Piers Akerman: It could all end up in teals if Albanese cosies up to lunatic lefties to win another term

With the failure of the Labor experiment, Australians must vote for change – and that means not muddling in the middle with a wasted teal vote, writes Piers Akerman.

Ex-tropical cyclone Alfred is the least of the storms buffeting Anthony Albanese as he shilly-shallys over the date of the federal election.

He may think that the ill winds blowing his way may change the longer he prevaricates, but procrastination may not be a good bet when the trend is running the wrong way for Labor.

With the cost of living foremost in the minds of most householders – except, perhaps, wealthy teals and welfare-dependent Greens – driven, in large part, by the cost of replacing reliable fossil fuel energy with unreliable wind and solar stored in expensive batteries with meagre capacity, logic should mean the end of the Labor experiment.

Add the fiascos over immigration (opening the doors to 3000 Gazans with few security checks), national security (reliant on civilian aircraft pilots to alert us to the presence of Chinese navy live-fire exercises), the housing crisis and the surge in anti-Semitism and there are more than sufficient reasons to vote Albanese’s government out.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has an uphill battle, though, as Labor was voted into office when things were, generally, in pretty good shape. The electorate felt that “Call me Albo”, his dog, Toto, and fiancee Jodie would keep things rolling along well enough to vote for the-then new teals (who insist they aren’t a political party).

The electorate felt that Anthony “Call me Albo” Albanese would keep things rolling along well enough to vote for the-then new teals. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Die-hard lunatic lefties had the Greens but the teals appealed to an upper-middle class strata of elite woke folk who were disappointed when their kumbaya fantasy of The Voice failed at the 2023 referendum.

The rejection of an idea that the virtue-signalling chattering classes thought would keep activist Aboriginals happy only served to remind average voters of the failures of previous Indigenous-only bodies like the scandal-ridden ATSIC, and the millions paid out with little or no accountability to the grievance industry seeking to perpetuate myths of Stolen Generations, colonialisation, massacres and made-to-order sacred sites that may generate reparations.

Zali Steggall. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Allegra Spender. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer

Teal Zali Steggall, who ran as an independent and toppled former prime minister Tony Abbott in Warringah, appealed to the surf culture population of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, notwithstanding Abbott’s voluntary service as a surf lifesaver and Rural Fire Service captain. In the current parliament, she has voted on legislation with the Greens (78 per cent) and with Labor (77 per cent) more than she has with the Liberals (20 per cent).

In Wentworth, Allegra Spender gave more of her legislative votes to Labor (71 per cent) than to the Greens (70 per cent). Her votes with the Liberals, who should make up the majority in her gold-plated electorate, came a distant third (27 per cent).

Eight electorates are represented by teals, all bankrolled by millionaire Simon Holmes à Court. The teals are being coy about which party they would support if there were to be a hung parliament. Labor currently believes it will be able to form a minority government with Greens and teals support. The thought of Albanese trooping down to Yarralumla to ask Governor-General Sam Mostyn to keep him in office with the backing of the teals and Greens should be enough to give voters in teal electorates reason to reconsider supporting those who have contribut­ed nothing of value to the nation.

Weak to the point of non-existence on national security, closely aligned to fringe groups like GetUp, lacking any coherence in economic policy, and advocates of higher tax and greater government spending, they represent nearly everything that has weakened the West in the past three decades.

Thanks to Albanese, his clownish energy tsar Chris Bowen and the teals and Greens, Australia has followed similar failed policies – and under another Labor government would not deviate from this path of destruction.

We must vote for change, and that means not muddling in the middle with a wasted teal vote.