We could expect Gillard to really hate Abbott, deep deep down. As public relationspractitioners we have watched as he has consistently scattered her key messages and debating points into confusing and contradictory smithereens. It means she has consistently been the tail on the dog – playing catchup. Keating and Hawke had the brute debating strength to stay in front of the pack. Howard too had a particular knack of staying ahead, with the support of some brilliant backroom strategists. But not this PM. A lot of this is about setting the agenda.
In an article on The Weekend Australian Magazine in Nov 2009, one of Kevin Rudd’s minders made this prescient point: “There is not a media cycle anymore, there is a media cyclone. There is so much news out there that if you don’t maintain discipline, whatever you are trying to say gets scattered and atomised.”
(Hence the need to stay on-message.)
“The modern news cycle feeds on disputes and inconsistencies, so you either feed the beast with the opposition or the beast feeds on you,” he says. “So we are very focused on maintaining discipline and consistency, but that’s not a reflection on our governing style, it’s a reflection of the modern media cycle. Ignore that at your peril.”
Prime Minister Gillard has continually failed to set the agenda; on the school buildings and pink batts debacle; on the live export trade ban; on the boat people and so far on the Carbon Tax.
We can’t yet see how this is going to play out, but as public relations practitioners and in particular as Crisis PR strategists we can make some more well-founded predictions. Without an ability to control the agenda, it’s struggle street and even with a proposal that should succeed on its merits there is a real risk of losing the lot.
