This was published 13 years ago
Gillard needs to put Abbott in the frame
By Michelle Grattan
THERESE Rein is one sensible and savvy woman. Yesterday she seemed to be suggesting a way to get the ''Rudd factor'' under control in the campaign.
Speaking to journalists, she indicated she'd like to see Kevin confined for a while to get properly better after his gall bladder operation. So would most of those running the ALP's campaign. The idea of Rudd on the loose around Queensland and further afield, even if ostensibly for Julia Gillard, fills most (admittedly not all) with fear.
Rudd's wife pointed to the escape hatch. ''I am encouraging him to take the time that is clinically advised to recover.'' She was sure he'd be ''up on his feet within the next couple of weeks''. He'd be following ''clinical medical advice'' on when to leave hospital and when ''he's allowed to resume normal activities''. Her emphasis was different from Rudd's, who on Friday anticipated hitting the campaign trail this week.
Whether Therese will be able to keep Kevin on the leash we'll have to see. But an enforced rest could be a saver all round, including for him. And the beauty is that it can be put down to ''medical advice''.
Rein's comments came on a day when Gillard performed quite well. It had opened badly, with an Age/Nielsen poll showing Labor facing defeat and The Australian reporting Gillard had sent a ''former bodyguard'' to attend cabinet's national security committee when she couldn't. But this ''leak'' lacked the potency of earlier ones. Gillard said staffer Andrew Stark, a former policeman, didn't represent her but took notes for her. This doesn't seem unreasonable: she was deputy PM and didn't hold a security-related portfolio.
As she wound up campaigning in Perth, bad poll notwithstanding, she looked more in charge than on Friday, when she'd been hounded by Rudd questions. She also seemed more herself: neither regally confected nor over-contrived.
''I'm in the fight of my life,'' she declared. ''I am a fighter.'' She set about highlighting the choice facing Australians on the economy, industrial relations and the like. ''Do you keep the economy strong … Or do you run the risk with Mr Abbott?''
In the next few days, Gillard has to get the focus onto the Opposition Leader. While it stays on her, she'll remain in deep trouble.
Not only is Labor divided but the policy fixes Gillard has put in have unravelled: the smaller miners are continuing the tax war; her plan for East Timor to have a processing centre for asylum seekers remains problematic; and the poll found more than half the voters oppose her citizens' assembly on climate.
Because the Labor campaign has had many problems, Abbott hasn't been under serious pressure since the early focus on WorkChoices. This week we can expect a grittier Gillard, trying to dispel the impression she and Abbott aren't much different on policy.
She wants to sharpen the delineation on the economy, service delivery, and values. Abbott's alleged lack of interest in economic matters will get a working over, as will the issue of his suitability for the prime ministership.
Gillard under pressure has become less scripted, and some in Labor want to see more of the woman they believe to be the real Julia. One Labor source says: ''Julia has to break the shackles that some of the machine men have put on her. Her best day was when she threw away the book of cliches [on Wednesday, to defend herself against allegations made in a leak]. We have to see a lot more of that.
''It's a heavily scripted Labor campaign. [But] tightly crafted messaging comes at the cost of Julia losing some of the authenticity that made her such a good communicator in the first place.''
It's a dilemma for Abbott too, even though he's doing well (but not as well as in the Age poll, some Liberals suggest). One Liberal says: ''For Abbott to get across as a real person he has to be himself, but to do that opens him to an unguarded moment.''
With the priority on guarding against the ''unguarded moment'', Abbott sometimes sounds slightly strangled.