Australian values, ineffective Coalition central to election win
The Coalition parties didn't just shoot themselves in one foot, they shot themselves in both feet, arms and torso – it was a total bloodbath.
In what will now be known as the worst election campaign in Australian history, the Coalition failed to sell a single policy to Australians and paid the ultimate price.
In Victoria, seats heavily targeted by the Liberals, including Aston, Deakin, Menzies and McEwen, all went to Labor – some dramatically, particularly the loss of Liberal MP Keith Wolahan, who was one of the party's best backbenchers.
He is someone I have high respect for and who, I believe, the Liberals could have built a more centrist party around.
Kudos must be given to Anthony Albanese and to ALP national secretary Paul Erickson for running a tight ship throughout the whole election.
Even when Labor was in the polling doldrums at the end of last year, the Prime Minister stuck to his guns.
He had a plan to win seats, not just to hold ground. And he was right. And to my former colleagues in the Labor caucus, they maintained their iron discipline they have exhibited since May 2022.
Australians also outright rejected the feral scaremongering the Greens piled on.
The party's projected wipeout in Queensland, and the fact that Greens leader Adam Bandt, a very tough campaigner, is hanging on by a knife's edge in Melbourne, is testament to that.
I'm pleased to see the warrior from Wills, Peter Khalil, is hanging on despite the ugliest campaign by the Greens and their far-left allies that I've ever seen.
Watching the election from outside the bubble for the first time in nearly 20 years was like an out-of-body experience for me, but as the two campaigns rolled out there was never a doubt in my mind Labor would not win.
The cost of living was the key election issue and the Coalition hoped for a grievance election based on an opinion poll of the government.
Once Donald Trump's shadow loomed people wanted to know who had the better plan.
In my opinion, the moment Peter Dutton flirted with Trump, he completely misread the Australian identity, which instinctively recoils from extremism from the far left and far right.
Like our great mates in Canada, Australians voted to reject any semblance of a Trump-esque (or Trumpet) style of government.
People wanted a safe option and Labor offered stability writ large.
The Coalition did not have a single alternate policy and this was glaringly exposed when it was forced to drop its Trump-style strategy within weeks of the campaign beginning. The cringe-worthy moment Dutton's 'Department of Government Efficiency' elect, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, donned a MAGA cap should have been the moment every newspaper editor in Australia knew the election result was a fait accompli.
It was a campaign that exposed how far removed the Coalition is from modern Australia. In what can only be described as the bizarre revival of Soviet economics, the Coalition was going to create a nuclear industry based on government ownership of the means of energy production. This contradicted core free-market values. It didn't just have a hole in its finances, it dug quarries with its own financial recklessness.
Rather than reaching out to help Australians battling the cost of living, the Coalition went on the attack.
The scare campaign on people who work from home, which is a major factor for women and families, was embarrassingly wrong-footed and chauvinistic. But it also showed that not having to pay for extra tolls and childcare is a strategy families use to help ease cost-of-living pressures and manage mortgage stress.
Everyone – from immigrants, Chinese-born Australians, people born after 1981, women and people who have any connection with the public service in this country – was targeted for existing.
There was nothing in it for young people to vote for the Coalition – climate change wasn't addressed and there was no help offered to pay off university debts. In fact, to my amazement, the Coalition was going to scrap the $300 prac payments for people studying nursing at the University of Canberra and other universities.
The Liberals also have a problem with people who live in metropolitan Australia, which doesn't leave them with a lot of votes left to win. At the end of the day, the buck stops with the party and the Liberals got everything wrong this time round, not just Dutton.
He did make a lot of mistakes, but, on a personal note, it's important for him to remember people were voting for Peter Dutton as opposition leader, not Peter Dutton the human being.
When he goes home to see his family, he needs to take that armour of opposition leader off and realise that all the slings and arrows coming at him are about what people see in his job, and he can't afford to take it personally.
He needs to rebuild and reconstruct himself, and he cannot afford to let his job as opposition leader define the bloke he sees in the mirror, otherwise he'll go crazy.
Ultimately, the result shows us that Australia is a centrist country and Labor has no competition in the middle right now. It's in the best interests of the Liberal Party, and Australia, for it to move to the centre.
On a final, positive note, as I stood in the queue to vote as an ordinary citizen, I marvelled at the fact that right around Australia 18 million people turned up to vote peacefully, which shows, despite all our moans about politics and politicians, we are doing something right in this country.
Bill Shorten was the leader of the Labor Party from 2013 to 2019. He is vice-chancellor and president of the University of Canberra.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Social media ban Australia: How new laws will work and how they could fail
Seven months later, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant challenged that description, sharing research with Wells in late June that said four in 10 young teenagers had been exposed to harmful content, such as eating-disorder videos, on YouTube. Loading That triggered an intense lobbying campaign by YouTube. The website's owner, Google, sent Wells a legal letter flagging it would consider High Court action, arguing the ban violated the implied constitutional right of freedom of political communication. There is a lot at stake for the company. Google reported $8.4 billion in gross revenue from Australia in 2022, the last year it made that figure available, giving it the motivation and resources to fight efforts to restrict access from new, young users to one of the company's key online services. Then Australian children's music royalty got involved. The Wiggles' chief executive Kate Chiodo visited Wells and attempted to appeal to her as a mother of three young children by arguing YouTube's inclusion in the ban would restrict access to kids' shows. Wells was not persuaded. 'I said to them, 'you're arguing that my four-year-old twins' right to a YouTube login is more important than the fact that four out of 10 of their peers will experience online harm on YouTube',' Wells said on Wednesday. Responding to this masthead's request for comment, the Wiggles linked to a Facebook post from Wells – made three years ago – showing a photo of her twin sons and captioned that she handled the parliament by having baby gates and 'The Wiggles on YouTube'. 'Video platforms like YouTube, when used to watch trusted children's programs, function differently to social media,' a Wiggles spokesperson said. 'Millions of Australian parents (including Minister Wells) and their children watch the Wiggles on YouTube much like they would on smart TVs, not as part of a social media feed.' YouTube said in a statement it was considering its legal options, and on Thursday Google cancelled a parliamentary concert (that Wells was intending to attend as communications minister) featuring rock band the Rubens. The company said it was out of respect for the grieving parents at Wednesday's press conference. Evans' anger at YouTube has never abated. Liv was 15 when she died by taking her own life after her battle with anorexia. A lover of cheerleading, animals, art and nature, her early childhood was full of fun and learning. Evans said he noticed a change in Liv when she was 13 and began using Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. The browsing on YouTube began with cat videos, then cooking, to healthier recipes, then fitness tips, before it took a darker turn towards how to remain thin. 'She may not be recovered, but I think she would still be here if it weren't for YouTube,' Robb said. YouTube has argued there is substantial evidence that it is used regularly for educational purposes, citing a 2024 survey that found 84 per cent of teachers use the platform for lessons. Loading YouTube Australia and New Zealand public policy manager Rachel Lord said the survey revealed 85 per cent of children and 68 per cent of parents said the platform was appropriate for under 15s, in contrast to other social media companies. 'YouTube is not a social media platform; it is a video-sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, and TV screens are increasingly the most popular place to watch,' Lord said in June, following the eSafety commissioner's advice. But there is deep disagreement about how effective a social media ban will be in protecting young people. The government has handed responsibility for enforcement to tech platforms, with big fines if they do not comply. But anyone, including young children, will still be able to access services that do not require a login. This masthead conducted an experiment using both YouTube and TikTok without an account, scrolling through videos via a desktop with private browsing to avoid the companies relying on previous search history. YouTube delivered videos designed to trigger engagement that were a far cry from educational, but did not raise obvious red flags. On TikTok, however, in the first three minutes of scrolling, sexualised content, misogynistic messaging and videos themed around death appeared. None were explicitly pornographic or violent, and this masthead does not suggest the experiment was scientific or would be the same for every user. But the process indicates how internet platforms retain an incentive to show users troubling content to attract their attention even without a login. Platforms typically serve more videos to a user depending on the preferences they indicate. 'It is difficult to comment on your experiment without knowing the conditions or controls in place when it was conducted,' a TikTok spokeswoman said. 'Everything on TikTok is bound by our strict community guidelines regardless of whether someone is logged in or not. We proactively remove content that breaches those guidelines and, in fact, removed more than 926,000 videos in Australia in [the first quarter of] 2025 alone.' University of Sydney law professor Anne Twomey said the government's claim to parents that it had their back in protecting kids from social media was 'rubbish' because the ban has numerous carve-outs and exceptions, including for gaming and messaging. 'It is very unlikely all the children will be outside playing footy in the garden. It exempts, for example, online gaming, so if Jonny is shut away in his bedroom doing online gaming, he will keep doing that,' she said. 'There is nothing here that gets kids off their computers into the garden. 'Bullying will still happen by using messaging apps, it's not going to stop kids having their sleep disrupted, it doesn't do any of that.' Loading The legislation also does not explain to tech companies what constitutes 'reasonable steps' to prevent under 16s from accessing social media, Twomey said. 'That's a problem for the platforms to deal with because they are entering into the area of the unknown, which is unusual with laws,' she said. Facial estimation technology and ID verification are some of the ways being proposed to ensure children cannot access social media. Twomey said the government risks a backlash because the policy was sold to the Australian public as a way to take kids away from technology. 'You can still watch as many videos on as many harmful issues as you like,' she said. 'What the law means is you can't comment, can't like or dislike or upload your videos.' Macquarie University psychologist Danielle Einstein disagrees, arguing it will be like banning alcohol for children under 18, creating a cultural understanding that social media at a young age has potentially life-altering affects. 'At the basis of it all, it's their understanding of the risks and what their view of alcohol is, and that's what we need to do with social media, is we need to change everyone's view of social media.' Einstein – whose research played a role in driving the campaign from advocacy group 36 Months that the parents who stood with Albanese are linked to – said the new laws have already changed people's views on how technology should be a part of children's lives and the next step should be presenting a public health campaign to young people.
SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
From fleeing war to getting engaged in 10 days: Meet five of parliament's newest faces
Australia's federal parliament has welcomed almost 40 new parliamentarians, among whom are ex mortuary workers, former diplomats and those who have fled war. The May election brought to Canberra greater numbers of women — with 112 women across the two houses now just slightly trailing men at 114 — and people from diverse cultural backgrounds. There are now eight First Nations politicians, an increase of two from the last parliament. As the dust settled on the first sitting fortnight, SBS News spoke to five new senators and MPs. Here's what we found out. Senator for SA Charlotte Walker Australia's youngest senator, Charlotte Walker, thinks her perspective makes her particularly qualified for the job, after an unlikely win in the third spot on Labor's ticket in South Australia. The 21-year-old has gone from uploading make-up tutorials to sitting in parliament and chatting policy while playing Minecraft to reach electorally important younger voters. "Obviously, I am younger than my colleagues, it's no secret, but I've still got my own experiences, and I think that my experience shouldn't be devalued just because of my age," she told SBS News. That experience includes growing up in the country town of Yankallila, where she witnessed a domestic violence crisis and recalled seeing children miss class in primary school due to fights going on at home or parents fleeing abusive relationships. Charlotte Walker is Australia's youngest senator. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop Walker says that, outside of government funding for services, there needs to be an shift in attitudes to domestic and family violence and encourages Australians to call out unacceptable behaviour by friends or family. "It might have just been a friendly joke, and there wasn't any bad intention there, but we really need to be calling people out when we see things like this. That's where it starts," she said. Promising to advocate for the interests of fellow young Australians, she said: "we hear you and we will act on your demands for a better future." LISTEN TO Last week, Walker cited young people's fears of finding a rental property or being able to afford moving out of their childhood homes and said climate change wasn't "a matter of faith or belief" for young people but "hard fact". Senator for NSW Jess Collins Liberal senator Jess Collins insists her election victory shows that suggestions women in the Coalition face a glass cliff or are put in unwinnable seats "is a total myth". She highlights the number of "amazing female candidates", arguing the NSW branch would have been "close to gender parity" if the party had done better at the election. In a first speech that drew several laughs, Collins revealed she got engaged to now-husband Ben only 10 days after their first date — although she did note they had been friends for decades beforehand. Liberal senator Jess Collins says there is no "glass ceiling" for women in the party. Source: SBS News / James Smillie After having four children in as many years, her time as a stay-at-home mum has informed her passion for recognising the "contribution of the family", including changes to the tax system. She said we need to "flip the script" on childcare subsidies, suggesting that — instead of pumping billions into the subsidy system — the government should make fees for child care while a parent is at work tax deductible. "When you lodge a tax return at the end of the year, you can apply all of your childcare fees against the money that you earned, and that'll effectively bring down the tax that you pay," she told SBS News. With a PhD in anthropology and fond memories of her research visits to Papua New Guinea, Collins would like to see development aid programs trickle down more effectively to people on the ground. She emphasised the importance of links from "community to community, rather than government to government". The New Zealand-born senator is close to fulfilling another dream. Collins hopes to acquire her first set of footy boots soon, enthusiastically telling SBS she played touch footy for the second time in her life with colleagues on a dewy Canberra morning during the first sitting week. Banks MP Zhi Soon Zhi Soon still finds it "a bit surreal" to sit in the chamber as the MP for the Sydney seat of Banks, having won the seat — held by the Liberals since 2013 — on his second go. The Malaysian-born former diplomat, previously stationed in Afghanistan, is inspired to apply lessons learned from other countries and make Australia "an education superpower". Currently looking at early childhood options for eight-month-old daughter Dorothy, he is passionate about "making sure that every child in this country can access mobile childhood education right through to schooling from primary school to secondary school". Banks MP Zhi Soon is passionate about education access. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop He says Australia can learn from the likes of South Korea, Singapore and Finland. While Soon was elected to a suburban Sydney electorate, he's no stranger to getting his hands dirty, with his in-laws often putting him to work on the farm. "A bit of everything, from feeding potty lambs to chipping burrs [removing weeds], mending fences and helping out with drenching [giving sheep medication to prevent parasites], is pretty commonplace when I go out there," he said. In his first speech, Soon said multiculturalism is more than a word. Elaborating to SBS News, he recalled different families that have treated his "with such warmth". "It's about bringing people together, no matter what background you come from and being able to share that culture with each other". This included food, and he said he grew up on Lebanese kibbeh. Calwell MP Basem Abdo New father Basem Abdo brought home his son Noah on election day, 3 May, a joy compounded by keeping the Victorian seat of Calwell in Labor's hands after a tight race that involved 13 candidates. While his focus is steadfast on his community, he finds being separated from the four-month-old tough, but says he has unlocked a new skill: "sleeping standing up". In an emotional first speech, Abdo shared several trials, from leaving Kuwait in 1990 at the outbreak of the First Gulf War to more recently, losing his mother. Basem Adbo has experienced the effects of war first-hand. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop His memories of buildings shaking and taping windows, as well as being "confronted by Israeli occupation" during a 2011 visit to the the occupied West Bank , inform his advice to colleagues about war. "When we turn off our television screens, those things are still happening. And it's incumbent on all of us to consider that and to consider the long-term view of things when we're trying to reshape things," he told SBS News. Abdo says he will champion issues of his community inside the private caucus process, including Palestinian statehood, which he views as more than symbolic. "It's the right of self-determination. I would view it as a right, not as just symbolism," he said. The first MP of Palestinian heritage represents a diverse electorate, with one in four residents Muslim. He looks forward to tackling economic challenges important to his community, including aligning "skills policy with the jobs of the future". "It's not just for young people coming out of high school, it's also people in middle age [who are] going to reskill. As we transition the economy, we don't want a generation gap," he said. Barton MP Ash Ambihaipaher The young lawyer, who won the safe Labor seat of Barton in Sydney, is proud to have been raised by a diverse community from her Tamil Sri Lankan uncle, Thiru, to an Italian family that taught her to "brine olives, make salami and roast chestnuts". She used her inaugural speech to recognise how much Barton has changed, highlighting that Australia's first prime minister Edmund Barton, for whom the seat is named, championed the White Australia policy, while over half of the seat's residents are now born overseas. "I think pointing it out was just to illustrate that we as a community, nationally, Australia has evolved, and that's okay, and it's about learning from the past," she told SBS News. The seat was previously held by former minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, who retired from parliament at the election. Ambihaipaher describes being "personally devastated" by the failure of the Voice to Parliament referendum. However, she thinks a lack of information and understanding within her community highlights an opportunity to bridge an education gap about "what we're trying to achieve". Ash Ambihaipaher says she "lives and breathes multiculturalism". Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop "If we don't fill that gap with education and truth-telling and talking about what has happened, then we've lost. We're already on the back foot in that sense," she said. Adding later, "I think we end up living in little silos, and I think it's important that any representative should be a conduit to make sure that people understand each other's issues." Chatting to SBS amid the chaos of the first parliamentary fortnight, Ambihaipaher recalls "finding peace" and moments of reflection in a previous job, working in a mortuary. "When there's a lot going on in in this world you do reflect on those times when you're in the mortuary, it's very quiet. You've just got this little crackling radio in the background. It is a very peaceful place," she said.
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith under investigation
US officials have opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the former special counsel who investigated then-candidate Donald Trump before his re-election, for alleged illegal political activity. The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, on Saturday confirmed the investigation after reporting by other news organisations. Smith was named special counsel to investigate Trump by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022. Trump and his Republican allies, including Senator Tom Cotton, have — without offering evidence of wrongdoing— accused Smith of violating the Hatch Act, a federal law that bans certain public officials from engaging in political activity. Smith prosecuted two federal cases against Republican candidate Trump in the lead-up to the November 2024 presidential election. Smith ultimately dropped the cases — neither one had gone to trial — after Trump was re-elected, which would have shielded him from prosecution according to longstanding Justice Department practice. Smith then subsequently resigned as special counsel. Cotton, on Wednesday asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate Smith, alleging that his conduct was designed to help then-President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, both Democrats. Biden had dropped his own bid for re-election following his disastrous performance in a campaign debate against Trump and tapped Harris to succeed him on the ticket. Trump won the election. The White House had no immediate comment on the investigation. The New York Post was first to report on the investigation into Smith.
