As more details emerge about the massive Coalition victory of last night, it is worth offering some further thoughts on the radically changed political landscape we now find ourselves in. As I remarked in my article last night, this was an historic win in so many ways.
Perhaps the most telling – and damning – stat of all was that of the primary vote for Labor. It was the lowest in 100 years: under 34 per cent! That is just mind-boggling. The Australian people have made it absolutely clear that they are fed up with a dysfunctional, divided, derelict and out of touch Labor Party.
They knew that change was desperately needed, and they voted overwhelmingly to dump this circus pretending to be a government. With preferences included, nearly 53 per cent voted for the Coalition with around 47 per cent voting for Labor. There was a swing of over four per cent against Labor and over three per cent against the Greens.
Thus in the House of Reps the Coalition may end up with a total of 89 seats, and Labor 57, with four to independents or smaller parties. Plenty of Labor members were turfed out, and it will obviously take some time indeed for Labor to rebuild.
Peter Beattie, roped in by Rudd as a last minute lifeboat for Queensland, failed big time to win his seat, and the Independent and disgraced ex-Labor MP Craig Thomson was handily defeated in Dobell, NSW. Tasmania saw big swings away from Labor and the Greens. Indeed, the Greens lost half their vote in the Apple Isle.
Yet leader Christine Milne is blaming everyone but herself for this debacle. How they and others do in the Senate remains to be seen. We may not have a clear picture on the scene there for perhaps a week. And of course when we finally learn of the actual Senate composition, those changes will not come into effect until next July.
The usual honeymoon period of a new government is probably already over. A hostile, and now very upset lamestream media, and the new Labor opposition will not cut Abbott and the Coalition any slack whatsoever. They, like so many others devastated at what Australia decided last night, are proving to be real whiners and sore losers.
Simply looking at the moronic, indeed demonic, flood of tweets tells it all. The level of hatred, hostility, and utter irrationality is something to behold. Many of them have even threatened to leave the country. To that suggestion I can only say, “Great, I will wave you off at the pier”.
The appalling selfie, Rudd
Kevin Rudd was a major reason for this massacre. Sure, a divided, dysfunctional and manic Party did a great job of self-immolation. All the back-stabbing and hatred and disunity took its toll. But Rudd was clearly his own worst enemy. If Julia was problematic, Rudd was much more so.
He is one of the most egotistical megalomaniacs to ever lead a national political party. Everything was about Kevvie. His incessant selfies were an indication of an ego out of control. His narcissism was as appalling as it was off-putting.
He simply treated everyone else like dirt, and focused entirely on himself. His contempt for others was well known by staff, colleagues and anyone who had to deal with him. Simply his inability to show up on time, leaving people waiting for hours, often in stifling heat, is an indication of this.
In contrast people could count on Abbott. He was dependable in just so many ways. You knew he would arise at 5 for physical workouts, and be taking phone calls by 6am. He and the Coalition offered such a stark contrast to Rudd and Labor who were all over the place.
Rudd was simply contemptuous of everyone else. His utterly deplorable and unprecedented “concession” speech was the perfect example of this. The rambling, self-serving 24-minute circus of words was one of the most cringe-worthy speeches I have ever heard.
He even bragged about beating his opponent Bill Glasson, saying he should just “eat your heart out”. Not a word of congratulations to the new Prime Minister, not a word of culpability, not a word of apology or contrition. It was a 24-minute selfie which left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
Usually the loser demonstrates a bit of grace, humility and humanness. But if you tuned in only to his speech last night, you would have been sure that he just won – and won handsomely. And some people still wanted this poor excuse of a leader to run this nation for three more years. Go figure.
He said during his speech that he would not run again for the leadership. Of course he promised us that before. But by now most of Labor – like the rest of the nation – has hopefully had a gutful of the guy. While Bill Shorten may be the logical successor (although he turned on both Julia and Kevin), they may well put in someone like Albanese as a caretaker leader until the heat dies down somewhat.
Homosexual marriage
One more thing can be said here. While Kevin was convinced that the most important issue in the universe was homosexual marriage, he once again miscalculated terribly. His appallingly bad judgment was on full display here. He was completely out of touch with the electorate, living in his own thought-bubble instead.
The truth is, 99 per cent of Australians do not give a rip about homosexual marriage. Indeed, it clearly put off much of the electorate. Yet Labor and the homosexual militants will keep pushing this. Thus we all need to keep in touch with the Coalition members, congratulating them on their wins, and urging them to stand strong here.
Tony Abbott has no plans to go down this track, despite some of his own family members being in favour, and some of his colleagues wavering. Thus please contact your local member and tell them we do not want the evisceration of marriage happening here.
But the good news is that Labor is out, Kevin is gone, and the immediate threat of marriage destruction is temporarily at least put on hold.
[1030 words]