Australian Futures: Can a United Front Be Forged Against Vacuous Political Marketing?

The AIM Network

1 year ago

By Denis Bright

Cheered on by rhetoric from the various branches of the Murdoch Media, the LNP is poised for victory in Queensland on 26 October 2024. A close result to follow in the next national elections. A more balanced critical perspective on democratic processes has yet to be consolidated to replace the auctioneering style of adversarial politics with its seductive populist rhetoric.

Australia’s Public Service Commission released a survey in 2023 to monitor the level of trust in national institutions. There are low levels of trust in political parties (only 29 percent). Public funding of mainstream political parties has distanced them from grassroots concerns. The Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) notes the extent of this public support for registered political parties:

For state elections and by-elections held during the 2024-25 financial year, including the 2024 state general election, the election funding rates are:

• for candidates – $3.33 for each formal first preference vote

• for registered political parties – $6.66 for each formal first preference vote for each eligible candidate.

A quarter of the population surveyed admits a limited or slight understanding of democratic processes.

Closer examination of the level of each of these categories of understanding of democratic processes is an assessment of varying levels of satisfaction with democratic processes:

For a quarter of the electorate with a self-perceived limited understanding of democratic processes, there is a willingness to accept the brand-new world offered by political marketing processes. There are occasional tidal waves of populist triumphs every few years in Queensland.

Back on 24 March 2012, the LNP’s tidal wave result brought a parliament produced a parliament of 89 members where the potential opposition was reduced to seven Labor members, two conservative members of Katter’s Australia Party (KAP) in Dalrymple and Mt. Isa as well as two Independents in Nicklin and Gladstone.

Swings against Labor after preferences exceeded 20 percent in three electorates gained by the LNP.

Current opinion polling in Queensland offers the threat of a similar level of political volatility as summarized from the Poll Bludger site (11 September 2024):

The Brisbane Times has published a state voting intention results from the Queensland components of Resolve Strategic’s monthly national polls from June through to September. This suggests seemingly no end to Labor’s slide, their primary vote down three points from February-to-May to 23%, with the LNP up one to 44%, the Greens down one to 12% and One Nation steady at 8%. While the size of the minor party and independent vote allows for a wide range of uncertainty, I would conservatively put the LNP’s two-party lead at 58-42 based on these primary votes. The sample for the poll was 939.
Nine’s television news reports a RedBridge Group poll showing the Liberal National Party with a two-party lead of 54.5-45.5, the least bad result for Labor government in some time. However, all that’s reported beyond that the Labor is at 29% on the primary vote and the LNP 42%. RedBridge Group director Kos Samaras relates that Labor is in “a very strong position along the Brisbane River,” but “travel out further from that and it gets very ugly.”
The aforementioned Wolf & Smith results were not far off Resolve Strategic’s: Labor 24%, LNP 42%, Greens 12% and One Nation 8%, with the LNP leading 57-43 on two-party preferred. The poll was conducted August 6 to 29 from a sample of 1724.

Writing for the Courier Mail before the transition back to a Labor Minority Government in 2015, journalist Lorann Downer correctly interpreted the auctioneering style of LNP communications:

The Can-Do brand, which emerged during Newman’s run for Brisbane lord mayor in 2004, was skilfully crafted and marketed. The brand name is catchy, memorable and meaningful… The brand name is also the brand promise; that action-man Newman will get things done. During the campaign, the brand promise was cleverly brought to life with images of Newman energetically filling potholes in roads.

With the vast resources available to the LNP from both public and corporate funding, voters in Queensland can expect a personalized letter from the LNP with attached postal vote application forms that are returnable to a Postal Vote Application Centre (PVA) which is a post office box operated by the LNP to harvest votes from more apathetic constituents. Just how this practice is compatible with the requirements of the Electoral Act and the ECQ’s commitment to transparent campaigning processes is difficult to understand.

Labor’s best defence is continuing to offer an updated Plan for the Future in juxtaposition with the absence of detail in the LNP’s policy alternatives. Treasurer Cameron Dick has set a high standard to finance a responsible commitment to social housing, relief for the homeless, alternative energy as well as cost of living relief in electricity changes and urban public transport (Budget Paper 2 for 2024-25).

Fortunately, increases in mineral royalties once opposed by the LNP brought a state budget surplus in 2023-24 have added to the authenticity of the budget parameters.

With 45 per cent of Queensland state revenue derived from Canberra in GST allocations and grants, informed constituents should be asking which areas of state expenditure should be curtailed to restore an ideological commitment to a more balanced budget in this era of cost-of-living politics with worse to follow if Peter Dutton makes it to the Lodge in 2025.

The loss of the Miles Government to the LNP would be a disaster for Queenslanders. Current capital works in the LNP’s regional heartland was made possible by increases in mineral and gas royalties which must not be handed back to the corporate sector. The 2024-25 budget is delivering $1,300 in electricity bill credits as part of an overall $3.74 billion cost-of-living relief package and urgent attention to crime hotspots which are ignored by the negativity of LNP political marketing strategies.

As some former ministers in the Newman Government (2012-15) plan their return to the corridors of power, expect the swings to the LNP to be greatest in the Labor heartlands that warm to LNP’s Law and Order Agendas. Some resistance can still be expected to the LNP in environmentally aware electorates if Labor and the Greens can offer a more united front of co-operative opposition to far-right political fundamentalism. agendas.

Regrettably, the Greens are too interested in defeating Labor members in inner-city electorates. Any united front with the Greens would require more campaigning efforts in disadvantaged outer – metro and regional areas where political populism is deeply entrenched through the influence of preference allocations to the LNP by One Nation and other far-right parties.

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Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.