‘Google it Mate’
There was a collective sigh in the MyMedia office on Wednesday morning when plastered across the front pages of the West Australian and Australian were more stories relating to the first ‘Gotcha’ moment of the 2022 election campaign. Anthony Albanese’s failure to accurately quote the interest and unemployment rate has been running top of the news for three days.
The gaff has been analysed by Laura Tingle on the 7:30 Report, Ben Harvey in his Up Late with Ben Harvey podcast (which is hilarious, especially the archival footage of Kevin Rudd swearing his head off) and countless other journalists. The analysis ranges from Albanese’s economic competence to the decline of actual journalism and even the rarity of a politician apologising for his mistake.
We’re genuinely hoping that by the time this blog is published the gaff will be dead and buried, there are two things though that we would like to see put up in glittering lights and remembered forever.
Firstly, John Howard’s initial reaction to the news. Our 25th Prime Minister was campaigning in Perth for Swan candidate Kristy McSweeney and Hasluck MP and Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt when he was asked whether it was a bad thing Albanese didn’t know the nation’s unemployment rate,
“Is that a serious question?” he responded, “Anthony Albanese didn’t know the unemployment… alright… so what?”
Sitting on a chair in a shopping centre he looked every bit the seasoned politician. A man who has known his fair share of gaffs and gotcha moments, viewed by some as our last great Prime Minister, telling the journo to basically get stuffed and find a real question. The following day at the West Australian Leadership Matters Breakfast the Hon. John Howard had changed his tune, no doubt after a group of concerned Liberal staffers reeking of coffee had circled him, phones glued to their clammy hands, informing him it was not a good idea to brush this one off.
Then there is the Leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt whose speech and subsequent press conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday the 13th of April was the closest thing we’ve seen to a real political campaign since this whole shit show went on the road.
Mr Bandt was asked by AFR journalist Ron Mizen if he could state what the WPI (Wage Price Index) was, Mr Bandt broke out into an exasperated smile and simply said ‘Google it Mate’.
He went on to talk about how elections should be a contest of ideas, a concept that has been missing from this year’s Federal Election Campaign. Journalists are asking simplistic questions, designed to catch out politicians.
Basic fact checking questions are not doing anything to foster the democratic process.
Voters should be better informed after watching a press conference but so far all we’ve learnt about are stats and figures we could have found by conducting a quick Google search.
The main reason voters want to watch this political circus is to become informed on policies and positions that will ultimately affect their quality of life. They don’t want SCOMO from Marketing throwing out another soundbite or ALBO from the housing projects using pop song references to make a point (although his Ramones one was particularly entertaining), we’d just like to know whether we can return to work because childcare is affordable or that there will be jobs created for people when an industry like coal is fazed out.
Asking questions is the first way to bring about change, so press pack use your power wisely and don’t ask questions we can Google the answer too.