Paul Starick: New name for Families SA, but it’s just spin
IT’S one of the oldest tricks in the political playbook — if you’ve got a big problem, change its name.
IT’S one of the oldest tricks in the political playbook — if you’ve got a big problem, change its name.
The renaming of Families SA to the Department for Child Protection, starting today, is being trumpeted as a “fresh start” for the embattled agency.
In reality, it’s closer to going back to the future by ditching the discredited decision to merge Families SA with the wider Education Department in late 2011.
But the new name is about image. Premier Jay Weatherill in June conceded his idea to merge the two agencies hadn’t worked and “we need a fresh start”.
His call for a “fresh start” was dutifully embraced on Monday by Child Protection Minister Susan Close, who issued a press release boldly headlined: “Fresh start for child protection in South Australia begins.”
Dr Close says the establishment of the new Child Protection Department, along with appointing a children’s commissioner, is the government’s most significant response to the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission, which reported in August.
Taking a problem and turning it into an advantage with a clever slogan was neatly described by veteran United States political commentator Chris Matthews, in his book Hardball: How Politics is Played Told By One Who Knows the Game.
In a chapter on spin, he described Bill Clinton’s surprisingly jaunty, confident manner after he’d been thrashed in 1992’s New Hampshire Presidential primary, usually won by the eventual President.
“By acting as if he’d won, Clinton got everyone else to act the same way ... By anointing himself the ‘Comeback Kid’, he’d converted his second-place showing into a triumph,” Matthews writes.
This comeback — from allegations of draft-dodging and an extramarital affair — triggered unstoppable momentum for Clinton, which swept him into the White House.
Talk is cheap, unlike the financial cost of changing a department’s name.
It cost as much as $10 million in 2009 to rebrand the Australian Customs Service as the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. In July last year, this was controversially renamed the Australian Border Force, when the Immigration Department was rolled in at the cost of $711 million.
Dr Close’s office did not reveal the cost of establishing the Child Protection Department, saying they were not known because developing the identity of the new department had only just begun.
But this “fresh start” won’t come cheap. Hopefully, the benefits stretch significantly beyond the political and into significantly improving the lives of vulnerable children.
Rebranding and renaming
■ WorkCover rebranded as Return to Work SA last year, blunting uncomfortable memories of union protest at Labor state convention.
■ The privatised ETSA Utilities was renamed SA Power Networks in 2012.
■ It cost $711 million to merge Immigration and Customs into the Australian Border Force last year.
■ It cost $10 million to rebrand the Australian Customs Service as the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service in 2009.
■ More than $22,000 was spent in 2008 on a logo for Britain’s Office of Government Commerce. It achieved notoriety for a phallic appearance when rotated 90 degrees.
■ The infamous 1995 state slogan of “SA — Going All The Way” was swiftly dumped after an understandable furore.