Piers Akerman: Labor’s victory was not a mandate for its deluded policies but Liberals must reclaim their soul

Australia, once known for its pragmatism, prosperity and cultural confidence, has been reduced to a bickering sideshow of identity politics, energy fantasies and economic vandalism, writes Piers Akerman.

The electoral omnishambles has left Australia teetering on the edge of permanent economic and social malaise.

But the voters didn’t flock to Labor as boasted by Anthony Albanese and Senator Penny Wong.

Labor received just 34.7 per cent of the total vote. In 2004, Mark Latham led the party to a loss but attracted 37.6 per cent of the vote. The turnout was also low, just 81.7 per cent, well below the 94.32 per cent who voted two decades ago. Hardly a validation or a mandate for anything, but clearly, both major parties need to seriously examine themselves.

Leftist Labor now wants the party to go further in that direction but being progressive is actually regressive. Our nation, once known for its pragmatism, prosperity and cultural confidence, has been reduced to a bickering sideshow of identity politics, energy fantasies and economic vandalism.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s move to the Liberal Party sparks hopes of a return to the basic principles she has so eloquently espoused. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The Coalition’s woefully confusing campaign is behind it and the prospect of former LNP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price now in the Liberal Party sparks hopes of a return to the basic principles she has so eloquently espoused.

The return of Tim Wilson in Goldstein showed what can be achieved by a good conviction candidate. As Wilson said, he bucked a state and nationwide swing, a negative redistribution, and the most expensive campaign bankrolled by Climate 200.

Liberals candidate Tim Wilson celebrates after defeating Independent Zoe Daniel in the seat of Goldstein. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

He is the only Liberal to have reclaimed a seat, the only urban Liberal in Melbourne and the nation, though Bradfield is still in doubt.

So-called moderates must be rejected, just as the party should bite the bullet and toss out the great turncoats like former (failed) prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and former NSW minister Matt Kean.

The fundamentals of good government are neither difficult to grasp nor controversial in principle; a strong economy, a sound defence policy, a rigorous education system, realistic immigration targets and an energy agenda grounded in engineering reality.

Labor’s great lie is that Net Zero would be painless, affordable and achievable. It’s been none of these things anywhere it’s been tried. Europeans are scrambling back to nuclear and coal as they confront the cost of their delusions.

An artist’s impression of what would have been the world's biggest hydrogen production facility, power plant and storage planned for Whyalla. The fantasy has been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Australia disbands its Hydrogen Power office and cancels the Whyalla fantasy plant while congratulating itself for embedding renewables into an energy market already buckling under unaffordable prices and unreliable supply.

In conversations with ordinary, hardworking Australians it seems these voters understood, instinctively, what was at stake. One told me his daughter didn’t even know what a teal was. He said his son told her bluntly: “People like you shouldn’t be allowed to vote. You know Kim Kardashian’s bra size but you don’t know what a teal is.”

This is not harmless ignorance. It’s the product of a derelict education system obsessed with social engineering not intellectual rigour.

A responsible centre-right party must make it its mission to restore discipline, literacy, numeracy and national pride in our schools.

Immigration policy must be on the table. The UK is preparing reforms requiring all migrants to prove English proficiency within five years and demonstrate alignment with democratic values if they wish to remain permanently.

In 1980, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew warned that Australia was on track to become “the poor white trash of Asia”. Today he would say we are “the multicultural trash”.

As for the economy, the Whitlam government was turfed out for letting expenditure hit 24.5 per cent of GDP. We’re now at 27.5 per cent and climbing. As for the Liberals, the so-called centre-right party needs to rediscover its soul.