Mine games go down like lead

JULIA Gillard's speech at the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies conference yesterday was a classic case of not understanding one's audience. It was truly bizarre.

Having accepted an invitation to open the conference, the Prime Minister barely referred to the mining sector in her 20-minute speech. Instead she spoke about education.

She could have used a speech on education to zero in on the challenges of upskilling the mining sector's workforce, but only cursory segues to such challenges rated a mention.

Gillard told her audience that they focused on "mines" while teachers focused on "minds". It was the sort of pun - without substance to back it up - that should see a speechwriter sacked.

Gillard's speechwriters have form when it comes to putting her audiences offside. At the annual dinner for the Australian Industry Group in August, addressing a room of business leaders, Gillard singled out Sydney Morning Herald economics editor Ross Gittins for praise. She would need to work hard to find an economics editor anywhere in the country whose views are less aligned with business than Gittins's.

But at least her AIG speech was on topic. After talking to miners yesterday Gillard visited a school in Fremantle. Journalists who attended tell me there was no mix-up: the students weren't forced to sit through a detailed rationale behind the mining tax.

Whilst it is understandable that the government wants to focus on education reforms, yesterday's AMEC conference was not the place to do so.

Had I watched the speech on television instead of from the audience, and not seen the AMEC logo on the lectern, I wouldn't have realised it was a mining crowd she was talking to.

Perhaps the Prime Minister knew the small miners who make up AMEC's membership would be less generous than the Minerals Council (the last mining audience Gillard addressed) had she lectured them on the merits of an MRRT which hits small miners hardest (remembering the tax was set in a deal with the three big miners).

Perhaps the PM found the prospect of talking about a new mining tax on the same day that Fortescue Metals announced job cuts, on the back of a major downturn in the iron ore price, too awkward.

Or maybe Gillard was worried that speaking about mining to an AMEC audience had a dangerous precedent.

The last PM to do so was Kevin Rudd in 2010 when he was trying to sell his resource super-profits tax. A month later he was out of a job.