Come off it John (Or whoever titled this piece) – there was nothing inadvertent about the so-called “independents” supporting Labor. They only ran against the government and avoided policy discussions, because they had none apart from including the word “climate” in their ads.
You could barely fit a graphene sheet between the Coalition’s and Labor’s policies on carbon tax and renewables funding which is all so-called “climate” policies amount to. Strangely enough, the male billionaire who set up and funded the brave female “independents” just happens to have financial interests in windfarms.
Zoë Colvin
1 year ago
Inaccuracies undermine this article’s claim to any reader’s attention:
“while voting in some regions is set to go on for days, & indeed weeks” – er, no.
Plus it’s Kooyong, not Kuyong.
Australian voters seem to be really annoyed but not clear what they are annoyed about or what they want – the figures show that, although Labor is now in power, parties of the right won more votes than parties of the left (5329314 Nat/Lib coalition plus One Nation plus UAP plus Katter, versus 5254358 for Labor & Greens) while informal votes outnumbered the “Teals” & rightwing independents: 629141 for spoilt ballots versus 561252 for independents.
An odd factor in the election was the very strong dislike of Scott Morrison that grew in the population – or was it cultivated by the media? He seemed dull, rather than hateable.
What Australia will probably experience for the next two or three years is a rather weak, directionless Labor government propped up by the Greens Party & green-leaning independents. Labor probably won’t be able to win at all on their own next time & Australia may then find itself ruled forever by a Labor/Greens coalition. Some argue the Liberal/National coalition has drifted leftward & voters no longer see how it differs from Labor & thus fritter their votes on tiny parties. I don’t know whether defining themselves to the right would help them or whether the election result is simply a reflection of confusion & turmoil, partly a consequence of Australia’s isolationist pandemic approach.
Yes, although the new cliché of the Australian media that our politics is now feminised overlooks the fact that Labor did not need a man to gain power this time. It occurs to me that Australian politics is unusually emotional – voters fell in love with Rudd & then fell out of love very quickly. The landslide Abbott achieved suggests they fell in love with him. They then were once again disillusioned & his popularity plunged in power. Malcolm Turnbull, who seems to fall in love with himself every time he gets up in the morning, then seized power & from there on there has been a mood of angry dissatisfaction. Somehow now John Howard is loved although he was reviled when in power. The only time the electorate seemed satisfied was during Bob Hawke’s time. Perhaps it is compulsory voting that stops our elections being about policies so much as about whose personality we like. So many voters haven’t enough time to attend to the details & yet they have to make a decision in the polling booth, so perhaps they just go with a feeling.
First: Labor did need a man: Billionaire heir activist Simon Holmes a’Court who set up and bankrolled the teal “independents”
Second: Abbot never had a chance to face the public as PM despite winning in a landslide. The Libs got spooked by a few negative polls, in an era when polls were repeatedly wrong, and Turnbull the media favourite knifed him and promptly lost most of Abbott’s majority the first time he faced an actual election.
Third: The media attacks on Howard, Abbott and even the inoffensive Morrison were relentless, heavily-biased and frankly mind-boggling to a frequent outside visitor like me while they were in power. Their big crime was winning. (especially when the media had repeatedly declared Abbott “unelectable” and had already – literally – cracked the champagne for now-forgotten Shorten in 2019) Of course the media acts conciliatory when they’re out of power!
Sorry, the “not” slipped in. The Abbott story is sad & complicated & I sometimes wonder whether every election since his landslide has been coloured by a vague feeling of anger in voters’ minds that they were robbed of a dream.
Tony Taylor
1 year ago
Correction: “Labor unexpectedly lost the 2019 General Election by standing on a policy-rich programme.” (And we call them Federal Elections.)
And is Alternative Voting (AV) what the British call Preferential Voting?
Come off it John (Or whoever titled this piece) – there was nothing inadvertent about the so-called “independents” supporting Labor. They only ran against the government and avoided policy discussions, because they had none apart from including the word “climate” in their ads.
You could barely fit a graphene sheet between the Coalition’s and Labor’s policies on carbon tax and renewables funding which is all so-called “climate” policies amount to. Strangely enough, the male billionaire who set up and funded the brave female “independents” just happens to have financial interests in windfarms.
Inaccuracies undermine this article’s claim to any reader’s attention:
“while voting in some regions is set to go on for days, & indeed weeks” – er, no.
Plus it’s Kooyong, not Kuyong.
Australian voters seem to be really annoyed but not clear what they are annoyed about or what they want – the figures show that, although Labor is now in power, parties of the right won more votes than parties of the left (5329314 Nat/Lib coalition plus One Nation plus UAP plus Katter, versus 5254358 for Labor & Greens) while informal votes outnumbered the “Teals” & rightwing independents: 629141 for spoilt ballots versus 561252 for independents.
An odd factor in the election was the very strong dislike of Scott Morrison that grew in the population – or was it cultivated by the media? He seemed dull, rather than hateable.
What Australia will probably experience for the next two or three years is a rather weak, directionless Labor government propped up by the Greens Party & green-leaning independents. Labor probably won’t be able to win at all on their own next time & Australia may then find itself ruled forever by a Labor/Greens coalition. Some argue the Liberal/National coalition has drifted leftward & voters no longer see how it differs from Labor & thus fritter their votes on tiny parties. I don’t know whether defining themselves to the right would help them or whether the election result is simply a reflection of confusion & turmoil, partly a consequence of Australia’s isolationist pandemic approach.
Pretty much like it was when the author was Julia Gillard’s spin doctor, then.
Yes, although the new cliché of the Australian media that our politics is now feminised overlooks the fact that Labor did not need a man to gain power this time. It occurs to me that Australian politics is unusually emotional – voters fell in love with Rudd & then fell out of love very quickly. The landslide Abbott achieved suggests they fell in love with him. They then were once again disillusioned & his popularity plunged in power. Malcolm Turnbull, who seems to fall in love with himself every time he gets up in the morning, then seized power & from there on there has been a mood of angry dissatisfaction. Somehow now John Howard is loved although he was reviled when in power. The only time the electorate seemed satisfied was during Bob Hawke’s time. Perhaps it is compulsory voting that stops our elections being about policies so much as about whose personality we like. So many voters haven’t enough time to attend to the details & yet they have to make a decision in the polling booth, so perhaps they just go with a feeling.
First: Labor did need a man: Billionaire heir activist Simon Holmes a’Court who set up and bankrolled the teal “independents”
Second: Abbot never had a chance to face the public as PM despite winning in a landslide. The Libs got spooked by a few negative polls, in an era when polls were repeatedly wrong, and Turnbull the media favourite knifed him and promptly lost most of Abbott’s majority the first time he faced an actual election.
Third: The media attacks on Howard, Abbott and even the inoffensive Morrison were relentless, heavily-biased and frankly mind-boggling to a frequent outside visitor like me while they were in power. Their big crime was winning. (especially when the media had repeatedly declared Abbott “unelectable” and had already – literally – cracked the champagne for now-forgotten Shorten in 2019) Of course the media acts conciliatory when they’re out of power!
Sorry, the “not” slipped in. The Abbott story is sad & complicated & I sometimes wonder whether every election since his landslide has been coloured by a vague feeling of anger in voters’ minds that they were robbed of a dream.
Correction: “Labor unexpectedly lost the 2019 General Election by standing on a policy-rich programme.” (And we call them Federal Elections.)
And is Alternative Voting (AV) what the British call Preferential Voting?