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Tony Abbott 'thumbing his nose' at voters, says Laurie Oakesl
The Age

Canberra press gallery veteran Laurie Oakes says the Abbott government is
"thumbing its nose at voters" through a lack of transparency and communication.

The respected Channel Nine reporter and political commentator told Fairfax Media
that Prime Minister Tony Abbott and senior ministers were breaking their election
promise of greater accountability for voters.

"They’re busily trying to avoid the media as much as possible and to control the
media and so far they’re getting away with it but I don’t think they will get away
with it for too long," he said ahead of the release of his new book Remarkable

"You can see the way the story of the expenses rorts is gathering speed, and
that horse bolted because Tony Abbott and his Special Minister of State Michael
Ronaldson didn’t move to nip it in the bud.
"They could have killed it off but they’ve got this attitude of not feeding the
news cycle so it got away from them."

The criticism follows disquiet from journalists and commentators at the lack
of access to Mr Abbott and senior ministers including Attorney-General
George Brandis and Treasurer Joe Hockey.
Mr Oakes said the government should learn from the experience of British
Prime Minister David Cameron, who sought to control media reporting more
tightly after his 2010 election, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Mr Abbott has held just eight formal press conferences since his September
7 election win and requests for information from minister's offices are
frequently left unanswered.

On he other hand it is sort of weird that Mr Abbot isn't trying to get free
advertising, as it were. Since the first term is just begun, even bad
publicity is better than no publicity.

[AVT]

On he other hand it is sort of weird that Mr Abbot isn't trying to get free
advertising, as it were. Since the first term is just begun, even bad
publicity is better than no publicity.

I think Abbott knows that the electorate is tired after the last term of political squabbling in Canberra, he is seeking to break the sensationalist stories that had become weekly occurrences under Labor. By doing this he angers the media, but brings down the tempo of politics and hence voters expectations.