Open letter to my local member

Dear Mr Kerr,

I am extremely disappointed in your government's decision to exempt itself from its own Government advertising guidelines. Actually, I am disgusted, and have been moved to write to you, not something I have done before.

It appears that right from the inception of the Resource Super Profits Tax, a strategy was in place to spend $38m advertising it. This is a massive error of judgement.

If the PM and Treasurer think they have a fair case to make, they can reach anyone who is interested enough, at no cost to the public purse, through the news and current affairs media. Ministers have been claiming there is a "hunger" in the community for information - this is just unsubstantiated spin.

The Howard government was thrown out not because of brilliant Labor strategy, or Kevin Rudd's manifest destiny. Howard's "whatever it takes" approach to elections, including massive spending on "information" campaigns, eventually disgusted even his own traditional supporters.

Now how can the ordinary person draw any distinction between the current and previous governments on this issue? Are the PM and Treasurer so convinced of their own genius that they think this will be an electoral plus for them? Current polls suggest not.

I am a swinging ALP/Green voter, I have no shares in mining companies or any involvement in that industry.

sincerely
Chris Rees