The last Australian politician to tell voters exactly what he stood for ahead of an election was John Hewson. There’s not much else nice I can say about Hewson, but at least he was up-front about his ambitious program of tax reform. The only problem was that Australians wanted none of it, so all Hewson did was set himself up for a slow roasting.
Ever since, each party has tried to outdo the other in pursuing a ‘small target’ strategy come election time, to the point where Anthony Albanese isn’t telling voters anything. When a WA voter tried to ask Albanese a question, Albo cut him off: “Hang on, hang on, hang on, you can’t.”
That’s right — voters can’t ask questions of the man who wants to be their prime minister. His own MPs have been gagged, too.
With the Labor leader running a presidential-style strategy, ALP campaign headquarters this week ordered a media clampdown on all opposition MPs except Mr Albanese, campaign spokespeople Katy Gallagher and Jason Clare and a “few limited exceptions”.
A leaked internal memo obtained by The Australian revealed Labor MPs and candidates must ask for permission before holding news conferences, conducting interviews or releasing information to the media.
Despite glowing opinion polls, a nagging problem for the last Labor leader at election time was his persistent image as “Shifty Shorten”. “Each-way Albo” could be just as deadly a millstone.
A key ALP strategist has warned Anthony Albanese that his small-target approach could lead the party to “the very edge of another election loss” and allow the Coalition to expose Labor over fear of the unknown.
When the opposition refuses to say what they stand for, the government can feel justified in warning that they’ll stand for anything.
Mr Morrison said on Wednesday he had put the brake on taxes as treasurer to ensure they did not rise, “which would slow down growth and would cost jobs”.
“Jim Chalmers wants to let taxes rip; he wants a no-limits tax policy,” the Prime Minister said. “We know what they did at the last election – $387bn worth of high taxes. We told you that these are the sorts of things that Labor would do. Why would you want to get rid of the tax cap if you didn’t want to increase taxes? I think it’s pretty clear.”
The Australian
As former ALP campaign strategist Cameron Milner warns, while the national polls might appear to put Labor well ahead, the actual seat-by-seat contests are far narrower. When the opposition makes itself such a small target that it can’t be seen at all, that gives voters little reason to trust them.
Most importantly, Labor needs to present Australians with better arguments than “not Scott Morrison” and “not Bill Shorten”.
And with yet another hung parliament a distinct possibility, Australians need to know the truth about the cabal of so-called “independents”, who give every indication of being nothing more than the puppets of ultra-wealthy green-left Svengalis.
The real agenda of the key independents running in Liberal seats – Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Kate Chaney in Curtin and the others – is to drive the Liberal Party to the green left, then to push the Coalition out of government. What else would you expect from candidates whose campaigns are linked to former Labor and GetUp activists, funded by green financier Simon Holmes a Court, and are so scant of any policy substance as to verge on embarrassing?
The Australian
Lest anyone harbour any delusions, just examine the voting records of the current handful of so-called independents lurking in once blue-ribbon Liberal seats.
Based on Parliamentary Library data, here’s how often they’ve voted with Labor: Indi’s Helen Haines 67.92 per cent of the time; Warringah’s Zali Steggall 66.04 per cent of the time; and Mayo’s Rebekha Sharkie 64.64 per cent of the time […]
Despite their voting records, all three crossbenchers refused to say if they would support a Labor government in the event of a hung parliament when asked by The Australian.
The Australian
This is not just inconsequential politics. One of the key government bills the “independents” tried to torpedo was the amendments to the Foreign Relations Bill aimed at curbing the “silent invasion” of the Chinese Communist Party in Australia. As we’ve also seen, they also have worrying links to the anti-Semitic BDS movement.
Whether it’s the would-be prime minister or the so-called “independents” who want to play kingmaker, as well as dismantle Australia’s industrial-economic base, wholesale, voters deserve more than platitudes and ‘small targets’ dodging scrutiny.
