A Labor landslide?
Posted by John, November 17th, 2009 - under ALP, Australian Labor Party, Australian politics, The Liberals.
The latest Newspoll shows Labor support on a two party preferred basis at 56 percent compared to the Opposition’s 44 percent.
In other words if an election had been held last weekend the ALP would have won a landslide.
The real crime in all of this is that Labor in office has no progressive reforming agenda and in large part follows Howard.
Instead of leading the debate in new progressive directions on refugees, climate change, the war in Afghanistan and the Northern Territory intervention, Rudd Labor implements policies little different to its conservative predecessor.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd remains incredibly popular with an approval rating of 63 percent. Malcolm Turnbull’s is a derisory 22 percent and despite all the spin from The Australian about how this is an improvement, Turnbull and his Party look unelectable.
For the last month they have been bashing the Government for its ‘softness’ on refugees. They announced just before the last weekend of polling their intention to re-introduce the hated temporary protection visas.
Apart from what now appears a rogue Newspoll two weeks ago, the Liberals have made very little headway against Labor.
This is because Rudd Labor has dog whistled to the racists as strongly as the Opposition to neutralise the issue. And because few can bring themselves to change their vote for a rabble like the Liberals, a party tearing itself apart over climate change and without any viable alternative to Turnbull.
The ALP hard heads will be happy, but it doesn’t change the situation. Labor is as racist as the Opposition.
The Government’s climate change CPRS Bill passed the House of Representatives yesterday. It will be interesting to see if yesterday’s men and women in the Opposition oppose it in the Senate.
They are caught between their rhetoric of climate change denialism and the political reality of political oblivion if they give Rudd a double dissolution trigger.
I think the turkeys will vote for Christmas.
A weak Opposition makes it clearer to some sections of the Australia population that the real conservatives at the moment are Labor in power.
For a smaller group this means Labor are the enemy too.
However the lack of class struggle and the fact that most union leaders are the political lapdogs of Labor means that for the moment there is unlikely to be any breakout from the conservative shuffle.
The triumph of Labor contains the seeds of its own downfall.
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Comments
Comment from David Stalker
Time November 17, 2009 at 11:36 am
Watching the liberals gives one the impression most elected officials are only interested in their own ends, not serving the community as they should be.
What a sorry lot.
Comment from Juergen
Time November 17, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Does Australia actually want a ‘progressive reforming agenda’? Most Australians have stumbled across a pretty comfortable existence for themselves, so why would they want change?
It’s significant that Australia refused to vote out Howard until Labor found his virtual clone.
Comment from paul walter
Time November 17, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Sad to watch Gillard still trying to peddle school “league tables” on 730 Report tonite.
The psychiatric epedemic that has afflicted the opposition shows much evidence of quietly having spread to the Ruddites.
All because of the implosion of the irresponsible rabble that passes for an opposition. If ever a government needed good oppostion, it is the current one and the last thing you’ll get from the opposition is common sense.
Maybe when Minchin leads the obscurantists out back into the wilderness after an upcoming electoral disaster they will experience, rationality will belatedly begin to return.
In the meantime it’s increasingly difficult to identify which of the political groupings in Canberra is more contemptible at this time.
Comment from Arjay
Time November 18, 2009 at 6:53 am
Don’t vote for the major parties .Find an independant you can trust.That will be the hard part.
Comment from John Passant
Time November 18, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Good point Juergen. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms before. I’d say in response that actually they did want change – change on work choices, hospitals, education, the war in Afghanistan… They haven’t got it.
Maybe they did want a fiscal conservative too. I’ll think about it.
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