Kevin Rudd bares all…

That could be rather frightening, and so perhaps it has proven: Transcript of interview with Barrie Cassidy.

… PM: Look, I think it is quite plain that one of the problems that we have had as a Government, for which I accept responsibility, is that we didn’t anticipate how hard it was going to be to deliver things. Particularly given the burdens imposed on us by the global financial crisis last year. But that’s no excuse. The public expect you to honour the things that you have said. We’re now about nine months late from implementing that commitment. I accept that.

But I’m determined, Barrie, to get it right, absolutely right, and I don’t walk away from that. And when you’re talking about a system which comprises 763 hospitals across Australia, some 115 million visits each year to GPs, 49 million hospital services delivered to the Australian people, you actually want to get it right. So, we need to lift our game, I need to lift my game in terms of delivering on these undertakings, that’s fair criticism. The reason that we’ve had problems with this is we didn’t properly, I think, estimate the complexity of what we are embarking on.

CASSIDY: And why was that? Why did you underestimate it? Was it political naïveté? Was it inexperience? What led to that lack of judgment?

PM: Well can I just say Barrie, a lot of things will happen in precisely the timetable that you specify, and sometimes there’ll be a delay. If you walk away from your commitment altogether, that’s a different thing. I accept that. For us, that’s been a-

CASSIDY: But is part of the problem- I think it’s your own estimate- you said you put 600 election promises out there. Is that just simply too many?

PM: Well, you’ll find that the vast bulk of those have either been honoured or are in the process of being implemented. We of course have made changes in a number of other areas and that goes to the question that you raise about delivering on our commitments. You know, you were talking in your program earlier today about opinion polls. We are taking a whacking in the polls now. I’m sure we’ll take an even bigger whacking in the period ahead. And the bottom line is, I think we deserve it, both not just in terms of recent events, but more broadly…

Today’s editorial in The Australian is interesting:

KEVIN Rudd’s extraordinary display of contrition in a series of interviews over the past few days is a courageous act for a Prime Minister who until late last year appeared to be master of his own destiny. Mr Rudd has been frank about his personal political failings and taken full responsibility for the home insulation disaster. Yesterday, he took this bout of flagellation to a new level in an interview with Barrie Cassidy on ABC1’s Insiders, acknowledging that the problems were much deeper than one failed program and that the government had so far failed to deliver substantial promises.

Mr Rudd’s frank analysis and his admission that Labor is facing a backlash in the polls may come as a surprise to voters who rely for their news on Fairfax and the ABC, which have largely glossed over the government’s stumbles in their pursuit of the opposition. Eight days ago, Cassidy accused this newspaper of putting a negative spin on its Newspoll and claimed Labor was actually rising in the polls. It was left to Mr Rudd to correct Cassidy yesterday, telling him that Labor had been taking “a whacking” for some time.

Acknowledging his failures and implicitly recognising the limitations of government by spin is a necessary first step to winning back the trust of voters who have begun to tire of obfuscation and attempts to deflect attention on to Tony Abbott or senator Barnaby Joyce. The crucial test for Mr Rudd is what he can achieve in the short time available before the next election…

After reacting badly to media criticism for two years, including some provided by this newspaper, Mr Rudd’s honest, open recognition of his failings is possibly the start of a more effective leadership in which he will focus on bringing his major goals to fruition. Mr Rudd has couched much of his confession in terms of what his government has failed to do. The key decisions, however, are his. The buck truly does stop with him.

Michelle Grattan in The Age and the Herald is worth reading too: PM bares himself for a flogging, and may get it.

Kevin Rudd has donned the hair-shirt in a tack that will leave many of his colleagues wondering exactly where his head is at.

By conceding that he has not been on top of his game, Rudd is adding grist to Tony Abbott’s argument that the PM is more talk than action.

You’d think, from Rudd’s resort to this pitch, that the government was way behind and seriously staring at defeat. But even those who think Abbott has performed very well aren’t predicting he’s likely to win.

The insulation affair has been a disaster, exposing the government’s flawed processes. Rudd’s assumption of responsibility for it last week, including his regret for not being inquisitive enough, was proper and sensible, although his treatment of Peter Garrett was all over the place – on Tuesday saying he would be standing by his minister, on Friday cutting off his arm.

But yesterday’s mea culpa was of a different ilk. It extended far wider. Rudd is now admitting he has been under-delivering, and he is sloughing off the cover of the global financial crisis. People have become disappointed in the government, he said, talking about the need for it to lift its game not just in the area of hospitals, where the timetable has slipped substantially, but education (Julia Gillard might think she has been marching along quite smartly) and ”getting on with the business of action on climate change”.

You imagine Abbott slipping easily into confession, but it comes as a bit of a shock from Rudd…

Moir, one of my favourite Herald cartoonists:

And finally, I like Ross Gittins today: Libertarians silent on insulation bungle. Aside from some very welcome remarks on the climate change skeptics/libertarians nexus, Gittins rightly reminds us that the real villains in the insulation bungle – aside from the government’s naively giving an opening a mile wide – are the cowboy operators whose diminished or non-existent ethics cruelled a good scheme.

Congratulations, Jim Belshaw

Consider Jim’s prophetic entry Slow down Mr Rudd, for all our sakes, slow down (Friday, May 30, 2008).

Preamble: I deliberately wrote this post in a school masterly lecturing mode because this fitted with my concept of Mr Rudd as the Head. I have now done a little editing to try to improve balance and clarity at one point.

Thinking about the post overnight, my first key point is that Mr Rudd needs to temper his style if he is to achieve the things he wants. My second, one that I have made before, is that his desire to achieve is outrunning the capacity of supporting systems to deliver…

• Jim has a follow-up today: Mr Rudd’s mea culpa and the way ahead.

Note

I propose to look closely at the English and History strands of the new National Curriculum after I have read the documents, but not before. At the moment the curriculum site is over-stretched, but I will download ASAP.

I will ignore Science and Maths. I feel having been a teacher of English and History I have little to say outside my own fields of long, if imperfect, expertise.

I wouldn’t be surprised either if I am asked to reflect on this for the South Sydney Herald. My piece on the My School site is to be published this week.