Federal Election 2016: Political party members confuse the white and black hats

DENNIS ATKINS: They can move amongst their party’s leaders, or just dwell at the base. They think the team’s lost its way and share their thoughts - but not just via email - though radio, TV and newspapers.

Peta Credlin, former staffer of Tony Abbott, says Malcolm Turnbull must “listen to the membership”. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

• Federal Election 2016: News and views

THE view from the street is that during election campaigns the white hats and the black hats are well identified — your side wears the former, the bad guys are black on top.

However, anyone who looks under the hood of a campaign knows it’s got more sides than that.

There are those people inside your own team who could be called what former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called “the Chinese” — a thoroughly impolite term which refers to the sex lives of rats.

There aren’t many of these but if they’re there it can be incendiary — as we saw when someone torpedoed Julia Gillard six years ago.

Then there are the well-meaning members of a party’s base who think their team has lost its way and wants a correction.

They helpfully tell their leaders where they’ve got it wrong and what should be done — not just in a private email but on the radio and TV and in the newspapers.

We’re seeing that already in this campaign with Labor’s left flank shaking the cage on asylum seekers and suggesting the bipartisan position with the Coalition is wrong.

Four Labor candidates have spoken out causing Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to whoop and holler about the end to “stopping the boats” and leaky craft turning up at Sandgate pier by the weekend.

Labor’s leadership is grinning and bearing it and hoping things quieten down.

In Coalition ranks, there are people on the wealthy right who think the super changes go a million or so dollars too far and are grumping all around the place — led by conservative cheerleader Rowan Dean who attacked the Scott Morrison crackdown on the very rich in The Courier-Mail this week.

Now Tony Abbott’s old staffer Peta Credlin has chimed in, telling Malcolm Turnbull to “listen to the membership”.

That’s if you can hear them over the rattling of pearls as an unkind commentator said about a Sydney north shore Liberal meeting a few years ago.

Originally published as Federal Election 2016: Political party members confuse the white and black hats