After shedding the Liberal-stronghold seat, Peter Dutton says he should maintain the celebration collectively. That’s a recipe for continued irrelevance.
Regardless of the Liberals having wheeled out John Howard in a number of state and federal election campaigns with none nice impact, his political legacy and views nonetheless loom massive, each when it comes to coverage and evaluation.
The previous prime minister was a giant fan of describing Victoria because the Massachusetts of Australian politics — a progressive political island with totally different values than the remainder of Australia, and atypical and subsequently a spot the place uniform political classes couldn’t be drawn from a loss.
However the information of the Liberals’ byelection loss within the federal seat of Aston recommend it’s not Victoria that’s the political aberration at odds with the Australian inhabitants — it’s the celebration’s politics, extra notably the views of its conservative wing, noxious to nearly all states bar Queensland.
Learn extra concerning the Liberals’ dire scenario…
Grow to be a subscriber to get full entry to the web site, in addition to our premium newsletters.
Already a subscriber? Log in to maintain studying.
