Politicians ‘at mercy of churn mentality’, says Morris Iemma

Former NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma says the rise of ­alternative online platforms has given greater oxygen to damaging political stories.

Former NSW premier Morris Iemma. Picture: AAP

Former NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma says the rise of ­alternative online platforms has given greater oxygen to damaging political stories after a late-night tweet from Bob Carr accusing Peter Dutton of leaking against Scott Morrison gained widespread media attention.

Mr Iemma, who succeeded Mr Carr as NSW premier in 2005, said the splintering of traditional media and rise of the internet as a news source was driving a churn mentality when it came to political reporting.

Two historical text message leaks have caused a political distraction for the Coalition over the past week, with Mr Carr attracting headlines for claiming Mr Dutton was fuelling leadership tensions within the federal Liberal Party.

In his tweet posted on Sunday night, Mr Carr accused the ­Defence Minister of calling Mr Morrison a “psycho” in a text ­exchange with then-NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian two years ago and leaking it to the media. Mr Dutton has rejected the claim and called on Mr Carr to take down the message. The tweet was still online on Monday night.

Responding to the story, Josh Frydenberg labelled Mr Carr a “waste of space” when he served as foreign minister in the Gillard Labor government, arguing that he was “described by his own colleagues as a narcissist”.

Separately, it was revealed on Friday that Barnaby Joyce had called the Prime Minister a hypocrite and a liar in a leaked text message sent last March.

Mr Iemma said the recent text message leaks could spell trouble for the government at the election if they sparked significant reservations among voters over trustworthiness. But he argued the internet age meant political scandals had the potential to drag on, with an ongoing “swirl” of news driven by competition among outlets.

“It reflects the nature of how politics is reported these days,” he said. “This is not unprecedented, from time to time things have ­exploded into the political arena, but in the past traditional media was dominant and the press gallery was dominant itself.

“Now with so many platforms, there are so many alternatives and its almost a competition which is seen to be relevant. There are many commentators on all the ­reporting, and a lot of them aren’t traditional press gallery journalists. It all adds to a constant swirl.”

Former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett also slammed the texting fiasco as “grubby and demeaning”, arguing the recent scandals were a poor reflection of the nature of the political discourse in the modern age.

Mr Kennett was the victim of a private conversation being aired in 1987 after an expletive-­ridden conversation with federal frontbencher Andrew Peacock about Liberal leader John Howard was intercepted by a radio scanner and given to newspapers.

“Any person from time to time in their personal situation … will know … that people under pressure for reasons of their own will say things that if they knew were going to end up on the front pages of the paper they wouldn’t say them,” Mr Kennett said.

“But you would expect that your conversations are kept confidential but they are not in this modern age which I think is disappointing.”