Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton’s disjointed budget reply is emblematic of a problematic start to an election campaign, and a stumbling step toward electoral oblivion.
Brilliantly insightful . You have accurately set out the depths to which the LNP have plummeted. This election will be a searing test , both of the Coalition and the voters who care about the future of this nation and Democracy itself . We are NOT , nor do we wish to be America .
Since the days of Howard, the Wets of the Liberal Party have been in decline. The broadchurch that Menzies created has narrowed to a right wing parody of the USA’s Republican Party. Still there may still be enough of ironed on voters for them to survive
The Liberals are facing a demographic tsunami. As their “ironed-on” older voters die younger voters are coming through and less than in 4 of them vote coalition. I expect more Liberal seats to fall to community independents for that very reason.
I’d like to believe that that is true. However, I’m a pessimist at heart. As boomers die of the generations that followed us will inherit their parents and grandparents properties. I wonder if those children and grandchildren will then inherit their parents and grandparents political outlook when they feel they have something to lose.
“Among voters aged 18 to 34, the Coalition picked up just over 18 per cent of the first preference vote. Labor and the Greens each were the first choice of 35.6 per cent of these younger voters. Almost 11 per cent went to “others”, including the teal independents.
Add those numbers together and political candidates to the left of the Coalition were preferred at a ratio of about four to one.”
At present the 18 to 34 cohort does not have the assets that prior generations did. They are also being squeezed by high cost of rent on accommodation. They are also being blocked from home ownership. No wonder they have abandoned the parties of their parents. But … what happens when their parents die and they inherent the parental home? Maybe they maintain their current political outlook. But just as likely when they feel they now have Assets they could lose they’ll shift back to the conservatives. It didn’t happen to me, my parents were renters their entire lives. I eventually in my mid 30s purchased a property and remained paying a mortgage until I retired. Bought a cheaper house and paid it off in full from the proceeds of the sale of my first home. My politics remain left of centre. Somewhere between the Greens, who I preference first, and the ALP, who I preference second, but I’m well aware that in my cohort, over 60s I’m an outlier.
Dutton’s budget reply wasn’t so much a speech as a hostage situation – the Australian public, bound and blinking, forced to endure a charisma vacuum in a suit. He speaks like a man who’s just been defrosted, lips moving independently of thought, peddling ideas that feel outsourced from a mid-tier think tank run by sentient fax machines.
There’s no real conviction, just a vague whiff of authoritarian cosplay and fossil-fuelled nostalgia. His “strength” is belligerence, his “vision” a murky stew of donor appeasement and geopolitical fan fiction. He doesn’t connect, he condescends. Not feared, not liked—just there, like a migraine in human form.
I dearly hope that you are right, and that Australia rejects this sallow spectre of leadership, shuffling toward a podium to say absolutely nothing with great intensity.
If only most of the population saw it like this. The number of disengaged voters is frightening. I know this from door knocking. I fear not enough voters are sufficiently informed to see the real results if voting LNP (I'm in Queensland) or Liberal or National. So when you get your information from Sky and the rest of the Murdoch monopoly you will make an uninformed vote. If only the ALP was stronger. I can only hope ALP seizes the moment and stands up to this extreme right-wing surge.
This is all by design. Mr. Potato head was ALWAYS meant to crash and burn and give Albo another term.
He will be replaced by Alex Antic after the Libs self-destruct on May 3.
If you think Antic taking over is a good thing (and I can definitely understand why people would think that), keep in mind that this TOO is part of the plan and as such, something else is at play here.
Brilliantly insightful . You have accurately set out the depths to which the LNP have plummeted. This election will be a searing test , both of the Coalition and the voters who care about the future of this nation and Democracy itself . We are NOT , nor do we wish to be America .
Love it. Well said Joel
Terrific article. That the Libs have come to this suggests to me that the business community's happy with the ALP.
Hardly surprising as they appear to put them before ordinary working class Australians.
👍🏼
Since the days of Howard, the Wets of the Liberal Party have been in decline. The broadchurch that Menzies created has narrowed to a right wing parody of the USA’s Republican Party. Still there may still be enough of ironed on voters for them to survive
The Liberals are facing a demographic tsunami. As their “ironed-on” older voters die younger voters are coming through and less than in 4 of them vote coalition. I expect more Liberal seats to fall to community independents for that very reason.
I’d like to believe that that is true. However, I’m a pessimist at heart. As boomers die of the generations that followed us will inherit their parents and grandparents properties. I wonder if those children and grandchildren will then inherit their parents and grandparents political outlook when they feel they have something to lose.
“Among voters aged 18 to 34, the Coalition picked up just over 18 per cent of the first preference vote. Labor and the Greens each were the first choice of 35.6 per cent of these younger voters. Almost 11 per cent went to “others”, including the teal independents.
Add those numbers together and political candidates to the left of the Coalition were preferred at a ratio of about four to one.”
Source: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2022/12/03/inside-the-liberal-partys-existential-crisis
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At present the 18 to 34 cohort does not have the assets that prior generations did. They are also being squeezed by high cost of rent on accommodation. They are also being blocked from home ownership. No wonder they have abandoned the parties of their parents. But … what happens when their parents die and they inherent the parental home? Maybe they maintain their current political outlook. But just as likely when they feel they now have Assets they could lose they’ll shift back to the conservatives. It didn’t happen to me, my parents were renters their entire lives. I eventually in my mid 30s purchased a property and remained paying a mortgage until I retired. Bought a cheaper house and paid it off in full from the proceeds of the sale of my first home. My politics remain left of centre. Somewhere between the Greens, who I preference first, and the ALP, who I preference second, but I’m well aware that in my cohort, over 60s I’m an outlier.
In the interests of all Australians, the ALP and LNP must fall. We might have different ideas after that, but we should all agree on this point.
Dutton’s budget reply wasn’t so much a speech as a hostage situation – the Australian public, bound and blinking, forced to endure a charisma vacuum in a suit. He speaks like a man who’s just been defrosted, lips moving independently of thought, peddling ideas that feel outsourced from a mid-tier think tank run by sentient fax machines.
There’s no real conviction, just a vague whiff of authoritarian cosplay and fossil-fuelled nostalgia. His “strength” is belligerence, his “vision” a murky stew of donor appeasement and geopolitical fan fiction. He doesn’t connect, he condescends. Not feared, not liked—just there, like a migraine in human form.
I dearly hope that you are right, and that Australia rejects this sallow spectre of leadership, shuffling toward a podium to say absolutely nothing with great intensity.
#VoteOther
A minority government will stir things up.
I must disagree! Dutton looked every inch a leader's arsehole!!!
If only most of the population saw it like this. The number of disengaged voters is frightening. I know this from door knocking. I fear not enough voters are sufficiently informed to see the real results if voting LNP (I'm in Queensland) or Liberal or National. So when you get your information from Sky and the rest of the Murdoch monopoly you will make an uninformed vote. If only the ALP was stronger. I can only hope ALP seizes the moment and stands up to this extreme right-wing surge.
They are in for the money and feelings of power, for what they can get not what they can give -- obviously, to them,it would be an easy ride.
I hope you are right about the electorate noticing and remembering how incompetent this bunch are.
This is all by design. Mr. Potato head was ALWAYS meant to crash and burn and give Albo another term.
He will be replaced by Alex Antic after the Libs self-destruct on May 3.
If you think Antic taking over is a good thing (and I can definitely understand why people would think that), keep in mind that this TOO is part of the plan and as such, something else is at play here.
https://substack.com/@michaelginsburg/note/c-101067673
Either way, we have another three years of Albo to 'look forward' to...