We manage a
coffee catch up every few weeks and on the occasions we connect on a weekend,
it commonly extends for some hours and far too many coffees.
We share
common interests including cricket, the industry we both work in, music and
politics.
His move
towards conservatism commenced with a very small step some 40 years ago when he
ceased being a full time musician to join the then SGIO. His time as a
professional musician was not without some success. His band recorded several
records and achieved modest sales. He was the drummer in the Hoadley Battle of
the Bands state winners and national runners up back in 1960something.
About 5
years ago he returned to music and is a member of a weekend warrior covers
band.
We both
wonder at the inability of modern day fast bowlers to achieve consistent line
and length and ponder the benefits or otherwise of such strict coaching of
young players often at the expense of natural flair and creativity.
The small
step towards conservatism taken all those years ago has continued to gather
momentum and this inevitably drives the more colourful content of our
conversations.
He is of the
view that Tony Abbott is one of our truly great Prime Ministers. I was amused
when he said as Prime Minister he fulfilled his three key election promises and
when I ask what they were, he could not name them. With some goading, he did
recall “stop the boats”.
He cites the
2014 budget as being one of the most innovative of all time and is
retrospectively being acknowledged as being so. He admits it was poorly sold
but that is the medias fault, not Tony’s.
I put it to
him that Malcolm Turnbull has managed to get more of the 2014 budget legislated
than Abbott did and he went quiet when I supported my statement with evidence.
He believes
in gaining information via what he swears is “balanced media” citing 4BC and
Sky as evidence of reliable and balanced sources of information.
A report
last week that Malcolm Turnbull stepped in to save Tony Abbott’s seat was
addressed by him as being rubbish. He added that this story was leaked by
Malcolm Turnbull. I suggested it could not be both rubbish and leaked.
As evidence
of his view on the lack of validity of the report he referenced Tony’s 62% two
party preferred result in his seat. I abandoned my attempt to discuss the preferential
voting system when he admitted he did not know how it worked
However, it
was this very story that had me thinking. Purely by accident, I heard analysis
about the “saving of Tony Abbott” on the radio by two very different
commentators. One was on Radio National where the commentator made the point
that the Prime Minister wasn’t motivated by saving his predecessor as much as
by saving himself; after all he achieved a one seat victory.
The second
commentator was the 4BC breakfast host who was very clear that the entire story
was a beat up.
If we
consume our ‘balanced media’ from a single source, we are likely to be strongly
influenced by that source. Also, we may well be inclined to select the media
outlets that best supports what we fundamentally want to believe. This applies
equally to the ‘left’ the ‘right’ and the ‘centre’.
We need a
strong and diversified media across all medias. We need diversified ownership
and diversified cultural influences. Above all, we need a strong, well-funded
National Broadcaster.
My major
concern is the latter, the National Broadcaster, is likely to be the first casualty.
It is somewhat wounded right now, wounds inflicted by the current Prime
Minister. However, the leader of the Opposition has been careful not to commit
to restoring proper funding in Government.
Maybe Tony
Abbott was a great Prime Minister and maybe he is set for a return to the job
and maybe I am just listening and watching the wrong media. Perhaps the view so passionately held by my long term friend is representative of popular public opinion.
Is it?
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