It used to be a big deal if there was a budget leak; now there are ‘selective announcements’, farmed out to particular journalists or
publications.
Cynical? Consider this: a lot of experts will tell you selective leaking is a good strategy. Why? Well the most important reason is the government knows that the budget, unless carefully managed, is going to bring on a tsunami of criticism from a variety of stakeholders – a crisis. Crisis avoidance takes preparation and a strong strategy.
This government – with a hung parliament – is in almost constant crisis mode, so it’s valuable to learn from the government minders about how to handle crisis comms.
Sometimes they show us what not-to-do. The way they managed the early debate over the carbon tax is an example as the Gillard Government seemed to throw the issue out there without the required preparation and strategy. As a result, first they had to navigate ‘the lie’, and the serious reputation hit, and then they had to defend the lack of detail around the announcement (how big is the tax and why).
Will pre Budget leaks be an example of good crisis PR?
