By ABC's Latika Bourke Posted Fri Aug 16, 2013
Photo: Kevin Rudd has the one thing Julia Gillard had well and truly lost: the ear of the people. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Unlike his predecessor, Kevin Rudd still has the ear of the Australian public. But he just has to get his message right by reclaiming Labor's legacy and casting doubt on an Abbott Australia, writes Latika Bourke.
Kevin Rudd probably has just a few days left to save his election campaign, but there are worrying signs his strategy lacks what is needed to resurrect Labor's chances.
Even the Prime Minister's strategists agree that his campaign has been chaotic, logistically and thematically. His messages, crafted around a series of small skills announcements and local infrastructure grants, lack punch, power and creativity.
His Northern Australia 'thought bubble', as the Opposition refers to it, is an idea pitched for 2018 but more focussed on securing vital Katter preferences in Queensland on September 7.
After the past six years, the question for voters is why this Government deserves another chance. Labor thus far has failed to provide a persuasive answer, even though it has one.
Getting the message right requires Rudd to do better than Julia Gillard did in embracing the legacies of his predecessor.
In short, Rudd needs to start talking about the policies Julia Gillard would be running on if this were her campaign, and reminding voters that Labor's three most popular ideas were its and its alone.
Labor should disregard that there is bipartisan support for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and now, belatedly, its Better Schools funding plan, and argue that only the Government can be trusted to see these schemes through in the interests of a fairer and smarter Australia.
Peter Costello may have delivered surpluses Wayne Swan will only ever dream of handing down, but did the Coalition back in its 'Golden Age' ever propose or implement a National Disability Insurance Scheme? Labor should not only be floating that question in the public's mind but also be following it up with a "Why not?"
The same applies for Better Schools funding, which on the eve of the election being called the Coalition decided it would now support. Why should the community trust the Liberals to see through a policy agenda they called a 'Conski' for nearly two years?
On broadband, Labor can ask the public if it wants faster or slower speeds, and ask which side is best suited to guaranteeing the NBN's future: the party which dreamt up the idea of the network and managed to structurally separate Telstra, or the side which maintained the telco's vertical integration structure while in government?
One Labor MP believes a dull election campaign suits the Opposition. On the flip side, an emotive one would benefit Labor. The ALP needs to set out a vision based on the principle that saw it first elected in 2007 - a fair economy - and ask voters to imagine what an Abbott Australia would look like.
Liberals believe the Government has badly burnt faith and could possibly lose the election as a result of its decisions to raise taxes on cigarettes, impose a levy on the banks, and change the rules around salary packaging for employer-provided cars.
This isn't because these taxes are without merit, but because Labor once again failed to lay the groundwork for the unpleasant task of raising taxes, and in so doing provided the grounds for a devastating "who's next?" attack from the Coalition. This could prove fatal for the Federal Government.
Nevertheless, Labor's three signature policies tie neatly into Rudd's mantra of wanting to boost productivity and competitiveness and diversify the economy.
If handled with some imagination, this message could fly above the uncertainty and broken budget surplus promises that stain Labor's record and work into reassuring worried workers that there are jobs in the new economy.
There has been much complaint from those working on Rudd's campaign that the travelling team - and in particular, the candidate - is micro-managing the campaign, leading to some of the logistical nightmares experienced in the first week. Some of the frustration at the lack of communication has seeped out of Campaign Headquarters in Melbourne and into the media.
This is not surprising, but it should be noted that much of the micro-managing has been due to concerns the party organisation was unprepared for an earlier campaign, and this has hindered Rudd's ability to coordinate some blistering messages against the appropriate campaign backdrops.
Yes, Rudd inherits the dysfunction of the past six years, including broken promises and policy back-flips. And yes, this means it's much more likely that Labor will lose than win.
But Rudd has the one thing Julia Gillard had well and truly lost, and that is the ear of the people, many of whom tell MPs they would do anything to NOT have to vote for Tony Abbott.
Latika Bourke has been travelling with the Prime Minister on the campaign trail as part of the ABC's Election 2013 coverage.
Latika Bourke is a political and social media reporter at the ABC. Follow her on Twitter @latikambourke. View her full profile here.
Rudd must give voters a reason to back him - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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