I’ve never underestimated Anthony Albanese for a moment. He is as asinine as they come. Ever since he came to power, he has increased the cost of living and redistributed money from those who work hard to those who don’t. He kowtows when he should be standing up to security threats, all while thumbing his nose at our allies.
Some voters believe Albo can give them free things from his magic pile of government money.
And now he gets another three years to do it some more.
The voters have spoken. Historically, it was always likely this would happen. Even Whitlam got a second chance. No doubt beta male Albo will puff himself up, but his re-election is nothing more than a temporal fluke and deep down he knows it.
There is hope for conservatives but it’s not to be found in the Liberal Party. With Peter Dutton losing his seat, the Liberals are in an existential crisis.
The Liberals let conservative Australians down. The debacle in NSW where the wets have done everything possible to destroy the party is mud on their own faces. Conservatives are right not to trust the NSW Liberals ever again. Dutton tried to neutralise them until after the election but with the wets’ tentacles everywhere, it was too little too late.
In spite of the lessons learnt from the local government debacle, the late pre-selection of candidates in NSW was self-defeating.
All the Coalition’s real talent was kept hidden. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was held back when she should have been right out front. Andrew Hastie was hidden as if he was Chris Bowen. James Paterson rarely got a word in. Alex Antic, Matt Canavan, Barnaby Joyce were all absent, as were many other talented performers.
Peter Dutton was a one-man show who refused to call out Labor’s lies. Like Shorten and Morrison before him, Dutton made a mistake by refusing to address the National Press Club. In the end, he was more like a one-man test pattern.
Angus Taylor’s detailed costings appeared so late in the game that half the electors had already voted. It’s almost like they didn’t want to win.
There was so little detail and so many walk-backs it was embarrassing. Who can forget the first policy announcement was the $20,000 tax deduction for business lunches? Talk about out of touch.
The real winner of this election was Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Unlike the other conservative parties, Pauline stuck to her guns. She didn’t deliberately antagonise the Coalition and for the most part her preferences were directed to them.
Not like the other conservative parties who did little more than fight against the Coalition. They deserve much of the blame for Labor’s win. Working Australians would have been better off if Clive Palmer had played lawn bowls.
What we needed was a conservative leader who would fight for us. Instead, we had conservatives fighting each other. Except Pauline.
As the Liberal Party destroys itself by focusing on individual interests while ignoring its base, conservatives would be justified in supporting One Nation. After all, One Nation represents what would once have been Blue Ribbon Liberal supporters.
For those witnessing a Reform revolution in the UK, the chances of this happening in Australia are slim. But if there is any party that might be able to do it, it is One Nation.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is The Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. All opinions in this article are the author’s own.
