2022 Federal election wrap: Where to next?
The 2022 federal election has taken place and we’re faced with three years of a Labor government.
Like clockwork, the moderate faction are decrying the only reason the election was lost was due to the LNP not being green enough and not putting more resources into costly renewables. They point to losing key moderate strongholds as evidence of this, while ignoring the swings in the rest of the country that tell a different story.
In Werriwa, a historically pro-Labor electorate that Mark Latham and Gough Whitlam grew up in, we saw huge swings towards pro-freedom parties like the Liberal Democrats, and towards anti-mandate and anti-net zero parties like One Nation and the UAP. The Liberals almost took Werriwa from Labor even with a national swing against them.
In Fowler we saw Dai Le, a former right wing member in the Liberal party, completely uproot Labor’s stranglehold on one of their safest electorates and turf out Kristina Keneally the (former) Senator for Scotland Island. I think it’s safe to say the people of Fowler won’t be sad to see her go.
We’re told the LNP and the millions of silent Australians in the centre right need to move further to the left and adopt green climate policies.
Meanwhile in bushfire ravaged Gilmore, we’ve seen a huge swing to the liberal party. If climate issues are the number one vote mover, why didn’t the very people who lost their homes to raging bushfires get rid of the Liberals in record numbers?
Look at Tasmania, a state notorious for their greens support and their love of protecting their unique island habitat. If taxpayer-funded solar panels on yacht clubs are the way of the future, why did the Tasmanians overwhelmingly back the Liberal team?
Then there’s the Nats. They held every single seat and almost flipped a Labor seat. Kevin Hogan’s electorate went through cataclysmic floods only recently, yet his electorate voted him in without any hesitation.
If climate change was the driving force behind the Liberal loss, you’d think the electorates that actually suffered through extreme weather events would be the ones turning their backs on the Liberals and the Nats. That didn’t happen.
What caused the loss was something much more important than random carbon credit deals for the teals. Hard working Australians, sick of two years of economic hardship and brutal lockdowns, abandoned the major parties in droves and picked a third option.
It wasn’t just the brutal pandemic crackdown that caused such a huge swing away from the majors. They had no other reason to stay. There was no long term plan for Australia in this election.
We were told to back a “Strong Economy”, while in the background inflation continues to rise and the cost of living spirals out of control for working class families. Where was the long term vision for them? Nowhere to be seen.
As an anecdotal sign of the economic times, my local grocery store has resorted to putting ginger bulbs and other herbs in plastic netting. Why? Locals who are down on their luck and struggling to keep up have begun stealing these basic household ingredients. This does not happen in a strong economy and it’s a sign of an underlying decline we need to fix urgently.
The combined swing to One Nation, UAP and the Liberal Democrats was 4%. That’s 700,000 votes. Morrison only needed a 2% swing to lose.
Compare that to the fake climate change vote the media likes to push:
The combined Teal total in Sydney and Melbourne was 200,000. That’s it. Less than a third of the swing to the anti-lockdown parties.
Now is a critical time for our organisation to stand up for the silent majority and advocate for a low taxing, fiscally conservative opposition party and to help deliver a concrete plan for our future.
I’m talking about broad based tax reform, a return to true fiscal conservatism and fostering a new centre-right movement that focuses on liberal democratic principles, equal opportunity and never repeating the atrocities of the last few years.
Tomorrow there will be a change of Liberal leadership. Here’s hoping they pick a leader who will inspire change and won’t drift further to the left.
Regards,
Brian Marlow
President - Australian Taxpayers' Alliance