Brekkie Crumbs (Notes from the NewsRadio Breakfast team) for Tuesday December 1st
Mark - Breakfast E.P. …
When I first went to work at Parliament House in Canberra in the early 1990’s, a man called Tony Abbott was preparing to sign off as then Opposition leader John Hewson’s press secretary.
“You mean you haven’t encountered the ‘Mad Monk’?” my colleagues would ask.
A couple of years later, I moved to Sydney and finally got to meet the man himself.
I caught up with him in a car park in Forestville, where he seemed to be running his election campaign for the blue-ribbon seat of Warringah out of the boot of an old Rover.
I knew the encounter with the monarchist, former Rhodes scholar, boxer, a former journalist and seminarian would be interesting.
Tony Abbott didn’t strike me as “mad” at all.
He had a friendly, but businesslike approach, with voters.
He was realistic about the then plight of the coalition…languishing in opposition.
He had an affinity with the area….Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
“Gee, look at it. It’s God’s own country,” he sighed. (I’m sure he deliberately put the emphasis on God for effect - to see if a young journo like me would bite and file another “here’s the guy who nearly ended up a Catholic priest” story)
But it was extremely clear this was a man of steely ambition -a man who, even then, harboured ambitions to lead the Liberal Party.
I’m sure some of those who encountered Tony Abbott in student politics at Sydney University would say the same thing.
But over the years, despite the occasional gaffes and lack of sensitivity, and his penchant for subjecting the public to endless images of him in tight bike shorts or Speedos, Tony Abbott has actually been one of the best people on the centre-right side of politics at articulating a conservative view of the world.
You might not agree with him, but at least you know where he stands.
Or do you?
His critics would argue that he hasn’t always been consistent.
For example, the once staunch Howard loyalist - some would say apologist - is now only too ready to admit that mistakes were made during his hero’s long tenure at the top.
Malcolm Turnbull was also keen to point out how Mr. Abbott had dramatically shifted his position on the emissions trading scheme when he saw which way the wind was blowing.
Mr. Turnbull and Brendon Nelson before him weren’t always impressed by Tony Abbott’s apparent ill-discipline and his tendency to speak outside his portfolio.
The main thing about Tony Abbott is that he is not a slave to ideology.
Like John Howard, he is a total pragmatist.
And a political animal.
A true dry Australian Liberal.
In the tradition of Menzies and Howard.
Oh yeah, and Kevin Rudd.
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Debbie - Breakfast sport
One of the most regular complaints we field here at ABC NewsRadio, at least about sports coverage, is our preference for using the term “soccer” when reporting on what most of the world refers to as “football.”
For some reason, a section of the audience seem to regard “soccer” as a derogatory term and take it as a slight on the sport each time they hear it.
As I’ve explained many times in emails and phone discussions over the years, the term is simply a well-established abbreviation of the title “Association football”, the official title of the sport, and the ABC recommends it simply for clarity.
Sure, if you say “football” overseas in most countries people will immediately think of the round ball game. But we’re broadcasting for a national Australian audience and if we say “football”, our audience (depending on where they are) will most likely think either Australian rules, rugby league, or maybe even rugby union. In the case of a story on radio especially, where there are no visual clues like in print media or television, it’s a bit silly to have listeners unsure what sport you’re talking about for the first 10-15 seconds of a 30 second story .
But if I say “soccer” there’s no doubt.
Even people who think of “soccer” as “football” understand the word. And obviously FIFA doesn’t think of the term as a negative one. Sepp Blatter was today attending a conference in Johannesburg of businesses from all around the world involved in the sport. Name of the conference? Soccerex 09.
Oh - and we do have a national team called “The Socceroos”.
Anyway, soccer, football, the world game, the round ball game, calcio … call it what you like, I bet you’ll get more information about it here on ABC NewsRadio than you will on any other major radio network.
So go with it, OK?
