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March 5th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
ELECTION COVERAGE: Dennis Atkins and Steven Wardill join Amanda Lucas to discuss party budgets
DOGGED: It seems Campbell Newman just can’t shake integrity questions.
Source: The Courier-Mail
SOMETHING went very wrong for the LNP last week.
It’s still extremely unlikely the Bligh Government will be returned on March 24 but Labor’s defeat may now be narrower than thought. The reason lies in the first lesson in campaign strategy: those who control the media agenda control the election outcome.
Not unexpectedly, both parties lost control during week one’s Gillard-Rudd showdown. But what surprises now is the degree to which Labor successfully filled the subsequent media vacuum with allegations of LNP financial impropriety. It seems Campbell Newman just can’t shake integrity questions.
At least since the 2005 Bundaberg Hospital scandal, Labor’s bureaucratic blunders have been a godsend for the LNP. Further Government gaffes – from payroll systems to water crises – seemed only to compound a public perception of Labor clumsiness.
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After 14 years in Opposition, the LNP was supposed to build its 2012 campaign around a perfect storm. Ministerial mishaps, budget blowouts and the “It’s Time” factor were meant to intersect for a revived Opposition spoilt for tactical choice.
But now questions of LNP probity have come to a sharp point and integrity threatens to become the overriding campaign theme. If maintained, the LNP faces real difficulties.
That Queenslanders should be obsessed with accountability comes as no surprise.
Echoes of the Tony Fitzgerald anti-corruption inquiry still shape Queensland politics, as demonstrated last week when Newman broke with LNP practice and labelled former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen as corrupt.
After belittling Labor for years over jobs-for-the-boys and pay-per-view fundraising dinners, the LNP will surely see the irony in losing an integrity war. And even if not, questions of LNP fundraising and donations – not to mention Newman’s confusion over cabinet rules and share ownership – mean the LNP has lost invaluable campaign focus.
Newman is no doubt aware of the importance of agenda control. But the party’s choice to launch a low-key campaign after only two weeks on the hustings is curious. Current practice is to launch close to polling day so that party momentum can be maximised.
And while Sunday’s LNP launch might yet restore some direction – the cost-of-living pledges must surely resonate – many will feel a great opportunity was lost. Newman’s concentration on Labor’s failings on Sunday, at the expense of policy detail, keeps alive perceptions of the LNP as a carping Opposition and not a government-in-waiting.
Suspicions that the LNP’s bad week owed more to amateurism than accident were confirmed last week when Newman committed a major blunder. Getting shirty with journalists and shutting down a press conference after only three minutes because you don’t like the questions is never a good look.
Lesson two: never walk away from a media conference unless you want to look like you have something to hide.
Tactics are not the only fine line Newman is walking, and social policy could easily damage the Newman brand. Queensland is not the arch-conservative backwater it once was and there is enormous support for Labor’s same-sex civil union legislation. If there’s even a hint that Newman will repeal the new arrangements, expect an anti-Newman backlash across inner Brisbane. So lesson three: kill off lingering doubts early.
Whether Labor fluked a good week is yet to be seen but, in any case, the Government has several achilles’ heels to address. The first is law and order in which the LNP has stolen a march on Labor with its police numbers and anti-hoon promises. It’s up to the Government to better it.
A second hurdle is the party’s reluctance to embrace either the Labor or Bligh tags. With the Premier reduced to a coquettish “Anna” brand name – and candidates from Kate Jones to Phil Reeves parading posters without Labor labels – a clear message is sent: Members are embarrassed by their party name.
But dumping the brand is a short-sighted strategy. Whoever heard of selling a long-established product devoid of its most recognisable packaging? As Australia’s oldest political party, Labor should herald its brand, warts and all.
The real challenge this week rests with all parties.
Stir our passions and not just our paranoia.
* Dr Paul Williams is a senior lecturer at Griffith University, Gold Coast.
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