Tony Abbott 'Thumbing His Nose' at Voters, Says Laurie Oakes Date November 6, 2013

Tony Abbott 'thumbing his nose' at voters, says Laurie Oakes Date November 6, 2013 Tom McIlroy Reporter at The Canberra Times Canberra press gallery veteran Laurie Oakes says the Abbott government is "thumbing its nose at voters" through a lack of transparency and communication. You can’t thumb your nose at the voters’ right to know and you can’t arrogantly say ‘we’ll let the voters be misinformed and we won’t help journalists get it right'. That’s just a disgusting attitude. The respected Channel Nine reporter and political commentator told Fairfax Media that Prime Minister Tony Abbott and senior ministers were breaking their election promise of greater accountability for voters. "They’re busily trying to avoid the media as much as possible and to control the media and so far they’re getting away with it but I don’t think they will get away with it for too long," he said ahead of the release of his new book Remarkable Times: Australian Politics 2010-13. "You can see the way the story of the expenses rorts is gathering speed, and that horse bolted because Tony Abbott and his Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson didn’t move to nip it in the bud. "They could have killed it off but they’ve got this attitude of not feeding the news cycle so it got away from them." The criticism follows disquiet from journalists and commentators at the lack of access to Mr Abbott and senior ministers including Attorney-General George Brandis and Treasurer Joe Hockey. Mr Oakes said the government should learn from the experience of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who sought to control media reporting more tightly after his 2010 election, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Mr Abbott has held just eight formal press conferences since his September 7 election win and requests for information from minister's offices are frequently left unanswered. Laurie Oakes, pictured here in 1978. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Abbott had held an additional nine doorstop interviews. Mr Oakes said, "David Cameron was determined to tame the news cycle but he went before the Leveson inquiry two years after he won office and had to admit it hadn’t succeeded. "Basically it is too hard letting damaging stories go past without dealing with them." Singling out Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, Mr Oakes said arrogance and disregard for truth would ultimately backfire. Since implementing the Operation Sovereign Borders policy, Mr Morrison has moved to hold just weekly briefings in Sydney for journalists and frequently declines to answer questions. The former government allowed Immigration Department staff to provide information on boat arrivals in real time. "What’s particularly not acceptable is Scott Morrison’s arrogant attitude. He sees it as getting at the press but it’s not. It’s getting at the voters and eventually I think the voters will wake up. "[Mr Morrison's] last effort was as bad as any. It even looked like the Prime Minister might have said ‘Good on you Scott’. If that’s the attitude then I think Tony Abbott’s got a bit to learn. "You can’t thumb your nose at the voters’ right to know and you can’t arrogantly say ‘we’ll let the voters be misinformed and we won’t help journalists get it right'. That’s just a disgusting attitude." Mr Oakes, who has reported from Canberra since the 1960s, said the current crop of press gallery reporters were faced with fewer resources and constant demand for news. He highlighted Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs and NSW Labor MP Ed Husic as potential leaders of their respective parties. .

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