NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley stole the march on population and resourcing in Western Sydney
THE Berejiklian Government might score political points in question time coming at Labor Leader Luke Foley but they won’t score votes where they need them because the politically correct view is not the view in the suburbs, writes Anna Caldwell.
Opinion
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ONE of the great lessons out of Hillary Clinton’s failed bid to bring down Donald Trump is that you get nowhere screaming the virtues of political correctness.
Call an outrageous bloke racist, and you end up levelling the same accusation at the millions who think just like him.
In fact, if there was a Clinton how-to-lose playbook, chapter one would be something like Calling Them Deplorables Might Be Fun But You’ll Lose.
Clinton made much of capitalising on Trump as a divisive factor and taking the moral high ground against him.
She was celebrated by the Left, but came out of the whole affair looking out of touch with white, Middle America.
And that’s how you lose an election.
This was a lesson lost on the Berejiklian government this week when they shouted down Labor’s Luke Foley over his declaration there was a “white flight” phenomenon of Anglo families abandoning suburbs that didn’t have the jobs, education and transport resources to cope with the influx of refugees.
Divisive, they called him.
Dangerous. Nasty. Even racist.
Don’t be mistaken, their venom was genuine and not confected.
Berejiklian was truly affronted by the choice of the words “white flight”, no doubt in part a nod to her own migrant heritage.
So, sure, it was genuine — but politically wise is a totally different proposition and one it was not.
The government might score political points in question time coming at Foley from the Left — and they certainly added to the heat their opponent was feeling internally — but they won’t score votes where they need them.
As one wise Labor MP who was supportive of Foley’s remarks said to me: “This is the stuff people are talking about at the dinner table and if we can’t talk about it too, what good are we?”
To assume the politically correct view is going to be the view in the suburbs is a mistake.
The Daily Telegraph’s own trip to Fairfield, where residents there were asking where have all the white people gone, is testament to that fact.
Conservatives like Turnbull government minister Angus Taylor, who has backed Mr Foley, know this issue of swelling populations and resources to help migrants settle in is a vote winner.
In fact some senior Berejiklian government MPs also were privately jittery that Foley had stolen the march on the issue of population and resourcing in Western Sydney.
Foley was first past the post on the issue earlier this year when he said we needed to have a conversation about limiting migrant numbers because the state needed to find the resources to support them.
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Berejiklian followed suit with a similar argument months later.
“Don’t get me wrong, we want to talk about these issues too,” one senior Coalition minister said to me.
“We should have gone there first. Foley was ahead of the game, throwing hooks at the government on turf that should have been their own.
It was, fundamentally a vote winner. And it would have been. Until he made the biggest mistake of them all.
The choice of words “white flight” might not have been Foley’s greatest moment in politics — but what was far worse was that he blinked.
His grovelling apology and morose question time demeanour while the other side derided him as a racist saw Foley suddenly giving credence to every voice in government that was labelling him as such.
He is now facing questions about his leadership because he allowed his choice of words to be construed as a major error of judgment.
Painting Foley as a racist was a quick out for a Coalition government that’s smart enough to circle back on the issues he raised — minus the phrase white flight — and claim it for themselves.
If Foley hadn’t backed down, it’s possible he wouldn’t be under the leadership heat he’s feeling, but instead we’d have picked over the issue of how Fairfield has been left to fend for itself with thousands of new residents and not enough resources.
The truth is there is a group of Labor figures who are questioning Foley’s suitability and ability to take down Gladys Berejiklian and they were already asking those questions before the white flight chapter.
White flight, though, gave them the ammunition to push further.
It will be very difficult for him to battle another crisis and survive to fight the election.
In the weeks before white flight, the Penrith Council by-elections rattled the anti-Foley forces and MPs more broadly.
The party has long believed that taking Stuart Ayres’ seat of Penrith will be like taking candy from a baby and a high-profile coup that would headline its election prospects.
The Penrith Council by-elections were expected by those of that theory to prove their point in terms of a swing being on away from the Liberal party. They were ultimately disappointed.
While Labor held the East Ward, the Liberals had a swing towards them of more than 10 per cent. The Liberals also held the South Ward, with an increase in primary support.
“If we’re not miles ahead in Penrith already, what hope have we got?” a senior Labor source said last week.
Foley now very firmly finds himself in a position where he needs to prove himself in order to survive.
There’s no doubt the words “white flight” were not a smart move.
But let’s call this for what it is. Foley is no racist.
He’s the bloke who wants to hang the Aboriginal flag from the Harbour Bridge 365 days a year.
He was carving out an attack path against the government, botched his delivery and was spooked.
Labor MPs wanting to claim government are right to expect better from their leader.
But to think the government won the day by humiliating Foley fails to see the significance of the real issues he was raising.
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