Listening to Labor’s spin on the night of the Queensland election and in the days that followed has been a clear example of an attempt to hide a bad election result in plain sight.
During ABC coverage on Saturday afternoon, federal Labor Minister Annika Wells was allowed to wax lyrical about how disappointing the LNP’s victory was, given that it came after three Labor terms in power.
He stressed that, at best, the state opposition was only going to go over the line, which after nine years of Labor government was appallingly bad.
‘What we’re seeing here is that the LNP has been too busy measuring the curtains, wrapping itself in cotton wool, (running a) small targeting campaign, more focused on making life easier on the other side of getting the keys than getting out. and win the mandate of Queenslanders first,” Wells said.
But based on current seat projections, the LNP is likely to win 53 seats (47 is the majority). Labor is unlikely to win more than 34 seats (just 64 per cent of the LNP total).
This is a more resounding and emphatic victory in numerical terms than Anthony Albanese’s victory over Scott Morrison in the 2022 federal election, where Labor won 77 seats (a slim majority) and the Coalition won 58 (75 per cent of the total of the Labor Party).
And it was after three terms of the Coalition in power, the same as Labor in Queensland.
Does Wells think Albo limped across the finish line with a weak victory in 2022, given that his victory was less convincing compared to what happened on Saturday night?
Of course, Wells was not held accountable for the hypocrisy of such statements, nor for the utter inaccuracy of the comments.
Now that the absurdity of claiming the LNP’s victory was narrow is clearer than day, Labor has found a new spin to justify the result: the Greens were the real losers on Saturday.
Never mind that the Greens’ primary vote held firm, while Labour’s primary vote collapsed by seven percentage points.
And the fact that the Greens did not win more seats is entirely due to the LNP making a decision in principle to prefer the minor party.
Otherwise, the LNP’s preferences would have given the Greens a series of new victories over Labour.
Will the federal Labor Party look to follow suit and give preference to the Greens as the Queensland LNP did? Since you’re so impressed with the consequences?
Of course not. Which I don’t mind: parties can be electorally strategic about how they choose their preferences if they want to.
Just don’t claim that the demise of the Greens as a result of the LNP not preferring them is some kind of moral victory for the Labor Party.
Because those are the lines printed in Labor’s talking points for federal MPs following the Queensland defeat.
Voters have realized that the Greens cannot achieve what Labor can achieve.affirm the topics of conversation.
Senator Murray Watt stuck to that script yesterday.
Actually? So why did Labor lose the election and the Greens’ primary vote remain intact?
Beyond the twist, what are the real implications of the LNP’s victory on Saturday?
Peter Dutton hopes new Prime Minister David Crisafulli will not do anything too radical between now and the federal election due in May next year that could divert voters from the party brand they share.
Crisafulli is unlikely to do so, given the backlash to Campbell Newman’s antics after his 2012 state victory.
Albo’s team suggested the result was disappointing for the LNP. Days later, it now appears that David Crisafulli’s team scored a solid victory
Dutton could even benefit from the halo effect of Crisafulli continuing to enjoy a political honeymoon in the next federal election. Likewise, Albo benefited from Washington Premier Mark McGowan’s popularity in the wake of the pandemic in the 2022 election.
But no one will ever be as popular in Australian politics as McGowan was back then. And Crisafulli could really make life more difficult for Dutton on the nuclear power issue.
He has already said he opposes the idea, which is the core policy platform the federal opposition leader has announced so far.
Furthermore, Queensland voters have traditionally chosen one major party at the state level and a different one at the federal level.
With the Coalition holding the majority of seats in Queensland at federal level (21 seats compared to just five for Labor), Dutton desperately hopes Queenslanders will not look to balance the main party’s representation any time soon. .
Most likely they won’t. Anthony Albanese is unpopular in Queensland and Dutton is originally from Queensland.
But it is always a risk.
