Sweeter than Wine

While mainstream journalists are frantically trying to work out how they could have got it so wrong and Liberal Party headquarters is already blaming Labor for a dishonest campaign focussed on Medicare, Labor supporters are euphoric.

The result has gone beyond the most optimistic of expectations. The people have dared to defy calls for stability, claims of superior economic management and the promises of a somewhat obscure plan for jobs and growth.

The Coalition were never going to privatise Medicare in the true sense. Labor knew that, however, the Coalition has consistently tried to downgrade Medicare and limit access to health care.

By claiming Medicare would be privatised rather than dismantled, Labor focussed enormous attention on the issue. They drew attention to the fact that the Coalition were seriously messing with it.

The voters did not believe it would be privatised, but they could clearly see it was being messed with and didn’t like the idea of it being dismantled by deception. You reap what you sow.

For Labor, the result is sweeter than wine. While the final result will take several days or weeks, the likely result could be a Coalition majority of two, or a Labor minority government.

The Senate will be a festival of independents. There will be no joint sitting to pass the bill that was used to call the double dissolution. It was never on the radar for the entire campaign anyway.

The decision to call a double dissolution has been disaster for the conservative side of politics. It is a disaster for mainstream media outlets too. They have been asleep at the wheel, happily believing everything the Liberal strategists had been feeding them, too lazy to do some real research, too lazy to undertake some real journalism.

It goes without saying that the “tradie” commercial for the Liberal party, apart from making us cringe, has done enormous damage to political advertising. Whoever was responsible for signing off on what will haunt the conservative side of politics for years to come, should try a different career.

“I reckon we should just see it through and stick with the other mob for a while.” How forceful, how passionate, how incredibly unconvincing. Yes, he’s a real tradie, but surely someone could have given him some acting lessons.

If it was meant to create sympathy for the blue collar worker perhaps a tearful slurp from the coffee mug would have helped. But, beyond that, most tradies viewing it would have felt misrepresented and a bit miffed.

That being said, the commercial was about the economy, it was about getting ahead, it was about negative gearing. But if fiscal policy is simultaneously scorching the economy and undermining confidence such that households and firms reduce their spending intentions and stop borrowing, surely that suggests something is wrong in the way it is being managed.

Ironically the Coalition also ran on the issue of stability. Stable government is hardly a catch-cry the Liberals could use with a straight face. Their stability was questioned the day after they won the election with Tony Abbot at the helm, in 2013.

The reckless statements, the vagaries, the missteps, the ministerial contradictions, followed by several broken promises, an appalling budget in 2014, a procession of ministerial resignations, the stability train had long since left the station. Turnbull’s accession to the leadership did nothing to reverse that. He may even have made it worse.

Perhaps too, the marriage equality issue which loomed large in the final week of the campaign played a part in swinging voters’ intentions. Time will tell. One thing is for sure. The Liberals will be at each other’s throats for some time yet.

And they also have Andrew Bolt to contend with. Wow!