MATTERS OF INTEREST

FEDERAL LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:26): Much scrutiny has been focused on the Prime Minister and the government, but equal light has not been shone on the opposition leader. I would have thought that the possibility of Tony Abbott being prime minister would have honed the media's interest much more than has been the situation in the past. Some reasons are Abbott's penchant for soft interviews through the likes of Alan Jones more so than journalists like Tony Jones, as one media commentator noted, while the current media or popular media is more in the thrall of feeding frenzy than balanced analysis over the big issues.

The opposition leader and the federal opposition have picked up the baton from the Hon. Nick Xenophon as the master of political stunts, the latest being the former's involvement in the 'Convoy of no confidence', a rousing group of 250 individuals, led by Mick Pattel, member of the LNP in Queensland and potential candidate for the state seat of Mount Isa.

I note that recent surveys conducted as part of National Science Week through the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation found that a disturbing number of people have difficulty in separating science fiction from science fact. It is little wonder that politicians of the ilk of Tony Abbott take advantage of and milk the rich vein of understandable confusion and misinformation to the detriment of objective thought and positive policy.

The rise of concerted attacks on scientific credibility and rational thought, the continual and unabating negation of sound policy, the use of hyperbole, deliberate misinformation, and fear to fan populism—all hallmarks of a Tea Party mentality—are the tenor of opposition politics here and elsewhere. Clever tactics it may be, but it is corrosive to the credibility of politics, the political process and public trust.

Some critics are concerned that it is more than a passing trend that voters generally see through at election time. The effect of the Tea Party influenced right-wing Republican tactic in the US on their debt default tactics and the conservative attack here on global warming and the carbon tax suggest a reckless, almost criminal, attitude to reason and balance. The effect of this practice has been noted by a number of critics, with one commentator likening the trivialisation of US politics and media where scandal and personality vies with inane and shallow debate as the defining war confronting Western civilisation.

The issue is not with free speech but with the beliefs and dissemination of information that preclude the possibility of free speech and objective dialogue. The American Association for the Advancement of Science notes that the intimidation of US climate change scientists and researchers by the American Tradition Institute in the latter's request under FOI for personal emails and data requests as the avenue for harassment and intimidation. The AAAS were at pains in these requests to note the public responsibilities of the scientific community in sharing data and the line between sharing data and the ulterior motives of the ATI. Here, Australia's Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb, called the public and media debate on climate change 'appalling'.

Abbott's response we know. On climate change, one week it is 'absolute crap', another week it is real but it is not man made, as he flip flops to scare the public witless. Look at the tripe being served up by some elements of the media and shock jock personalities, as they ride the repetitious, mindless manipulation of Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Co's great big tax scare campaign.

The Drum reported on the carry-on effect of zealous proselytisation in the Daily Telegraph, 'Workers struggling with a carbon tax are about to be hit with a second wave of Greens inspired tax pain.' As the article pointed out, we do not yet have a carbon tax, nor is there any suggestion of a mooted additional tax, a so-called congestion tax, although this did not stop Joe Hockey in his interview with John Laws giving this ghost tax material credibility. Nor is it honest in this debate to claim that thousands will lose their jobs, towns like Whyalla and Port Augusta will close and household costs will skyrocket exponentially.

In closing, the public need to be aware that the opposition leader and the opposition are worse than policy lite, they are policy bereft, content to manipulate and negate.