Unhappiness continues

About the only thing The Australian is good for these days is the occasional bit of insider gossip from Niki Savva about unhappiness within the Liberals about how Peta Credlin is running the PM's office:

Previously, my criticisms of the PMO have been rebutted by some as a vendetta against Abbott's chief of staff, Peta Credlin. Piffle. My interest is in sound government, especially after the debacles of the past few years.

Journalists or commentators acting as cheer squads for the Left or the Right help no one, least of all the participants, who then delude themselves that everything is going swimmingly, or that eventually, perhaps by osmosis, it will all come good.

The point I have made consistently is that no one person, no matter how talented, is capable of making all the decisions in a prime minister's office in a timely and judicious manner. They especially will be guaranteed to get them wrong if they make them in an echo chamber.

Unhappiness simmers inside the government, particularly over what ministers regard as the exercise of extreme micro-management. Backbenchers have had electorate staff vetoed and senior ministers have been denied the right to make their most critical appointment, that of their chief of staff.

Eric Abetz, the Employment Minister and leader of the government in the Senate, alluded to the problem in Senate estimates hearings last week. Abetz's friends, meanwhile, sense a wider strategy afoot to replace him as leader with the Attorney-General, George Brandis.

There is a sense generally that this government doesn't really know what to do.  And let's face it, apart from getting rid of carbon pricing and the mining tax, the rest of Abbott's election policy was pretty much to run other Labor policies.  

The similarities with what happened with Rudd in 2007 seem pretty striking, right down to quick unhappiness with how the PM let's his office be run.   As monty said elsewhere last night:

He’s actually acting a fair bit like Rudd. He’s spent years trying to beat his implacable enemy, but now that he’s installed behind the big desk, he doesn’t know what to do. Rudd didn’t have a policy platform to speak of after dethroning Gillard, and Abbott doesn’t seem to have any ideas either. Rudd spent too much time on media management whereas Abbott doesn’t spend enough time on it, but these are two sides of the same problem: a lack of substance, a lack of long term strategic and policy thinking.

Quite right...

Previously, my criticisms of the PMO have been rebutted by some as a vendetta against Abbott's chief of staff, Peta Credlin. Piffle. My interest is in sound government, especially after the debacles of the past few years.
Journalists or commentators acting as cheer squads for the Left or the Right help no one, least of all the participants, who then delude themselves that everything is going swimmingly, or that eventually, perhaps by osmosis, it will all come good.
The point I have made consistently is that no one person, no matter how talented, is capable of making all the decisions in a prime minister's office in a timely and judicious manner. They especially will be guaranteed to get them wrong if they make them in an echo chamber.
Unhappiness simmers inside the government, particularly over what ministers regard as the exercise of extreme micro-management. Backbenchers have had electorate staff vetoed and senior ministers have been denied the right to make their most critical appointment, that of their chief of staff.
Eric Abetz, the Employment Minister and leader of the government in the Senate, alluded to the problem in Senate estimates hearings last week. Abetz's friends, meanwhile, sense a wider strategy afoot to replace him as leader with the Attorney-General, George Brandis.
- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/echo-chamber-needs-fresh-air/story-fnahw9xv-1226769963862#sthash.lNpvOzXH.dpuf