It’s a warm, sunny morning in Adelaide and the Labor party faithful are waiting patiently. They have blanketed Thordon Park Reserve in outer-suburban Adelaide with Kevin Rudd posters and ALP balloons. A barbeque sizzles in the background.

These are the party apparatchiks who have campaigned hard for the past four weeks. They await the arrival of their leader – who is due shortly.

Finally, after much anticipation, a small motorcade pulls up into the park. Inside is Kevin Rudd, his wife Therese Rein, deputy leader Julia Gillard, and local Adelaide candidate Mia Handshin.

The group exit their vehicles and casually stroll into the park. The media scramble into position. Journalists clutch dictaphones. Cameramen jostle for the best angle.

The party faithful wait silently in the background, holding their breath for what wise words their leader might have to say.

And what does Kevin Rudd tell them?

Well, nothing much really.

He spends the 10 minute opportunity to merely recant the same ALP mantra we’ve heard many times before.

He says he senses “a mood for change” across Australia. He says that Australians are demanding “fresh ideas” and “new leadership”. He says the phrase “working families” so many times that it starts to grate. He even throws in a few “John Howard is not fair dinkum” for good measure.

There are no policy announcements. There are no spending announcements. To put it bluntly: there is no news.

Instead, Rudd says he has called the press conference because he wants to point out that today marks the second anniversary of WorkChoices being passed by the House of Representatives.

Of course, he fails to mention that Workchoices didn’t actually become law on this date. The legislation, of course, still had to pass through the Senate, get assented by the Governor General, and then come into force – all on different dates.

The symbolism of its passage through the House of Representatives is thus a little silly.

Still, it’s obviously reason enough to hold a press conference. And reason enough to put Rudd on television (incidentally, most television shots were of him working the barbeque).

But despite the lack of substance in the speech, Rudd still performs well in front of the crowd.

Rudd is a charming and aimable individual. Throughout his diatribe of spin and cliché, there are many moments of creative spark and genuine humour.

His war analogies in particular please the crowd. He describes the next two weeks as all out “trench warfare”, to be fought in every city in Australia. He then compares WorkChoices to a “scorched earth policy”.

He also takes aim at the HR Nichols Society, which he describes as “basically the extreme, right-wing, industrial relations think-tank of the nation”.

“It’s where Peter Costello learnt to read and write,” he says, to much applause.

Still, most journalists fail to see any funny side to the press conference. Many grumble the occasion had been a “waste of time”. Some say they could have spent the morning in bed or even down at the beach. It is a hot day in Adelaide after all.

The question to ask from this event is simple: do press conferences like these show that the ALP is running out of steam? That it has no more ideas? No more money to spend?

The answer, of course, is: no, it doesn’t show this at all.

The official ALP campaign launch will occur this Wednesday in Brisbane. There are no new policy announcements today – and there probably won’t be many over the next couple of days – because the party is saving its big guns for the launch.

Indeed, word on the street is that a big education announcement may come at the official launch.

Until that time, however, don’t expect much in the way of new initiatives. Expect more pointless press conferences like today.

At least everybody got a free sausage.