By ABC's Annabel Crabb
Posted Mon Aug 5, 2013 2:33pm AEST
Photo: You couldn't blame Tony Abbott for feeling a tiny bit aggrieved about Mr Rudd's tactical pitch invasion. (ABC TV)
Tony Abbott is the Opposition Leader. He's good at that job. But this campaign, he has discovered he is not the only one playing that role. Now, he has been obliged to strike forth into bold new areas of specificity, writes Annabel Crabb.
Kevin Rudd's passionate case for how much better things would be if he were Prime Minister is only very slightly dented by the fact that he already is.
He offers a stern new line on border protection. A release from this awful carbon tax. An education revolution. A brand new Labor Party, whose doors have been thrown open in order to let a little breeze in, and so on.
Vote Kevin, and let's shake this place up!
Tony Abbott is the Opposition Leader. He's good at that job, and it must be mildly disconcerting in this campaign to find that he's not the only guy in the role.
Everything that makes Tony mad (porous borders, NSW Labor corruption and so on) makes Kevin madder still.
All the tricks of an opposition leader's trade - the soaring rhetoric, the impossible promises, that seductive gaze deep into the eyes of the electorate that says "I can't stand this party. Why don't you grab your coat, and then let's you and me get out of here, shall we?" - Kevin's using them all.
Even his brand-new campaign slogan offers "A New Way".
In traditional terms, a New Way is what you're allowed to offer if you haven't already had Your Way.
To offer a New Way when you've already been in office for six years - well, that really takes some chops.
At this point, you couldn't blame Tony Abbott for feeling a tiny bit aggrieved about Mr Rudd's tactical pitch invasion.
Surely there must be some recourse available under the Trade Practices Act? Perhaps he should consult his union, the Federated Whiners, Carpers and Opposition Leaders?
Not that it would make any difference. The Prime Minister is unembarrassed on most things, and this would be no exception.
"A New Way" nebulously suggests a glorious new style of doing business, without the bother of specifics. It's just as well, for in the cold light of day, the New Way's actual scorecard of decisions taken so far (dusting off John Howard's border protection system, shaking down smokers for a few more billions, squeezing a little more whey out of the public service, some old-fashioned horse-trading on schools funding and a spirited whack at the banks) has an unmistakably Old-Way feel.
Oh, well. Whatevs, as they say.
Mr Abbott, thus forced out of his own habitat, has been obliged to strike forth into bold new areas of specificity.
Like his undertaking yesterday that he would not, in the event of another hung Parliament, make any attempt to form a minority government.
This is most certainly a New Way, given that three years ago, Mr Abbott was desperately interested in forming a minority government; that's not an exaggeration, is it, for a man who reportedly offered one independent $1 billion for a local hospital and to another made wistful remarks about selling his arse to get the job?
Back then, the Opposition Leader was desperately aware of his window of opportunity, knowing that in politics such windows are narrow, hard to clamber through, and never open for long.
Today, he recognises that this is it; his final chance, in all likelihood. There won't be any horse-trading, and the arse will remain firmly in the hip pocket, if that's even possible.
You either elect him, or you don't. No two Ways about it.
Annabel Crabb will be writing regularly for The Drum throughout the campaign. Annabel Crabb is the ABC's chief online political writer. View her full profile here.
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