Chris Bowen's 'gotcha' moment

If you have been paying any attention to Australian politics over the past few days, you will know that Chris Bowen, the Shadow Treasurer, got 'caught out' by Alan Jones on Sky News. Jones asked Bowen what the tax-free threshold was, Bowen didn't know and tried to dance around the fact that he couldn't remember.

Jones knew the answer ($18,200) and was more than happy to crow about it. But as Bowen pointed out, he wasn't on the show to do a 'pop quiz'.

Unfortunately for Bowen, the media seems to think that was exactly what he was on there for.

Every news outlet you can think of ran a leading story on his 'gaffe'. The Australian, Fairfax, ABC, Ninemsn, Yahoo!7 and SBS all ran a story. Piers Akerman felt it necessary to tell us that it was a 'huge dent in his credibility'.

So should we care?

No, no we should not.

While it would be nice for a potential Treasurer to remember the tax-free threshold on demand at all times, his inability to do so when it was not the topic he was planning to discuss does not reflect on his ability to be a Treasurer. A Treasurer should be able to envisage a good path for the economy in the short, medium and long term. Bowen's forgetfulness of a number does not mean he is incapable of pursuing a fiscal goal over six years.

Furthermore, Bowen doesn't really need to know this. Not only is it not particularly relevant to a Treasurer's broad fiscal plans, he also will have people remind him of it should he become Treasurer. The people in the Department of the Treasury will know these things, because it is their job to know. So, should he forget again, and should it actually become important for him to know (unlikely as it is), it still won't really matter that he didn't know on a television show in 2015.

So why did his slip-up feature in various parts of the media for days? Well, presumably the media thinks it is more important than it is. Or they think that the public will genuinely perceive it as a sign that Bowen is unfit for the role of Treasurer. It's an absurd notion, but in today's world of instant media and ever-shortening attention spans, it's one that will keep getting pushed.

Bowen was on Sky for a discussion on superannuation. No-one cares about that now, because there was a 'gaffe' to focus on instead of boring discussion that may have been important. 

This pattern will keep repeating, and we are poorer for it.