Essay by Eric Worrall
The Australian Labor Party has decisively won Saturday’s Federal Election – but support for climate skeptics rose a little.
The Greens;
Greens on track to lose several MPs as independents hold off challenges and gain votes in federal election
Greens suffer setbacks as teal independents Allegra Spender, Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan and Zali Steggall see off intense campaigns from Liberals, while Nicolette Boele leads in Bradfield
Voters have dealt a significant blow to the Greens, with the minor party on track to lose several MPs – including potentially its party leader, Adam Bandt – and fall short in other electorates that it had hoped to win from Labor, while several teal independents retained their seats with improved margins and others are on track to win seats previously held by the Coalition.
At the Greens’ election night function in Melbourne, the party faithful had largely tuned out of the election results broadcast, as early results predicted Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates would lose their respective seats of Griffith and Brisbane to Labor.
And in the Brisbane seat of Ryan, the future of Elizabeth Watson-Brown – who, with Chandler-Mather and Bates, won their seats for the Greens for the first time at the 2022 election – was unclear, with early results on a knife-edge.
…
The lukewarmers had a really bad night – Peter Dutton, the leader of the mainstream opposition, lost his own seat. There is a firm tradition in Australian politics you cannot be party leader if you don’t have a seat in parliament.
Dutton booted from his own seat on night of misery for Liberal Party
Maddison Leach 10:03pm May 3, 2025
Peter Dutton has lost his own seat of Dickson, which he had held since 2001, in a night of misery for the Liberal Party.
Speaking in Brisbane, Dutton publicly conceded the election and his own seat, saying “tonight’s not the night that we wanted for the Liberal Party or for our Coalition or indeed for our country”.
“We didn’t do well enough during this campaign. That much is obvious tonight and I accept full responsibility for that,” he said.
…
Climate skeptic One Nation had a good night for a minority party, but despite the electoral setback for the greens, the greens still received twice as many votes as One Nation (see above). There is a sliver of a chance One Nation’s gains in the senate could give them a veto vote on some bills, but the senate vote count likely won’t be finalised for weeks.
It could be weeks before Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’s biggest question is answered
By Maddison Leach 11:47pm May 3, 2025
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has scored more than 600,000 votes in the 2025 federal election as it hopes to increase its Senate representation.
With more than 50 per cent of votes counted, the party appears to have a positive 1.25 per cent swing.
Hanson has yet to comment on One Nation’s results and the biggest question – how her daughter will fare in the election – won’t be answered tonight.
…
So why did Labor do so well? Despite Labor’s hardline renewable energy stance, the Aussie federal election on 3 May 2025 was a long way from being a climate change election. Even greens didn’t talk much about climate change, they focussed more on world events, housing affordability and their economic plans.
The socialist Labor party won because they gave ordinary Australians a reason to vote for them. They presented a vision of more job security and government funded assistance with cost of living pressures and housing affordability.
Just as Trump’s economic plan to bring down inflation, cost of living and energy costs connected with ordinary Americans, so the socialist Australian Labor Party vision of flinging subsidies and government funded housing at people in need connected with ordinary Australians.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton failed to articulate a coherent competing vision which addressed issues which mattered to undecided voters, and failed to explain why his vision would deliver better outcomes. Dutton’s out of touch campaign missteps, such as his attempt to outflank the incumbents with an emissions reduction plan based on government funded nuclear power plants fell flat because it was badly explained and because the electorate has moved on – cost of living pressure and job uncertainty has driven green issues way down the list of most people’s priorities.
Prime Minister Albanese also successfully played the patriotism card, just as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did in Canada’s recent election. Australia’s Albanese made a big show of standing up to Trump on tariffs. Albanese’s appointment of a US ambassador who said lots of hateful things about Trump may have played into this narrative of standing up to Trump.
Dutton by contrast, instead of meeting this school yard posturing head on, made a weak last minute effort to distance himself from President Trump, which likely did more harm than good by alienating right wing voters whose support he desperately needed.
The leader with the plan to solve high priority problems won the election. It doesn’t matter if the plan is flawed, if those flaws go unchallenged. Nobody else presented a better plan.
Related
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
