One of the least appealing features of Australian politics is the thoughtful reaction to election results, in which winners are hailed as geniuses and losers are dismissed as unfortunate drug addicts. Over the years, even the directors of the winning campaigns have had the opportunity after the election to expose their brilliance in a speech at the National Press Club. His explanations of what happened have been accepted as sacred writing by the media.
Without a doubt, the winners deserve to be smiled. The Labor Party is now in charge, so it has hit more than a few things right. But every election result contains complexities and surely this election overflowed more than any in the living memory. The national electorate has covered its bets.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the first meeting of the Labor caucus in Parliament. Credit: James Brickwood
There are still two undecided seats left, but the provisional count suggests that the Coalition lost 19 seats, Labor has won nine, the Independents seven and the Greens three. The Albanian government has a one or two majority.
There has been a lot of talk about the disruptive power of green pro-independence activists and whether liberals should go left or right (especially on the right, say their media promoters), but less about what the rise of the Greens. The Greens seem ready to have 12 senators and, if they want, they can frustrate much of the government’s legislative agenda.
This does not necessarily mean that the new government cannot continue a long and happy existence; performance and events will determine that. But there are lessons from this result for all parties and mostly go to beliefs, philosophy and politics. One question that parties should ask is: when it comes to ideology, how much is enough?
Loading
The fall of the coalition government proves once again that politics must ultimately be more than power. We’ve been here before. There is a strong parallel between the Abbott / Turnbull / Morrison government and the Fraser government. Both served three terms. In both cases, before taking office, the Coalition struggled to deal with the fact that it had been put in opposition and that the citizens had elected and then re-elected a Labor government.
Aside from Malcolm Turnbull’s brief and unfortunate attempt to work with Kevin Rudd on an emissions trading scheme in 2009, Liberals and nationals during both eras wasted their years of opposition. Of course, they destroyed their opponents in two terms, but they did not have the debates on how to re-equip and develop a new political perspective. Once back in office, they did not set out to do much. All they knew was politics. All they had was politics.
In the third term, voters wanted something more advanced. Neither Fraser nor Morrison could afford it. Morrison’s philosophical and ideological emptiness was no accident. He was panicked after the Liberals worked through Abbott, whose most successful scenario was negative, and Turnbull, who was said to be too left-wing but not, after agreeing to suffocate. many of his inclinations to regain leadership. .