This election is rich in trivia but not much else
Nick Efstathiadis

By ABC's Barrie Cassidy

Tony Abbott with Liberal candidate Fiona Scott Photo: This campaign has provided rich pickings for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

In a campaign so lacking in substance, it's easy to be swept up by the trivia of suppositories, sex appeal and candidates who think Islam is a country, writes Barrie Cassidy.

Nothing, it seems, is cutting through in this federal election campaign but the trivia.

But at least it's quality trivia. We're spoilt for that in this country.

The fact that American satirical program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has already devoted 10 minutes to the campaign, with the promise of more to come, is evidence of that.

Let's face it. We tend to take these things for granted.

But in the United States, they thought it fascinating that a Queensland MP sent photographs to his mistress of his penis in a glass of red wine; that a candidate thought Islam was a country and that Jews follow Jesus Christ; and that another candidate boasted his party had a six-point plan to stop the boats, but couldn't get past point one - that they will stop the boats.

And now no doubt the program's producers are calling up videotape of Tony Abbott talking about the "suppository" of all wisdom, and promoting one of his candidates partly on her sex appeal.

Then they can track down a Clive Palmer candidate in Geelong who has distributed flyers randomly asking people to man booths on election day. If they do, according to the flyer, they will be invited to a party with "scantily clad models" and "if you are lucky and behave yourself, they might invite you back to party longer".

The candidate, Buddy Rojek, turned up at an Ocean Grove netball game, apparently trying to recruit volunteers. The Ocean grove netball director, Jo-Anne Britt, told the Geelong Advertiser that Rojek had apparently shown a piece of paper with pictures of men on it to people present. He then said "something to the effect 'don’t you think your girls would like to come and see these blokes?'

"He was told no..and to go away."

Rojek, in an e-mail exchange with the Advertiser, said he was struggling to campaign on his own, with no money and no support. "It's incredibly tough, I'm doing it tough," he said.

"I am also disappointed for the young ladies who lost their chance in life to meet the cream if (sic) Corangamite's sporting leadership."

He concluded: "I kick goals, I don't kick points. I am B I T, back in town!"

None of this would be so engrossing if it wasn't for the fact that the so-called substance is simply uncompetitive.

The Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook was released and pretty much lined up with the Government's own picture from two weeks ago. And the Opposition's response was just as predictable. Nothing changed. They'll cost their policies when they are good and ready.

The only other issue of significance thrown up was a decision by the Liberal Party to preference Labor ahead of the Greens. But in reality that will impact on the outcome of one seat across the country, and in any case that seat will be anti-Coalition whatever happens.

There was a televised debate on Sunday night, but that had to be the worst of its kind since Bob Hawke and Andrew Peacock introduced the concept in 1984. There was no semblance of a debate, just a joint news conference with two heavily scripted and well-prepared candidates.

There is something awfully wrong when the moderator can interrupt the candidates mid-sentence but they can't interrupt one another. What is the point if one leader can't immediately respond to what the other has said?

The politicians are terrified of anything that challenges them. They had nothing to fear on Sunday.

It's a great shame that Rob Oakeshott failed to force the establishment of an Independent Debates Commission. Eventually, if the debates are to mean anything at all, the process has to be taken away from the politicians.

Video: Insiders host Barrie Cassidy wraps up the second week of the federal election campaign. (ABC News)

Media organisations have to put aside petty interests for the greater good, and come up with a format that tests and challenges the leaders. They should then use their considerable clout to demand that the leaders accept what is put in front of them.

Australia has such a robust parliamentary forum but our political leaders are pussy cats compared with the Americans and the British when it comes to debates.

The country has been in campaign mode for so long that perhaps voters barely noticed the difference when Kevin Rudd formalised the whole thing. As a consequence, maybe this campaign had run its race before it started.

If that's the case, then Tony Abbott will be the beneficiary.

To this point, Abbott is the one looking ebullient and confident, seemingly enjoying every moment of the campaign, while Rudd seems flat in his daily interviews, as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Neither leader, it seems, thought he needed to go out and set an aggressive agenda.

It looks as if Rudd was relying on Abbott's unpopularity, his lack of vision and detail, and his propensity to screw up; while Abbott was happy to wait until Rudd's past caught up with him.

Hopefully, there is more to it than that. There are still three weeks to go.

Plenty of time for the trivia to give way to the substance. But it won't if the substance remains elusive.

Barrie Cassidy is the presenter of ABC programs Insiders and Offsiders. View his full profile here.

More on politics:

This election is rich in trivia but not much else - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

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