[Merv and Sharon]

I knew Clem Jones through cricket and he was the genuine article. On the other hand, Clem did not have today's media and public to deal with. I watched the PM answer questions at a press conference about the floods and the first 2 questions were about the potential impact of the flood crisis on the mythical "surplus". She politely deflected them, but I she should have ignored them in Thatcher style and said, " Thank you - now are there any questions about the floods and the communities affected?"

The media tend to 'create' our political images these days, as Tony Abbott found when walking into a flood devastated house and family on the Darling Downs and finding no answer to his hale "Hello?", as they were all out the back cleaning mud. The 'clip showed him then responding, "Sorry, have I come at a bad time?" The next day we saw Julie Bishop as his replacement.

In general, however, our media have been pretty good though this crisis and really focussed on real people and their struggles and good news where they could.