When prime ministers speak, the nation usually listens. In the Australian federation, prime ministers have consistently used the power of their political pulpit to launch policy interventions into areas of traditional State responsibility. This article suggests that there is an emerging rhetorical pattern to the way these policy interventions are presented. Primeministers of bothmajor parties have used rhetoric to portray the Commonwealth as acting on behalf of the legitimate interests of constituents who have been ignored by State governments. Occurring in close proximity to federal elections, policy interventions are shown to be weapons which favour incumbent prime ministers in their battleswith State governments and federal oppositions alike. © 2010 Australian Political Studies Association.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Political Science
Research Field:	Political Science not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Government and Politics
Objective Field:	Government and Politics not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Grube, DC (Associate Professor Dennis Grube)
ID Code:	99022
Year Published:	2010
Web of Science® Times Cited:	12
Deposited By:	Arts, Law and Education
Deposited On:	2015-03-11
Last Modified:	2015-03-11
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