Smithson reveals top SA journos driving party election spin
Spare a thought for those remaining journalists left to report on this year’s state election campaign after Labor and Liberal continue to lure top names into the spin doctor fold, says Mike Smithson.
It’s all about the optics with a bit of policy thrown in.
The Premier’s carefully orchestrated weekend gathering of the faithful caught the Opposition by surprise, which is a rolled-gold Labor campaign tactic that will continue for the next 11 weeks.
What does Labor have that the Liberals sadly lack?
Firstly, the sheer weight of elected members who were very visible in the foreground of a sea of red-shirted supporters at the Pennington Gardens campaign rally.
The battle cry was an impressive sight, which Labor knows the Liberals won’t try to replicate.
The Libs are in rebuilding and survival mode, laced with simmering factional division.
A call to arms for a similar gathering would be unlikely to muster more than a quarter of the 200 rank-and-file supporters who dropped everything to be seen at Labor’s media event.
In reply, the Opposition trotted out Deputy Leader Josh Teague, who is a loyal foot soldier but never leaves a lasting impression of being totally up for the fight.
Labor would have been delighted that new leader Ashton Hurn wasn’t the Liberal’s gladiator returning fire to the Premier’s “it’s time” weekend moment.
Malinauskas was ready and waiting for the inevitable media onslaught over his broken ambulance ramping promise, which is still a problem of growing proportions.
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It’s now almost four years since his election posters promised to fix the ramping crisis.
Yet in the last year alone, ambulances were parked for 52,449 hours on hospital ramps awaiting patient admission, which was more than 5,000 hours up on the 2024 number.
In all honesty, it’s a shocking statistic with no improvement seemingly imminent.
At any other election, that fact alone could have cost an incumbent government dearly.
Voters don’t like being conned with promises and then dished up every excuse under the sun.
The government’s original pledge was plainly wrong and was political folly in the first place.
The Premier simply says the ramping hours haven’t reduced as much as he’d like, but he remains committed to improving the health system.
“I never profess perfection as a leader or as a government,” he candidly told ABC radio this week.
“We didn’t just say we were going to fix ramping; what we said was here is a comprehensive plan, which is broken down into any number of different parts,” he said.
Staffing and bed numbers have increased, but in this contentious political climate, that’s almost forgotten in his cut-through message.
The basics are simple.
Ambulances are attending callouts faster, but then hit a roadblock at emergency departments with patients still inside, preventing new admissions.
Perhaps the Premier should have thought more deeply four years ago about the aged-care blockage in hospitals, which is destined to hang around much longer as the elderly population bubble expands.
He still blames the Federal government for not solving that dilemma.
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But Labor’s healthcare Achilles’ heel will continue to be meticulously handled from a public relations perspective rather than delivering tangible solutions before election day.
Hurn has now recruited experienced journalist Ben Avery into her modest advisory ranks.
The former Channel 9 deputy news director is a major coup for Hurn and the Liberals.
Avery is a hotshot by any measure and an astute judge of reading the public mood with well-researched information.
Most journalists around Adelaide did a double-take when 9’s news boss Jeremy Pudney graciously announced, via email, that Avery had resigned and, with his best wishes, was heading to the Liberal Party.
Who would chuck in a high-powered media job for what appears to be a political suicide mission, if current opinion polls are accurate?
But no one can criticise Hurn for recruiting a top performer, or Avery for accepting the challenge of his lifetime.
For the uninitiated, he adds to the many former mainstream Adelaide journalists who now have their fingers firmly in the political pie.
Adam Todd was at Channel 10 before becoming Labor’s chief media strategist alongside Nick Harmsen, who essentially controlled the ABC television newsroom.
Former television and InDaily journalists Tom Richardson and Jemma Chapman also jumped into the government’s media machine, along with others.
So, the David versus Goliath battle isn’t just between the front line of elected members and Cabinet ministers and their shadows in Opposition.
Strategising, planning and executing media conferences, which enlighten voters to the policies on offer, pass through many hands before they’re delivered to those who they’ll affect most.
The government has a team of experienced hard heads who’ve seen many campaigns come and go, whilst the Opposition largely has newbies who are about to leap into the great unknown.
As one government advisor commented to me on Avery’s appointment: I hope he knows the meaning of being on deck 24/7 between now and the election.
He told me that it’s relentless and uncompromising, even for the most experienced campaigner.
So, let the games begin and be prepared for the new year onslaught to come.
Spare a thought for those remaining journalists who are required to report daily on election campaigning.
Media advisors aren’t called spin doctors for nothing.
They analyse each word, image and interview grab reported during this period and never hold back in expressing their critical views, if required.
Mike Smithson is a presenter and political analyst for 7News.
