Source : the age
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ELECTION FALLOUT
Peter Dutton lost his seat of Dickson comfortably, in what was a total repudiation of him, his party and its policies (or lack thereof). Struggling in the campaign, Dutton resorted to culture wars over Welcome to Country. Dutton thrived on the politics of grievance and the stoking fear and division. The vast majority of us have said “this is not who we are, nor who we want to be”.
The Liberal Party must now decide how far to the right they are prepared to move to rebuild. Gina Rinehart wants them to go further (“Rinehart blames ‘left media’ for Coalition wipeout, claims voters ‘very short on understanding’,” 5/5). Given the Liberal Party’s links to the likes of right-wing lobby group Advance, their willingness to use members of the patriarchal and misogynistic Exclusive Brethren in the election campaign, and that three potential leadership contenders – Angus Taylor, Andrew Hastie and Dan Tehan – attended the conference for the climate change denying Alliance for Responsible Citizenship in London in 2023, one must wonder.
Rod Eldridge, Derrinallum
Contemporary women
Charlotte Mortlock is correct in being frustrated that her own party fails to take her advice as a woman seriously (“The Liberal Party is still beholden to a small cohort of angry men. Women have had enough”, 6/5). Sadly, the very Anglo-centric nature of women selected in parliament, including teal candidates, also don’t reflect the small business owners in my area who come from educated multicultural backgrounds. These women don’t like the oft-cited “pub test” political analogy – they don’t go to pubs as it’s not part of their culture and sadly some feel uncomfortable in that blokey environment. Genuine reform means choosing women from diverse backgrounds who have different life experiences and seeing more nuanced perspectives on what it means being a modern day Australian woman.
Mel Smith, Brighton
An existential crisis
Beyond questions of leadership and policy, the Liberal Party must look at its basic principles and consider how closely they reflect modern Australia. That might reveal that the Liberals really do face an existential crisis. A political party based on principles including individualism, limited government and low taxation seems to be at odds with a country that pressures its government to do more and more for its citizens.
This creates a huge problem for true liberals, because by definition, they do not want to interfere in people’s lives. They prefer a light touch government that leaves people free to live as they wish, provided they do not harm others. But that doesn’t match modern, progressive Australia that seems to be constantly demanding the government address an ever expanding list of problems and issues. The Liberal Party can move to the moderate centre, but they will reach a limit beyond which they cannot go and still call themselves liberals.
Rod Wise, Surrey Hills
Building a coherent story
Peter Hartcher’s insightful analysis (“Election delivers hard lessons for the Libs. But they can’t say they weren’t warned”, 6/5) of the Liberal rout in Saturday’s election sums up the major shortcomings of the Liberal Party, but does not address their fundamental problem. To be a party electable, voters want a coherent story and direction. Making off the cuff policy statements a la working from home and continually being negative does not inspire confidence. Peter Dutton raged about the cost of living and housing crisis but offered no well-planned solutions.
The Liberal Party could well follow Labor’s example in holding annual conferences where policies are debated under the umbrella of a guiding philosophy that outlines the party’s guiding principles. Federal elections should be a competition between clear policies and ideas, not a slanging match between personalities. Until the Liberal Party establish what they stand for, they will remain in the political wilderness.
Graeme Lechte, Pascoe Vale
THE FORUM
Leave it to the politicians
Gina Rinehart still doesn’t get it. She is advocating that we continue to embrace Trumpism despite the Coalition’s massive loss. She is also blaming the left-wing media. My advice to Rinehart is to leave the politics to the politicians and sit out on her balcony with a cold one and count her money. She is a very fortunate woman.
John Cummings, Anglesea
Pulling the strings
No surprise that Gina Rinehart wants the Liberals to move further right. She sees herself as Australia’s Elon Musk, pulling the strings of an Australian Trump-like Liberal Party. She has somehow missed the fact that most Aussies don’t like Trump and his ilk.
Marie Nash, Balwyn
Begin again
I completely agree with Gina Rinehart’s statement that the Liberal Party should move further to the right. That will hasten the Liberal Party’s fall into oblivion. From its ashes new parties and independents will arise, free of lobbyists and vested interests, who are more attuned to the needs of average Australians.
Barry Lizmore, Ocean Grove
Valuing services
George Brandis talked on ABC TV’s Q+A on Monday night about the great virtue of “traditional Liberal values”. But for me, the problem for the Liberal Party is its “traditional Liberal values”. It has never really valued public services such as publicly funded health, education, housing, infrastructure and a high-quality permanent public service.
The most successful social democracies in the world, (particularly the Nordic countries), all have brilliant public services in these areas. They pay for them with higher taxation, especially on the wealthy. Their citizens are happy to pay because they see that everyone benefits and social division is drastically reduced.
All of these things are anathema to the Coalition, which always slashes spending on them when it is in power. That is its major problem and it doesn’t look like changing its position any time soon.
Tim Mahar, Fitzroy North
The Liberal project
Australia is an urbanised society. So the cities and suburbs are the natural battlegrounds when it comes to the triennial dogfight for government. The National Party is really the old arch-conservative Country Party with a new name and logo. It has very little connection with urbanised Australia. So, if the Liberals want to return to government they should examine the value of the Coalition and decide to leave it and go alone.
It will be a long haul, but the Liberals need to return to their natural ground as a centre-right moderate party. They must acknowledge their weaknesses and correct them. That means doing things like recruiting more talented women, rejecting short-termism, focusing on the future not the past, developing policies that give direction and hope and meet community needs. Where in the party are the people who can do this?
Les Cooper, Anglesea
Losing the voters
Be careful before painting Peter Dutton as a “victim” in his party’s election loss. This is the man who joked about Pacific Island nations drowning under climate change. Who emphasised the threat of African gangs in Melbourne. Who didn’t put together a cohesive and consistent series of policies to present to the Australian voters.
Carmel Boyle, Alfredton
Pre-poll prepared
The trend to pre-polling has been growing over electoral cycles, resulting in a virtual tsunami this year. It seems the electorate has spoken. But this phenomenon will require changes to our electoral process.
For a start, the AEC will need to provide more booths to avoid queues snaking down the streets. But, more importantly, parties will need to have their election bag fully signed off and sealed in advance. They have three years to refine that, so any attempt to “test” policies (eg working from home) during the polling period, or using the mantra of “we will release our costings/details in due course” (say, 24 hours before election day) will be futile. And throwing out last-minute electoral bon bons of trivia such as “the culture wars” will simply fall on deaf ears. Oh, and one more thing: the “democracy sausage stall will need to take on extended hours.
Max Nankervis, Middle Park
Voters made their choice
According to the ABC Vote Compass, I agree with 92 per cent of the Greens’ policies, but I’ll never vote for the Greens (“Bandt defiant as Greens lose lower house ground”, 5/5). I think their policies are designed to make them look virtuous without considering the consequences. Banning new Australian coal mines will do nothing to reduce the world’s use of coal, but would deprive Australia of the money to roll out renewable energy. Blaming the loss of seats on the Liberals recommending preferences to go to Labor ahead of the Greens is insulting the voters. Many Liberal voters will decide their own allocation of preferences and rightly regard the Greens as unelectable.
The Greens should concentrate on their core area, the environment. According to the Climate Council advertisement in yesterday’s Age, climate change was in the top two important issues for Labor voters in the ABC Vote Compass. I’d agree – I gave climate change and energy as the only important issues.
Wayne Robinson, Kingsley
Green values
Your correspondent (Letters, 6/5) suggests that the Greens need to be more moderate, rather than bolder, in order to improve their vote. May I suggest what they need to be is greener. They were formed as a party for the protection of nature. They would regain their older and longer-term supporters, who have deserted the party, if they emphasised the conservation of the natural environment more boldly and left the culture and generational wars to Sky News, the Murdoch press and the Nationals.
Geoff Wescott, Northcote
Lessons from Canada
Coincidentally, I was lucky enough to be a visitor in Canada for its recent federal election at the same time following the Australian election results. The similarity of issues was telling: cost of living, climate and energy, access to public health, the economy and tariffs, immigration (including international students), defence spending and more. In both countries the centre of politics prevailed. Many of the challenges are not unique to Australia. What can be unique is how they are managed.
Labor has the mandate to be bold, so hopefully will manage a tax system that is fair and equitable, will ensure public schools and health are funded so no one is left behind, will stop the demonisation of migrants and refugees and will look to overcome the underlying causes of crime rather than scaremongering. The Liberals hopefully now understand that voters take climate change seriously and that having women selected on merit also matters.
Sandy Guest, Yarraville
No link to state issues
If Jacinta Allan is whooping it up thinking that a federal Labor victory is an acknowledgment and nod to her leadership then I think she is not reading the tea leaves correctly (“Allan is either delusional or dogged by claiming mandate”, 5/5). A win federally has nothing to do with how poorly she is running Victoria and her lack of attention to crime, her misunderstanding of the voters’ dislike for the SRL, and her inability to bring the state budget into any sort of acceptable balance are all local Victorian issues. Her only saving grace is that no one knows who the opposition leader is.
Nathan Feld, Glen Iris
Remember the arts
I hope that Anthony Albanese can channel Gough Whitlam and put the arts back on the agenda. While I appreciate there are bigger fish to fry, the arts can provide an aesthetic addition to society which, in turn, builds cohesiveness and cultural understandings in our complex world. The arts cannot be taken for granted and without support have become gravely diminished in the subsequent years; compounded by the COVID years. Who can forget the arts provision of choirs and orchestras etc created in the privacy of individual living rooms that helped us see light in our “switched-off” world? In a multicultural society the arts in all its forms provide a universal language that can connect diverse cultural groups in our communities.
Mary-Louise Tehan, Bendigo
Moderate holidays
I’ve been enthralled by Traveller’s stories of cruising to distant lands, sampling local cuisine, and exploring unique cultures. But I’ve also been increasingly disheartened by the price tags attached. Unless you’re spending $20,000 or more, many of these adventures feel out of reach. Who are these trips aimed at – the top 1 per cent, dreamers, or retirees burning through their savings before settling in with tinned food and free-to-air TV? I’m not after hostels or bare-bones budgets, but surely there’s a middle ground. For those of us in our 50s, still working and keen to travel with some comfort, I’d love more coverage of stylish, enriching holidays that come in at/under $3500 a week.
Kathryn Law, Camberwell
Too many flames
Well done, North Melbourne, for banning media pundit Kane Cornes (“Caroline Wilson weighs in on North’s stance, Cornes responds to double standards claim”, 5/5). As commentators such as The Guardian’s Jonathan Horn have noted, “flame throwers” like Cornes are all about the clicks and outrage — loud and large for attention. Cornes has admitted his style is about having a big profile and big opinion. His recent comments about Harry Sheezel are consistent with those he has previously made criticising young players. North decided Cornes had thrown one too many flames.
Peter McIntosh, Golden Point
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
Liberal leadership
Applications are invited for the position of Australian opposition leader. No possibility for promotion for three years, probably six, maybe more. No references needed.
Andrew Norris, Sunbury
While the Liberal Party may not have many female members left in the party room does it have the guts to elect one as leader?
Bruce Dudon, Woodend
If only Malcolm Turnbull, Josh Frydenberg, Julie Bishop and Simon Birmingham would come out of political retirement, the Liberals might find a path back.
Mike Mack, Kew
The Catholic Church is entering the papal conclave – technically it has far more candidates to choose from than the Liberal Party but its fundamental choice is the same – to embrace change, however uncertain, or to go back. Let’s see who has the greater courage.
Alison Fraser, Ascot Vale
Rinehart
Whatever Gina Rinehart says, the “left media” is not to blame (“Rinehart blames ‘left media’ for Coalition wipeout, claims voters ‘very short on understanding’,” 5/5). Aussies looked at Donald Trump, nodded wisely and said nup.
Danny Hampel, Caulfield North
Rinehart supports conservative policies that benefit the mega-wealthy? Gobsmacked!
Toni Howell, Box Hill North
Rather astutely, Gina Rinehart reportedly blames voters, in part, for the Coalition’s disastrous election result. I tend to agree.
Richard Pentony, Hawthorn
Election fallout
I hope this next Labor government will no longer be so careless about the ever larger, fearful working underclass in Australia, many of whom struggle to even find shelter.
Benedict Clark, Ryanston
While Peter Dutton contemplates his future employment, may I suggest that he returns to getting back on the police beat. He is well-versed in the need to clean up our cities and this will allow him to avoid working from home.
Robin Martin, Coburg
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