By ABC's Latika Bourke Updated Fri Aug 9, 2013
Photo: Kevin Rudd nicknamed Peter Beattie 'PB' and declared there were now two Queenslanders 'here to help.' (ABC News)
Labor's campaign was almost in danger of looking as though it lacked coherence. But now, Kevin Rudd has effectively set up a Peter Beattie vs Campbell Newman showdown, leaving the Prime Minister to tap into unease about Tony Abbott in the rest of the country, writes Latika Bourke.
In recruiting Peter Beattie, Kevin Rudd is re-setting the federal election in Queensland, giving Labor and swinging voters two persuasive reasons to vote against the LNP.
The election of the conservative Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian governments always promised to be a threat to Tony Abbott's fortunes, but Labor's dysfunction at the federal level rendered a potentially lethal factor impotent.
That's not to say Labor didn't try. Former federal Queensland ministers Craig Emerson and Wayne Swan had tried for the best part of a year to tar Tony Abbott with Campbell Newman's brush, but the message, partly due to its messengers, became overwhelmed by Labor's own woes at the federal level.
Now Kevin Rudd is hoping to recast that message and is in effect setting up a Peter Beattie vs Campbell Newman showdown, leaving the Prime Minister to tap into unease about Tony Abbott in the rest of the country, which by Labor's own admission, looks set to deliver the Liberal Leader the Lodge come September 8.
Mr Rudd's campaign was almost in danger of looking as though it lacked coherence, coordination and purpose and uncharacteristically for the hyperactive Labor Leader - energy.
In politics, and especially campaigns, it's all about momentum, it can appear to breed good luck, like in 2007 when John Howard's Melbourne Cup tip came third and Kevin Rudd's won.
This time round, the omens were looking gloomy for Rudd, the media plane broke down in Sydney, forcing the Prime Minister to push back by two hours his joint media conference with Peter Beattie and abort a street walk, which would have been the first opportunity of the campaign to test the mood towards Kevin Rudd in one of the seats they have to win if they are to retain office.
It added to the general flavour of Mr Rudd's campaign so far, which started with Monday's odd decision to announce $450 million to fund more before- and after-school care for working parents in the bland confines of the Blue Room at Parliament House where up to a dozen press conferences can be held on a busy sitting day - in short, a basic image projected to voters on a daily basis.
The 'cost of living' announcement is likely to be one of Labor's biggest spending pledges in a campaign where fiscal restraint is vogue, but the policy-kite was let out on a day with no breeze.
There's a reason why politicians risk their dignity bantering with unpredictable children, donning hair nets, gutting fish, and posting shaving mishaps on Instagram. It's all aimed for the tv news, which despite the growth of online and social media (of which I am a prolific user and massive fan), is where the bulk of key voters consume their news.
Images, pictures or 'optics' as they call it in politics are critical and Monday's announcement should have been accompanied by a visit to a school to make the story 'fly' for the nightly news' that day.
One Labor strategist despaired at the lack of imagination surrounding the 'cost of living' initiative and wondered how the Prime Minister's team couldn't even arrange a visit to the nearby bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro.
Despite Labor having the advantage of knowing the election timing it was Tony Abbott who was first out on the ground, donning high-vis and mixing with workers in the critical state of Queensland.
Tuesday the PM was playing catch and while being mobbed by school children who can't vote but inevitably turn hysterical at the sight of camera looked good that night, the opportunity to present his policy had passed.
Wednesday the camp went into lockdown by 11.30 and had to abort a visit to Lindsay after the Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury's bizarre radio interview, demanding the surname of a journalist he accused of being a Liberal, simply because he didn't like being asked tough questions.
But the company of another self-confessed 'media tart' seemed to have invigorated Kevin Rudd who was back to his dorky self, nicknaming Peter Beattie 'PB' and declaring there were now two Queenslanders 'here to help.'
Of course, the Peter Beattie move is not without acute risks, he brings plenty of baggage, not least the pages of his excoriating comments (which Coalition staffers collated within minutes) made about Kevin Rudd's own attempts at a political resurrection.
For Labor the hope is that Beattie's baggage, with the help of time, weighs a little less, and specifically, less than Newman's.
Latika Bourke is a political and social media reporter at the ABC. View her full profile here.
Labor strategy looks like Beattie-Newman showdown - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
