For Scott Morrison and his Muppet Coalition Government, time is fast approaching the nervy end of an election cycle. So far, he has given us every indication that the next federal election will be held on Saturday 18th May 2019, the latest possible date he can leave it, but will he wait that long?
The result of the Wagga Wagga state by-election on Saturday was a disaster for the state liberal government and suggests a rough ride is in store for both state and federal members across New South Wales.
With that in mind, a number of questions will be running through the brains trust of the Liberal party machine right now. Would it be better to go early? Do they want their campaign to be riding through the dusty, unpredictable trail of the NSW state election in March?
Can they minimize the ongoing fallout from dumping the best leader they had, electorally speaking? Can they appear united? Have they a believable policy structure? Have they enough money to mount a competitive campaign? Do they have any quality candidates?
Looking at things from the outside, the answers to all those questions would appear to be a resounding, no! And the longer they wait, the fewer options they have. The Victorian State election to be held in late November is another hurdle to straddle.
Then comes Christmas, followed by the January holidays and the beginning of the school year. These are all periods where attracting the attention of the electorate is very difficult. There’s just too much going on.
Yet, that might be Morrison’s plan. The more the distraction, the less attention paid to important issues, the better their chances of not looking like idiots. Can Bill Shorten and Labor cut through those distractions and convince voters he, and Labor, are ready? In all likelihood, he may not have to.
After five years, we must wonder what Morrison has to sell that’s worth buying? Not much! Actually…….no, nothing. They have bluffed and lied their way through the most dysfunctional performance of this, or any previous conservative government.
Their internal bloodletting has been on public view ever since Malcolm Turnbull succeeded Tony Abbott as PM. Actually, it’s much longer than that.
So what can Morrison, the self-described muppet leader do? Current polling indicates his muppet coalition will lose government in a landslide. But, if he waited until May, could he reverse that?
Could he get some lipstick on his pigs?
One would have thought that trying to be heard across a minefield of distractions would be difficult enough. Expecting to come up with some jaw-dropping, knockout initiatives and reverse current polling trends, might just be a bridge too far.
And what of Morrison’s own legacy? The thought of lasting even less time as PM than Tony Abbott must be haunting him at the moment. Would he want to continue his parliamentary career as Opposition leader? One suspects he would. And he might also be thinking, the sooner the better.
Morrison’s best chance is to go before the end of 2018. Firstly, he can salvage some respect by relieving the voters of any more pain. But also, he can quite rightly, blame the loss, not on his leadership, but on the appalling behaviour of his party prior to him becoming PM.
This gives him a launching pad to begin rebuilding the shattered skeleton of a party, that was once a government. Mind you, his own record as treasurer will bring him some pain as Labor restores some of the heartless, unnecessary spending cuts he championed against the easiest of targets, the most vulnerable.
But, perhaps that’s a challenge he might find more appealing, rather than the humiliation that will await him, should he choose to wait until May next year.
Let’s hope so.
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