ELECTION WRAP-UP
Shorten failed to appreciate that $2bn would mean the same to the electorate if those currently taking advantage of the concessions were protected.
Listening to the message
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Without Labor’s policy agenda, it may be that the next three years are a rather sedate affair. Other than personal income tax cuts, and a new policy allowing first home buyers to borrow against 95% of the value of their homes, Morrison did not articulate much in the way of new ideas. The Australian electorate has given his government carte blanche to do as they will. There is now, however, the sense of unfinished business in our country’s agenda. We are no closer to Indigenous recognition - which is fast becoming a MacGuffin as the government seeks to strip it of meaning and purpose. Religious freedom has been kicked down the road until the Australian Law Reform Commission releases its report into legislative exemptions in April 2020. Business lacks the certainty of a clear energy policy, other than the return of the big stick legislation. There is no high-profile advocate for an Australian republic on the front bench (Labor proposed a plebiscite). A one-man mandate and clear air in place of his predecessors gives Morrison plenty of room to move - but it’s not clear that movement is his intention.
Joshua Kirsh AUJS Political Affairs Director
et’s be clear about one thing; anyone who told you on the morning of the 18th of May that they believed that the Coalition would pull a rabbit out of a hat and secure a third term in government was lying to you. Having lost every Newspoll in the preceding three years, the Coalition seemed destined to suffer a bruising and humiliating loss, and take some time in Opposition to regroup and discover its next move.
With a slightly refreshed cabinet - emphasis on slightly - Morrison is getting ready to return to business as usual. His healthy parliamentary majority comes at the expense of not just Labor, but also insurgent independents. Wentworth, which sensationally abandoned the Liberals at a byelection in October last year returned to the party, won by former Australian ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma. The seats of Cowper and Farrer failed to make the predicted switch to Rob Oakeshott and Kevin Mack, who were hoping to capitalise on a rusting off of rural voters after sensational stories of water mismanagement. There were some hopes for non-aligned voters; Helen Haines managed to keep the rural Victorian seat of Indi in independent hands, whilst Tony Abbott was resoundingly rejected by the voters of Warringah in favour of former Olympic skier and barrister Zali Steggall.
Labor is now in search of its new direction. With new leader Anthony Albanese in charge, Labor’s parliamentary team will have to work out which of its policies to trumpet and which to dump. (For what it’s worth, voters appear to have enjoyed hearing a lot more about Labor’s aggressive plans to curb climate change than they did their plans to remove tax concessions from retirees. That might be a good place to start.) My instinctive analysis, which has been echoed to me many times since the election, is that Labor didn’t count on the aspirations of the Australian people. Rather than approach the ballot box with baseball bats out for the “top end of town”, voters from across partisan divides wondered about the hit to their retirement plans with a Labor government in charge. Shorten’s staunch refusal to grandfather the dividend imputation policy was, in retrospect, short sighted. By reaching for an $8bn war chest in savings over the forward estimates,
The wisdom of the 2016 Senate voting reforms implemented by Malcolm Turnbull, with the help of the Greens, has borne fruit for both
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