Sneak election postmortem: 'Progressive' Labor gives 'ignorant' voters another chance

When Labor unaccountably lost Election 2019, inhouse reviewers Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill summarised problems in 500 words. Key message:

Labor should position itself as a party of economic growth and job creation…policy formulation should be guided by the national interest, avoiding any perception of capture.

Has not the 2022-2025 Albanese Government been all this and more? Overcoming the at-times surly regard from unenlightened voters, Mr Albanese is giving them a scarcely deserved second chance.

Educated, impartial, reviewers Greg Eminem and Jai Weathervane deliver the postmortem. On sneak preview to On Line Opinion, here's their wrap:

PM Albanese's win in summary

<< For months we'd feared for Labor. Because of the global economy, climate change, worldwide trends, Ukraine War, Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch, misinformation, Reserve Bank, Cyclone Alfred, and Mini-Trump Peter Dutton.

This perfect storm of exogenous factors disrupted the inclusive vision of PM and his globetrotting Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers, PhD on Keating. Yet we can't ignore the central cause of election hard-yards. Voters are insufficiently globalised - selfish, ignorant, and racistnativist.

The Voice:

Ill-informed electors miscued The Voice. Labor had offered them a simple enough choice. A – Alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. B – Laura Tingle knows you're racist .

Scorning tutelage and preferences of educated inner city folk, the bottom 60% of voters plumped for B. In his concession speech PM overlooked their miserable error.

Immigration and population:

Ex-Loreto-Toorak and ex-Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil (MPP Harvard) epitomises Modern Labor's profound identification with ordinary citizens. A PM in waiting no less.

As she stridently gaslitdemurely counselled voters, dinkum Aussie values favour truckloads of immigration's special sauce to win global talent-wars. Simultaneously she'd halve immigration to fix stale-male Dutton's broken system .

Her Immigration Minister, lawyer-statesman Andrew Giles, would clear the racialist visa-backlog pinpointed by immigration whisperersavant Dr Abul Rizvi PhD PSM. "We'll realise our potential as a reconciled nation," intoned Andrew, "that harnesses its diversity."

These nation-builders rush-landed a million migrants in 24 months, 70% higher than Mr Rudd's astronomical numbers. Careful reform par excellence - steady gradual reform.

Treasury megaphoneIndependent expert Dr Martin Parkinson PhD AC PSM had clarified the migration-situation in his sublime 2023 review . Clearly, a United Nations Australia is not allowed to wind back its own migration levels - because migration depends upon migration. Not to mention, Home Affairs' treacherous labyrinth of 70 visa categories.

Unfortunately, our nation-builders had to be reshuffled. Bad luck, triggered by 150 detainees, as neutral ABC clarified.

Wise Ms Tingle reminded Labor, sensible conversation please, on immigration. This need not include voters – or mention Labor's inadvertent immigration overshoot – catching up for COVID. That wouldn't be inclusive.

As Dutton acquiesced, Diwali represents Aussie values, as much as Chinese New Year or Hallowe'en. Voters were slow to embrace sectarian India's exploding population as Australia's special partner in its own population explosion.

With PM reinstalled, the UN-accredited Greens-Treasury-Labor program of annual minimum 300,000 immigration can sail on, through to 2035.

Climate and energy:

Avoiding policy-capture, Labor's laser scorched vested energy-interests.

The gas cartelconvention of Gillard Labor had held for a decade, with manufacturers and consumers tithed to support hard-earned profits of altruistic energy-exporters.

With Ukraine War raising the spectre of super-profits, Labor moved as fast as scar tissue allowed.

We "capped" the gas price at $12Gj, giving consumers a welcome energy rebate, using free government-money. If Saudi could import oil we could import gas. As per inclusive UN policy, we give awaystrategically market our coal-gas bonanza for the welfare of China and India .

UN enforcersPractically-minded ANU and Greens urged PM, go net-zero 2035. Sensitive to UN priorities, he looked askance at senescent Europe.

Though EU emissions have fallen appreciably, their population growth is stunted. Australia was matching it with Nigeria.

We checked comparatively low-migration US, their noticeable drop in emissions being driven by coal-to-gas switching. But gas has no place in the UN energy-palette, as socially-just nations approach the net-zero rainbow.

Ssh, net-zero's a fallacy, and Australia hasn't really reduced its emissions. It just looks as if we have - factoring in specialised Australia Deductions re land-uses.

The Coalition noticed, our "integrated system" energy plan (ISP) was a hoax. Some imagine, cynical Labor operatives must have planted Dutton's hybrid "nuclear-net-zero" response. No, he irradiated himself.

Jobs and growth:

Jobs, job, jobs. On his sporadic visits from Washington DC back to Canberra ACT, Treasurer activated the crucial Emerson-Weatherill slogan.

He delivered a million new jobs inside three years. Plus gender-equity, five quarters of real wages growth, cheaper services, cost-free government rebates.

This was where populist un-curated (non-ABC-ANU that is) misinformation tried to hurt us.

One racialist agitator told unblinking Liberals, Australia was dismantling itself from within, Liberal seats being stacked with pro-Labor Indian immigrants. Some jibed, the million jobs were government-related jobs for the million migrants. Voters' disposable incomes had crashed, insinuated others, real wages still in freefall.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Churn-and-change Treasurer had always had the right plan.

As embeddedindependent SMH journalist Peter Hartcher inferred, communication and messaging were letting us down.

Voters' sluggish perceptions of everyday reality proved hard to budge. These deplorablesdenizens barely understood they'd never had it so good.

Over 2025-28, we won't be able to create another million jobs for migrantsresidents, quite so fast. What about jobs longer term?

Some decry the gutting of manufacturing jobs, failure to levy the resources bounty, jobs drifting into the so-called non-market sector. PM rejects this constipated 20^th century thinking.

On the contrary, the bedpancare sector is a productivity boon and our 5% manufacturing remnant will rise like a phoenix. Effortlessly, our wide-brown carbon-sink will become a globally-envied energy superpower in the UN-accredited net-zero transformation stream. With Tesla knowhow signposting open-borders net-zero pathways to R&D supremacy.

Cost of living:

Are you better off than three years ago?

Voters were stumped by this Trumpian question. Having low attention span,they barely appreciated our reforms (conscientious Guardian). How hard we work to reduce immigration and build houses (comprehensive ABC). Indeed, the migration shortfall (ANU knowledge).

How often did Treasurer repeat? Caring Labor stood for budget repair, inflation fighting, a million jobs, growing wages, cost-of-living relief, housing accord, and net-zero transformation.

The Opposition knew this was just spin but somehow declined to offer meaningful alternatives. Voters focused on their weaknesses - not our depredations.

Amplifying Treasurer was future-leader O'Neil, revitalising her Housing and Homelessness portfolio, by pretend-housing her million-plus migrants.

This dynamo quickly intuited three measures. Build, build, build was her grand, gritty, grinding task. She'd accept nothing less than sustainably rising house prices.

Labor had tamed inflation in an election year – was anyone listening? Well yes, indoctrinated Gen Z voters were keen-as-mustard to savour the shrivelling employment/housing prospects that accompany massive in-migration. Who are we to disappoint these young idealists?

Why did other selfish voters regress to vulgar hip-pocket issues? Why would they imagine overpopulation, falling living standards, stagnant wages, world-level unaffordable housing?

Apart from Murdoch Factor, and that ungrateful tent-prole petitioning PM's coastal retreat, we can never fully elucidate the answers. We just know we dodged a bullet.

With Dutton hiring a Liberal oaf as his chief political advisor, with the pair displaying all the tactical chops of a Barnaby Joyce or Ros Kelly , fresh outbreaks of Trump Derangement Syndrome soon made the election a rout.

Again, it wasn't us prompting the Coalition, to bucket working from home. They went all 1950s by themselves.

We doubt voting masses fully realise their luck. Despite misgivings, our small party of 60,000 progressives has held their nosesbuckled down bravely to give them another chance.

As Ms Tingle parses it, the complete purge of conservative MPs from inner city seats, the rental disaster and the widespread homelessness, these are notable wins for social cohesion. Through her bejewelled lens it's the Coalition not us prosecuting ideological "culture wars". How good is our billion dollar propaganda ministrycommunity broadcaster!

Nevertheless, we can't leave it all to enlightened schools and universities, to inculcate the eternal Labor-Greens truths. Democracy and equality can only flourish under the auspices of UN-OECD-EU climate-action and open-borders. Otherwise, you'd be a racist.

Our progressive hymn is sheeted home – but we must always continue to battle voter ignorance.

Dr Craig Eminem PhD FAAS FPIA Dr Jai Weathervane PhD FESA FAICD May 2025>>