By Jo Nova
It gives us hope
The Australian conservative side of politics was savaged this weekend, but Nigel Farage’s party just won a spectacular 30% of the vote in the Council elections of the UK, and won a byelection and two mayoral races. From out of nowhere, Reform UK outpolled Labour’s dismal 20% result and got twice the votes of the Tories. As Farage says it’s “the end of two-party politics”.
Farage claimed on Saturday: “In post-war Britain, no one has ever beaten both Labour and the Tories in a local election before.”
The UK experience shows that even when the Blob wins big, if the voters are offered a real alternative, a much better one, they will jump to embrace it (assuming they can break the media embargo). The rise of Reform UK will limit the damage that Kier Starmer and the Labour Party can do in the country. Even from opposition, the Reform Party have soft power that comes from surging polls. The presence of Reform UK means the Tories have dropped Net Zero, and now even former Labor leaders like Tony Blair are throwing a few sacred cows overboard to save the ship. It shows that something good could still arise from the ashes, and that even those who win big in politics still care about some polls, even when their next election is four years away.
Ponder that Australia will have another election before the UK does.
As many as 40% of Australian voters were said to be still undecided in the days before the election. Just like the UK election, the vote for the major parties is falling. First preference votes for Labor were only 34% this weekend.
The good side of a shellacking is that the results were so bad, the Liberal party* might get the message that they need to stand for something. The bad side is that the Labor Party will be smugly unbearable.
One good note is that the Greens might lose a few lower house seats, including possibly their leader, the insufferable Adam Bandt, who is on a knife edge. The losses come probably because they copied Greta and jumped off the environmental agenda and onto the Gaza one. The “Greenslide” in the last election where they won three seats in Brisbane just meant the Greens got too overconfident.
But in the Senate, the Greens may hold 11 seats. That can’t be good.
_________________
*For foreign readers, in Australian the Liberals mean the conservatives (in theory anyway). The original meaning of Liberal was wanting more freedom from Big Government laws. In most places lefty wordsmiths stole it from the Right and the Right let them do it.
Photo by Orwain Davies
Forget it.
The long march through the institutions has reached the finish line.
Labor lite will get nowhere.
Talk is cheap.That’s all Farage has.
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You said it.
Talk is Cheap.
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Perhaps they haven’t reached the finish line yet. They have to remove Donald Trump before they run out of other people’s money. It’s still a close race.
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BS.
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H. L. Mencken:
‘Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.’
And the Australian people are now going to get it harderer and harderer.
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Many chosen ideologies of Labor are falling apart rapidly.
“Net zero carbon by 2050” has been pointedly rejected by President Trump. The past large $$$ input from the US to many globalist schemes has stopped or reduced. They will fall over. If the ALP wants to continue them amid this decay, it will end up alone like a shag on a rock while the rest of the world departs.
Canada under Carney will have a year or two embracing the local popularity, then the reality of its differences with its US neighbour over the border will start to hit hard. Australia is in a more distant, but similar situation.
The ALP will try to ignore President Trump, but they will find problem after problem because Trump rewards others who join with him and creates hard times for those who do not. He has the money and power to get his way.
The ALP has been notably quiet about our defence funding and readiness. I noted Penny Wong given special publicity just before Albanese’s victory speech, before she ducked off to her girl friend “wife” and child with a perilous future. We have to ask how many people now living in Australia will volunteer to combat aggression from Asia, should it develop. So start making waves about dark clouds of warfare on the horizon.
The ALP could now be under less pressure to kowtow to nutty minorities like greens. It should be more free now to change policy directions on important issues. These are only some of the issues I personally note as needing rapid attention, in no particular order:
International debt reduction
Immigration reduction, even to near zero
Drop net zero plans
Repeal anti nuclear legislation
Drop subsidies for renewables
Encourage electrical grid stability
Approve more hydrocarbon electricity generation
Begin a US-like Dept of Government Efficiency and reduce corrupt spending
Reshape the national disability scheme
Minimise government involvement in schemes better done by private enterprise
Get out of influencing education methods and curricula
Recognise only 2 sexes
Create a new Oath of Allegiance whereby every voter restates a position if called upon to go to war
….
Geoff S
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Good God.
That wishlist would terrify the Liberals.
Totally against every thing that Labor holds dear.
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Reform UK did well despite all the dirty tricks employed by the media and the other parties against them. The people have clearly spoken against the establishment and want change for the better. The amazing thing is how many people still voted for the Lib/Lab/Con/Green Uniparty.
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My guess is that Reform will get declared an extremist organization and be banned before the next national election. That seems to be how things work in Europe now when ‘far right’ political parties start winning. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see the rotting corpse of the Tories join forces with Labour to make it happen. It’s a win-win for both of them.
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Looks like they will get a chance to watch Germany ban the AfD, to see how well this amazing method of saving democracy works.
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I am not so sure they will go that far as it will result in a long court case that will expose the state operators inside AfD and stop them from running their false flag operations to discredit the party. The report has been rushed through by a departing head of security although it is being kept secret to keep their agents in AfD under cover. It allows extended state spying on the party as well as stopping people from joining as it might threaten their jobs. In the end it will probably increase support for AfD although the new fascist coalition will steepen Germany’s death spiral so much that support will grow anyway.
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Nigel Farrage and his party did very well in the UK because both Labour and Conservative parties failed the voters abysmally.
Reform offer a new set of polices which the public like.
Reform have not baggage so nothing holds them back. Unlike labour and conservatives who both know they need to stop the boats and reduce legal migration, have extensive history of doing the opposite.
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I think Farage himself will be the target. As Phillip says in #2, the media are already attacking the party mercilessly. Farage will soon be hit with the same lawfare we have seen the leftist elites in America employ. However, Farage doesn’t have the deep pockets to fight it like Trump. He may find himself sharing a cell with Tommy Robinson.
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Banning Reform is not possible in the UK and if it were I suspect it would backfire spectacularly and even Two Tier Kier is not that stupid. The constant attacks on Donald Trump did not the DemoTwats as it failed to get him jailed and did not disguise there lack of any coherent policies.
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The LNP have to stop being ALP Lite. So many have been saying it for so many years. A return to Conservative roots is their only answer, they only need to look to the large percentage of votes gained by those who have split from the LNP in the past because of their addiction to their inner “soft left.”
Cut them out. They are Cancer.
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It’s a hard one. People won’t handle any austerity in these times. Fiscal and monetary prudence is gone for the time being. There is little room to move politically because of the risk of being attacked by a left wing media. The times have changed and who knows what the world will be like in a few years.
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Agreed. One path forward is to cut the cost of government.
For example as a matter of policy keep or even increase centrelink and medicare benefits while culling the droids who infest the administration of those benefits.
Get more done in public works programs while reducing the expenditure. Cut out the hangers on from every single public welfare program.
That sort of thing is sound public policy and will prevail over time.
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Australia has it’s own ‘USAID’ scams, all funding leftist activities. Cut that funding and their propaganda machine and election fixing goes quiet.
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I have said on this blog for several years that Australia needs a unified genuine alternative party. I say it again, to a country where I lived for nearly three years and which I am very fond of.
The right is now the soft left, and the left hates the traditional working class but bribes them very effectively with their own money while enacting a radical social agenda, and they are still falling for it. In Englad it took a single massive cause – Brexit – to break the mould. What will it take in Australia?
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The Greens seem to have consolidated their position in the polity as the third party as it now receives 11 percent and over 1 million votes, not to mention !0 or so senators. The urbanisation of the country has led to a shift in political positions that represent the collective view. We have lost individual initiative.
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Dutton lacked conviction in the election campaign. He wavered too often on policies, regularly having a knee jerk reaction to criticism from opponents and the media. Certain questions flummoxed him, presumably because he had poor advisors and strategists.
Continuously pointing out how bad the incumbent government is cannot be a strategy in itself. We learned that during the last state election in Vicdanistan. You need viable alternative policies.
Most of the electorate are naive to big issues such as energy and rising debt. Some are just apathetic, their main focus is on procuring a democracy sausage and not copping a fine.
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Reform goes a total of 5 out of 650.
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From the London Evening Standard.
Or maybe you prefer the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6j8e38p79o
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I think Peter is still living behind the times and was referring to the 2024 election.
From the above Labour lost seats (100) to the Greens (up 41) Liberal Dems up (146) so (59 from Labour and 87 from the Conservatives).
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why talk about what is happening at the council level? how does that relate to federal results in Australia. Reform has 5 seats in the commons, Sinn Fein has more
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house of commons, not the water and waste collection councils, but you knew that
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The blog post is about the council elections. But you knew that.
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why are you talking about council elections, when the main game is the national (Federal) elections.
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For starters the blog post is about that.
Secondly, yes, the main game is the General election there and Federal election here. But the council elections are more party aligned over there. It shows an attitude and possible trend for the General election.
Obviously the General election is some years away and things could be very different then. But this indicates the mood is already different from the last General election. So current status is relevant to today’s base. But the blog post is some hope for those not rapt with the Aus result, and how things potentially change and quickly.
You can pretend it’s not significant, but the British news is full of it. Our council elections barely register any meaning. There’s does.
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Why are you ignoring them when they are the most recent opportunity to gain a sense of the citizens thoughts and direction.
Just the usual selectivity
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Clearly the Trump Effect is the main game, Canada and Australia move to the left.
Fortunately I voted for an independent and he got in.
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Did you not mean Canada and Australia move further left to be even more Far Left.
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Maybe it’s because it’s Jo’s blog, not yours?
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I put far more weight in Labour’s and the Tories dismay at the results of the council elections than your flippant dismissal.
Labour councils and the Labour government are inextricably tied together far more than in Australia.
Why do you think Starmer’s government is desperately trying to cover up the councils’ complicity in the Pakistani rape gangs scandal?
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Bendigo is a seat to watch-the National candidate may unseat Labor.
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Bluntly Australia is Screwed
To take a list from a Michael Smith Commentator
Australians voted for…
– higher debt, and no plan to reduce it.
– deficits for the foreseeable future.
– potential downgrading of Australia’s credit rating.
– more expensive and less reliable energy.
– an ADF that isn’t fit for purpose.
– massively increased immigration, which will keep housing prices high, and place pressure on infrastructure.
– an unsustainable NDIS
– a more expensive health system
-an education system rife with indoctrination
– a more divided and less cohesive society
What else?
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Censorship.
And antisemitism.
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Canada Coming to Australia
If the NATO member states contribute more to their own defense, the U.S. can pull back spending and save Americans money. However, Canada is currently 26th in NATO funding, spending only 1.37% of their GDP on defense (link).
Canada would have to spend at least another $15 billion/yr on their defense programs in order to reach 2.0%. Justin Trudeau told President Trump that was an impossible goal given the nature of the Canadian political system, and the current size of their economy ($2.25 trillion).
. Secondly, over the last 40 years Canada has deindustrialized their economy, Mexico has not. As the progressive political ideology of their politicians took control of Canada policy, the ‘climate change’ agenda and ‘green’ economy became their focus. The dirty industrialized systems were not compliant with the goals of the Canadian policy makers.
The dirty mining sector (coal, coking coal, ore) no longer exists at scale to support self-sufficient manufacturing. The dirty oil refineries do not exist to refine the crude oil they extract. Large industrial heavy industry no longer exists at a scale needed to be self-sufficient. Instead, Canada purchases forged and rolled steel component parts from overseas (mostly China). Making the issue more challenging, Canada doesn’t even have enough people skilled to do the dirty jobs within the heavy manufacturing; they would need a national apprenticeship program. Again, all points raised by Trudeau to explain why bilateral trade compliance was impossible.
♦ Thirdly, the trade between Canada/U. S and Mexico/U. S is entirely different. The main imports from Canada are energy, lumber and raw materials. The main imports from Mexico are agriculture, cars and finished industrial goods. Mexico refines its own oil; Canada ships their oil to the USA for refining. There are obviously some similar products from Mexico and Canada, but for the most part there is a big difference.
♦ Forth, USA banks are allowed to operate in Mexico, but USA banks are not allowed to operate in Canada. USA media organizations are allowed to broadcast in Mexico, but USA media organizations are regulated and not permitted to broadcast in Canada. The Canadian government has strong regulations and restrictions on information and Intellectual Property.
All of these points of difference highlight why a trilateral trade agreement like NAFTA and the USMCA just don’t work out for the USA.
Additionally, if President Trump levies a tariff on Chinese imports, it hits Canada much harder than Mexico because Canada has deindustrialized and now imports from China to assemble into finished goods destined to the USA. In a very direct way Canada is a passthrough for Chinese products. Canada is now more of an assembly economy, not a dirty job manufacturing economy.
When Trudeau outlines the inability of Canada to agree to trade terms, simply because his country no longer has the capability of adhering to those trade terms, a frustrated President Trump says, “then become a state.”
There is no option to remain taking advantage of the USA on this level, and things are only getting worse. Thus, the point of irreconcilable conflict is identified.
Because the Canadian government became so dependent on their role as an assembly economy, they enmeshed with China in a way that made them dependent.
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Destruction of the electricity grid
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A global tourist destination with more no go/limited access areas.
(Contribution to GDP of A$65.4billion in 2023-24 – 9.1% increase on previous year. Target of A$230 billion in visitor spending by 2030).
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What else? Civil War or a Revolution.
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The Voice 2.0. Treaty. Truth Telling . On steroids!
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So…the majority have spoken.
Have they now moved us closer to or further away from the precipice?
The majority must always be wrong – that’s how REAL change occurs.
We will all reap what has been sown.
As I’ve said – retire early, buy a remote property and be self sufficient, and enjoy the next few years as best you can . 😎
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‘Educational’ indoctrination from a very young age, messaging via electronic media 24hours a day followed by dropping the voting age. A guaranteed capture by the left of a relable supply of
naive, left voters without any counterbalancing narrative.
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Lying as a tactic.
A classic case being a man falling from a stage and denying it ever happened.
The SOB lied constantly and the media did too.
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PAP wins big with 65.57% of the vote in Singapore’s election.
Nothing changes there Surprise, surprise!
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@#$&*%-+,?!§[. ToM
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indeed!
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Well we asked for it, now for the fall out! We will get what we voted for and it wont be nice!
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Really? you voted for that outcome?
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Obviously no name man didn’t personally. But “we” as a nation did.
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I think that argument that we or they deserve it because of a vote outcome is rather childish and stupid. You hear it over and over again. Probably over reacting , it’s just a pet peeve of mine.
America did not deserve Biden, Victoria did not deserve Andrews and Australia does not deserve Albanese (or worse yet Bowen). Enough people made a poor choice for these things to happen for a myriad of reasons. Destructive forces will be released that nobody really deserves and especially not the people who didn’t vote for it but agree to live in a democracy. Almost inevitably we are in for a damaging three years as a nation. The only question is it’s size.
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You get what you vote for Yarpos.
If you don’t bother to follow the politics, then you do get what you didn’t know you voted for. If you grizzled about the cost of living and unpayable nature of your mortgage before the election but failed to be interested enough to find out it was due to government policies, policies this government is set to continue with only more so eg Bowen and the energy system, then you get what you voted for – an acceptance of the government making life even harder for you now.
You make a statement about what irks you but then your later words simply validate the statement you say irks you. You get what you vote for! What’s more you are responsible for what you get
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I meant the nation – not me
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Once the ‘WE’ was used by royalty and became known as the imperial or royal “we”. Now it is often used by writers to keep things impersonal. Strop makes the point in this case.
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https://theconversation.com/i-looked-at-35-years-of-data-to-see-how-australians-vote-heres-what-it-tells-us-about-the-next-election-249368
Then we have..
https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/staff-numbers
My grandkids came through Primary without encountering any male teachers – in fact there were no male teachers in this school. They were already lost to the “progressive” side with little or no interest in core science/maths subjects.
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Three points.
First, what became of the (purported) efforts of the Menzies Research Centre to reach young people?
Secondly, it’s a good few years ago, but a male primary teacher of our acquaintance who, I suspect, was a pretty good at his job, left teaching owing to the aggressive demands and character of his feminist colleagues.
Thirdly, I thought the US evidence was of young males turning Republican, with young women doing likewise if somewhat more slowly. Certainly, growing numbers of young people, and especially males, were taking up the trades in preference to the debt and indoctrination of “college”.
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Many male teachers avoid teaching in primary, particularly with the younger years. Too easy to be accused of “molesting” a youngster while trying to console them after falling in the playground, or just leaning over them to look at a workbook. Women are seldom, of ever, accused of that.
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The problem in Australia is that we have a cupboard bare of conservative leaders. The USA has Trump, the UK has Farage, Italy has Meloni, Argentina has Milei and we have nothing. One Nation is the best of our minor conservative parties and they attracted just 1% more voters than the previous election, despite 3% of voters leaving the LNP, which is a huge failure and Pauline probably needs to move on, but who can replace her ?. Without any conservative leaders the country is basically stuffed for the next election, so it’s a very long haul to get back from here.
On the positive side, the electorate is very fickle as evidenced by the voice referendum, where support went from 60% for to 60% against in under 12 months. The voice result also demonstrated that people don’t set the agenda, but rather they follow the agenda and leaders who put up a strong case for their ideas and policies will bring the public support with them. Leaders that try and follow what they think the public want will always lose and that’s the take-out here. For conservative politics to win back the public and save the nation, they need leaders who are strong and who can’t be bent by the biased and aggressive left wing media. They need to articulate the problems caused by the extreme left-wing progressive movement and their solutions to win over the public. We just watched Trump do exactly this last year. The more the left attached, the harder he defended his position and the more he gained support. Farage is doing the same in the UK and has seen a rise in his popularity.
The next three years will now see Australia’s economic and social conditions deteriorate rapidly. The continued push for net zero will literally cripple Australia and a strong conservative leader just needs to point out the obvious and set the clear path to restore the nation. The only part missing is someone to fill an empty void and that’s a big problem.
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Perhaps, first of all, we must define the characteristics of a ‘conservative leader’. Is leadership, indeed, the problem? What of the rest of the Coalition team? In the US the combination of Trump and Vance was unbeatable, even with universal media antagonism or, more accurately, loathing. One feature of J. D. Vance is his refusal to submit to the standard language and forms of media. He does this, in part because he is highly intelligent, is knowledgeable of policy and detail, and principled. Consider, too, the increasingly apparent qualities of Marco Rubio.
Has Australia any people of similar qualities? I don’t know. Alex Antic, for one, is in the wrong house. Who in business could provide the policy, presentation and conviction? Again, I don’t know. But it is time for senior (and no-so-senior) Coalition figures to go looking.
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Leadership is exactly the problem. We just saw Albanese set out a path to make Australia vastly poorer but he did this is a strong and forceful manner that made enough people believe in the lie. If you can lead people to believe in a lie, you can more easily lead them to believe in a truth and this is where Dutton failed.
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They won’t.
Read George Christensen’s post mortem: Dutton was betrayed by the traitors in the party machine – anti conservatives.
“This wasn’t a stuff-up. It wasn’t bad luck. This was premeditated political sabotage—a coordinated takedown by factional cowards, backstabbing opportunists, and hollow men whose loyalty lies not with voters, not with the country, but with their own futures.“
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What worries me about economic conditions is the last and now current budget that Labor obviously did not want to deliver before going to the election.
Australia has been in a per capital recession for many months hidden by record high immigration intake artificial economic stimulus that has maintained some growth but very low growth and has placed much more pressure on availability and cost of housing, government services generally and cost of living.
In May 2022 the economy was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic when Labor was elected but with their lowest primary vote since 1934 and relying on preferences.
The Freydenberg-Morrison Government Budget delivered in March 2022 for financial year 2022/23 accounted for a deficit but recovery underway. After four months of that financial year Labor abandoned the 2022/23 budget and announced a revised budget and a surplus, tax receipts were $14 billion higher than had been forecast earlier and various other accounting (creative accounting) adjustments were made to achieve surplus.
By 2025 the 2025/26 budget Labor had hoped to delay until after the election reveals nothing but deficits for years to come and increasing debt. The $1 trillion debt that was a forward estimate after 2022/23 that Labor continually referred to as debt racked up by the Morrison Government but gross debt was in fact under $900 billion was reached and the latest forward estimate by Labor is for $1.2 trillion.
However, despite warning that the AAA credit rating is at risk, that from the RBA, IMF and other sources excessive spending must be cut back, Albanese Labor have promised much more future spending if elected for another three years term as they have been.
There are other pressing needs for needed expenditure and defence is top of the list, and is now running too far behind time because Labor cancelled orders, deferred delivery timing of orders and even after promising to increase defence spending that was deferred to future years and then a not large 2.4% target. The Howard Budget for 2006/07 provided a real 3% commitmen every year for the next decade because of external threats far less threatening that what is taking place now. Howard increased defence spending from 1995/96 by 37% in real terms being $19.6 billion of 2006 dollar value.
There is much more to be concerned about in my opinion.
It worries me that any political party could convince a majority of Australians to vote for their candidates based on so many deceptive comments and not called out by most sections of media.
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One problem with being a conservative, especially if one shows promise as being a leader is the media will personally attack anyone on the conservative side of politics showing any such promise. Howard, Abbott, Morrison, Dutton (and even Hanson) have all had the experience; not Turnbull, and nobody on the left. The attacks are already under way on Hastie.
It’s a brave person to take on this public disassembling of one’s nature, but taking it on and having the ability to take on the journalists is the sine quon, the essential quality for a conservative leader. The last one to have it, partially, was Abbott. The desperate journalistic attacks on his family were the foulest lows reporters could get.
The left don’t have these problems and even repeated, blatant lying by a left leader along with antisemitism and racial division of the nation is all ok with our beloved Australian pack of journalistic hyenas.
Any takers for conservative leader here?
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If there ever was a chance to kick Labor this election was it. Even Victoria after all it has endured there was no gain for the Liberals. Dutton was unpopular with women and that was telling.
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I was surprised by the strength of the Green vote, which seemed to approach 20% in some electorates. Despite that, it looks like they may have no lower house seats but I expect a strong showing in the Senate.
Unfortunately the loss of votes by the Liberal party seems to have gone to Labor, Greens and Teals. Not much to the small Freedom parties as far as I can tell so far.
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They may have no lower house seats but they look like having the balance of power in the senate and they will be extracting their pound of flesh with gusto.
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The Left is so far into the management of society and into every aspect of peoples’ lives that it will take some sort shock to the system for conservative side of politics to find its way back to some electoral purchase.
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Interesting contrast at the booth in Hunter that I voted at. The Greens had lots of corflutes saying shut down coal. PHON had lots of corflutes saying protect coal jobs.
This morning the Greens are down 1.7% and PHON is up 6.6%. PHON has done so well that the AEC is now doing their 2PP projections as ALP-PHON not ALP-NAT.
Notably Farage and Reform are utterly hostile to Net Zero. Their massive win in the UK council elections shows this isn’t a drag. Yes the MSM, the elites and the chardonnay set will screech, but the ordinary people seem to be open to booting climate rubbish.
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Go PHON!
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I’m in NZ. What happened to the TEALS ?
Do you think the new Government will actually bring in the policy of taxing unrealised capital gains ?
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Yes, I think the Labor govt has been holding back on its future tax plans, and certainly they will try to obtain more money for the older retired folks, and that includes more capital gains taxes.
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And an inheritence tax on deceased estates, previously called death duty.
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Don’t you mean more money from the older retired folks, not “for” them?
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Yes, sorry about that.
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That’s okay.
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Already legislated and is being introduced from 1 July 2025. It is not indexed. Those bitching that it affects only 0.5% of the population, or 80,000, are deluded: Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and Other Measures) Bill 2023.
For millennials, the current $3m threshold will become $1m by the time they retire. It is intergenerational theft that WON’T apply to Albanese because he’s on a defined benefit, not an accumulated scheme.
We’ve been forced to accept superannuation. The companies are now run by unions who donate to Labor using those super funds. Albanese promised no changes to super, yet, here we are. That people voted for their own financial destruction beggars’ belief.
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Albanese Labor have already discussed using superannuation funds invested for investment into their Renewable Energy Target now 82% (originally 32%) via industry superannuation funds and to raid Future Fund investment capital for the same purpose.
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I reckon ALP triumphalism will be tinged by the Trump reality. Trump has, as he did last time, basically derailed their pet projects? By the time the Australian Labor Party goes back to the polls in three years DT will still be standing there smugly with arms folded. Gaza may be under US control with the population dispersed. Green energy will be going up in smoke and Australia will still be the only G20 member with a nuclear ban. You can have your cake, but it won’t always taste good.
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I am reminded of the 2007 election when Rudd Labor was swept into government with a large majority of new electorate seats won. They realised that the new seats were not secure and risked being lost at the 2010 election. The Global Financial Crisis (Northern Hemisphere) was heading towards Australia but OECD and others believed that Australia was one of the few countries in a strong economic and financial position to avoid recession, we had avoided recession a few years earlier when the Asia Economic Meltdown took place. Australia had zero debt at November 2007, a decade of budget surpluses, funds invested including Future Fund that paid all public service pension liabilities every year removing that expense from budgets, a very strong economy, etc.
Rudd Labor used the GFC stimulus of economy excuse to try and secure the seats won in 2007. The pink insulation bats, the building education revolution for state schools buildings wanted or not, and so on.
Rudd Labor was not a stable government and had a focus on an emissions trading scheme, created the RET 32% and other very political agendas.
Prime Minister Rudd was replaced by Prime Minister Gillard before the 2010 election and that was a hung parliament and resulted in a Greens Labor and Independents Alliance minority government. From 2010 to 2013 it was described as chaotic, dysfunctional and incompetent. The 2013 election resulted in a landslide defeat for back again Rudd Labor.
Considering the latest Chalmers Albanese Budget position of future deficits and more debt, more reckless spending promised, renewable energy transition failing, potential war on the horizon in our region and other dangers ahead the next three years will be tough.
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S&P and the IMF are already prowling around this Labor government. Albanese will ignore it, continue trying to wave it away and Chalmers will fail even more miserably. Then one day our lending sources will dry up , the AAA rating will hit a rock and the interest rates on that $1T will rocket. That’s when it all hits the fan for labor.
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People pleasing doesn’t win elections. How many times must people learn?
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Seems to me it just did? Labor told people what they wanted to hear and offered more freebies. Despite the evidence of the last 3 years, enough lapped it up
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How long before The Aboriginal V2P is legislated? It’ll be Law before the next election!
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As ordinary legislation it can just as easily be repealed.
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Australia got it wrong! Unbelievably, many of those among us voted for another three maybe four years of hard Labour under Albanese’s Trotskyite style government.
During the campaign, Dutton seemingly lost momentum and failed to capitalise on destructive Labour policies in energy and cost of living. Dutton should have been voted in, however, simply to get Albanese out. Sadly, much of the voting public missed this vital reality. They were swayed by Albanese’s comfortable lies and promises and voted accordingly.
The folly of voting Labour back in for another term will soon become the new reality.
For starters, watch for fuel prices to steadily increase back to pre-election campaign levels. Then get prepared for Labour’s revenue raising assaults on your hard earned money with a tax impost of unrealised capital gains to your superanuation investments and on your house and real estate investments.
Labour has to raise revenue for spending on its socialist welfare policies and its grandiose scheme of making Australia a third world green energy superpower. Unfortunately, hard working Australian taxpayers will become the energizer bunnies to power Labour’s dream of Australia as a welfare paradise and a third world green energy superpower.
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As was commented years ago – the reckless spending must stop”
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StJohn I beg to differ, the masses voted for stability in worrying times, Dutton thought he could ride on Donnies coat tail, but that was a mistake and cost him his seat.
The best chance we have now is to be found in the Senate, blocking renewable madness.
The new Liberal leader has to be someone who believes coal is king and AGW is a farce, otherwise the uniparty will just continue, to the detriment of democracy.
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Not a chance.
Half of the Liberals are soft left.
People like Turnbull, Keen and the backroom men.
George Christiansen nails it.
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Andrew Hastie, Angus Taylor, Dan Tehan and Sussan Ley are the front runners for Liberal Opposition leader.
My money is on Dan Tehan, he is dead against Net Zero and the uttering of the IPCC.
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Turning to the subject of the Lieborals’ party administration, they now seem to be in the position occupied by Labor in the 1960s, when the infamous 36 Faceless Men controlled both policy, pre-selections, and electoral tactics, and made Labor unelectable.
Whitlam took control of the machine from the 36 Faceless Men, gave Willie Wingnuts a big scare in 1969, and won in 1972. His subsequent decline and fall was due to his own hubris, but he showed a way back for the Lieborals.
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Didn’t you mean Liebor?
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I was comparing Whitman’s actions then with what the Liberals need to do now, to break the power of largely unknown backroom manipulators over policy, pre-selections and campaign strategy.
George Christensen has an article on his Substack on the active sabotage by those people. Se Tides of Mudgee below for the link.
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Hydrogen technology losing its lustre.
https://notrickszone.com/2025/05/02/brink-of-extinction-more-and-more-companies-rejecting-costly-hydrogen-technology/
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Mattl, gee I hope you are right Mate…….Going to NY and Canada in 2 weeks. See what the vibe is those 2 vastly different places
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An excerpt from George Christensen’s newsletter, full link below.
“Let’s not sugar-coat it—Peter Dutton was never meant to win this election.
Not because he lacked the leadership. Not because Australians didn’t want change. But because his own party made damn sure he’d lose.
Peter Dutton’s campaign was deliberately undermined by internal factions in the Liberal Party who feared his conservative leadership.
A clear and strategic campaign plan from Dutton’s office was sabotaged by party insiders through delay, message dilution, and refusal to fund ads.
Leaks and internal betrayals by moderates, Photios loyalists, and even elements of the NSW Right were coordinated to destabilise Dutton.
The party’s focus on winning back Teal seats alienated the conservative base and ignored the desires of suburban and rural Australians.
The loss was not due to Dutton’s ideology, but to a calculated effort by internal rivals to ensure his defeat and preserve their own influence.”. ToM
https://nationfirst.substack.com/p/the-sabotage-of-peter-dutton?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=454182&post_id=162767613&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=tyhmx&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
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All the talk of imminent interest rate reductions neutralized cost of living fears; maybe somebody here can present a better explanation for people returning Labor to government.
Anyway, the punishment won’t be long coming.
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Reform have not come out of nowhere. Reform had a long a painful birth … throughout which they were constantly attacked, to such a degree, that the original party called “UKip” was taken over by agent provocateurs who then destroyed the party from inside. (Yes there are people you can pay to do that). I’ve seen that twice, once in Ukip and then in another smaller party to resist the covid jabs. I bet Farage has seen it far more times. IT’S A DIRTY WAR … and the public hardly get to see any of it.
So, with that experience Reform was created in a way so that it was resistant to the incursions of those (i.e. those running the old parties) attempting to destroy the party. That is why it has so far been successful. But, there’s a lot of money at stake from those who control the old parties, and they will try every dirty trick in the book, and write a few more before they allow Reform to win.
If Australia is to succeed with its own Reform, then it needs to take account of these facts. It is extremely difficult to break the stranglehold of those who currently control your politics.
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Farage’s party is genuinely conservative
The Libs are like a zero alcohol version of Labor
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It’s an odd world where you can get 34% of the vote and win a landslide victory. And claim a mandate when 2/3 people did not want your candidates.
For many years Labor seats have been won on preferences only and Liberal/NP seats on absolute majorities.
But that’s the preference system. What is clear though is that the Greens have worn out their welcome with both major parties, possibly because of their anti Semitic stand which has nothing to do with being Green. So we see the rise of perhaps more genuine independents. And the prospect of a completely unworkable politicised Senate.
As in the UK, the Conservatives need to be Conservative. They would win easily. As Badenoch says, “we will not chase Farage to the Right”. Which is a very odd statement. Anything which isn’t mad left is ‘extreme right’. Apparently there is no Conservative party, according to both Starmer and Badenoch. We have the same in Australia as you had to push for Dutton to oppose the Voice or have any real energy policies. Plus we have a few billionaires playing politics.
My only remaining hope is that the evil Dr. Bandt wipes out. We could do with a functional senate without his input, especially if there are eleven Green seats.
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