Smithson: Secret SA Parli Whisperer wreaking havoc
Political guru Mike Smithson unravels the fallout from another “deliberately and mischievously leaked email” from the so-called SA Parli Whisperer.
Hi Smitho,
Thought you might like a heads up that Tarzia and the Libs have a big policy announcement they plan to drop on Sunday.
That was the beginning of a conversational email sent to me and other journalists including at InDaily at 3.40pm last Thursday.
So, what’s the problem if someone with apparent authority lets the media know in advance that a long-awaited pre-election policy announcement is ready to be made public?
The simple answer: plenty if you are trying to maintain a watertight ship within party ranks.
The deliberately and mischievously leaked email from the so-called “SA Parli Whisperer” outlined a proposed Special Economic Zone for the Adelaide CBD, like a plan launched by Melbourne’s re-elected Lord Mayor Nick Reece.
The email claimed Tarzia’s policy would see a pause on land tax and stamp duty for investors buying or building new apartments in the city and reinstate off-the-plan concessions to unlock stalled projects.
Of itself, it seems like a plausible Liberal idea worth exploring and it could even win them more votes at the March election.
But leaking such sensitive information, true or false, distracted Liberal weekend planning and threw a spanner in the works.
The “whisperer” was less than complimentary towards the so-called tax policy, describing it as being dressed up as bold housing and investment reform and rushed through much to the angst of some on the inside.
Past proposed land tax reform was agonising for the Liberals, and they don’t want a repeat.
Their last foray into this complex area tried to prevent landowners from paying less if they split their properties between multiple legitimate structures, including trusts.
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It dragged on for months, before a torturous compromise was achieved.
I’m not saying the current idea would be unworkable, but the whisperer accused Shadow Planning Minister Michelle Lensink of cobbling it together and ramming it through without proper consultation.
It was described as “freelancing for headlines”.
And for good measure a Gouger Street location for a planned media conference was also revealed as well as news that the Libs would conveniently “drop” the story to the Sunday paper to get positive, pre-emptive coverage.
There’s nothing new in such skullduggery, but it sets a cat amongst the political pigeons.
My Channel 7 colleague, Michaela Komarek, who also received the email, was first to blow the whistle to Liberal decision makers.
Her call on Thursday afternoon to confirm or deny the veracity of the email’s claims was met incredulously, with no real answer.
Leader Vincent Tarzia claimed soon after, “no, don’t know where that has come from.”
But with such level of detail in the email, it seemed unlikely that all the information was an elaborate hoax, otherwise the Liberals would have immediately come out with all guns blazing that we’d been fed a pile of bull dust.
I also floated some of the email’s contents on ABC breakfast radio’s weekly Spin Cycle, as a “watch this space” snippet, as I was confident that at least some of it rang true.
Later that day I became even more convinced that what the Liberals had obliquely poured cold water on initially, was now heating up.
The issue was then elevated during the afternoon.
The Liberals didn’t deny it had a major upcoming policy, explaining that all their planned reforms would be announced in the lead up to the election.
By Saturday night, we had enough information to solidify our suspicions with little pushback offered from the Liberals, but no-one mentioned in the email was available for public comment.
They remained adamant the email didn’t come from their camp.
So that opened the door for Labor’s attack dog.
“It’s a shambles, they can’t keep their story straight,” Treasurer Tom Koutantonis concluded.
“Obviously they all dislike each other and are leaking on each other,” he said.
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“So, they rule it out and then say it’s not ruled out.
“They don’t know what they’re doing.”
The Libs then accused Labor of “doing anything to distract from their own failures, which have resulted in Adelaide as the second least affordable city to buy a home in Australia.”
Almost 72 hours after the email dropped, Tarzia finally responded by flatly denying it had any connection to a proposed Liberal land tax policy.
“I don’t think it was precise at all, in fact it was fundamentally wrong,” he said.
“No one would verify it. No one would put their name to it.
“I just disagree with the characterisation that it was a leak.
“It was just completely way off.”
That’s a shame because such a policy could be of major public interest and importance.
I would applaud the Libs for getting new tax reform ideas onto the table, as they did with their recreational fishing expansion policy yesterday.
The leader cautioned all media not to be fooled by unsourced “low bar” emails.
But if any of Vincent Tarzia’s key policy planks to winning government are leaked, he’ll be forced to explain possible party disunity and cope with the distraction of losing the vital narrative on his terms.
The Labor Party is happy to provide commentary on the awkward dilemma but is well advised not to be too smug as the same could also happen to them without warning.
And who can forget their doomed car park tax debacle?
The whisperer would be figuratively hung, drawn and quartered if they’re ever found, but I suspect the person has long covered their tracks in protection over a Liberal witch hunt.
Then again, perhaps there isn’t an investigation and never will be, because they’re so certain it didn’t originate from their ranks.
Yeah right.
The email concluded:
They are scrambling to plug a political weakness and hoping this announcement will distract from their own land tax baggage.
Regards
SA Parli Whisperer.
The Liberals can now sleep easy on the assumption there’s nothing to see here.
But many of Adelaide’s political journalists will be awaiting any further instalments from the so-called whisperer.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7News.
