Zoë Wundenberg | Is answering the question too much to ask?

My question is, why won't politicians actually answer the damned questions asked of them.

The minister responded to Mr Poxon by saying: "We know that Australians are doing it tough, particularly those on income support," but then said, "we will be looking across the board at everything we can do to support people."

The very definition of a non-committed non-answer: "We know about the problem, and ... we're thinking about it."

But to then make matters worse, Ms Rishworth went on to explain how challenging their job is to manage the budget citing inflation and the need to be "responsible" in economic management as issues they must contend with.

So once again, a very direct question from Mr Poxon was left non-answered.

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Question-dodging seems to be something of a political sport in Canberra. They don't want to say, "No, we aren't going to raise Jobseeker payment", because that will create instant waves of disturbance in the political force as people reel from the categorical denial of what is needed so badly by those really doing it tough.

Perhaps the non-answer can be inferred as the answer we don't want to hear?

This would put them at the mercy of a brutal social/media storm in response that then becomes something else they have to deal with. Or worse, puts a definitive response "out there" that may come back to bite them in the proverbial if things change down the track.

And we all know politicians love the social/media deep divers who go through old tweets and news reports to find contradictions in policy announcements.

But maybe it's not just the politicians. Maybe the public relations and communications advisers need to take a bit of responsibility here. After all, party pollies receive media training either directly or indirectly from the PR team in how to handle those tricky questions that actually require a real response. The craft of the non-answer is one honed by professionals and enacted by the representatives of our people on a daily basis. I read an article recently that called this "Pollyfilla" and frankly, a more appropriate term I couldn't come up with.

Do they think we don't notice? That if they use big words like "inflation" and complicated phrases like "responsible economic practice" that we, the people, will just smile and nod and feel safe in the knowledge that they clearly know what they are talking about?

If that's the case, I've got news for you, Canberra. We notice. And we all shake our heads with resigned frustration that there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to actually get a straight answer. If nothing else, that Q&A segment with Mr Poxon made that clear.

During COVID, there is one thing that stands out to me above all else in the media coverage of politicians' responses. And that is Victoria Premier Dan Andrews standing in front of the press answering every single question every single day until there were no more questions.

I know his leadership during this period was divisive - you either loved him or you hated him - but he has my absolute respect for his management of the media during the crisis.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Mr Andrews' management of the pandemic in Victoria was so divisive is because he gave us straight answers and some of us didn't like what we heard.

The height of COVID absolutely sucked, but the one thing we could depend on was answers to questions. Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions. Perhaps we need to play their game instead of firing questions demanding answers that will never come.

Instead of, "Will you commit to raising the rate?", the better questions to ask are: "We are starving. We are homeless. Platitudes aside, why aren't you raising the rate? What could possibly be more important than this?"