Page 516 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 May 1992
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Choose media topics carefully and make sure the angle is correct. Ive noted a few of your comments recently which in my view dont fit into this category:
• bike helmets. Sure its a safety issue but what about parental responsibility?; if the concern is with kids why have a blanket requirement?; helmets are desirable but making them compulsory is, or at least should be, quite a different matter,
• the Grants Commission report. I cannot see the point of a press comment that merely forecasts that the report may be hard on Canberra; surely the issue is whether the reports logic is correct and, even more so, what should be done if Commonwealth revenue is reduced; your interview elements were just an opinion and left me thinking so what?;
• the ACT Budget. I might have been mistaken, but I thought I heard you saying recently that Follett should not have ruled out extra borrowing for the ACT to give the Government more flexibility; if so, that is again sending a very contrary message to the community about the Liberal partys sense of fiscal responsibility and determination to minimise expenditure and taxation;
• use of school . facilities for other purposes. Why not send the positive massage first about the desirability of achieving greater efficiency in the use of public assets and then add that attention would, of course, have to be paid to things like congestion and safety; as it was, all I heard was the negative message, which sounded like protecting the status quo.
Finally, there should be far less public displays of friendliness towards Ms Follett. I thought the image of you giving her flowers on Valentines Day was it? - was quite inappropriate in the middle of an election campaign when you are trying to convince the electorate she is the enemy. That doesnt mean adopting Keating-like vitriol and abuse but in public I wouldnt go beyond formality and always refer to Ms Follett not Rosemary. To repeat, you are trying to convey to the electorate that You
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