Smithson: Time to be Frank about big reveal
An awkward moment caught on camera speaks volumes about messaging gone wrong for just an instant, writes Mike Smithson.
Frank Pangallo has walked the walk and talked it as well for the best part of five decades as a hard-nosed newspaper journalist, editor, television current affairs reporter, media advisor and politician.
By any measure, that’s a good grounding to see the world through different eyes and be able to make a difference.
That’s why the Libs had been trying to get him on board in the seat of Waite for several weeks when I was first tipped off that change was afoot.
Frank and I go back almost as long as each other in the media, and whilst we’re not close mates, we do have a healthy respect for the way each other operates.
When it was confirmed to me last Friday that Frank’s successful nomination was about to be announced, there was no way I was going to let that gem go through unreported.
I took a leaf out of Frank’s own book that if you’re not first to the story, you’re last.
It was then firmed up on Saturday that a media conference would be held the next day.
I contacted Frank but didn’t receive a reply until after the story had aired exclusively that night on 7News.
In forthright Frank fashion he said he hadn’t returned my call because he knew I’d be “all over the story” anyway.
But the friendly fire got much trickier the following day when Frank and Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia held their media conference surrounded by Pangallo’s new party faithful in Waite.
You might like
A simple request from a cameraman for a handshake between the two main players must have slipped through Frank’s hearing threshold.
Tarzia warmly reached out but was ‘fresh aired’ by Frank for several seconds in favour of other party friends.
It was awkward and spoke volumes about messaging gone wrong for just an instant, but one which was caught on camera.
It wasn’t deliberate, but not the look that either party would want to repeat.
In television terms it was almost akin to Anthony Albanese toppling off a stage during the federal campaign, or Scott Morrison’s so-called friendliness being rejected by bushfire victims and fire fighters, or Steven Marshall mistakenly urging people to vote Labor the next day at the state polls.
Again, it wasn’t intentional but more of a moment in time which gave a true insight into the potential perils of politics which every candidate knowingly signs up for.
Frank immediately let me know Sunday night that he thought it was a “beat up”, that is, a story which is vastly inflated beyond accurate or balanced facts.
He was half joking then, but by Monday on FIVEaa he described it as the biggest beat up he’s seen, adding that he “knows what beat ups are like.”
Some of Franks critics, of which I’m not, would say that him chasing dodgy car dealers, or his legendary physical exchange with Rocky the rogue furniture removalist on Today Tonight were bordering on the same theme.
Pangallo was trying to head off any ongoing public mirth or going down in television folklore as the guy who left his leader hanging with a lost handshake.
Franks’s job is to be persuasive, determined and he is now a self-proclaimed political watchdog.
They’re all worthy character traits of which he is true and faithful to himself and voters.
But his condemnation of the story didn’t fool the Premier.
Stay informed, daily
“I don’t think those images are generated by AI (artificial intelligence), they speak for themselves,” Premier Peter Malinauskas mused.
Gotcha moments aside, the road ahead will be bumpy for Labor in Waite which was won by Catherine Hutchesson in 2022 by a slim 4 per cent.
Pangallo has openly stated he’s gunning for Labor and the Premier who’s stated 70-year-old Frank shouldn’t be the future of politics but, rather, the past.
“The Premier was ageist,” Pangallo said on ABC radio.
“He went in boots and all making an issue of my age, that I wasn’t the future.
“He said people of my vintage had no right in public life or serving the public.
“Ageism is as bad as racism and discrimination and there are laws against that.
“Quite frankly, I’m not going to make my age an election issue and I’m not going to exploit it for political purposes against his youth and inexperience.”
Those are fighting words flagged well in advance of the official campaign even starting.
Frank and the Liberals know he’ll continue to be an irritant to a government which almost had Waite chalked up as a win next March.
His mere presence requires more Labor resources in the hills fringe seat which means those party assets can’t be used as plentifully in other marginal seats which are targets for the taking.
Not everyone in the Liberal Party has embraced the new look of an old face.
But they’ll all be aware of his presence, both inside Parliament and out in the electorate.
He’s now sitting on their side of the Legislative Council.
But there are a multitude of factors still in play.
He needs to campaign hard against the Labor tide of opinion poll popularity and then actually win the seat.
After his ugly divorce from the SA Best party in 2023, some in the Liberal Party fear his second political marriage could go the same way.
But a torrent of events will pass under the bridge before we even reach the next stage.
And that’s the way Frank likes it.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7News.
