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October 26, 2007
The federal election campaign after 2 weeks:
Matt Golding
We are all going to suffer terribly is the message. Who from? The Coalition's account up to now says the trade union bogey man (eg., Jo McDonald, the West Australian CFMEU union official) who wears blue shirts and red braces. That negative image appeals to and reinforces our entrenched prejudices.
However, Peter Costello, the federal treasurer, has started doing a fine line in doomsday rhetoric in that a market apocalypse was on the horizon.The image of the wreckage caused by unregulated financial markets is no longer the wrecking ball--it is the tsunami.
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the government must be collectively attending courses in shrill desperation. Howard, Costello, Downer, Abbott, all the major players barely utter a sentence about their plan for australia's future. all we get are attacks on Labour, threats about 'Union Thugs' and warnings of impending financial disaster. This kind of rhetoric may work on small focus groups (does it??), but i don't think it's playing with the electorate.