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A Charitable Interpretation

Thursday, 22nd June, 2006

A cynic might suggest that the News Limited press this morning largely overlooked the resounding humiliation of John Howard in his party room because the visiting Rupert Murdoch wanted to remind the Prime Minister how valuable it is to have him on side. The more charitable would put it down to the journalists being at home putting on their dinner suits to attend the Press Gallery Ball when the statement about the outcome in the joint party meeting was finally made.

You can make your own choice but I'm in the stuff up rather than the conspiracy camp. The story did not make page one of the Sydney Morning Herald either. Only The Age and The Australian had it on the front and there it was in a secondary position.

All-in-all it was hardly the treatment one would expect for the first occasion in a decade that John Howard failed to carry the day in his own party room. Perhaps the true believers in conspiracy theories will suggest that the Fairfax management is playing the same game as Rupert!

The real test of how planned changes to laws controlling the media ownership are affecting news judgments throughout the industry will come with tonight's television bulletins. Yesterday's party room meeting ended too late for the prime time services and all the heavies were making their way to the Great Hall for the ball in any case.

Should Seven, Nine and Ten downplay the rebellion within the Liberal Party in their news services tonight, I will even start believing in conspiracies myself!

Make no mistake: what is now occurring within the Government is a severe fracturing. The changes to legislation dealing with asylum seekers are well and truly blocked by a determined minority of Liberal backbenchers. The reason the Prime Minister has postponed debate on them is that he does not have the numbers to succeed.

In the House of Representatives enough Liberals would cross the floor to embarrass him. In the Senate enough would do so to defeat the bill that a few weeks ago he was insisting had to be made law before Parliament adjourns for the winter and he heads off to a meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Now, just as I predicted last week, the final decision day has been postponed until August. Twixt now and then there will be arm twisting of a kind that would do the old style heavies of the NSW Labor Party proud.