'Torpedo Bob' tries to repair the holes in the hull

BY KEITH JACKSON

HAVING COMPREHENSIVELY STUFFED UP one of his first assignments as foreign minister by insulting the good people of Papua New Guinea, Senator Bob Carr yesterday decided to issue a press release.

It begins, in its very first paragraph, with this touch of arrogance: “Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the Australian government accepts the assurances of prime minister O'Neill and other PNG leaders that Papua New Guinea's elections will be held on time.”

“Accepts the assurances...”  Are you with me?  The suggestion is that Bob, deeply and properly concerned about the prospect of a delay in PNG's elections, needed  to receive “assurances”.

This man did not need “assurances”; he had “assurances”. And from whom?

No less a figure than his parliamentary secretary the hapless Richard Marles who had been told a week before by prime minister Peter O’Neill that the PNG election would be held on time. Richard had either forgotten to brief Bob or Bob had forgotten to listen.

So not only can’t Carr admit he went off half cocked, ill prepared and full of the hubris of his new office, he tries to put reality aside and suggest the ‘misunderstanding’ was PNG’s fault and that he needed "assurances".

And then, in its very next (second) sentence, the press release goes on to say, “As I said to Foreign Minister Pala in my telephone conversation yesterday, my recent comments have been misunderstood and used out of context.”

“As I said” – in other words, I’m the big man around here. I say, Pala, and you listen.

And then Carr utters the weakest defence in the public relations manual, “I have been taken out of context”. Yeah, sure.

Next line is pure motherhood (read patronising): “Australia's approach to PNG as a sovereign friend and neighbour is to be supportive.”

Given that the day before he was going to draw down the world’s angst on our nearest and best neighbour, that utterance is especially sick-making.

Next in the release is a bit of an announcement about some unknown outfit called “the Australian Civilian Corps” before a final sentence in which the new foreign minister, still trying to dry out the area behind his ears, gasps: “PNG is a robust democracy with a proud history of holding elections as provided for under its constitution.”

Wouldn’t it have been terrific if Bob had gone straight there in the first place.

Comments

[Alex Harris]

Especially sick-making! That's gold Keith.

[Robin Mead]

From a piece in today's Sydney Morning Herald:

"......Bob Carr wants to be the healer: "My role is to be an emollient to help settle people down, to help people think about the future, not the past."

An emollient is a medicine or agent "having the power of softening or relaxing living tissues, as a medicinal substance; soothing, especially to the skin", the Macquarie Dictionary tells us."

Let's hope the emollient becomes less astringent, and the rebuilder a little less like a demolisher ...

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/thoughts-of-bob-the-rebuilder-20120316-1vap3.html#ixzz1pKnt1SVn

[Tavurvur]

After witnessing Bob Carr's "Belden-epic" blunder, I've realised that I need to know more about this man - particularly as he will be FM for at least the next 19 months.

Any other significant experiences to make note of from his time in NSW politics?
___________

There's been much written about Carr - who was known as 'Teflon Bob' during his period as NSW premier because he had such good 'spin' none of the bad news would stick.

Governing NSW during an era of unprecedented boom, he left the State's infrastructure in a mess and his party's fortunes in even worse shape - so much so that Labor collapsed to a record defeat at the polls a year ago.

The following comment piece in a recent Financial Reveiw provides some further insights - KJ

http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/spinmeister_bob_wins_over_julia_tkRQfyuRYMPVhV3BvpuVuI

[Robin Mead]

Anyone who's lived in New South Wales will recognise that this is classic, self-serving Bob. Someone needs to tell the political class that grandiloquence and paternalistic grandstanding do not, actually, equate to good communication skills.

In a perverse way he has done citizens a favour. What he did was in essence shoot his mouth off before and without engaging brain, in the company of an old mate. Almost as if it was a private conversation.

Except it happened to be in an international spotlight. Not very clever.

To compound it with claims of being taken out of context is ludicrous. It is the context. A mea culpa would make more sense, but these people aren't like that.

So it seems to be case of on to the next Messianic political vision and distraction, hoping it'll all blow over. Exactly like NSW politics for decades...

At least concerns are in the open and in full view of the citizens of both our countries, who will no doubt wait and watch with great interest.