The Write Direction: Election correction

THE nation decided to stick with the devil they knew in early May, and did so in very clear fashion.

Since then, the former Coalition has been cleaning up after the loss.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton lost his seat, just like John Howard suffered when his Liberal Government was voted out.

Leadership battles for the Liberal and National parties quickly followed the election.

Not all were impressed with the level of candidate, with ALP Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers commenting that the post-election battle for leadership of the Liberal party was “a battle of the duds”.
The Greens had to go through the same exercise too.

The fact that so many of the political players knew in advance of the election why the result would be what it was, just amazes me.

Political parties take years to develop policies to be placed before electors.

These are tested many times.

However, often in the heat of battle, we get policies on the run.

These just don’t gain support from voters as they are seen as throw-away ideas in response to difficult questioning.

So, what next?

With the routing suffered by the Greens, their new leader came from the Senate which will be interesting.

The two new leaders of the Liberals both come from regional and rural backgrounds, so I like that connection.

The Nationals have reappointed their leader as their representation held firm, demonstrating how loyal and reliable their regional electors remain.

The former Coalition has been left to contemplate what they must do in future, at some stage, to gain the trust necessary to again form government.

The Liberals and Nationals are going their own way for now, in order to develop new policies to specifically target their followers; the Libs to look after the city residents and the Nats to generate policy for regional residents.

They will then aim to reform a coalition in order to generate the numbers needed to form government in future years.

By John BLACKBOURN