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122 DAYS to Engage with the Coalition, If You Comments Create a Misconception to 2013 Haven’T Already – We Can Help with This

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122 DAYS to Engage with the Coalition, If You Comments Create a Misconception to 2013 Haven’T Already – We Can Help with This THE POLICY UPDATE 1 | M a y 2013 CLIMATE GAMIFICATION …by CEO, Benjamin Haslem THE POLICY UPDATE The Climate Reality Project, founded and Members get bonus points when Earlier this year we released our first chaired by former US Vice President Al someone responds to a pasted comment newsletter, The Shell, under our new Gore, has decided to take on their and clicks back to Reality Drop. brand – Wells Haslem Strategic Public opponents at their own game and have Supporters say Reality Drop uses Affairs. We intend to publish it at least established an intriguing digital project: competitive gaming techniques to twice a year. Reality Drop. combat climate denial online. Just to make sure that we bring you as Peruse most online articles about climate It could provide an interesting model for much news as possible about what we are change, where people are invited to leave political parties during election up to and what has piqued our interest, comments, and you would be excused for campaigns. All sides of politics accuse the we’ve decided to create The Shell Policy thinking a large number of people not other parties of flooding online Update… a smaller version of The Shell only dismiss the reality or threat of man- comments with information critical of published every few months. made climate change but seem to be their opponents. Here is the first edition. Feel free to quite knowledgeable about it. Of course, this begs the question, is provide feedback and some of your They sprout all sorts of facts and figures Reality Drop any different from the very information, anecdotes and ideas for the and present unsubstantiated claims to people it is criticising? It too is providing next edition of the Policy Update. undermine the theory that by burning supporters with ‘canned comments’, We have been busy on a range of projects, fossil fuels humans are warming the leaving itself open to charges of including those for Asia Society Australia, Earth’s climate at an alarming, dangerous hypocrisy. Boehringer Ingelheim, Church of and unsustainable rate. But then Reality Drop argues it has Scientology, Insurance Council of People pushing for measures to reduce science on its side. Australia, NRMA, Sonartech Atlas, and the effects of anthropogenic global Zurich Financial Services. warming (AGW) complain that online If you feel you need help with any issues comment streams are flooded with false relating to your brand recognition, information. Some even claim there is a communication with stakeholders or coordinated effort by energy companies issues management, please get in touch. and their allies to spread misinformation Don’t forget, a Federal Election is fast and confusion about climate science. approaching. It’s about time you started They argue these streams of canned 122 DAYS to engage with the Coalition, if you comments create a misconception TO 2013 haven’t already – we can help with this. amongst the broader public there is a FEDERAL ELECTION John Wells, Chairman large amount of disagreement amongst scientists about the reality of AGW, when in fact there is not. THE RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA NEWSROOMS IN COMPANIES They also believe there are many people The concept of social media newsrooms has been around for at least five years now. It seemed reading online articles who support action an obvious development with the explosion of social media in recent years. People are to tackle climate change but are not increasingly accessing news and information through social media, to the extent where these equipped with the information to combat platforms are becoming critically important in terms of distribution as well as content claims made by alleged trolls. creation. In these circumstances, it made a lot of sense, or it seemed to, for major organisations to move onto social media platforms - and many have. The ideal of a social The Reality Drop project searches the newsroom however is integration; achieved by the incorporation of Facebook and Twitter day’s news articles online and seeks out feeds, and YouTube channels, into the traditional corporate media page (or newsroom). the most heated climate change Read more trevorcook.typepad.com/weblog/ Digital Counsel, Trevor Cook arguments. It then provides members with access to the “most accurate, relevant climate science” which people can then put into their own words and paste into comment streams. Members earn points for each paste. THE RUDDLESS COUP – WHAT WAS THAT ALL The Labor Party factions as we knew them in the days of Hawke and Keating are gone. The NSW Right, so well- ABOUT? …by Special Counsel, Julie Sibraa known historically for the making and breaking of Former NSW Premier Jack Lang once famously said leaders was completely split. So too the NSW Left. “always back the horse named self-interest…It'll be the There were no Party factional leaders working behind only one trying”. This adage has generally proved true in the scenes, talking to one another to ensure the Party politics until an extraordinary day on 21 March when the was not damaged as happened in the Hawke/Keating Labor Party caucus effectively voted themselves out of leadership contests in 1991. The diminishing influence of office. It would be frankly unbelievable to think the the factions has been happening over some time and caucus avoided a leadership change to Kevin Rudd while many will rejoice in their demise, the vacuum left because they believed Julia Gillard could lead them to by the absence of strong factional leadership allowed victory on September 14. Either they just couldn’t come the chaos of March 21 to happen. to terms with the idea of admitting they made a mistake and taking Kevin Rudd back or, fearful of a repeat of the While it’s become fashionable for political and economic bloodshed from the 2010 coup and associated commentators to compare the current Gillard/Swan recriminations, simply lacked the courage to do what government unfavourably with the halcyon economic had to be done. reform days of the Hawke/Keating government, little insight is given as to how it was all possible when so Apart from the conclusion above, it’s difficult to make many of the reforms were not exactly high on the Labor much sense of the events of that day which resulted in a platform’s must-do list in 1983. victory for the Prime Minister, the end of any chance of a Kevin Rudd return to the leadership, the sacking of The fact is, effective leadership, not just Hawke and respected Minister Simon Crean, the resignation of Keating’s, but strong, intelligent factional leadership lead by the likes of Graham Richardson and Robert Ray from several Ministers and MPs from their parliamentary positions and the Labor Party facing electoral oblivion the Right, Mick Young from the Centre Left and Bill Kelty following the September election. from the ACTU ensured the reforms DID YOU HEAR? could be delivered. These individuals With the polls as they were, a leadership The Tasmanian Government, and other senior leaders understood challenge that day was definitely on the cards. through Tasmanian Hydro, the necessity of economic reform and The eight-week parliamentary break before the wants to build 200 Wind Energy Budget meant it was time to put up or shut up. how to communicate to the wider Towers on King Island - taking public. More importantly, they knew up around 20% of the Island. But no-one could have foreseen how it would how to manage their own MPs and come about or end, starting with the Long-time ABC journalist ensure the Prime Minister carried the bizarre/crazy brave actions of senior Party Matt Peacock has been elected day. In the absence of the major statesman, Simon Crean. When he called his to represent staff on the Board ideological splits that have second press conference for that day, stated of the public Broadcaster… a historically defined what it meant to there should be a leadership spill; that he would position abolished nearly a decade ago. be from the ‘Right’ or ‘Left’ in the support Kevin Rudd and would be prepared to Australian Labor Party, the factions serve as Deputy Leader all without having Two State QLD MPs have already defected to the new have become loose groupings of actually spoken to Rudd in over 48 hours, the Clive Palmer led United convenience for individuals to political mind boggled. What was he thinking? Australia Party. progress their careers with no Simon Crean and Kevin Rudd are not what you’d Amendments made to the Fair obligations to a particular set of call mates if his vicious anti-Rudd rhetoric in the Work Act 2009 late last year policy beliefs. lead up to the 2012 leadership ballot was with respect to an employer’s Finally, the Prime Minister once again anything to go by. But Crean recognised that superannuation default fund demonstrated just how tough under Rudd had the best chance of winning the selection is set to cause pressure she is. Having to walk into election for Labor. On that basis he was willing disruption for more than 50,000 the House of Representatives shortly to put aside his personal feelings about Rudd Australian employers (including after sacking a senior Minister who and put the interests of the Australian Labor some of Australia’s largest had previously been one of her Party first. Something the majority of other companies) and will affect more trusted allies and announcing a Labor MPs refused to do. than one million members. leadership vote that very afternoon, And what about Rudd himself? He’s been to not only face her regular criticised for not running, for not putting his opponents in the Liberal/National name to a campaign he and his supporters had been Party for Question Time, but the ones in her own party running for months, but the fact is, he was never going to sitting behind her and say defiantly “Give it your best contest the leadership unless an overwhelming majority shot”, was a memorable moment.
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