Civic Duty and Sausages Too(An Australian Election Thread)

[Turbofolkia]

Fitzgibbon almost lost his seat to One Nation, hopefully he and the party will learn what went wrong in his seat so that doesn't happen again.

I think they need a Queenslander either as leader or deputy to be able to win back their blue collar base. Federal Labor was
destroyed in Queensland because there was a perception that Labor was opposed to their way of life. It will take a long while for that sentiment to wash out. Labor will have to very consciously set out to rebuild its connections with those voters who have just rejected the party. People like Jim Chalmers and Joel FItzgibbon do seem like the most likely candidates who can do that.

But Christ, if Chris Bowen becomes leader, I will honestly vote Liberal just to spite the party.

Bowen as opposition leader means Morisson will be the next R. G. Menzies.

Yep, it will show that Labor has learnt nothing from their time in opposition under Howard, jumping from one dud leader to the next. I mean, I even agreed with the policies that Bowen put forward, but the election showed that he has no hope.

Apparently Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan tried to warn Shorten and Bowen that Labor was in trouble in Queensland, but they were basically told to shut up. I mean, if Shorten and Bowen were too arrogant to listen to two Queenslanders who know their state inside and out, then Labor deserved to lose. Both Shorten and Bowen need to leave parliament ASAP.

[Special Aromas]

Probably better if Fitzgibbons gets the nod because he's someone with real appeal to the working class areas that turned on the ALP in this election.

The problem that the ALP still needs to navigate is the divide in ideology between the inner city, progressive voters (socially progressive and mostly economically liberal) and the outer-suburban, rural working class voters (more often than not socially conservative with more protectionist views).

Fitzgibbon almost lost his seat to One Nation, hopefully he and the party will learn what went wrong in his seat so that doesn't happen again.

I think they need a Queenslander either as leader or deputy to be able to win back their blue collar base. Federal Labor was
destroyed in Queensland because there was a perception that Labor was opposed to their way of life. It will take a long while for that sentiment to wash out. Labor will have to very consciously set out to rebuild its connections with those voters who have just rejected the party. People like Jim Chalmers and Joel FItzgibbon do seem like the most likely candidates who can do that.

But Christ, if Chris Bowen becomes leader, I will honestly vote Liberal just to spite the party.

Fitzgibbon is the proud MP of the biggest coal mining electorate in Australia, time to start viewing him as an acceptable sacrifice if they want to double down on the current motion to win the young, educated progressive vote in the city. The other alternative is letting the Greens control the inner city electorates and praying that the Liberals don't eventually out point them on the environment and take their preferences (which if enough of the loons like Abbott get shuffled out, they will do).

[Shrillland]

Fitzgibbon almost lost his seat to One Nation, hopefully he and the party will learn what went wrong in his seat so that doesn't happen again.

I think they need a Queenslander either as leader or deputy to be able to win back their blue collar base. Federal Labor was
destroyed in Queensland because there was a perception that Labor was opposed to their way of life. It will take a long while for that sentiment to wash out. Labor will have to very consciously set out to rebuild its connections with those voters who have just rejected the party. People like Jim Chalmers and Joel FItzgibbon do seem like the most likely candidates who can do that.

But Christ, if Chris Bowen becomes leader, I will honestly vote Liberal just to spite the party.

Fitzgibbon is the proud MP of the biggest coal mining electorate in Australia, time to start viewing him as an acceptable sacrifice if they want to double down on the current motion to win the young, educated progressive vote in the city. The other alternative is letting the Greens control the inner city electorates and praying that the Liberals don't eventually out point them on the environment and take their preferences (which if enough of the loons like Abbott get shuffled out, they will do).

Maybe that would be best. The Greens becoming the urban progressive party could mean a Coalition on the left as well as on the right...I say even though there are irreconcilable differences in other fields.

[Turbofolkia]

Fitzgibbon almost lost his seat to One Nation, hopefully he and the party will learn what went wrong in his seat so that doesn't happen again.

I think they need a Queenslander either as leader or deputy to be able to win back their blue collar base. Federal Labor was
destroyed in Queensland because there was a perception that Labor was opposed to their way of life. It will take a long while for that sentiment to wash out. Labor will have to very consciously set out to rebuild its connections with those voters who have just rejected the party. People like Jim Chalmers and Joel FItzgibbon do seem like the most likely candidates who can do that.

But Christ, if Chris Bowen becomes leader, I will honestly vote Liberal just to spite the party.

Fitzgibbon is the proud MP of the biggest coal mining electorate in Australia, time to start viewing him as an acceptable sacrifice if they want to double down on the current motion to win the young, educated progressive vote in the city. The other alternative is letting the Greens control the inner city electorates and praying that the Liberals don't eventually out point them on the environment and take their preferences (which if enough of the loons like Abbott get shuffled out, they will do).

Yeah. I don’t think Labor should chase the votes of the “doctor’s wives” (Greens and Wet libs). They need to win the middle and working classes which is where elections are won.

These type of people are generally sneered upon by the greens and wet libs and are a demographic that Labor really needs to appeal to again, like it did under Hawke and Rudd. The loss of a few inner city votes to the Greens and Libs is nothing compared to the loss of its base, which is what happened on Saturday night.

Labor’s path to victory isn’t through Higgins or Kooyong. The Libs and Greens should be left to fight each other there. It’s through Herbert, Lindsay, Braddon etc. Hawke knew that. Rudd knew that. Hopefully the next ALP leader knows that too.