Irregular Joes

The comment by Joe Hockey that the role of unions is essentially over and thus unions are irrelevant demonstrates the poverty of ideas afflicting the Liberals. In attempting to defend his own party's advertising, Hockey has effectively undermined its key message. That message is that (allegedly) anti-business unions represent only 20% of the workforce and the ALP must by implication be out of touch with the regular voter. That message could potentially become potent if hammered often enough and downgrade Rudd's credentials on the economy from netural to negative.

The key to such messages is nuance. Howard is a master of constraining bucketloads of vitriol within a tight semantic framework. The hapless Hockey clearly is not. By stretching the point to say unions are irrelevant, he takes it beyond the dangers of union influence on economic decisions and the unrepresentativeness of the ALP to saying that unions have no role in modern society.

This seems a trifle bizarre given two points. Firstly, as Bernie Banton has swiftly emerged from his sickbed to point out, the ACTU was instrumental in the class action against James Hardie. Not only does that show the unions playing a vital role in supporting the weak, it also paints the Liberals as in bed with big business. Secondly, why if unions are irrelevant, did anyone pay attention to the 'your rights at work' anti-workchoices ads? Even if they didn't, the Liberals certainly believe they are the source of the community's angst. I await Hockey's explanation as to how an irrelevant body's ads can cut through so well that the government needs to spend over $100 million to combat them.

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, Peter Costello is campaigning for the DLP preference flow by saying Julia Gillard is one step away from communism. Costello seems to be caught in a Catch 22. In order to prove his similarity to Howard and ensure his place in succession, he must pursue Howard's anti-liberal value strategy. Victoria swung hardest (3.1%) against Latham (national swing was 1.7%), it is showing greater opposition to workchoices and it is home to liberals of the ilk of Petro Georgiou. The bluntness of Costello's pronouncements on African and Muslim immigration and his role in workchoices have the potential to send his career into a tailspin.

I note one particularly well-informed blogger has already found the Liberal/National front bench is 64% lawyer. We all know how well they're received in the community. An individual's background may well inform their ability to understand the challenges faced by their community, but surely the existence of clear and coherent policy ideas that address today and future challenges is more important than a mere numbers game. That really would be a triumph of narrow-minded form over substance.