IT’S TIME TO GO… LINDSAY.
There aren’t too many former fish and chip shop owners putting out books about how the next bloke to take over the shop just can’t get the chips right.
You know why?
Because it’s boring. And it looks like sour grapes. As does former ALP politician Lindsay Tanner’s latest book.
The worst thing for Tanner about his book, “Politics with Purpose” is that it came out three months too late. His claim that the ALP has lost its way when it comes to reform looks a bit limp when the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the carbon tax, the mining tax, government-subsidised dental care for children and the NBN are all either implemented or imminent.
Perhaps Lindsay should have spent a bit more time reading the papers instead of trying to get in them himself.
His biggest beef seems to be that Kevin Rudd was hard done by when he was ousted in 2010. Isn’t it time we let this lie? It was two years ago—that’s a millennium in politics.
Lindsay Tanner & Kevid Rudd. Image via SBS.
Tanner is contributing absolutely nothing useful to the current political debate. He knows that, he’s a smart guy. It’s just vindictiveness hidden behind a few clever phrases.
If Rudd is as savvy as I suspect he is, he’ll be irritated and embarrassed by Tanner’s latest round of bloviating. I am sure Rudd doesn’t want to go down in history as the world’s biggest victim.
With years of political life left in him, Rudd has, if he wants, a chance to re-invent himself as a worthwhile and useful local member that has the good of his electorate as his main goal. He can leave the stereotype of the embittered, white-anting former leader behind him. Tanner is stopping him from doing that.
Lindsay Tanner is an enormously intelligent man. He is a voracious reader, a good writer and has vast experience when it comes to complex economic policy. There must be a bazillion companies, especially NGOs, that would leap at the chance to have someone like him on their board.
So why doesn’t he do that?
He currently advises for an internationally owned investment bank called Lazard, which focusses on mergers and acquisitions. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe taking a job with a company that specialises in takeover bids wasn’t quite the ‘politics with purpose’ Tanner was hoping for. If that’s the case, he should look for a job he would find more meaningful.
Whatever he chooses to do, it should be anything apart from writing another bloody book that will only give the Liberals something to gloat about.
Abbott has said that Tanner’s new book proves that the ALP is a “squalid party that wants to re-elect Julia Gillard”. (As opposed to a squalid opposition that wants to elect Tony Abbott, I suppose.)
Tanner has played right into the opposition’s hands and guaranteed his name will be mentioned on the news for the rest of the week.
If he’d wanted attention that badly, instead of becoming the Liberal party’s new plaything, he should have auditioned for the Big Brother house.
It is also somewhat annoying that the media gets excited about these books. Reporting on yet another embittered ex-politician is not news. It’s gossip. Oh my goodness, Peter Costello called Tony Abbott ‘economically illiterate’! (I think most of us could have worked that out for ourselves.) Oh gracious, John Howard said Costello was ‘bitter’. (No. Really? Because you treated him so well, John, that comes as a surprise to all of us.) Mark Latham is angry about…okay, it might be easier to find something Latham is not angry about.
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28 Responses to this article
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Di Pearton September 27, 2012
It saddens me that Tanner’s ‘trashing’ the party because the most obvious purpose it serves is to promote Abbott, and he should really allow Rudd (and his supporters) to move on, but his comment on the ALP sounds fair to me. The carbon price and the dental scheme (flawed and expensive as it is) are Greens policy, and thank God for the minority government or we may really have had no carbon tax under the Gillard government. On refugees, on education, on same sex marriage ALP is lost, lost, lost.
Instead of getting defensive, let’s listen to Tanner, take his advice on board and maybe make a stronger and more compassionate ALP with it. -
Lentern September 27, 2012
Along with a raft of many other commentaries I’ve seen on Tanner this week this is predicated on some pretty fanciful delusions.
Rudd reinvent himself as a diligent local member? His leadership amibitions are as prevent as ever.
It also seems to suggest that criticizing Julia Gillard’s leadership (even though he goes to enormous lengths to avoid being personal) is damaging the party’s overall prospects. This is wrong, if Labor advocates are to be honest with themselves they will realize that if Julia Gillard remains in the leadership Labor will likely do worse than if they changed to a different candidate.
Then there’s this idea that people don’t listen, the truth is they do listen, these book stimulate enormous discourse about their subject matter. After weeks of releasing tidbits of the book, the day Peter Costello finally released his memoirs was the same day Brendan Nelson was rolled as Leader of the Opposition.
I’d add that given the extraordinary behaviour of Crean, Emerson, Burke, Roxon, Swan and Conroy back in February this current crop are deserving of some admonishment from their former veteran colleagues.
In truth what we’ve seen over the last few days is a former Labor figure make some legitimate criticisms of his current party, many of them not dissimilar to those made in the report authored by Carr, Bracks and Faulkner in 2011 and people who haven’t liked what they’ve heard have retrospectively tried to rationalize their dislike. Why is it legitimate for David Marr or Barrie Cassidy to write volumes on what’s right or wrong with which politicians but not those who, frankly, would know best?
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Saskia September 27, 2012
Is this an ALP website??? Seriously.
Just wow. Potential reader and friends…. Gone. Lost.
Good luck with this bitter and polarising little website.
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liz September 28, 2012
Off to the Punch you should go
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chinda63 September 27, 2012
They already have a half-way house for embittered ex-politicians: it’s called Sky News.
Maybe Tanner should just apply for the position of “I Used To be Inside the Tent Pissing Out ex-Labor MP” (there seems to be an inexhaustible supply) on Sky News and leave his laptop unattended for a few years.
For the record, Corinne, I think there are two things motivating Tanner.
Firstly, he has had a long-standing problem with Julia Gillard going back many years (I believe to Melbourne Uni), and has used his influence on 2 occasions to block her preselection in an attempt to prevent her from even entering politics. For him, nothing she does is ever good enough; nothing she says is ever right. Always bear that in mind when you listen to him answer any question about her government.
Secondly, when everyone talks about Labor’s response to the GFC, everyone mentions Rudd’s role, Swans’ role and Gillard’s role, but no-one talks about Tanner. He was Finance Minister; I’m pretty sure he’s feeling more than a tad pissed off that he didn’t get the recognition he thought he deserved. But the funniest part of his essay is that people STILL aren’t talking about his GFC stuff; all they want to talk about is the leadership stuff!
Poor Lindsay. Always the bridesmaid, standing around in his pale pink meringue dress watching his rivals get the hot guy with the big cock
It would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic … or if the consequences of his treacherous behaviour so serious for the future of this country.
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Bev September 27, 2012
Corinne – hugs, kisses, everything else for the content in this article. Nobody could have expresed it better.
I’ve admired Tanner over the years but for him now to be touting for a merchant bank which works out of Bermuda seems to go against all he stood for. Definitely time for Lindsay to rethink and readjust to his time in Parliament.
Besides which, it’s now downright boring to rehash Rudd’s leadership when we’ve all moved on.
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Robert T. September 27, 2012
It just seems pathetic that someone in the party for so many years who you would hope would believe in the cause isn’t focused on constructive criticism. Instead its all about trying to frame the past in the way he wants. What’s the point?
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helenbea September 27, 2012
Corinne -just what I needed this morning! So bored by all the long line of whingers, not just in politics.
I’ve always been of the view that when you change career, workplace etc. that you move on and let the new brooms do the job. Imagine what would happen if everyone kept returning to their old workplace/career commenting and/or criticizing the policies, practices, personalities of the ‘new order’! It’s enough to make another comedy show like ‘The Office’!
Tanner has been a politician. That’s the past. He has opinions based on his political perspective but clearly coloured by his own subjective judgements. If he really wanted to help the Labour Party, why not pass on his views in a confidential forum with those in the party. Why make it public???? Just venting, I would guess and as you suggest, selling a book, getting publicity for himself.
Now why don’t we all revisit our former workplaces/jobs and tell them how to run the show! Better than the Occupy movement…or maybe the Occupy office/school/hospital movement! We’re just offering ‘constructive’ criticism after all, aren’t we???
Well done Corinne. Please stay on the job with alleviating the irritation that comes from the boring bombardment of mass media. Can’t wait to see how you strut your stuff in a courtroom!
Please Wendy/Hoopla, keep bringing us the humour, the smile, the laughs we all need.
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
“bloviating”!!!!????
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Keryn September 27, 2012
Ro, I too wondered about that word, so I looked it up. I was disappointed to find it is a real word (talk at length in an inflated or empty way). I had hoped that Corinne had done what I used to ask my Yr 4 class to do – come up with new vocabulary that seems to suit the topic, a la Roald Dahl/Dr Seuss
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
Keryn~yes~ I could not stand the tension any longer so I looked up wiki. An americanism not in my dictionaries….how about “emptonious” speech?
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
or “plompting”speech~ ( a pebble in a pond-the early English bit of me exhibited)-meanwhile searching for my early Latin roots~ “emptonius”~ as in empty plus Tony plus us.
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
Sorry “emptonious” the root also refers to naff budgie smugglers and emperors’ without any clothes~a.k.a lowering the tone~ as well as a trick of language around “i” and “us” for those who did not study Latin at school. Although known as a “dead” language~ this is my attempt at revival. By the way “emptonius” refers to male habits~ it might be “emptonia” speech if said by a woman. Meanwhile check out Barwick’s comments on Latin in the Mabo case~ he wanted to get rid of it…
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
Oh yes~ and “plompting” also refers to the sound of something in a toilet bowl~as well as being inspired by the Prime Minister’s recent stomache upset in New York and the Queen’s christmas messages some years ago~ annus horribilus~ and where her Majesty was seen chucking a stone off a bridge and watching its ripple effect,or is that affect. Never mind…
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
..Meanwhile, “stomache” is a word for those in a hurry….
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
..this whole thing~ both ways~ seems like “air-conditioning ” to me..
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Ro. Watson September 27, 2012
Anyway to conclude as I one day will~” Vale” which is bye in Latin~ is pronounced wally~ or so I was lead to believe..
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The Colonel September 27, 2012
I like Lindsay Tanner & I feel for him.
His whole narrative pretty much evaporated while his copy was sitting at the printers.
Labor isn’t mired in hopelessness, nor is it bereft of ideals or ideas, nor is it struggling to find a place in the political landscape.
Labor now fills the yawning gap between Tony Abbott’s extreme Tea Party style unfettered free market ideology and The Greens. It stands for sensible, pragmatic, balanced Capitalism. It runs the economy well, but looks after the sick, disabled & low paid. It initiates big reforms like the Carbon Price, NDIS & NBN.
These are really big reforms, achieved in spite of a hung parliament, through a pragmatic & flexible approach. That pragmatism & flexibility is the hallmark of Gillard’s leadership & makes Labor unique in the Australian political scene. Labor has been by no means perfect, but it can reasonably claim to be the safest pair of hands on offer.
Labor is very much in the race for the next election, but it needs to stick to its guns and focus on its achievements, not engage in navel gazing about problems past.
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Heather September 27, 2012
My thought exactly after seeing him trash his own party last night – and I thanked Leigh Sales for pointing that out to him. I am so damned disappointed in a politician I had admired so much. Sadly, that’s now in the past.
And his timing is impeccable. Just when the PM starts to get some free air another bloody male arises to cut her down.
I won’t be buying your book Lindsay.
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Heather September 27, 2012
PS Thanks for your comments ‘The Colonel’. You are spot on – and I hope the punters out there realise it before Tony and Co grab power.
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Deb September 27, 2012
As an ex-politician (in a small way) Corinne’s views rang bells – ‘loss of relevance syndrome’ I’ve heard it called. However, the best of the things that turned you into a politician can be done without the office. There is always an environmental or community issue requiring action and advocacy. Lindsay could take up the cause of, say, the homeless in his old electorate and find his relevance that way.
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rosem'ry bertel September 27, 2012
Congratulations, Corinne.
Another clever clear-sighted, straight-talking article.
You remind me of Germaine Greer’s brillint writing before
she came over all percule. -
Ro. Watson September 28, 2012
If I might just say,as I am want to do,a percule plompt has occurred here on our shores,plompting many to plompt on their various habits of thought and speech and behaviour…very silly
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Geoff September 29, 2012
Spot on Goddess!!!
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K October 11, 2012
Got it perfectly nailed Ms Grant! Love your work and I too am so damned disappointed in Tanner!
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Trish October 12, 2012
SPOILT MEN WHO DID NOT GET THEIR WAY —–Tanner, Rudd,Abbott ,Pyne ….. peas in a pod !!
GET OVER IT !!! You did not win – STOP whingeing & spoiling public discourse.It truly baffles me as to why are they given so much attention & media play …..remember when we first heard from Tony Windsor & Rob Oakeshot …..it was so refreshing to hear relevant & positive public conversation about our promising future coming from some male politicians ….We need to pay attention to the achievements of our hung parliament under Labor , to give oxygen/Media attention to constructive debate about pending reforms & the others wreckers will asphyxiate without oxygen !
