Politics is full of traps, and on this Garage edition of the Court of Public Opinion Jeremy Cordeaux watched one sprung in real time. The victim, in his telling, was One Nation’s newly elected member David Farley; the trapper, the ABC’s David Speers; and the lesson, that a naive politician facing a hostile press is asking for trouble.
As Nice As Pie
Jeremy’s alarm bells rang from the outset. Watching Speers interview Farley on Insiders, he saw the host being, as he put it, as nice as pie, and grew suspicious at once. In his long experience, that kind of warmth at the top of an interview often comes just before the sharpest questions.
Sure enough, Jeremy said, Speers took Farley for a gentle waltz around the park and then, metaphorically, hit him between the eyes. Speers, he allowed, is one smart operator, and he soon had the new member contradicting his own party’s stated position.
The Substance Was Reasonable
What frustrated Jeremy was that Farley’s underlying point was perfectly sensible. One Nation’s policy, he explained, is an immigration intake of 130,000 people a year. Farley added that, on top of that, the country still has to consider backpackers, students and other visa categories to make the economy function.
That, in Jeremy’s view, is simply reality. The mistake was not the substance but the framing. Hours later the headline wrote itself: new member goes rogue. The media then rounded on One Nation as divided and confused, when all Farley had done was acknowledge that skilled and temporary visas sit alongside the headline number.
What He Should Have Said
Jeremy, ever the broadcaster, supplied the answer Farley should have given. Our official policy, he suggested, will keep immigration at 130,000. Where the country needs specific skills, we will keep that door open, and I will keep you posted on the detail. As for exact numbers of specialist arrivals, I am not privy to that yet, but I will let you know.
Put that way, Jeremy argued, the same point becomes disciplined rather than rogue, a clear restatement of policy with a sensible caveat, offering no headline on which to hang a division story.
Every Journalist Is A Predator
The deeper lesson, for Jeremy, was media strategy. One Nation, he argued, has to understand that for them, every journalist is a predator. Perhaps the party is seen as easy game; whatever the reason, its people cannot afford to be naive.
When the overall intention of much of the press, in Jeremy’s view, is to destroy Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, every word will be twisted and every gap exploited. His message to the party was blunt: recruit good candidates, yes, but train them for the traps. Do not walk in with your eyes shut, and do not hand a hostile interviewer the headline he came for.
Listen To The Full Episode
Catch the complete Garage edition of The Court of Public Opinion, recorded live around the dining room table.
Watch The Full Episode
The Court of Public Opinion streams live every Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ACST), right here at jeremycordeaux.com. Download the podcast anytime on your favourite podcast app, and join the conversation with your calls and comments.
