Well, they don't make Australian Freedom Parties like they used to.
Comrade Albo's acceptance speech had quite the whiff of Mao about it, both in tone and content. The Boiled Potato looked quite pleased to be out of there, presumably his job is done and now he gets to enjoy the promised kickbacks from all those Defence Minister dealings.
Unpopular leaders can win against unpopular governments (e.g. John Howard, Tony Abbott) if they have strong policies, articulate those policies, and attack the government on their vulnerabilities.
The Liberals failed in all these respects.
I voted Freedom parties in both houses, as I did in 2022, as both majors'performance during Covid was equally as reprehensible, and they haven't improved since.
I think the Trumpet of Patriots was absolutely there to disrupt the freedom vote, along with disinformation campaigns like the Australia One (Bosi) 'no suitable candidates' informal vote campaign.
I think the People First campaign did notably well, for a party that was only incorporated some 5 months before the election. I didn't end up standing as a candidate but I did volunteer, and scrutineer on the night - the local lower house candidate got almost 5% of the vote with almost no name recognition or campaigning time, and beat two other candidates, and almost beat One Nation. In the senate, PF got some 5% of the vote in Qld, 2/3 that of ON, which has been around for well over 20 years. It is a good sign for 2028, if the momentum can be maintained - and of course, many more people will be unable to deny the emerging totalitarianism by then...
PS from scrutineering on the night, I'm left with more questions than answers. I'm not convinced that the results we get are entirely legitimate - in the sense that it turns out there are multiple 'pinch points' or vulnerabilities in the process whereby influence/tampering could be had. For example - there's all this scrutineering at the first raw count - but then one person takes control of all the ballots, and delivers them at some later time that night to the official counting post - meaning each booth's votes (handily summarised by #1 vote/party) are in a single person's control for some period of time, with no real accountability/transparency. Just noting.
Nice to know the PF figures. If Rennick can get funding to keep building for the next election he may well build the party into a viable alternative. I scrutineered at the last election and I seem to remember the votes being sealed, and I was of the understanding that the second count is scrutineered as well - is that not the case?
Potentially, if people stand up to scrutineer for the second count (bearing in mind that we don't actually see/scrutineer the reporting of the numbers to the controllers, or the grouping of those...). But the 'sealing' of votes seems more theatrical than secure - it's a cardboard box, with easily opened tags with a number on them. As long as they have another tag with the same number then the transporter could literally do anything with them en route.
I'm not saying the votes were definitely tampered with - but if there were billions riding on the result (trillions in a meta-sense - and leaving aside that we've seen precisely this kind of systemic chicanery during Covid and elsewhere), and there was such a simple vulnerability (several actually), where would you spend your money/effort if you were a Bond villain..?
As someone who has worked on four elections as an AEC officer (the last one as Senior Officer in charge of the Polling place), although I can't 100% guarantee the efficacy of all electoral staff, believe me when I say I have NEVER had reason to doubt the staff I've worked with.
From what I know, the AEC runs a pretty strict approval system on ALL staff, and I think any "brigands" would be discovered and not given access to any polling place.
In my last role (as Senior), I was responsible for removing the votes from my polling place and taking them to the main counting station (this was on Bribie Island). At no time did I let the votes out of my sight, and I took my 2IC with me to maintain security and oversight.
Plus, by that stage of counting, each polling place has a fairly accurate count already done, so any anomaly enough to affect the vote would be picked up on the recount.
I believe Australia has the finest electoral system in the world, and we are a very lucky country to have preferential voting and a very well-run AEC.
An unappreciated facet of Labor's win: a barrage of targeted advertising on social media. Over the election period I saw dozens of Labor political ads on Youtube specifically tailored to my exact electorate (probably via IP tracking of my Google account). featuring their Labor candidate for my seat. I saw ZERO ads for other parties.
Ah good point, I did read that because the deciding demographic had shifted from boomers to millennials + Gen Z, social media advertising was way more important in this election than those previous.
Nice article. The entirety of the LNP's problem is summed up in the last para: it wouldn't have mattered whether LNP or ALP won, the outcome is identical. The LNP stands for nothing. Labor Lite indeed. As one other comment suggested, the NATs should get a divorce and team up with Katter/Rennick and try and get Antic and Roberts on board.
Freedom parties a rabble, too short-sighted to find common ground. Trumpet of Patriots just served to splinter them further - what a dam waste! Who came up with that ridiculous name anyway, that shouted, "Let's shoot ourselves in the foot right here, right now, with this stupid name" ? Clumsy written all over it
WEF agenda firmly at play here in Australia; their never-ending divide and conquer strategy having worked a treat.
France, UK, Germany, Canada and now here, have all fallen to The Left.
Reiner, a political prisoner to be made an example of, was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months jail - with no account that he had already served 19 months.
Re: "In an election decided by Gen Z and millennial voters whose main concerns were the rising cost of living and the ongoing shortage and unaffordability of housing, both parties were big on rhetoric but short on meaningful solutions beyond the short-term vote grab."
I'm not an expert on this. From talking to people in industry and general reading, my understanding is that the supply shortage is a combination of:
1. Construction all but grinding to a halt during Covid, putting supply several years behind demand. Reasons for the halt, a) tradies here on temp visas having to return home, leading to severe worker shortage and b) supply chain interruptions.
2. Price of construction went through the roof due to point #1, further slowing down existing projects and making some planned projects no longer viable.
3. Immigration outstripping pace of supply.
4. To a smaller extent, foreign owners purchasing houses for investment, edging out buyers seeking a place to live.
Thanks Rebekah. Although your (nice) post observes that the Government has been returned with only about a third of the vote, it does not really say much more about that phenomenon (or its underlying cause). Maybe everyone already understands the reasons? But in case it is not common knowledge, readers may be interested in a rough analysis at https://x.com/BarryKissane/status/1920719868036301210 The distortions are large, so that (in this case), a party with a third of the vote is described as winning in a landslide - extraordinarily. When each electorate returns only a single member to represent them, as in the House of Representatives (and frequently elsewhere around the world), it is inevitable that such distortions will occur. [This is not a consequence of preferential voting, which is a good idea]. Of course, it is unlikely that parties visibly favoured by a system would want to change it, but the easiest way to address this problem is to have larger (and thus fewer) electorates, each of which has more than one elected representative. The Senate, which essentially uses multi-member electorates (i.e., states or territories) does a better job of reflecting faithfully the preferences of the electorate for particular parties.
Thank you for this amusing description of a depressingly familiar situation to those of us mired in delusion of democracy situations. Cartoonist Bob Moran captured this perfectly ahead of last year's UK General Election: https://www.bobmoran.co.uk/prints/hobsons-arse-print
Lots of references to physical appearances, Rebekah, and issuing of personal slurs. Amusingly unfair of you..:)
You seem to have missed the essence of the problem, though.
The environmental catastrophist Teals and Greens won 17 % of the primary vote and either won seats or their own or assisted the ALP (by way of preferences) to victories in many others - this in a nation of people who have been bombarded with global warming fear porn for 25 years. There are young voters who have had a lifetime of such indoctrination and lots of silver top MSM viewers who fear their precious grandchildren will end up living on a raft.
All of this written, I was stunned that there was a swing to the ALP.
Even in a white, working class electorate such as mine, where folk have had two years of immense economic pain, there was a 5% swing to the sitting ALP candidate.
All very entertaining stuff,
however I was pissed at losing my wager with Sportsbet that Trumpet of Patriots would pick up a senate seat.
Well, they don't make Australian Freedom Parties like they used to.
Comrade Albo's acceptance speech had quite the whiff of Mao about it, both in tone and content. The Boiled Potato looked quite pleased to be out of there, presumably his job is done and now he gets to enjoy the promised kickbacks from all those Defence Minister dealings.
Yes I'm sure it will be cushy for Dutton from here...
It's absolutely depressing, but I think you summed it up brilliantly Rebekah.
Unpopular leaders can win against unpopular governments (e.g. John Howard, Tony Abbott) if they have strong policies, articulate those policies, and attack the government on their vulnerabilities.
The Liberals failed in all these respects.
I voted Freedom parties in both houses, as I did in 2022, as both majors'performance during Covid was equally as reprehensible, and they haven't improved since.
Great summary Rebekah. Abysmally bad for Australia.
Good summation, Rebekah.
I think the Trumpet of Patriots was absolutely there to disrupt the freedom vote, along with disinformation campaigns like the Australia One (Bosi) 'no suitable candidates' informal vote campaign.
I think the People First campaign did notably well, for a party that was only incorporated some 5 months before the election. I didn't end up standing as a candidate but I did volunteer, and scrutineer on the night - the local lower house candidate got almost 5% of the vote with almost no name recognition or campaigning time, and beat two other candidates, and almost beat One Nation. In the senate, PF got some 5% of the vote in Qld, 2/3 that of ON, which has been around for well over 20 years. It is a good sign for 2028, if the momentum can be maintained - and of course, many more people will be unable to deny the emerging totalitarianism by then...
PS from scrutineering on the night, I'm left with more questions than answers. I'm not convinced that the results we get are entirely legitimate - in the sense that it turns out there are multiple 'pinch points' or vulnerabilities in the process whereby influence/tampering could be had. For example - there's all this scrutineering at the first raw count - but then one person takes control of all the ballots, and delivers them at some later time that night to the official counting post - meaning each booth's votes (handily summarised by #1 vote/party) are in a single person's control for some period of time, with no real accountability/transparency. Just noting.
Nice to know the PF figures. If Rennick can get funding to keep building for the next election he may well build the party into a viable alternative. I scrutineered at the last election and I seem to remember the votes being sealed, and I was of the understanding that the second count is scrutineered as well - is that not the case?
Potentially, if people stand up to scrutineer for the second count (bearing in mind that we don't actually see/scrutineer the reporting of the numbers to the controllers, or the grouping of those...). But the 'sealing' of votes seems more theatrical than secure - it's a cardboard box, with easily opened tags with a number on them. As long as they have another tag with the same number then the transporter could literally do anything with them en route.
I'm not saying the votes were definitely tampered with - but if there were billions riding on the result (trillions in a meta-sense - and leaving aside that we've seen precisely this kind of systemic chicanery during Covid and elsewhere), and there was such a simple vulnerability (several actually), where would you spend your money/effort if you were a Bond villain..?
Maybe.
Jake,
As someone who has worked on four elections as an AEC officer (the last one as Senior Officer in charge of the Polling place), although I can't 100% guarantee the efficacy of all electoral staff, believe me when I say I have NEVER had reason to doubt the staff I've worked with.
From what I know, the AEC runs a pretty strict approval system on ALL staff, and I think any "brigands" would be discovered and not given access to any polling place.
In my last role (as Senior), I was responsible for removing the votes from my polling place and taking them to the main counting station (this was on Bribie Island). At no time did I let the votes out of my sight, and I took my 2IC with me to maintain security and oversight.
Plus, by that stage of counting, each polling place has a fairly accurate count already done, so any anomaly enough to affect the vote would be picked up on the recount.
I believe Australia has the finest electoral system in the world, and we are a very lucky country to have preferential voting and a very well-run AEC.
Just my two bob's worth.
David Thomas
Dave's True Blue Aussies
An unappreciated facet of Labor's win: a barrage of targeted advertising on social media. Over the election period I saw dozens of Labor political ads on Youtube specifically tailored to my exact electorate (probably via IP tracking of my Google account). featuring their Labor candidate for my seat. I saw ZERO ads for other parties.
Ah good point, I did read that because the deciding demographic had shifted from boomers to millennials + Gen Z, social media advertising was way more important in this election than those previous.
Nice article. The entirety of the LNP's problem is summed up in the last para: it wouldn't have mattered whether LNP or ALP won, the outcome is identical. The LNP stands for nothing. Labor Lite indeed. As one other comment suggested, the NATs should get a divorce and team up with Katter/Rennick and try and get Antic and Roberts on board.
Well written piece and perfectly stated Rebekah!
Freedom parties a rabble, too short-sighted to find common ground. Trumpet of Patriots just served to splinter them further - what a dam waste! Who came up with that ridiculous name anyway, that shouted, "Let's shoot ourselves in the foot right here, right now, with this stupid name" ? Clumsy written all over it
WEF agenda firmly at play here in Australia; their never-ending divide and conquer strategy having worked a treat.
France, UK, Germany, Canada and now here, have all fallen to The Left.
Reiner, a political prisoner to be made an example of, was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months jail - with no account that he had already served 19 months.
Canadian truckers still in jail.
We continue on through the fog of WW3.
Take care my friends, this is no kinetic war.
I'm not sure who was consulted for the name but if anyone had consulted me I would have said don't do it 😆
Weak tea bag indeed Rebekah. The sooner Aussies gain political intelligence the better...
Night be time for the Nationals to breakaway from the Liberals certainly it appears that they didn't want to win 🙏
Re: "In an election decided by Gen Z and millennial voters whose main concerns were the rising cost of living and the ongoing shortage and unaffordability of housing, both parties were big on rhetoric but short on meaningful solutions beyond the short-term vote grab."
Why is there a housing shortage?
I'm not an expert on this. From talking to people in industry and general reading, my understanding is that the supply shortage is a combination of:
1. Construction all but grinding to a halt during Covid, putting supply several years behind demand. Reasons for the halt, a) tradies here on temp visas having to return home, leading to severe worker shortage and b) supply chain interruptions.
2. Price of construction went through the roof due to point #1, further slowing down existing projects and making some planned projects no longer viable.
3. Immigration outstripping pace of supply.
4. To a smaller extent, foreign owners purchasing houses for investment, edging out buyers seeking a place to live.
Thanks Rebekah.
It just seems crazy the price of houses in this huge country.
And interesting to think of another massive problem being caused by the deliberately manufactured 'Covid' scam.
Thanks Rebekah. Although your (nice) post observes that the Government has been returned with only about a third of the vote, it does not really say much more about that phenomenon (or its underlying cause). Maybe everyone already understands the reasons? But in case it is not common knowledge, readers may be interested in a rough analysis at https://x.com/BarryKissane/status/1920719868036301210 The distortions are large, so that (in this case), a party with a third of the vote is described as winning in a landslide - extraordinarily. When each electorate returns only a single member to represent them, as in the House of Representatives (and frequently elsewhere around the world), it is inevitable that such distortions will occur. [This is not a consequence of preferential voting, which is a good idea]. Of course, it is unlikely that parties visibly favoured by a system would want to change it, but the easiest way to address this problem is to have larger (and thus fewer) electorates, each of which has more than one elected representative. The Senate, which essentially uses multi-member electorates (i.e., states or territories) does a better job of reflecting faithfully the preferences of the electorate for particular parties.
Thank you for this amusing description of a depressingly familiar situation to those of us mired in delusion of democracy situations. Cartoonist Bob Moran captured this perfectly ahead of last year's UK General Election: https://www.bobmoran.co.uk/prints/hobsons-arse-print
Yep, nailed it.
Weak tea bag indeed Rebekah. The sooner Aussies gain political intelligence the better...
Lots of references to physical appearances, Rebekah, and issuing of personal slurs. Amusingly unfair of you..:)
You seem to have missed the essence of the problem, though.
The environmental catastrophist Teals and Greens won 17 % of the primary vote and either won seats or their own or assisted the ALP (by way of preferences) to victories in many others - this in a nation of people who have been bombarded with global warming fear porn for 25 years. There are young voters who have had a lifetime of such indoctrination and lots of silver top MSM viewers who fear their precious grandchildren will end up living on a raft.
All of this written, I was stunned that there was a swing to the ALP.
Even in a white, working class electorate such as mine, where folk have had two years of immense economic pain, there was a 5% swing to the sitting ALP candidate.
All very entertaining stuff,
however I was pissed at losing my wager with Sportsbet that Trumpet of Patriots would pick up a senate seat.
To the guillotine with Clive.
Weak tea bag indeed Rebekah. The sooner Aussies gain political intelligence the better...