Why say anything when the other person is talking up their own storm.  Labor is unusually quiet for an opposition.  I don’t know if this is because they want to be, or because they are not getting reported.  In any case it is working.  The polls are showing they are going ahead in leaps and bounds.  Maybe this is what people want.  An opposition who says nothing.

On the other hand the Liberal government is talking up their own controversies.  They have managed to talk about Indonesia and China and cause a controversy.  They did a good job of not talking much about asylum seekers and caused a problem.  Their verbal gyrations on Gonski has been an embarrassment.  Hockey’s logic on budget surplus and reserve bank allocations has destroyed any credibility that still remained.  Why do Labor need to say anything?

If Labor say nothing, it focuses media attention on what the Liberals are saying.  The Libs cannot attack something Labor say, if they say nothing.  Bill Shorten seems to be telling Australia “You voted for them.  Now listen closely to what they have to say when they are faced with actually doing something”.

I remember doing some media training a few decades back.  The tutor asked me a difficult question then ignored me.  I managed to tie myself in knots trying to fill the silence.  In the end he said one of the best weapons in debate is silence.  Let the person talk themselves into a state of chaos.  Maybe that person had a word with the Opposition.