In medieval Europe, death to a king, ruler or duke could come swiftly, sometimes at night, but really at any time. It could be a sword, a hanging or a trip to the tower that followed.
Politics and power have always been sought after and I can’t remember an Australian Prime Minister who has left office the way they would have liked. The end is usually accompanied by tears, regret and recriminations.
For Tony Abbott the end was lightning fast and he saw his enemy approaching. After question time on Monday, Malcolm Turnbull picked up his folders and papers and followed Mr Abbott from the chamber to his office. He gave him the bad news.
Why is it that as Prime Minister Tony Abbott declined invitation after invitation from SBS this year for an interview on issues of policy?
But Mr Abbott’s downfall didn’t happen for no reason, and it didn’t come without warning.
There were many who were close to him during 2014 who tried to save his leadership.
There were problems that came to light after the 2014 budget was delivered, and one of the big issues he and his office faced was that they became isolated from any critics and any party members who held a different view.
He and Treasurer Joe Hockey presided over a budget in 2014 that was unfair and impossible to sell. The promotional job they attempted was poor at best. They lost political friends who didn’t back their judgement; the Prime Minister’s support base narrowed.
If he had turned it around and had the backing of most Australians (as measured through public opinion polls) it wouldn’t have mattered, but unpopularity does not help boost decisions that are unpalatable.
Any leader who shows such favouritism to one newspaper outlet...isn’t playing fair either.
The Prime Minister didn’t listen when many urged him to alter the economic message, and despite all the warning signs that his Chief of Staff was in conflict with a significant number of Government MPs, nothing improved. He survived in February but he couldn’t survive a second attempt.
In some ways, this is like a family squabble or a breakdown in a relationship where one person says, ‘why didn’t you say something earlier’, and another says, ‘we did it many times, and you didn’t listen’.
It is not easy to lead these days and the media can be difficult, there is no doubt about it.
Mr Abbott made reference to the destabilising impact of the media in his farewell speech but I would like to raise a few issues from where I sit.
Any leader who shows such favouritism to one newspaper outlet, in this case The Daily Telegraph, isn’t playing fair either.
Why is it that as Prime Minister Tony Abbott declined invitation after invitation from SBS this year for an interview on issues of policy?
Here was a media outlet that wanted to discuss policy with him and we were rebuffed, ignored and not given any opportunities for sit-down interviews at all.
What does that tell you about a media strategy for an office caught up in the daily news cycle the way they see it? To me it is short-sighted.
He or his office could try to say in response, ‘we didn’t say no… we just couldn’t fit it in’. To that I say, rubbish. They were never prepared to make it a priority.
In my opinion they spent too much time playing to their favourite outlets - Sky TV, Channel 9 and The Daily Telegraph. All other media would get less attention, and SBS being smaller got almost no attention at all.
For SBS viewers that meant they didn’t get a chance to hear directly from their Prime Minister on any issues this year, or really since he came to office.
How about NITV, the national Indigenous television service? There was no interview for NITV either, not even during the recent visit to Indigenous communities in Cape York.
What does that tell us about politics and media management? There could be many reasons why the Prime Minister didn’t ever find during 2015, or I am told since winning office in 2013, the time to talk to NITV but it seems to me he didn’t because it didn’t fit in with the prevailing media strategy.
So when politicians complain that the media lets the country down, let us also ask our leaders to get away from the media cycle and broaden from their favourite outlets and talk to people like us.
For NITV, I am still puzzled why a Prime Minister who said he wanted to be the Prime Minster for Indigenous Australians never found the time to talk to them. It is sad for all sides.
