I am inspired to create a new weekly blog – “I Have no idea”.
There are three entries this week.
First – Malcolm “I have no idea why I was knifed” Turnbull.
On a special Q&A episode last week, Malcolm appeared confused and bemused at his current state of being just another ordinary Australian. I can summarise the 45 minutes of tortuous television as follows –
“No-one has said why I was sacked. I was doing such a great job. The national polls aren’t important – even though that’s why I knifed Tony – and anyway, our internal polls say I was edging ahead – and those ARE important polls – even though I’m the only one who saw them. And I didn’t knife Tony – I just initiated a challenge, and I was overwhelmingly supported, and then the Australian people overwhelmingly endorsed me (even though I actually lost 13 of the 14 seat majority).”
And this is the man who always considers himself to be the smartest man in the room – must have been a tiny room!
Second – Michelle “I have no idea why I was terminated” Guthrie.
On a special edition of 4 Corners, Former ABC MD Michelle Guthrie and Former ABC Chairman Justin Milne slugged it out – from different studios and at different times – consistent with most of their approaches to communication. Watching the interviews, it was extraordinary to see how many “leaks” were openly discussed and now openly shared with the public – personal and private conversations, texts, emails, performance reviews. And what is more extraordinary is that despite all of these pointing to an incompetent MD – poor staff ratings, falling staff morale, failing leadership performance reviews, loss of Board support, poor government relations, loss of funding – Guthrie still had “No Idea” why she was terminated!
It is hard to know what Guthrie considers were her important KPI’s. I think she is just clinging to an employment agreement that stated she had 5 years – and is choosing to ignore the termination clause. Perhaps she thinks she is a politician?! Actually, I think she just has no idea full stop.
Third, the Liberal “We have no idea who cut Foodbank’s crucial funding” Party.
On Monday morning the LNP government announced a cut in funding to Foodbank – perhaps the most efficient and effective provider of food for the needy. The Government had planned to cut Foodbank’s funding, redistributing the money among three charities instead of two, including SecondBite and OzHarvest. It was part of a competitive tender that the head of Foodbank, Ms Casey, said was the wrong approach. By Monday afternoon she was on the offensive – “the government must revisit their decision and put back the full funding”. Monday evening and the Prime Minister tweets that the Government will maintain Foodbank’s funding following community anger over plans to slash its budget in half. Mr Morrison said the reversal meant Foodbank’s funding would be maintained at $750,000 a year.
Remember, this is the same government that announced a $450 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Corporation without any tender, any formal due diligence, or any request from the recipient. That’s funding 600 times larger than the Foodbank requirements – one feeds the homeless, the other feeds the publicity machine.
It is good the cut was reversed so quickly. But these two episodes highlight the inconsistency and poll driven policy making of a government exhibiting increasingly that it has “no idea”.