THERE is no point getting angry with anyone about the death of morally responsive democracy in Victoria or anywhere else in the Western world. Pretty much everyone is to blame. A Uniparty now reigns over the ashes and rubble of what used to be a civilisation. Seen this way, Daniel Andrews’ comfortable win in Saturday’s state election – and the nonchalant forgiveness it constitutes for his government’s innumerable crimes – makes a lot of sense. Only three things are really necessary for electoral success against a lukewarm opposition: nihilism, profligacy and calumny. Don’t espouse anything that backs you into a principled corner, bribe every tractable constituency and demonise the frugal along with the religious. “We will govern for all Victorians,” Andrews declared Saturday night, registering the first lie of his third term. He will, of course, go on masterfully prevaricating, spending and hate-mongering for another four years. Most Victorian voters know exactly who he is and regard him – with justification – as a virtuoso in the dark arts of saleable unreality. While he’s there, they won’t be personally responsible for anything.
In will be 50 years this Friday since the election that brought Gough Whitlam to power as Prime Minister after 23 years of Coalition rule. The golden milestone also marks the end of the old Labor Party and the beginning of an infamous fiasco. Whitlam noted the polling day was also the anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz at which another “ramshackle, reactionary coalition” had suffered a “crushing defeat.” A more apt coincidence in a discussion of Whitlam is that Napoleon crowned himself Emperor at Notre Dame on the same date in 1804, snatching the headwear from the hands of Pope Pius VII. If Daniel Andrews is an extrapolation of what a third-term, scandal-immune King Gough would have looked like in the later 1970s, Peter Dutton is a throwback to what Whitlam actually was in the 1960s: a leader obliged to reform, modernise and unify a party habituated to losing and wounded by the Industrial Groups.
The Liberal side of the Victorian story is more complex and nuanced on this Monday morning than many prognosticators on the right realise. If it is true that the psephological sweet spot in politics today is the demographic that wants affirmation for its virtuous hobbies (like the climate) and free money on tap, the hostility to the Liberals could be read as a compliment. An undeserved one, alas, because the ascendant Guy-Kean iteration of Bob Menzies’ party represents no threat to anybody’s carbon capture grant, teen mastectomy startup or Seán na Sagart side hustle. The more orthodox Sky Right exegesis is that an election-winning cohort is just waiting for a red meat repudiation of woke in all of its lunatic manifestations. Either way – and accepting as proven that the public is no longer sure whether Liberals are secretive wreckers or open imitators – the choice for the Liberals is obvious. Either stay the course until enough swing voters believe they’re not ultra-conservative conquistadors after all (dumb); or return to – and revivify – their foundational purpose and fight a longer, nobler fight. The former has never succeeded. The latter has – for Ming himself, for John Howard, for Tony Abbott. And, as it happens, for E.G. Whitlam.
Superb C.L…..superb.
Your final line “Either stay the course until enough swing voters believe they’re not ultra-conservative conquistadors, after all (dumb); or return to – and freshen – their foundational impetus and fight a longer, nobler fight. The former has never succeeded. The latter has – for Ming himself, for John Howard, for Tony Abbott. And, as it happens, for E.G. Whitlam.”
Quite so, the problem is that even with someone like Tony Abbott, a Liberal who did show spine when a minister in Howard’s cabinet, and when he was opposition leader, who who did respect the Liberal Party’s foundational principles, yet when he became PM he quickly floundered like a fish out of water. It was so depressing to watch, like watching a slow moving train wreck from one of those old black and white westerns with the damsel tied to the railway tracks! It didn’t even take long, within weeks of him being elected back in September 2013, I started wincing at he and his government’s feebleness and inaction, and yes, whilst the Abbott government did move on borders and the carbon tax, the groundwork for almost nine years of inertia and failure, particularly on climate and culture, was laid during those early Abbott years.
I often get asked why I’m so angry with Abbott. I suppose because, like so many, I had such high hopes in September 2013. I remember how back in 2013 I wanted Abbott to do two things, one was either terminate the NDIS or fine tune it, his government did nothing and now we’re stuck with a social and economic leviathon that is strangling our economy, where taxpayers are funding “whores”, oh sorry, the correct term is “sex work”, although as far as I’m concerned such a description is a mockery of “sex” and “work”. The second thing I wished for was for the Abbott government to either abolish the RC or widen its terms, so that it wasn’t just some Torquemada witch hunt into religious organisations, primarily the Catholic Church. The Abbott government did nothing, and we know what ensued from there, a Salemesque witch hunt with an innocent man going to prison.
I can’t be the only one to note how quickly Labor moves to implement its policies, whereas the stupid Liberals take almost three years to try and push through a religious freedom bill which fails, thanks not to Labor or the Greens, but to so called Liberals, those unlamented Greens masquerading as Liberals, aka, Sharma, Zimmerman, Allen, Martin and co. I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry. As an aside, Senator Andrew Bragg, who is the epitome of everything that’s currently wrong with the Liberal Party in 2022, has been doing the rounds trying to impress the luvvies, those very luvvies who would never vote Liberal in a hissy fit, firstly by appearing in Nine Newspapers to smear Katherine Deves and her supporters such as myself as “weird”. Why are we weird? Well because we believe in the reality of biological sex and that perhaps it isn’t such a good idea surgically and chemically mutilating children, yet Bragg thinks we’re weird! And then last Thursday Bragg smeared traditional Liberal voters for being against the “Voice”. I want Andrew Bragg and his ilk to “piss off” (please pardon the language C.L.).
John Roskam appeared on Outsiders yesterday to wail about the dismal election result. The thing is that Roskam himself, when asked to show some courage, firstly to stand up for free speech and secondly to speak out to defend a woman being publicly lynched (I’m referring to the Bettina Arndt lynching in February 2020), refused to. So, memo to Roskam, you’re part of the problem. Please go away.
However, there was some sunshine on Saturday. Renee Heath was elected. You all know about Renee, the beautiful young Christian woman who was the target of a MSM lynching. It was only two weeks ago, and remember how Matthew Groundhog Guy, based on the Nine Media stitch up, jumped the gun (Guy’s sole talent) and proclaimed loudly that Heath, if elected, would not be welcome in the party room. Well, surely given Saturday’s disastrous result, those twenty-five or so Victorian Liberal Party MPs should state publicly that Renee Heath is welcome in the party room, but Matthew Guy is not. I know, I know, I’m being cruel but little Matthew Guy was very cruel to Bernie Finn and Renee Heath. So, please indulge my little fantasy, I do think Guy should be punished for Saturday’s woeful results……………………however, to be fair, it isn’t the likes of Guy who are the problem in today’s Liberal Party, he is simply another manifestation of far deeper problems in the Party that may now just be unrepairable because when you sell your soul, be it over the climate scam or SSM, it is very hard to scavenge to try and get that soul back.
Anyway, I’ll finish there, apologies about the early morning rant!
Cassie: Persisting in the myth that Renee Heath is electoral honey is simply wrong. As it was with Deves. Politics does not reward people who pursue narrow interests, especially when they are private matters. Homosexuality is accepted as normal today, whether you like it or not. Imposition of religious preferences is not. The Liberal Party needs to improve its choice of candidates, preferably with people who have lives connected to their electorates. Otherwise the pathetic result in Victoria will be repeated until the ALP has totally destroyed the State.
Hey RWNJ, I’m flattered you get up early to comment on my comment. By the way, in my comment above, whilst I mentioned SSM, I didn’t mention “homosexuality”, but since it’s something you’re clearly obsessed about, here’s the plain old fashioned truth…
Homosexuality will never be accepted as normal, whether you like it or not.
RWNJ…clearly you don’t have a problem with cutting off boy’s penises and chopping off girl’s breasts.
Ahhh “Lad”,
You’ve done it again!
But it’s difficult not to be angry, at politicians, but mainly at conceited, dishonourable Victorians. It is now a carting off to the knackers for Victoria, despite the braying of donkeys to remember and never forget.
Not so long ago Morrison won an election on opposing a carbon tax. Then he did a 180 degree about face. Hard to come back from that. Particularly when the options in the Victorian contest were so uninspiring.
Renee Heath won the contest she was in, the same as Dan Andrews, one can’t just hand wave away that she won her contest in the face of the overall unpopularity of the Libs campaign. If her victory is not meaningful, then neither is Dan’s I mean he didn’t exactly have a tough opponent.
no party has won an election on a carbon tax. The libs hardly mentioned it in 2013 and morrison rarely did either
Menzie was not an ideologue. He had no firm grasp of economics. Under fair boundaries he would have lost in 1954 and 1961. He adopted the ALP policies after nearly losing in 1961.He allowed highly restrictive trade practices to reign supreme.This only stopped when Murphy changed the law. The only good thing he ever did.
Neither was Whitlam. He had an extraordinary economic rationalist program. This was based on the Vernon committee and he was a Rattigan man after all.
His problems were twofold.
He attempted to introduce his program regardless of the circumstances
This was due to the second problem. Bill Hayden was appointed treasurer far too late.
Thus he is seen as a failure for good reasons.
My one comment on Victoria is you cannot criticise excessive debt if your economic statement is full of mickey mouse policies. you need a shadow treasurer who can do some real work.
Séan na Sagart. Th priest hunter. You learn something new every day. I only had a vague idea of that time of religious persecution.
I am with Cassie 100%. I will never accept homosexuality as normal . I will never join a “pride” march for sodomy. Call me a bigot or whatever you like. And their suicidal statistics tell me they’re not very “gay”. I understand that as I would be ashamed of myself as well if I preferred males instead of females. The lack of a moral compass in society is the root cause of everything in the West. Anything goes, and most of it has already gone.
Homosexuality is common, actually more correctly it is uncommon, but happens.
It isn’t “normal”, as in the norm. Normal is hetero.
The grief isn’t about the acceptance of homosexuals, it is about the celebration of it.
Trampis, thanks, that is a solid contribution. I’d add that a leader who connects with people rather than just railroading the party behind the scenes would be a good addition. That said, I’m not convinced that Dan meets that criteria either.
Cassie: get real. Or, at least, get out a bit more. The middle ground is where voters live and the parties that go down narrow, aggressive policy lines that intrude on privacy and personal freedoms are bound to fail. In short, your prescription would put the ALP in Government for ever (or at least until the country fell apart).
Yes, it’s quite possible that a rejection of the Matt Kean et al ‘philosophy’, replaced by a strong stand against the renewable madness, and a return to liberalism, would make a difference.
But are there more fundamental difficulties? On my mind is the possible role of Labor’s successful exploitation of ethnic community based political action, by policies that appeal to a particular community: such as a pro-China stance (is this partly a factor in the Box Hill result?), and by deal-making with community bosses to provide jobs for some and benefits to their followers.
Australia has changed, and the awful question is whether the liberal/capitalist philosophy is no longer generally agreed.
There are of course other matters, such as the large number are paid by government, whether for work or just as welfare.
Entropy says:
28 November, 2022 at 9:03 am
Homosexuality is common, actually more correctly it is uncommon, but happens.
It isn’t “normal”, as in the norm. Normal is hetero.
The grief isn’t about the acceptance of homosexuals, it is about the celebration of it.
They can celebrate all they like, but I resent being forced to celebrate homosexuality.
Non Mentis
Still no response to my questions about coal and ruinable electricity generation, and the multi-billion dollar costs of extending thousands of kilometres of transmission lines to connect ruinables to their users? Too difficult for you? Or do you just make things up, like too many economists do?
It is strange how you can write this line after denouncing Trump as a wrecking ball of the US right wing of the same Uniparty bird.
RNC will purge all MAGA out of the Republican Party, like they did with Tea Party members (Paul Ryan led the establishment’s charge then). Bill Barr will be one of those helping with the purge. And Paul Ryan is still in the picture btw, promoting Ron this time.
The ghost Sean na Sagart is on the loose!
homosexuality is no more common now than it was 20 years ago. It is still less than 2% of the population.
I have no problem in not embracing it but you can not in most but not all circumstances discriminate against them.
The Liberals have a lot to cogitate about. There should have been a large swing to them but it did not occur. Why did this not occur?
the ALP have won too many elections in Victoria in recent times. This is not healthy at all
I don’t think there is that much to cogitate about at all. The libs took no real position on anything and their leader is wooden and unpopular. The biggest problem is a main stream media that backs the ALP/Greens openly then pretends that anyone not doing that is vilifying their favoured team. Work out who your constituents are, create policies that appeal to them, stop worrying about the love media and their BS. Trying to appeal to the hard core elements of you opponents constituency means your own constituents won’t vote for you.
In that past, a leader that resorted to calling their opponents Nazis would have been hounded out of office by all the media, no longer.
According to Turnbull, the Liberal Party in Victoria has been taken over by the “hard right.”
Yeah, suuure it has!
Moron.
Did the Liberals point out in advertisements that Victoria had, by a large number, the highest number of Covid deaths per state? Surely that would have been a good point to make. Did they wimp out again?
I wonder who wipes the green slime from his chin?
SAY WHAT!! The devil has plenty of takers for his “guidance”.
‘It’s heresy!’: Worshippers left ‘in tears’ as Cambridge dean claims Jesus was TRANSGENDER after row over Christ’s wound having a ‘vaginal appearance’
• Cambridge research student claimed Christ had a ‘trans body’ during a sermon
• He compared Christ’s side wound depicted in medieval paintings to a vagina
• Church worshippers cried ‘heresy’ at the Dean of Trinity College when they left
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11473423/Its-heresy-Worshippers-left-tears-Cambridge-dean-claims-Jesus-TRANSGENDER.html
“Did they wimp out again?”
Ahh yes, that’s the one thing they’re good at….wimping out.
You’re taking personal responsibility?
Good for you.
Tony Abbott showed that the way to get into government from opposition is to oppose everything the government says, does and proposes.
He was a terrible disappointment in government himself, yes, but his success as opposition leader should have shown all others thereafter how to do it.
Matthew Guy did otherwise and we have now seen how that went.
Dear oh. If the conceited, dishonourable cap fits.
Dear oh – if the conceited, dishonourable cap fits, wear it.
The alternative was to identify not with the delusionally victorious – the showy floribundas of Victoria – but with the Orwellian donkey, the Benjamins who remember and never forget. Not for the sake of remembering, but for the sake of the living truth.
I have just, belatedly, read up on Matt Guy and I could not determine that he is any different to Andrews!
What is The Liberal Party of Australia?
Thank you for it, Cassie!
No really, John. Respectfully, I think you’re conflating a good cause with the man himself. He is almost 80 and is only entitled to one term. It might be sweet to imagine him winning again and disrupting the whole corrupt Uniparty system (again) but this is a very large cultural program. Isn’t it time to think about someone other than Trump?
++ Yes.
Nobody knows.
The man is the cause. Nobody who knew what was (is) going on with the US was (is) willing to do something about it, or even to say it.
Who do you think can replace him? Ron could play on the fringes of the cultural war all he likes (and I sincerely hope that his believes in what he does) , but have you heard him mention deep state or draining the swamp? Does all this club money not make you doubt him? What other viable alternatives are there?
Lee Zeldin.
If that’s true, John, it’s all over.
Trump is only allowed one term and it’s highly unlikely he’ll have the House and Senate for that term. Do you really think he’s going to change everything in America by writing executive orders for a couple of years?
I’m afraid, that’s the gist of it.
He was able to make America energy independent in two short years, using mostly executive orders. Something can be done.
But I think his value is more in being a leader of a movement. If he can continue to fan the flames of this movement, there is a chance that people won’t let it die even if he will be sidelined one way or another.
Yes, he understands what’s going on. But does he have Trump’s business – “Art of the deal” – nous?
Good point re energy. That could be changed pretty quickly.
I just want the Swamp-Blobbers of the GOP destroyed forever + the best man who can win two big beautiful terms in office.
Trump started the change and for that all should be grateful.
CL: It will be proven over time. But on recent evidence Trump might well have put in play the split in the GOP that will gift elections to the Democrats.
RWNJ expresses his dearest hopes.
BJ: the nut job is correct. Sadly this is not good for GOP and very good for Democrats. You can take some pride in your own tiny part. I imagine you might be adding a bigger effort to help Labor here in Oz?
Yank
Your imagination is excessively vivid. Try instead to get in touch with reality.
BJ: midterms result is in. Australian elections are in. Which of us is dreaming?
Yank
The one who thinks there was absolutely no rorting in either election?
BJ: so the elections were fixed? Pathetic. You really don’t understand how much damage you are doing – but go right ahead and blame the umpire. Even better, why not blame voters?
One election in one state.
Yank
Can you state with absolute assurance that there was no significant electoral rorting in either the US mid-terms, or the recent Victorian election? Absolute assurance.
PS, how are you going with finding the links to me directly quoting Putin talking points?
CL: I believe there was a Federal election? And a State election in both SA and Victoria? So – when NSW goes to polls – the risk us that labor holds every government in Australia.
BJ: there have been ample cases in the US. Zip evidence. I’m not aware of a single case in Australia. Have you filed one with your apparent knowledge? I can give you absolute assurance that so far there has only been howling at the moon on the issue. As for your Putin talking points I thought it was your job to keep up.
“As for your Putin talking points I thought it was your job to keep up.”
Yank’s obsessed with Putin. I think you secretly like him.
CL: in case you missed it my point on your political preferences is that you folk have succeeded in driving the GOP into Trumpland and in Australia the coalition into the Abbott-ScoMo religious warp. In both cases the outcome is to enable the Democrats and Alp to get a free run. My concern is that conservatism has been subverted by people who are more like 1960s lefties with rigid, narrow views than the middle ground folk that used to be the core.