Political consultant Jim Middleton says it is not a “particularly good look” when state premiers do not attend the daily COVID-19 press conferences and journalists should push to have leaders attend more.
Mr Middleton said the choice for state leaders to attend is “entirely up to them” but it is a missed opportunity for the public to hold them to accountability.
“News conferences are not perfect, no doubt about it, questions are not always perfect but it’s a heck of a lot better than the opposite,” he told Sky News Australia.
Mr Middleton criticised the choice for New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian to say she would not be holding any daily press conferences and said the reasons she gave may reflect more on her.
“Gladys Berejiklian seems to think that accountability is something that she will determine when she thinks that she should be accountable,” he said.
“In a democracy, accountability is permanent and being premier of a state is a permanent job, it’s not a part time gig.”
Mr Middleton said when the daily conference is on, viewership rises, showing people are interested in knowing what is to be said and the briefings are a “rare opportunity” for communication.
“This provides a very rare opportunity to politicians to speak directly to the people without any intervention at the top of news conferences as we have seen,” he said.
0 Comments