment Minister Ian Hunter was fronting media to explain that around 30 residents would be relocated due to a potential airborne carcinogen.
By 4.45pm, three heretofore-quiet streets in Clovelly Park and Mitchell Park, adjacent the Monroe shock absorbers plant and the old Mitsubishi site, were buzzing with media crews sounding out residents, who were unimpressed by the delayed notification but unsurprised by the outcome.
By 6pm, Environmental Protection Authority staff had descended on the area to begin doorknocking, but things quickly descended from high drama to low farce. Despite the minister having publicly flagged the EPA’s presence, they got into a flap at the sight of television cameras and refused to leave their cars. This caused the much-hyped “communication strategy” to be further delayed for another hour, until the minister’s media adviser managed to coax them out to do their job, cameras or no.
The Government, rallied by the Premier, has tried to blame the Opposition and the media for inciting panic; but none of the many locals I spoke to voiced any annoyance at either the Opposition or the media. They’d spent months – years – seeking assurances from the Government, the Housing Trust, the council – whoever they could think to ask. Only to learn that authorities have confirmed unduly high toxicity levels since May, and hadn’t yet notified them.
It got worse. Hunter, scoffing at Opposition calls for his head, pointed out that he’d only received direct advice to relocate residents a week ago. Fledgling Social Housing Minister Zoe Bettison, meanwhile, told the House she received the same advice on June 11 – two weeks earlier.
The Liberals, despite remaining admirably po-faced, were cock-a-hoop to find themselves genuinely relevant for the first time since March.
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The “SA Liberal Media” twitter feed went into indignant overdrive, huffing and puffing whenever unrelated ministers sought to talk about their own areas of responsibility. “Mullighan talks vibrancy while Clovelly Park residents are evacuated from their homes due to contimation,” the cyber-advocate raged.
“Government talks about the Adelaide Fringe while Clovelly Park residents are evacuated due to contamination.”
“Government talks about Clipsal 500 while Clovelly Park residents are evacuated from their homes due to contamination.”
Of course, before too long even @SALibMedia found something else to talk about, firing off tweets about Government spin-doctor salaries and the appointment process for the new Public Sector Employment Commissioner. While Clovelly Park residents are evacuated from their homes due to contamination.
The Government says it’s confident residents’ health would not have been and is unlikely to be adversely affected from exposure to trichloroethylene at such relatively low levels. But it can’t be sure.
After all, testing is an inexact science, and many tenants have lived in their properties for decades.
It hopes residents might be returned to their homes after remediation; but it can’t be sure.
It might even hope to seek costs from the industrial culprit, if it could pin the source of the contamination down to merely Monroe, but it could also have emanated from the old Mitsubishi site or even a nearby railway hub. It just can’t be sure.
The Government says it’s only acting to relocate residents because of an “overabundance of caution”. In other words: “We can’t be sure.”
What we can be sure about is that Weatherill’s Government suffered a political black eye this week, a major dent to its confidence and competence.
It promised “bold” Government, but it seems to equate boldness with muscling up to the Federal Government in vaguely articulated “campaigns” to try and influence Commonwealth funding decisions. Which seemed a trite folly in the context of the week.
The problem is, if authorities were able to so hastily call a media conference and doorknock residents, why didn’t they just do so at the earliest possible moment? Were they simply holding off for the most propitious timing to manage the media fallout? The question needs to be asked – after all, they’ve never been good at crisis management, but they’ve never been far from a crisis.
The Opposition says Hunter should resign, or Weatherill should sack him. Based on the Premier’s crisis management strategy on child protection, he’ll probably end up doing just that.
Tom Richardson is InDaily’s political commentator and Channel Nine’s state political reporter.
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