Prime Minister Anthony Albanese celebrates his second term election win. Photo: Anthony Albanese Facebook.
For almost two decades as a Canberra journalist, I heard about the Liberal Party “base”.
This mysterious body of voters was sick of “wokeness”, we were told. It was over feminism and political correctness gone mad. It wanted vigorous engagement in the culture wars.
Move further and harder to the right, its champions said, and permanent power is in reach. The Liberals are Australia’s natural party of government and the base, comprising hundreds of thousands of voters, will take you there.
Then the 2022 election rolled along, followed by the 2025 election. Australian voters took a good look at what was on offer and responded, comprehensively, with “yeah … nah”. Preferences tell the story: beyond their diminishing primary vote, the Liberals are nobody’s second choice.
Around a decade ago, the ABC experienced a similar ideological spasm, albeit in a different direction. Senior management decided that in order to capture a younger demographic, they must move with the times, jettisoning much that listeners cherished about Aunty.
The direction from head office was to make content lighter, funkier. Comedians with book contracts could analyse the news rather than professional journalists. Wildly diverse opinions were key: I once heard a Sydney broadcaster declare ethical polygamy was pretty much the social norm as far as she was concerned.
Some readers will recall I was among those moved on across Australia, but the point I want to make is a broader one.
It was assumed the ABC’s rusted-on audience would stay around because of tribal loyalty, while a thousand new flowers bloomed. National ratings indicate this belief was not well-founded.
The Liberals appear to have made the same mistake. Captivated by the promise of the mythical base, they presumed longtime voters would follow along as they careered headlong into the culture wars.
The teal seats fell in 2022, taking the bluest of blue ribbon Liberal heartlands with them. This time a slew of middle class suburban seats around the country followed.
Admittedly, Anthony Albanese has had excellent luck as Labor leader. Neither Scott Morrison nor Peter Dutton had particularly likable public personas. This campaign’s timing, across Easter, Anzac Day (and the Pope’s funeral), denied oxygen to the Opposition. Donald Trump’s chaos was far less appealing to ordinary voters than many on the right imagined when he was elected.
The federal Liberals did shockingly little policy work. They didn’t bother road-testing ideas like forcing everyone back to the office, or dispensing with most of the Canberra-based APS workforce. Despite endless pleas, they ignored women both as voters and Parliamentary colleagues.
Pity the poor old Canberra Liberal candidates, a bunch of decent people who had to trudge around our suburbs, knocking on doors presumably opened by female APS employees working from home.
For the past 20 years, the Canberra Liberals have eaten themselves alive, permanently in opposition while fighting over who could move furthest to the right in Australia’s most progressive jurisdiction. Zed Seselja eventually suffered the consequences of this madness, and it’s no surprise Senator David Pocock’s vote has doubled.
This year, the federal Liberals reaped the same bitter harvest, one they’ve been sowing for a long time.
So here’s a news flash for the Liberals and anyone else consumed by ideological rectitude while operating a national institution: Australia is a centrist nation, and we all vote.
The base is in the middle. If your job is to serve the whole nation, start there. Ensure diverse opinions are represented, based on skill and talent. Don’t be captured by the lure of the fringe.
Australians deserve effective conservative politicians. There are more pressing issues confronting us than what flags we stand before, or the welcome to country.
The Liberals might like to put the dog whistle back in the drawer. There is no large cohort of hard-right culture warriors in Australia. If they existed in any numbers, the Liberals wouldn’t be facing the worst defeat since their foundation.
Sir Robert Menzies (who must be executing 360 degree turns in his grave) founded the Liberals as a business friendly, centre right party that would – and I quote Ming himself – “work for social justice and security, for national power and national progress, and for the full development of the individual citizen”.
That sounds like a reasonable basis for a political party. Somebody should give it a crack.
Genevieve Jacobs is the CEO of Hands Across Canberra, the ACT’s community foundation.
