Federal election 2019: Why I’m voting for the Liberals

When Jessica Mudditt votes on Saturday, it will be for the Liberal Party — although she admits the decision is not as easy as it has been in the past.

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This Saturday I’ll be voting Liberal. I have to admit, this is the closest I’ve come to not voting for them.

I’m still angry that Malcolm Turnbull was dumped back in August, and I can’t stand climate change denier Tony Abbott or dingbat Dutton.

As for Scomo, I can take him or leave him. He’s not particularly irritating or offensive and he has an easy assurance that I like, even though he’s a bit too conservative for my tastes.

For me, deciding how to vote at this election has involved a process of elimination.

I’m going to vote for a major party because I want the strongest say possible in who our next government will be.

And let’s face it, it isn’t going to be the Greens.

And I can’t bring myself to vote for Labor because Bill Shorten drives me up the wall.

I can’t think of a less charismatic politician. His voice trails off as though he is unconvinced of what he himself is saying. His eyes wander and he runs funny.

I know these things are superficial, but I don’t want to have to listen to him rabbit on as our leader for the next three years.

I’d prefer to listen to ScoMo, especially as he seems less snarky with journalists nowadays when they ask him a curly question. Someone must have told him to stop that.

For Jessica, PM Scott Morrison is the lesser of the evils. Picture: AAP Image/SMH Pool, Dominic Lorrimer

And on a less superficial note, I don’t trust Shorten or Labor to run the economy — for that we need the Libs.

In an election campaign that has mostly been a yawn fest, Shorten’s standout gaffe was about Labor having no plans to increase taxes on superannuation contributions.

Doing so is, in fact, Labor policy. In 2016, it announced a raft of changes that would generate $30 billion over a decade.

When Shorten was accused of forgetting his own party’s policy, his Labor colleague suggested that he misheard or misunderstood the question.

I remain unconvinced.

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Similarly, Shorten’s vagueness about the economic impact of Labor’s climate change policy is worrying.

I am all for taking a strong stand on climate change, but it has to be a practical plan or it won’t get us anywhere.

Labor has pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 — which is much more ambitious than the Government’s target of 28 per cent.

Although Labor’s plan sounds good in theory, the problem is that Shorten won’t put a price tag on it.

During an appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 program a couple of weeks ago, he repeatedly refused to say what its short-term cost would be on Australia’s GDP.

But after the interview, someone else did it for him.

BAEconomics released modelling showing Labor’s climate change plan would cost the economy $264 billion — $264 billion!

That’s why if you can’t cost something — if you can’t even provide a ballpark figure — it shouldn’t be part of an election campaign.

Otherwise you can just promise the world and then say later that you’re sorry, but it’s too expensive to follow through on.

Bill Shorten won’t be getting Jessica’s vote. Picture: Kym Smith

By comparison, the Liberals have been a lot more disciplined — and to my mind, realistic — about what they will deliver if re-elected.

This is in keeping with their style of running things these past six years.

I fear less that I will have to pay more taxes under a Liberal government or that they will get us into debt.

And we ought to give the Government credit for last year delivering a surplus budget for the first time in more than a decade. The last time Labor achieved that was 30 years ago.

The Liberals also seem to generate more original ideas that will genuinely benefit Australians, whereas Labor seems completely preoccupied with health and quick to copy their opponent on other issues.

This week, for example, Labor said it would match the Liberal policy of allowing a home deposit of 5 per cent not 20 per cent for first homebuyers. I would have loved them to have pledged a “no deposit” scheme (as if, right?!).

So when I line up to order my democracy sausage this weekend, I’ll be asking for a side of more of the same.

Jessica Mudditt is a freelance journalist in Sydney. Continue the conversation @JessicaMudditt