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| Pluck of the Irish |
In Townsville's historical litmus test seat
of Mundingburra where the incumbent LNP Cabinet minister David Crisafulli’s future is said to be on a “knife edge” due to the popularity of his opponent , right , Coralee O’Rourke , of
the Australian Labor
Party , the media coverage has left a lot to be desired. It shows , like Darwin, the disadvantage of having only one newspaper in town .
In yet another blinding flash of promises featuring Crisafulli , it was announced that
if the LNP government gets back, it will
alter conditions to enable the
proposed open pit Glencore copper mine at Mt Isa , said to employ some 250 people from Townsville, 800 in the Isa , to go ahead and operate until 2020.
Fair enough. However this
announcement was made just as
the price for copper had crashed
on the London Metals Exchange. No reporter then or thereafter asked obvious questions , such as could the promise
be premature
, the operation delayed , scrapped because
of the crash.
A similar crash on the LME in 2008 had dire consequences for the global copper
industry. The price has dived to a level where only some mines can make a slight profit.
You expect reporters, editors to be worldly wise , know what is going on outside the local patch , events which could or will impact
here and to
question hand outs
given during a staged election event.
The writer of an editorial in the Murdoch Townsville Bulletin ,
obviously not a reader of the group’s Wall Street Journal, hailed the Mount Isa promise
, gave Crisafulli a big tick for lobbying for the go ahead . It also ran a photograph of Crisafulli
with a daughter on his lap, saying he does not want to become “
the election’s most high profile scalp.” Surely Campbell Newman is the front runner for that title.
It must be said that the
media coverage given to Carolee O’Rourke is bland, especially
as The Bulletin itself early on reported
its Galaxy poll had shown she could unseat
Crisafulli
whose face now appears on a gigantic LNP
poster in Townsville, looking
like something at the entrance to Wally World announcing that it is closed to holidaymakers , much to the annoyance of Chevy Chase and family . Even more surprising is the fact that the uncle and aunt of Crisafulli are helping O'Rourke call voters . That's right, they are helping the ALP candidate. The Bulletin , somehow, buried this story on P5 .Surely this was a front page story? Just imagine the coverage that would be given to close relatives of Premier Newman supporting Kate Jones, ALP candidate for Newman's seat of Ashgrove.
The LNP has poured vast amounts of money into the Townsville campaign trying to save Crisafulli’s neck. So who is this Coralee O’Rourke, mother of two teenagers, who has
the Cabinet minister rattled, his close relatives assisting her ? Surely worthy of an in depth article ? Right now this director of a community based early
learning centre at Aitkenvale is undoubtedly out door knocking
in the torrid heat. In fact she has received accolades for her
tireless grassroots campaigning.
The LNP has poured vast amounts of money into the Townsville campaign trying to save Crisafulli’s neck.
It is interesting to note that in this week’s explosive ABC TV 7.30
Report interview by Leigh Sales of Queensland crime
and corruption buster Tony Fitzgerald he mentioned how the seat
of Mundingburra had played a part in the defeat of the
honest ALP Premier Wayne Goss and his government . So Mundinburra is a seat which deserved a better, fairer , more questions asked , all round coverage.
In the latest ABC Media Report there was comment about the media coverage of the election in Queensland. Mention was made about the event after the LNP had taken another beating at the Stafford byelection in July where Campbell Newman made a mea culpa statement saying the government had taken the lesson onboard and would listen to the people. He was in a cluster of uncomfortable Cabinet members , one of them Crisafulli , a former sports reporter , usually up front , in the back row , head down .
In the latest ABC Media Report there was comment about the media coverage of the election in Queensland. Mention was made about the event after the LNP had taken another beating at the Stafford byelection in July where Campbell Newman made a mea culpa statement saying the government had taken the lesson onboard and would listen to the people. He was in a cluster of uncomfortable Cabinet members , one of them Crisafulli , a former sports reporter , usually up front , in the back row , head down .
