Final Election Reflections

Which way forward for Australia?

I know: never say ‘never’ – or ‘final’. Things can still change, not all the counting is in, and the Senate results will not be fully known for some time, but…. A few more things can be said about the Saturday election. My two earlier pieces offered plenty of thoughts, but here are a few more from me, mainly spiritual in nature. I follow these up by some commentary from others.

-On election night the ABC stated that the Libs lost because they were too ‘far-right’. Sure, tell me another. They were anything but. Being a pale image of Labor was not what voters wanted. Because they refused to stand up for conservative values and beliefs, their conservative base left them. A political uni-party never goes down well, just like monopolies in other areas – such as airlines or supermarkets – mean ordinary folks suffer due to a lack of real competition and choice.

-Some will have viewed voting on Saturday as an interruption to their weekend – shopping, family stuff, home repairs, going to the footy, etc. But the Christian at least should know that politics does matter, and our choices do have consequences – for good or for ill. There is no sense complaining about things if you fail to prayerfully and carefully consider who might be the better person or party to vote for.

-It seems that only 14 out of 18 million eligible voters actually went to the polls. With such lacklustre candidates, and such little difference between the two main parties, you can see why so many preferred to opt out. Of interest would be how many of these non-voters were Christians.

-If every voting Christian in Australia simply said no to the godless trinity of Labor, the Greens, and the Teals, Albo would not be back in office today. But it seems too many simply voted for the party their parents did, or just relied on the mainstream media to direct their votes, or simply had little or no Christan worldview to inform their choices. The church in Australia is in many ways the real culprit in this election result.

-Of those strong Christian and conservative candidates who ran, it seems many of them did not get the support they should have. For example, Victorian lead Senate candidate for Family First Bernie Finn said today that he is unlikely to win. He said in part:

“My ‘consolation’ prize has been to meet so many wonderful people in every part of the State. Country Victoria is a wonderful part of the world and country Victorians are unbeatable. To all who voted for me or sent messages of support, I love youse all. It’s highly unlikely I will ever contest another election (never say never…) but I will remain with Family First to promote the values and principles that I know will make Australia great again. I love Australia and will stick around to try to salvage what’s left after Albozo is finished.”

-I am reading through Chronicles again, and the lesson there is clear: when God’s people reject him, he rejects them. That might be a good explanation of this election result. Consider a few verses:

1 Chronicles 10:13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

1 Chronicles 28:9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

2 Chronicles 12:5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’”

2 Chronicles 15:1-4 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.

2 Chronicles 24:20 Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’”

More reflections from others

Gabriël A. Moens concludes a Spectator Australia article with these words:

Commenting on the Coalition’s campaign performance, Peter Smith, a frequent contributor to Quadrant Online, recently remarked: ‘Essentially, it comes down to the absence of an opposition party with conviction and courage. The Libs, wet through and through, inspire very few. It’s time – to start inspiring.’ Indeed, there are no auspicious signs that reason and sanity can still prevail in times of political correctness and ideological insanity.

 

Overall, the Coalition conducted an inept and boring campaign, overshadowed by Labor’s slick social media advertisements, outright lies, and Medicare scare campaign. There were some beacons of hope, for example, the dominance of Angus Taylor in his debate with Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and the demolition of the Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen by the Shadow Minister, Jim O’Brien, in their energy debate.

 

For now, the Prime Minister’s infantile behaviour, aptly illustrated by his childish ‘lots of delulu and no solulu’ comments, will nurture the imagination of cartoonists. The next three years will determine whether Albanese belongs in this great country’s pantheon of responsible leaders.

 

Labor is now embarking on its second term, allowing it to pursue its ideological socialist goals of wealth redistribution and blind obedience to impossible and futile net-zero goals set by overseas committees with a globalist agenda. Welcome to the Socialist Commonwealth of Australia. A place where people will be happily oppressed but have nothing to show for their arduous work.

Roger Franklin said this in a Quadrant article:

So where is the silver lining in this crushing and absolute defeat? Now that a party which believes in so little has effectively been driven from the field the notion of the Coalition representing anything more than the sum of its broken parts has been so utterly refuted it is essential to start again from scratch.

He concludes his piece this way:

So instead of gathering to elect an heir to Dutton, here’s a better idea: dissolve the Liberal Party, salvage what little talent remains in its parliamentary ranks — Jacinta Price and Andrew Hastie spring immediately to mind — and begin afresh under a new name and banner. The old ones are now so thoroughly stained and tainted they can inspire nothing but memories of failure and the politics of incoherence.

 

How this might be done, how a new movement might grow around the nucleus of the little that is good and remains of the current Liberals, I have no idea. But if Australia is to recover from what is certain to be three years of Labor’s misrule (and more likely six), it has to be done. It simply has to be done.

Christian commentator Rod Lampard offered us these hopeful words:

7 election positives!

1. The Greens were decimated.
2. This gives the LNP a chance to regroup, galvanise, and get back to Menzies, away from Marx. They cannot get the country back on track until they get themselves back on track.
3. The lesson here is: You cannot become the Left in order to defeat the Left.
4. Grassroots conservative campaigning has improved, but there’s further room for improvement.
5. Legacy media exposed themselves as the enemy of the Australian people. Never has reliable, independent media been more important to support, fund, and encourage.
6. Pro-freedom parties have made their mark.
7. Labor cannot hide. They will have ZERO excuses for failure. No one to blame when their kingdom of unreliable renewables and multicultural utopianism falls apart. This makes it easier to keep them accountable.

Lastly, Jesus is Victor! Nothing has changed in that regard. Our unconquerable King is still on the throne.

“And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” – Paul in Prison, Philippians 1:14

And Christian cultural commentator Kurt Mahlburg finished his reflection this way:

Stephen Chavura and Greg Melleuish document how Christian ministers were central to Australia’s early intellectual and political life—publishing philosophy, editing newspapers, and influencing public debate.

And let’s not forget Alfred Deakin, our second Prime Minister. He once wrote:

“Without God and without immortality there can be no true or efficient morality from generation to generation, no task for the race, and no goal for it to attain.”

The steep decline in Christian belief didn’t begin until the 1960s. Even in the 1950s, just 10% of Australians said they had no religion.

So how did we get here?

We forgot our roots.

We believed the lie that faith should stay behind closed doors.

And we surrendered the culture to those louder and bolder than us.

If the weekend’s election proves anything, it’s that silence is no longer an option.

The Christian voice has every right to be heard in Australia. It helped build this country. It gave us our values, our freedoms, even our Constitution.

And it’s time we found that voice again.

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