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Media concentrated on the wrong targets

By David Leyonhjelm - posted Tuesday, 12 July 2016


I hope that this contributed some colour and movement to an otherwise dreary election campaign, but it's arguable what it contributedto the overall quality of debate.

During the final week, my Media Advisor was happy to receive his first phone call of the campaign from theABC's7.30 program. It eventually turned out the only reason they were calling was to try and find out my movements so that The Chaser could prank me. Theyshowed up at my housewith homophobic slogans on a van, and alarmedmy wife in the process.

All of thismeans thereis little real scrutiny of Senate candidates. Even DerrynHinchwas rarely asked questions about the things he would be expectedto vote on, despite being pretty much a policy free zone.While media coverage of the Senate race remains so poor, the electorate will onlyget to know Senators after they are elected.

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Even more seriously - it's not just the journalists who don'tseem to understand what it takes to be elected to the Senate.Many people in the House of Representatives don't seem to getit either, which is the only explanation I have forMalcolm Turnbull's decision to call the election in the first place.

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This article was first published in the Australian Financial Review.



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David Leyonhjelm is a former Senator for the Liberal Democrats.

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