The Debate
Joe Jockey and Bill Shorten faced off today in a debate about WorkChoices, at Manning Bar. It was indeed, a very entertaining debate. Firstly, Joe Hockey was very well spoken. In fact, if the Government want to sell their IR laws, they need Hockey to be the front face - not Kevin Andrews who looks like a pasty white example of 17th Century British ruling class - someone who has never done a minute of manual labor in his life. Anyway, I digress; Joe's openin speech was well planned and quite well executed. He got a respectful round of applause from a largely hostile audience. He spoke of this being the 3rd era of the trading world (nation-to-nation trading, company to company trading and now, person to person trading). He advanced the case that reform was necessary to keep Australia competetive, and this was what the Government was doing - getting on with ensuring the country was ready to meet current and future challenges.
Unfortunately for Joe, no matter how good his speech was, Bill Shorten totally blitzed him. He spoke rapidly, but clearly, providing effective examples of the problems with the WorkChoices legislation - logically tearing apart the opposition's argument, but with a quick witted sense of humour. THe Young Liberals crashed the party, and heckled Shorten - although Hockey faced many a dark rumbling and snide comment from the Audience. Whilst Hockey ploughed on, Shorten made short shrift of the heckles, with such things as "Don't worry you Young Libs down there - you'll get your NSW precelection soon enough - so long as you are right wing enough." He also fed off the audience support, making his speech more of an oration than a debate.
In the end, I felt sorry for Joe Hockey, and grateful that he made himself available for the debate. He was in a very hostile environment (this was a part-union organised event), and faced a tough-sell to Uni students. He was also up against a fantastic speaker and quick-witted opponent in Bill Shorten. I really, really hope Shorten has a fast rise through the Labor party - he is intelligent, articulate, appealing across a broad spectrum, and media savvy. And he could well bring back that Hawke/Keating-esque liveliness to Australian Politics, that it so badly needs.
Unfortunately for Joe, no matter how good his speech was, Bill Shorten totally blitzed him. He spoke rapidly, but clearly, providing effective examples of the problems with the WorkChoices legislation - logically tearing apart the opposition's argument, but with a quick witted sense of humour. THe Young Liberals crashed the party, and heckled Shorten - although Hockey faced many a dark rumbling and snide comment from the Audience. Whilst Hockey ploughed on, Shorten made short shrift of the heckles, with such things as "Don't worry you Young Libs down there - you'll get your NSW precelection soon enough - so long as you are right wing enough." He also fed off the audience support, making his speech more of an oration than a debate.
In the end, I felt sorry for Joe Hockey, and grateful that he made himself available for the debate. He was in a very hostile environment (this was a part-union organised event), and faced a tough-sell to Uni students. He was also up against a fantastic speaker and quick-witted opponent in Bill Shorten. I really, really hope Shorten has a fast rise through the Labor party - he is intelligent, articulate, appealing across a broad spectrum, and media savvy. And he could well bring back that Hawke/Keating-esque liveliness to Australian Politics, that it so badly needs.
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