ALP brand ruined by a bunch of Mad Men

Fans of the Mad Men television show will recall the opening sequence - a series of caricatures falling in endless spirals through space. Those computer graphics are a metaphor for the Labor brand today. That the government is dysfunctional is a given, is there any end in sight? No. Over the past four years Labor Party MPs have reassured themselves after every new disaster by asserting that things can't get any worse. They know now that was a false hope. The ALP's own polling shows its support is in a Mad Men-style free fall, the Labor brand is haemorrhaging unstoppably, possibly terminally. A poll taken by the respected EMRS group in Tasmania in the last week of August captured the national mood. Taken between August 22 and August 25 and reflecting the opinions of 1000 adult Tasmanian residents, the poll showed a 13-point drop for Labor from August 2010, and a three-point drop since last May. Labor was supported by just 16 per cent of those polled. In the same poll, the Coalition enjoyed a 14-point increase in support year-on-year to garner 44 per cent (an increase of six per cent since May), the Greens dropped nine points (down three points since May) over the same period to record the support of 14 per cent of those polled. When the undecided were asked which party they were leaning towards, support for the Liberals increased by 7 per cent since May, Labor's support dropped three points since May, the Greens support dropped 4 per cent since May and the Independents remained steady at 5 per cent. In all five Tasmanian federal electorates, the Liberal Party registered the highest level of support, ranging from a high of 63 per cent in Braddon to a low of 43 per cent in Denison. Labor's highest level of support was 25 per cent in Braddon. The Tasmanian poll shows where Labor was before the High Court pulled the pin on the third item on Prime Minister Julia Gillard's things-to-do list. In her first speech as prime minister on June 24, 2010, she promised "strong management of our borders" to stop the boats, she promised to "seek consensus" with miners for a new mining tax and she promised to "first ... establish community consensus" on introducing a "carbon price", which would be applied only "as global conditions improve". That last promise then morphed into a pledge to appoint a "citizen's assembly" which would decide what action was necessary on global warming and then there was her notorious promise "there will be no carbon tax under the Government I lead". Not one of the promises was ever kept or is capable of being kept now. The joke doing the rounds in Sydney last week had it that the Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star John Cleese could not get any media attention because the clowns from Canberra were hogging the limelight. Gillard's unwarranted blackguarding of the Chief Justice of the High Court Robert French and her subsequent self-assessment were statements worthy of Humphrey Bogart as The Caine Mutiny's Captain Queeg. "I'm not going anywhere," she said yesterday. "I am the best person to do this job and I'll continue to do it." She who was forever "moving forward". Or, in reality, going nowhere. "I've got a very clear vision of that future," she said. "I've been driven all of my political life by a series of goals about spreading opportunity and making sure no one gets left behind." No one believes a word of it. Her vision of "spreading opportunity" has been one of wealth redistribution and the only person she seems determined not to leave behind is the embattled former union leader Craig Thomson who has allegedly turned Labor's light-on-the-hill into Labor's red-light-on-the-hill (claims which he denies). Around the ranks there have been murmurings about changing leaders, former Queensland premier Peter Beattie has been mentioned but the baggage is formidable. Defence Minister Stephen Smith enjoys being talked about but there is nothing to suggest he is prime ministerial material, nor the never-shy assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten. There has even been talk or reinstalling foreign minister Kevin Rudd, the victim of the first ever political assassination of a first-term prime minister in Australian politics, but as one Labor MP said: "If he's the hope of the side, we've got no hope." Those close to Gillard say it is now impossible for her to concentrate on running the nation when she's in so much trouble at home. One senior Labor MP said it was wrong to compare Gillard's failure with Labor idol Gough Whitlam because Whitlam, while incompetent, had vision. Gillard lacks vision and competence. Whitlam, even on the ropes, sounded authoritative, Gillard sounds like a whinger. When it comes down to it, she was only ever rated as competent by ALP voters and the luvvies of the Canberra media cheer squad and the independents who depend upon her for their status. In truth, there is no limit to the level of incompetence of this dysfunctional government. It is impossible to guess at the enormity of its next failure. The thought of the Gillard Cabinet contemplating a response to the High Court's demolition job on its always-going-to-fail Malaysian Solution draws nothing but cynical laughter from Labor backbenchers. The only cheering thought coming out of Canberra is that members of the Labor Caucus might prove to be the biggest buyers of Liberal MP Andrew Robb's new book Black Dog Daze, an inspiring memoir about his battle with depression. If Gillard stays leader and the ALP hangs on to office , Robb's book may be a national best-seller.