Defending Rudd, attacking Turnbull

When Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was among the first to reject PM Kevin Rudd’s assessment of the Liberal Party’s economic record, ABC Radio National’s Fran Kelly charged to the Prime Minister’s defence.

On Wednesday morning Kelly accused the Opposition Leader of launching “a very stinging personal attack” on Rudd. Kelly said Mr Turnbull described “the PM’s criticism of the Howard Government’s economic policies as a breathtakingly dishonest attempt to rewrite history”.

What was Fran Kelly thinking? That Malcolm Turnbull should have accepted Mr Rudd’s speech at face value – without challenge, without analysis, without question and never tested? Perhaps so – after all, that seems to be a sort of house rule at the ABC.

When Age political editor Michelle Grattan, RN’s regular commentator, joined Kelly on air, Kelly played the “stinging personal attack” that so offended her. Here is what Mr Turnbull said:

TURNBULL: It was like listening to a speech by a Communist Party general secretary extolling the virtues of the dictatorship of the proletariat at some rally. It was incredible.

Grattan seemed mildly amused.

“Fran, it’s quite a long time since we’ve heard someone denounced as a commie in the Australian political discourse,” Grattan said.

Which was slightly inaccurate. Mr Turnbull had not called Mr Rudd a commie; he said he sounded like one.

Grattan went on to explain to Fran Kelly:

“Well, this is a sort of new version of the history wars, and it was quite a provocative speech when the Prime Minister was launching Paul Kelly’s book. Because, really, he was saying that over the last quarter of a century or so the reforms have been mostly driven by Labor and that the Coalition had been very reluctant supporters of Labor’s changes and hadn’t done much in their time. And, of course, Malcolm Turnbull was in the audience at this book launch and did, obviously, not appreciate that sort of writing of history and so he’s decided, well, fight back, as it were.”

Quite so.

Mr Turnbull’s response to Rudd’s speech amounted to a spirited comment, hardly a “stinging personal attack”.

Voters dislike and are turned off by politicians engaging in a personal attacks. Journalists like Kelly and Grattan know it.

In the lead up to the last federal election, fair and legitimate questions about the political and policy backgrounds of Labor’s leaders were frequently characterised by journalists as personal attacks, smears and mudslinging from the Liberals.

Good try, Fran. Your effort earns further recognition on Australian Conservative’s Helping Kevin list.