OPINION ALL the heavy breathing speculation about a war between Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Peta Credlin forgets one important fact. The Prime Minister’s office is the responsibility of the Prime Minister, not of some unelected staffer. If the office is chaotic or harsh and tyrannical towards a minister — as reports suggest — it’s the fault of the bloke who gets the big desk, not of an underling. So if the Foreign Minister and the gatekeeper can’t get on and the nation is suffering from that, Tony Abbott must accept the blame. Peta Credlin can do nothing without his authority.The concentration on suggestions of a running battle between Ms Bishop and Ms Credlin, entertaining as they are, should not be allowed to absolve Mr Abbott of the obligation to take charge of his inner sanctum. If you can’t govern your office, voters can’t expect you to govern the country. Ms Bishop, Deputy Leader and the only woman in cabinet, and Ms Credlin, wife of the Liberal national director Brian Loughnane, are the foremost women in the government. They have denied reports which claim they are incapable of civil discussion and agreement. Ms Bishop called the relationship “very professional, close and very good” in an interview with Fairfax. But if they don’t get on, so what? In his authorised biography released in July, Joe Hockey’s wife said he didn’t trust Malcolm Turnbull and the book recorded an enmity toward Ian Macfarlane. How about that for a happy cabinet meeting? The important issue is not who likes who. It is whether the Prime Minister’s Office is working efficiently. Some figures in private industry say it isn’t, with long delays in replies to correspondence and for decision making. There are other criticisms. The guardian of the office is Ms Credlin, and she’s not merely an administrator. She directs the political strategy of the office.Tony Abbott calls her “the fiercest political warrior I’ve ever worked with”. Another admirer is Treasurer Hockey: “She is an outstanding individual and if we had three Peta Credlin’s in federal Parliament it would raise the level of public debate.” Ms Credlin has denied she is looking at a federal seat or a Senate slot. At least not yet. She has considerable influence on political strategy, and the Government’s this year has hardly been an award winner — a Budget so unpopular it’s banner proposals have been stalled; the year’s end marked by a season of policy retreats; the PM getting disapproval ratings over 55 per cent in opinion polls. That’s not Peta Credlin’s fault. It’s the Prime Minister’s.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 06:15:40 +0000
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