One-party state
An undesirable outcome of Kevin Rudd’s election victory is that Australia has now become a one-party state. There are Labor Governments everywhere.
This isn’t transitional either. It’s hard to see any of these governments losing their next election.
The Coalition lost yesterday for several reasons including:
- Failed to articulate a vision for the country (same with Labor, but people wanted a change);
- Went to the election with an old, tired leader;
- Ran a shallow campaign based solely on its record;
- WorkChoices.
It’s pretty hard to lose an election during good economic times, so it’s quite an achievement that Howard managed to throw it away and lose his seat as well.
Reflecting on the past 12 years there isn’t much of a Howard legacy to speak of. WorkChoices was flawed from the beginning and the patch-up job made things worse for the business people it was supposed to help.
Looking at the results, Queensland delivered for Rudd and secured the victory. If there had been no swing in Queensland the Coalition might have hung on.
In the aftermath, Peter Costello announced today he won’t seek the Liberal Party leadership. That’s probably a good thing; the Liberals really need to reinvent themselves and he is too closely associated with the defeat.
The frontrunners are Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson. Turnbull reminds me a lot of Malcolm Fraser, but a touch of arrogance may be what the Liberals need.
Barnaby Joyce mentioned Julie Bishop today as a possible contender. She would be a smart choice: a fresh face and a new style of politics. The problem with the Liberals is they aren’t smart enough to select her.
Interesting times ahead.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
November 25th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
I never heard anything of substance about Howard, to be honest. It was as if most were to content to shrug their shoulders and pay him no real attention at all.