Authenticity is simple enough if you just stop faking it

The Australian Federal election campaign has to this point consisted mostly of shallow and confected photo-ops and simplistic sloganeering. There is generally one stage-managed event enacted for the cameras each day, crafted to illustrate whatever policy announcement the party is planning to unveil.

However the Prime Minister Julia Gillard has acknowledged in recent days that Labor’s campaign strategy has not served her well, and to that end she has announced that for its remaining weeks she will take personal control and that from now on Australians will get to see ‘the real Julia’.

But if it’s authenticity the PM wants, there’s a pretty simple way to go about achieving it. She wouldn’t even be pioneering new ground, because the White House and Downing Street have been doing it for years.

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Political propaganda of the visual kind

When the PM travelled to Perth yesterday it was always going to be an opportunity for political theatre. The trip had been identified by mining industry strategists as a key moment in their public campaign against his government’s proposed new “super profits” tax and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest lead a TV ambush as good as any.

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Photography and the Parliament: the rules are an ass

Federal MP Peter Slipper was caught snoozing in the House of Representatives a couple of weeks ago. He was photographed by one of his colleagues on their Blackberry. Slipper, who insists he was just resting his eyes, complained to the Speaker who instigated the inevitable inquiry.

It was a bit unfortunate that this coincided with an address to Parliament by the visiting Indonesian head of state, but if I had to endure the sort of workload our MPs seem to I’d be pretty tired too, I guess.

When the picture was published in a Queensland newspaper a few days later, Slipper wasn’t a happy camper and he told the house he wanted the culprit found.

“I also imagine, Mr Speaker, that it makes it difficult for you to discipline members of the press gallery who might be inclined to breach the rules on photography,” Slipper said.

Whoever did it, they’re in good company because the rules controlling photography in the Federal Parliament are so restrictive they are breached almost as often as anything seriously newsworthy needs to be photographed in that place.

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