Rudd's exercise in how not to manage a crisis

WHAT is going wrong with Kevin Rudd's spin machine?

Now that Rudd has demoted Peter Garrett, the roof insulation story will kick along well into next week, if not beyond, where it otherwise might not have.

It has been an exercise in how not to manage a crisis.

After weathering the political storm for weeks, using strong rhetoric to insulate Garrett from criticisms, Rudd finally sacked him.

Only he didn't have the courage to properly sack him; just stripping him of energy-efficiency responsibilities, leaving him as an environment minister with few actual environmental responsibilities.

Rudd said Garrett was a first-class minister doing a first-class job. He had the Prime Minister's full confidence, so we were told.

The rhetoric was hollow and disingenuous and one has to wonder how the public will view Rudd's rhetoric on so many other issues as he tries to sell his government's achievements in an election year.

Late on Thursday afternoon, it looked as though the government was going to come out the other side of this crisis. Garrett was off the front page, the media and the public seemed to be moving on.

The Rudd spin machine was on the verge of pushing past opposition calls for the minister's head, as other issues entered the political lexicon. Then Rudd went on the ABC's 7.30 Report and gave a poor performance, followed by yesterday's announcement about Garrett's demotion.

It has given oxygen to a story that journalists were struggling to find a new angle on. Now they have it and so does an opposition that will go into the next round of parliamentary sittings confident it has the government on the run.