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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/nov/26/scott-morrison-victoria-labor-coalition-politics-live
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| Liberal senator unloads on party hardliners – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Ok this is very weird he has congratulated this victory and not mentioned the other thing https://t.co/rSsZ6wZApQ | |
| Oh wow – Michael Kroger just appeared to be arguing that part of the reason Victorians were happy to vote for a spending government, is because they have never known bad economic times. That they haven’t seen a recession, or things like foreclosures. | |
| I’ve managed to pick my jaw off the floor, but it was tough going for a while there. Thank goodness the wind didn’t change. | |
| While it is true that Australia has not technically fallen into depression, the global financial crisis did bite. Wage growth has not happened. A whole generation has been largely locked out of the housing market. Underemployment is a growing problem. Part of the reason we have a banking royal commission is because of the foreclosure of properties and farms following the ongoing drought. I could go on, but I don’t need to, because you all know your own financial position better than I do. But to say that we haven’t experienced tough financial times, so we just don’t get why tight government budget control is important is absolutely flabbergasting. And might, just might, explain why the Liberals campaign in Victoria failed to win hearts and minds. | |
| Michael Kroger, the president of the Victorian Liberal party, says he won’t be resigning from his position, because he is not to blame. | |
| I mean, he only headed up the campaign, but sure. | |
| Speaking to Sky, Kroger says the Victorian Liberals were beaten on policy, because Labor was offering so much free stuff. | |
| That “free stuff” is things like breakfast for secondary school students (primary students already get it) and free sanitary products, and spending on infrastructure and services. | |
| His argument seems to be people love governments spending on their infrastructure and services, and the Victorian Liberals could not compete with that. | |
| And to those colleagues who have been blaming the federal party for the result, Kroger says “grow up”. | |
| He has also mentioned, at least three times, that the party is a “little more sophisticated down here”, which is why they understand he is not to blame. | |
| You may have seen a bit of commentary around from conservative types over the weekend, that Peter Dutton could have changed the Victorian election result. | |
| The only way Dutton as leader would have impacted the Victorian election was to make it worse. Dutton certainly has his fans, but it would be a mistake to think that because he appeals to some voters in Queensland, that Dutton would appeal to small-L liberal voters across the country. | |
| Because the mistake we keep seeing is politicians thinking Queensland voters all think the same way, all vote the same way, and each region wants exactly the same thing from its parliamentarians. | |
| Queensland is unique in that 50% of the population is decentralised. So take the state together, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what a lot of the country is thinking. But it is impossible to pigeonhole. Voters in the south-east are a hell of a lot different in their thinking than voters in the north. | |
| And you are not just a “real” person if you live in north Queensland, despite what Liberal MPs keep telling me. | |
| The sooner politicians realise that every voter is a “real” person, and that every single region in Australia exists in some sort of “bubble”, the sooner they might actually start to connect with them. | |
| Just a reminder – Scott Morrison still hasn’t commented on the Victorian election result. | |
| Not even a statement. | |
| Scott Ryan has given his two cents on the Victorian state election and he says one of the lessons is the Liberal party must pay attention to “our electoral base – our real base”. | |
| The senator from Victoria told Radio National the result saw “swings in previously safe Liberal seats, seats that are cradle of the Liberal party” such as Kew, Sandringham, Brighton, Box Hill and Hawthorn that sit in the federal seats of Goldstein, Higgins, Menzies and Kooyong. | |
| Ryan said while Liberals are often personally conservative they are liberal in their political outlook and don’t seek to impose their views on others. He said social issues and climate change should not become litmus tests for what it means to be a “real Liberal” and people should not be told they are “not conservative enough”. | |
| Ryan said the “noise out of Canberra is not what people are focused on in their everyday lives”. | |
| He said religious freedom was a “distraction” before the Wentworth byelection and although religious freedom and discrimination law might be important issues they weren’t raised with him at polling places. | |
| Ryan has a pretty big serve at conservative commentators (Sky After Dark) who dismissed the voters of the Wentworth byelection as “somehow not party of real Australia” because the electorate is too progressive. | |
| He said: | |
| Labelling people, dismissing them, that’s not the Liberal way. I want to cast the net wide in the Menzies and Howard tradition, to give people a reason to be Liberals not come up with litmus tests ... that is not the path to electoral success. And I am sick of being lectured to by people who are not members of the party, by people who have never stood on polling booths about what it means to be a real Liberal. | |
| That united and stable approach Bill Shorten just mentioned is approaching record proportions for an opposition leader. | |
| On Sunday, Shorten cracked the top 10 of longest-serving federal opposition leaders. | |
| A Bill Shorten record. Today he overtakes Bill Hayden's term of 5 years, 1 month and 12 days as Opposition Leader. He's now the 10th longest-serving OL and will overtake Scullin's two separate terms on January 3. https://t.co/bU6uLqItkC | |
| Bill Shorten popped up on Sky News this morning – in the studio (Sky has a new studio in Canberra, which, as Laura Jayes just mentioned, is known as the mother ship – it is HUUUUGGGGE), and the Labor leader seems, as you would expect, to be in pretty good spirits. | |
| I note he is in the studio because while Shorten does hold a press conference most days, and is no stranger to the radio scene, it is fairly rare to see the Labor leader interviewed one-on-one live to air. | |
| He, of course, has a few things to say about the Victorian election. | |
| “[To those Liberals] who believe there is no message for the Liberal brand in Australia, well, that is up to them,” he says. | |
| “How they do the postmortem and the recriminations, I am not going to get involved in. But what I saw on Saturday, what I have seen all round Australia, better schools and better hospitals, trumps cuts and chaos and division. | |
| “What I heard on Saturday as I was handing out in the suburbs of Melbourne, was people saying they were sick of the division in the Liberal party, they just want some continuity , some stability– they also want some long-term vision. | |
| “The message I have taken from Victoria is a positive one. Stick to the policies, stick to looking after the people, stay united and stable like we have for over five years, and people will reward you.” | |
| Scott Ryan is on Radio National, and from the sound of things, the Senate president is done following the line that the Liberal party has its house in order and everything is fine. Paul Karp will be bringing you more from what is shaping up to be an extraordinary interview, very soon. | Scott Ryan is on Radio National, and from the sound of things, the Senate president is done following the line that the Liberal party has its house in order and everything is fine. Paul Karp will be bringing you more from what is shaping up to be an extraordinary interview, very soon. |
| Ryan says the noise from Canberra is saying "you have got to have a particular view on climate change, you have got to have a particular view on religious freedom if you're not a real Liberal." | Ryan says the noise from Canberra is saying "you have got to have a particular view on climate change, you have got to have a particular view on religious freedom if you're not a real Liberal." |
| "I think these people... they don't want litmus tests for Ryan said those voters don't want "a litmus test on what it means to be a real Liberal." | "I think these people... they don't want litmus tests for Ryan said those voters don't want "a litmus test on what it means to be a real Liberal." |
| Welcome to the first of the final parliamentary sitting days for 2018 – and what a two weeks it is shaping up to be. | Welcome to the first of the final parliamentary sitting days for 2018 – and what a two weeks it is shaping up to be. |
| Scott Morrison walks into the parliament for the first time as a prime minister of a minority government. | Scott Morrison walks into the parliament for the first time as a prime minister of a minority government. |
| Since we last gathered here on these pages, the Coalition lost Wentworth, which seemed to surprise even those party types who were expecting a poor result, and the Liberals not only lost the Victorian election, Labor came back with an increased majority. | Since we last gathered here on these pages, the Coalition lost Wentworth, which seemed to surprise even those party types who were expecting a poor result, and the Liberals not only lost the Victorian election, Labor came back with an increased majority. |
| Cue a whole heap of “the federal shenanigans had nothing to do with it” explanations, despite quite a few voters telling the government that dumping a prime minister for no apparent reason, does, actually, have everything to do with it. I mean, what do Wentworth and the entire state of Victoria have in common, other than a complete trouncing of the federal ruling party? | |
| And then there is the latest Newspoll, which, despite a slight bump in personal popularity for Morrison, shows the government remains very unpopular. Facing losing 20-plus seats at the next federal election, unpopular. A primary result of 34% unpopular. | And then there is the latest Newspoll, which, despite a slight bump in personal popularity for Morrison, shows the government remains very unpopular. Facing losing 20-plus seats at the next federal election, unpopular. A primary result of 34% unpopular. |
| So, it is not great. On any measure. | So, it is not great. On any measure. |
| But that has never stopped the spin before, and it won’t, as we head in to the last eight days of sitting. | But that has never stopped the spin before, and it won’t, as we head in to the last eight days of sitting. |
| Labor and the crossbench will be seizing their chance to make hay – they will be talking together about getting a national integrity commission up from the opposition benches. It is rare, but not impossible. In this case, it needs an absolute majority, which is 75 plus one, so someone from the government will have to wander over to the other side, to bring on the debate for any private members’ bill. There are a few names floating around as potential floor crosses, because at this stage, what does anyone have to lose? | |
| We’ll follow that, and all the days events, as Kerryn Phelps is sworn in and delivers her maiden speech. So I hope you’ll keep checking back. Mike Bowers has been snaffled elsewhere this week, but you still have the Guardian brains trust at your disposal, as well as my caffeine-fuelled fingers. | |
| I am on coffee number two. By this time next week, I am sure that number will have doubled. I hope you’re ready. | I am on coffee number two. By this time next week, I am sure that number will have doubled. I hope you’re ready. |
| Let’s get into it. | Let’s get into it. |