The Budget lock-up of journalists has been an annual ritual for some decades.
It may have passed its used-by date.
Before Paul Keating deregulated the financial markets and before indexation became the vogue it might have had a point. In those days a sudden excise levy, devaluation of taxation change might have caused runs on money markets or even supermarkets. Perhaps that was why the Budget speech was done in the evening, so that no-one could go out a buy or sell. Now we have 24-hour money markets and 24-hour super-markets.
The journalists’ lock-up was primarily there to give journalists time to absorb the Budget papers and be ready to put the information out on air or to the press without enabling them to leak out crucial market information that would give an unfair disadvantage.
Nowadays most of the crucial information is known beforehand, even if in a general form. And most of it is leaked out by the Government side. Before this Federal Budget we knew the surplus would be around four or five billion. We knew community rating with health insurance would be changed. I suppose the biggest surprise was the big hit for research. But when analysed it was not a very big hit at all this financial year, a mere $17 million. The big money comes in subsequent years.
Indeed, the three year projections produced in every Budget these days takes a lot of surprise our of subsequent years – once again reducing the capacity of a Treasurer to surprise.
Gone are the days of Budgets producing headlines like “”Smokes, beer up. Pensions get 4%”. These things are indexed. They are taken out of the Budget. The Government’s grab on the luxuries of life comes more insidiously and is taken out of the public consciousness. To be fair, so is some of its capacity to be seen to be generous to pensioners.
So why have the lock-up? The lock-up goes for the six hours before the Treasurer gets to his feet. In that time journalists are a captive market of the Government. The only people we can talk to are the Treasurer himself who gives a press conference and Treasury officials. The only papers we have are the Government Budget papers and a wad of press releases issued by Government Ministers.
At 7.30pm when the Treasurer gets to his feet, the radio and television journalists rush to air. They put the Government’s message out straight away. Without reaction.
But the Government does not get it all its own way with these imprisoned journalists. Until the early 1980s, there were very few journalists qualified or well versed in economics and accounting. Now most serious news outlets have journalists with economics degrees and journalists with their finger on the economic pulse.
Nonetheless, the Government does well with its captive journalistic audience. Too often, Budget contain hidden items. Government trumpet the goodies and hide the hits. On Budget day, journalists snowed with wads of Government paper can easily miss some nasties. Only later when the pressure groups and knowledgeable stakeholders go through their line items in intense detail do some of the implications come out. By then, of course, it is an old story. The Budget is yesterday’s or last week’s story.
Trying selling to a hard-bitten news editor the value of a story whingeing about a subtlety disguised public-housing running down contained in a Budget that is now two or three days old. It goes on Page 4. If announced on another day, it might have made Page 1.
On the local scale, it can be more difficult. At least federally there are a huge number of pressure groups and a solid, fairly well-resourced Opposition.
The week before the federal Budget, we had the ACT Budget. Once again, there was a lock-up. This time five hours. One wonders why. It is not likely that a killing could be made on Australia’s exchange rate or the Standard and Poors credit rating. Once again, it is the Government wanting a captive market.
But we journalists fall for it. It is convenient for us to go into the lock-up so we can present our Budget coverage in one coherent lump.
On the local scene, the ACT Budget came down at 3pm. It was timed for television. All three networks have local news at 6pm. So there is not much time for any serious input by stakeholders. For the press, it is different with that timetable. But is perhaps of less importance from the Government’s point of view. It knows that television will provide one or two simple messages. Kate Carnell was masterful in media management. She hammered through the use of “The Full Monty” image that her Budget was transparent. And she hammered the fact she was getting us out of debt with her good management. It was rubbish, of course. She and her officials managed to con the Feds into giving the ACT a great extra lump of money so she didn’t have to increase revenue or attack spending at a Territory level.
The ingenuity of that dance of the seven veils came home a week later in – you guessed it – the federal Budget lock-up when the Feds were trumpeted what wonderful things they had done for the ACT. The biggest percentage rise of any state or territory, the Minister for Territories boasted.
You can lock us up but ultimately the truth will out.