Credlin

[Neferti]

Abbott wouldn't be able to survive without her. He can barely put two words together when he's caught off guard. She would write instructions for him each day telling him what to say and do.

Yep, we have a Female running the Country. AGAIN.

You have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what she does.

Generally, females take on this type of role much better than a male does ... The Boss still makes the decisions.

[Rorschach]

Abbott wouldn't be able to survive without her. He can barely put two words together when he's caught off guard. She would write instructions for him each day telling him what to say and do.

Really... that would be your anti-Abbott prejudice talking then mantra.
Like the real Julia... the real Tony would be much more popular.

[Rorschach]

By chastising his colleagues and suggesting gender may be motivating their attacks Abbott has only turbocharged that resentment and the public discussion of the government’s disunity.

And of course suggesting sexism is behind the criticism also draws the obvious cries of hypocrisy, given that he responded to Julia Gillard’s famous misogyny speech by demanding that Labor stop “playing the gender card”.

‘’Just because the prime minister has sometimes been the victim of unfair criticism doesn’t mean she can dismiss any criticism as sexism or she can dismiss any criticism on gender grounds,’’ Abbott said at the time.

Yes PM....

But the real clue to the prime minister’s defence is the other thing he has said in defence of Credlin in recent weeks, that she is “the fiercest political warrior I have ever worked with”.

He means it in a good way. But others at the most senior levels of government insist the Credlin problem stems precisely from the fact that she sees herself as the warrior defending the prime minister at every turn.

The list of complaints is long and familiar.

That she tightly controls access and information, meaning the prime minister does not hear contrary sources of advice. In fact he hears very little advice without Credlin present, which makes it particularly difficult for senior figures to give the prime minister advice about her and her role.

That she has issues with anyone in the prime minister’s office, or any other office, who challenges or disagrees with her.

That she “oversteps the mark” – countermanding ministers and participating in top-level meetings and even cabinet discussions in ways senior Coalition figures believe is inappropriate for an unelected official. (Sources say in recent months she has stopped intervening in cabinet discussions.)

That ministers hear about policy decisions affecting their own portfolios when they are leaked to the media. Backbenchers hear about most government decisions that way. The treasurer didn’t know his own departmental secretary had been sacked. Senior Department of Foreign Affairs officials complain they have to try to piece together what has happened at important prime ministerial meetings with foreign leaders, because Dfat officials have been excluded and no one has taken notes.

Business representatives have complained that Credlin has answered questions they addressed to the prime minister. She vetoed the desired candidates of multiple ministers for senior positions on their staff, and even dictated who could be employed in electorate officers. Ministers complain of micromanagement in the prime minister’s office, with backlogs of documents and briefings requiring approval or decision.

The prime minister’s office vetoed the foreign minister’s initial request to travel to the United Nations climate meeting in Lima – something the minister herself put on the public record. And the prime minister’s office raised serious last-minute doubts that nearly derailed the environment minister’s deal with Clive Palmer which allowed the government to legislate its Direct Action plan.

Credlin has been by the prime minister’s side from almost the moment he took over the leadership of a Coalition split asunder and demoralised after its internal ructions over support for the Rudd government’s carbon price. Her gladiatorial, win-every-day, with-us-or-against-us style was aimed at one thing: dragging the Coalition’s primary vote up from where it was languishing at the time, 35%. Inch by inch those improving numbers gave her boss greater job security and credibility, loosened the pockets of donors and enlivened the backbench with hope. They took Tony Abbott to within a whisker of winning in 2010 and in 2013 delivered him the Lodge. The prime minister has very good reason to highly value the role she has played.

But her critics say her style is not as well suited to government and contrast Abbott’s office with John Howard’s office, where the chief of staff and political enforcer roles were split between Arthur Sinodinos and Tony Nutt, where contested advice was actively encouraged and where the proper roles of staff and elected officials were strictly adhered to. And in the end ignored

These are, of course, all stories from her detractors. And they are anonymous, while several of the government’s most senior ministers have recently been prepared to go on the record with strident comments in her defence. And there may indeed be an element of “piling on” criticism of Credlin to deflect attention from everyone else’s contributions to the government’s political woes.

But – fair or unfair – the criticisms are now rife, and the prime minister himself has now acknowledged that they are coming from colleagues, and has sided with his long-term staffer.

His colleagues were utterly dismayed by Abbott’s “sexism” defence on Friday, because it demonstrated that he has not listened to any the detailed reasons for complaint. They say that by digging in beside her, Abbott is digging himself into a hole. They don’t need to point out that the Coalition’s primary vote is back down to 37%.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne ... slodge-him

[Rorschach]

Abbott's defence of Credlin a career-limiting move?
By Paula Matthewson

Tony Abbott's defence of Peta Credlin against what he says are sexist attacks from his own MPs shows a breathtaking lack of self-reflection, writes Paula Matthewson.

In the political style the Prime Minister has managed to make his own - namely tumbling from frying pan to fire - Tony Abbott has exacerbated the hostilities simmering between his chief of staff and colleagues by accusing the MPs of sexism.

In doing so, he may have made a career-limiting move.

In the face of ongoing criticism about the operational style of his most senior adviser, Peta Credlin, Abbott made the extraordinary suggestion today that she would not be "under this kind of criticism if her name was P-E-T-E-R as opposed to P-E-T-A", and that "people need to take a long, hard look at themselves with some of these criticisms".

This proposition involves a lack of self-reflection that is breathtaking even for Abbott.

Not that long ago, certainly within the memory of most voters, Abbott accused the then prime minister Julia Gillard of playing the gender card when she suggested some of the criticisms levelled against her were due to sexism. Abbott denied there was any inherent sexism in the community, stressing that any and all criticisms of Gillard were based on her competency and not her gender.

By this logic, Abbott has placed himself between the rock that is Credlin's incompetency and the hard place that is a sexist parliamentary wing. That's sure to go down well in the party room.

Ambitious backbenchers and sidelined ministers have grumbled to the media for months about Credlin's centralised micromanagement style. This has flared into several spot fires over past weeks as opinion polls continue to look dire for the Coalition and ministers angling for promotion (or simply to save their skin) have ratcheted up the blame game.

To an extent, such behaviour is par for the course. It's the chief of staff's job to support and protect the Prime Minister, and being the gatekeeper necessarily involves being the flak-catcher too. Credlin is not the first or last PM's chief of staff to be met with resistance or agitation from the parliamentary wing.

But concerns expressed about Credlin have flared dangerously beyond what is the norm, evidenced by the astonishing story published earlier this week suggesting the Liberals' most senior elected woman, the Foreign Minister and Deputy Leader Julie Bishop, is at loggerheads with the adviser and unwilling to continue "taking orders" from her.

This revelation comes after weeks (and, in some cases, months) of claims from conservative columnists and commentators, as well as journalists with strong Liberal or business connections, that no advice is getting to the PM other than that permitted by Credlin. Former PM John Howard and the Liberals' campaign strategist Mark Textor have even taken to the airwaves in apparent attempts to get through.

And now to dismiss these criticisms as mere sexism, and therefore without foundation, Abbott is essentially pulling down the shutters.

Former Howard government minister Peter Reith is reported to have cautioned against this, saying it was "a bit of a mistake on Tony's part to throw in the gender claim", and that Abbott "would be wise to put to the side gender issues and focus on genuine concerns and worries people have had, generally on the backbench but also some ministers".

On this occasion Reith is absolutely right. This is anything but a wise move for a party leader to do when his MPs are feeling demoralised and pessimistic about their future electoral prospects.

Abbott has rightly noted that Coalition MPs would be disinclined to change prime ministers mid-stream in light of the voter wrath brought down on Labor for doing the same. But Abbott ignores the fact that he is more unpopular than Rudd was at the time of being deposed, and by refusing to countenance any suggestion that Credlin is either incompetent, or just not managing the role effectively, Abbott is inviting dissenters to conclude that the only way to get rid of Credlin is to get rid of him.

Ultimately, the Prime Minister is responsible for the staff appointed to his office and the advice he decides to accept and act upon. By deflecting criticisms of Credlin, which are in fact de facto criticisms of him, and calling his own people sexist, Abbott is causing himself an almighty problem – he's disregarding and provoking the very people who can remove him (and Credlin) from the Prime Minister's office.

Paula Matthewson is a freelance communications adviser and corporate writer. She was media advisor to John Howard in the early 1990s. She tweets and blogs as @Drag0nista. View her full profile here.

[boxy]

You've got to admit, the genius who came up with the "we'll get rid of the carbon tax, but the compensation stays" must have been drunk at the time

Yep, it's the drink... not the x chromosome

[The Uncanny Hengeman]

She looks hell-crazy to me.

Never stick your dick in crazy.

[Rorschach]

Meanwhile on the more up to date Credlin topic....
(be nice to merge them guys)

[Rorschach]

Please explain why it is ok to abuse and lie about someone who is not here and cannot defend themselves yet delete posts that defend and prove the lies told.

[Rorschach]

Funny thing Bill Shorten defending Credlin at the moment... must be to the ALP's advantage to keep her there eh.

[mantra]

Funny thing Bill Shorten defending Credlin at the moment... must be to the ALP's advantage to keep her there eh.

Yes - I can't see Shorten doing any favours for the Liberals. Same goes for Clive Palmer who appears to be defending Credlin too.