Monday 14 April 2008

Q. When is a media release not a good idea? A. When you are the Federal Shadow Minister for Business Development

On 2nd April Nationals MP for Cowper and very vague Shadow Minister for Business Development, Luke Hartsuyker, had a brilliant idea and sent out a media release on the evils of the Rudd Government.
The local freebie newspaper Clarence Valley Review picked up on the media release a week later under the front page headline Hartsuyker blames Rudd for unemployment rise.
So far so good. Start anticipating a run on the board.
However this little National did not plan far enough ahead. He didn't tee up a few tame local fellow travellers to supply a quote or two.
Which left me chortling, because not one of the four business chamber leaders contacted and quoted by the reporter agreed with Luke.
Indeed he was called 'hasty' and found guilty of a 'knee jerk reaction' and the general opinion appears to have been that the rise in the December 2007 Small Area Labour Market unemployment figures (between .02-.04 of a percentage point) was more likely due to interest rate rises.
All that Mr. Hartsuyker got in exchange for his trouble was a very red face. The evidence of which was delivered to around 18,000 households and businesses in the Clarence Valley.
Somebody should remind the Member for Cowper that flirting with the media is always a dangerous occupation. 

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