Pressuring politicians and populist terrorism

We still have valid mechanisms for public debate, including writing to politicians, letters to the editor, community protest, and forums such as On Line Opinion.

However, I strongly protest against “populist terrorism”. It is a cancer on our political, economic and cultural life, where groups (including self-anointed and righteous journalists) try to pressure politicians on single issues.

It is not only distracting to political life, but can be destructive, leading weak politicians to cave into bad policy. Therefore, I condemn Nielsen for naïve polling, and the Fairfax group for selling newspapers at the expense of sound political debate. Michelle Grattan has lost all face with me.

Another abuse of market research has just appeared this time with politicians behaving badly. Mathew Franklin in The Australian (June 19) reported on Wayne Swan’s use of an apparently leaked focus group report, commissioned by Malcolm Turnbull into perceptions of Turnbull’s budget reply speech, his website and resume, all of which sounds innocent enough (the Labor party do similar): except where did Swan get the report?

But of greater concern is the publication of the alleged verbatim statements of individual focus group participants. Did anyone seek their permission to have their private views aired publicly, or does people’s privacy in research no longer matter? Swan claimed the study was conducted in Melbourne by the research firm, Millward Brown. Can we not trust a research company’s security and privacy procedures anymore?