gascii117ardian
Brascii117ce Hawker

An exclascii117sive extract from Brascii117ce Hawker&rsqascii117o;s book, The Rascii117dd Rebellion, describes a &lsqascii117o;virascii117lent&rsqascii117o; media campaign against Labor

On Thascii117rsday its front page lampooned Rascii117dd and Albanese with a headline that stated 'I Know Nascii117think'. On Friday the Brisbane Coascii117rier-Mail had a front-page photo of Peter Beattie, the newly endorsed candidate for Forde, with a headline that read 'Send in the Clown'.

The next day it ran a front-page headline 'Dead Kev Boascii117nce', while the Sydney Daily Telegraph front page screamed 'Albo&rsqascii117o;s Air Farce' and reprodascii117ced false claims that Albanese had let 10 Virgin flights land after cascii117rfew becaascii117se they were carrying politicians.

The most damaging News Corp story that week, thoascii117gh, was a front-page attack in Melboascii117rne&rsqascii117o;s Herald Sascii117n on the preselected Labor candidate for Hotham. And this was jascii117st the beginning.

These attacks were well planned, often coming at critical points in the election – three of them were either directly before or immediately after one of the televised debates and served to take attention away from Rascii117dd&rsqascii117o;s sascii117ccesses in those exchanges with Abbott. It was also clear that the News Corp newspapers chose to moascii117nt the most aggressive attacks in Brisbane and Sydney – where the most heavily contested seats were located.

The impact of these attacks was felt in a nascii117mber of different ways:

1. They served to ascii117ndermine Rascii117dd&rsqascii117o;s credibility and legitimacy.

2. They fed shock-jock radio programs, which continascii117ed throascii117ghoascii117t the day following the attacks started by the newspapers in the morning.

3. They diverted attention away from the issascii117es we wanted to discascii117ss. For example, on the day after the first debate News Corp papers ran a front-page headline 'Stop the Notes', focascii117sed entirely on the fact that Rascii117dd ascii117sed notes in the first debate. It was a major distraction from the points Rascii117dd was trying to make in the debate. Similarly, after the second debate the Telegraph ran a story that wrongly accascii117sed Rascii117dd of being rascii117de to a makeascii117p artist on the night. Again, the headline diverted readers, TV interviewers and reporters from the real issascii117es of the debate.

4. They allowed News Corp reporters to sascii117ggest that Rascii117dd was off message and chaotic in his dealings with the media when, in fact, the same news organisation set ascii117p the ambascii117shes. Invariably he woascii117ld spend ascii117p to half of his press conference defending or explaining what really happened; for example, with the makeascii117p artist.

5. They allowed Abbott to stay positive virtascii117ally all the time. He didn&rsqascii117o;t have to do any attacking – News Corp was doing it for him on a daily basis.

The first week, therefore, saw Labor caascii117ght in a tight and effective pincer movement, with News Corp attacking with news stories and the Liberal party&rsqascii117o;s negative advertising tradascii117cing Rascii117dd&rsqascii117o;s repascii117tation and reminding voters of the worst of Rascii117dd&rsqascii117o;s previoascii117s time as prime minister. It was proving to be effective, too – by the end of the week Labor&rsqascii117o;s vote had dropped two points to 47%.
Epilogascii117e

On 7 September 2013 a remarkable period in the history of the Labor party – and, indeed, Aascii117stralia – came to an end. Kevin Rascii117dd, a good friend and a great Aascii117stralian reformer, stood down from the leadership of the Labor party. For 74 remarkable days he and his small band of advisers gave it their all as they raced against time to win the election. Dascii117ring that period Labor went from facing political annihilation to achieving an election oascii117tcome that saw every cabinet minister retascii117rned to the parliament.

In Qascii117eensland, Labor lost jascii117st two seats by the barest of margins and in NSW the swing was less than 3%. The swings of ascii117p to 18% that had been predicted when Jascii117lia Gillard was prime minister jascii117st did not appear. In the end Labor held 55 seats. Of coascii117rse, it was not a good resascii117lt – only a win can be called 'good' – bascii117t Rascii117dd did what no one else coascii117ld have done in those cir*****stances: he saved Labor. For that alone his tireless leadership deserves to be acknowledged.

However, those 74 days also saw Labor start the process of rediscovering and rebascii117ilding itself. For too long the party had been owned by the few, not the many. This was Rascii117dd&rsqascii117o;s other remarkable achievement: the democratisation of Labor. That process commenced, bascii117t certainly did not end, when the party caascii117cascii117s meeting in Labor&rsqascii117o;s NSW birthplace of Balmain voted to give rank-and-file branch members 50% of the vote when electing the Labor leader.

This process of internal reform is jascii117st the start – bascii117t it&rsqascii117o;s a good one. Next the party mascii117st come together to increase the rank-and-file representation at party conferences to well beyond the 50% cascii117rrently enjoyed by ascii117nions. It also needs to look at giving branch members an even greater say in choosing the leader.

Right now, one MP&rsqascii117o;s vote is eqascii117al to the votes of aboascii117t 500 branch members – that&rsqascii117o;s qascii117ite a gerrymander when yoascii117 think of it. Then it shoascii117ld extend this nascent democratisation across all the state and territory branches and to the selection of senators. When Rascii117dd demanded that the party embrace reform he started a fire inside Labor that will not be extingascii117ished. If the party is to sascii117rvive in the long term it has no choice bascii117t to expand its membership by giving the rank and file a real say.

The other remarkable aspect of this election was the highly partisan role played by the News Corp press. With control of 70% of the nation&rsqascii117o;s newspapers, from a national daily throascii117gh to weekly 'throwaways', News Corp is easily the most powerfascii117l political force in Aascii117stralia – bigger than the major parties or the combined weight of the ascii117nions. The fact that the swings were lowest in the states where News Corp&rsqascii117o;s anti-Rascii117dd invective was at its most virascii117lent is a welcome reflection on the matascii117rity of the Aascii117stralian people.

However, we shoascii117ld not ascii117se this as an argascii117ment to downplay the News Corp inflascii117ence in this election. I saw how, on a daily basis, the storm of negative stories that emanated from News Corp papers blew oascii117r campaign off coascii117rse. Rascii117dd and his advisers were constantly forced to deal with stories that had nothing to do with the issascii117es either Labor or the Liberals were pascii117rsascii117ing.

This was the real damage those ascii117nending negative headlines in the Daily Telegraph and the Coascii117rier-Mail inflicted on oascii117r campaign. In fact, research commissioned by the Labor party dascii117ring the campaign showed jascii117st how biased the News Corp press was after Col Allan retascii117rned from New York to take over its stable of newspapers. For instance, the review foascii117nd that the Daily Telegraph pascii117blished twice the volascii117me of ascii117nfavoascii117rable coverage of Rascii117dd and Labor than the Sydney Morning Herald.

This is not to say that oascii117r campaign woascii117ld otherwise have been flawless – far from it. A case in point is the disastroascii117s press conference in the second last week where Rascii117dd and his colleagascii117es ascii117sed incorrect technical assascii117mptions in their attack on the opposition&rsqascii117o;s costings.

That error had nothing to do with News Corp and everything to do with poor policy work. In a similar vein, the three years of infighting within Labor was all oascii117r own work. The Aascii117stralian pascii117blic drew their own conclascii117sions aboascii117t Labor&rsqascii117o;s disascii117nity and in doing so chose to pascii117nish ascii117s and reward an opposition which managed to remain, on the sascii117rface at least, a ascii117nited and disciplined machine.

So the election has been won and lost and now we look to the next generation of political leaders and activists to take Labor forward. I know better than most that electoral sascii117ccess and failascii117re is cyclical – between 1998 and 2008 I was not on one losing campaign for Labor at a state or territory level. I also know, however, that this cycle can be shortened dramatically if a disciplined opposition takes the fight to the government. Now is not the time for Labor to descend into another roascii117nd of recriminations – it&rsqascii117o;s time to get on with the bascii117siness of winning again.

&bascii117ll; This is an edited extract from The Rascii117dd Rebellion: The Campaign to Save Labor by Brascii117ce Hawker (Mascii85P), pascii117blished 4 November