Labor should be fearful of ScoMo’s voter appeal

EVEN Sam Dastyari can see the new PM is a threat to Bill Shorten, because Morrison has the potential to exploit a great fissure in the heart of the opposition, writes Miranda Devine.

IN ALL the commentary last week about Australia’s latest bout of regicide, the most heartening for Liberal voters came from former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari.

The disgraced former campaign hotshot and General Secretary of the NSW ALP admitted new PM Scott Morrison is a “huge electoral problem for the Labor Party”.

When the Liberals were first engulfed by the leadership crisis two weeks ago, “There was a view in the Labor Party that we were hit on the arse with a rainbow”.

He said one of Labor leader Bill Shorten’s greatest rivals texted him to say “Not even Bill can stuff it up now.”

But Dastyari warns that Labor should not underestimate ScoMo.

“Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison are very similar people … They are both likeable, a bit daggy, dads with kids and fairly suburban in how they present.”

Scott Morrison and his family arriving at Government House, Canberra. Part of the new PM’s appeal is that he’s a likeable dad. (Pic: Kym Smith)

Dastayari once introduced a new question into ALP polling about leadership: “Who would you rather live next door to?

“People would rather live next door to Bill because he was a good bloke but Malcolm was good for property prices,” he quips.

But he says Scomo has changed that dynamic.

Labor’s first line of attack on Morrison last week was over the banks’ royal commission: “He’s not really with you. He’s for the banks. But that’s a much harder argument than it was against ‘Mr Harbourside Mansion’.”

Dastyari also alluded to the great fissure in the heart of the Labor Party which has been masked by the fact they are in opposition.

The gulf was revealed in the vote for same sex marriage. The Labor electorate of Sydney recorded the highest Yes vote in the country while 10 kilometres away the Labor heartland of Blaxland, with its large socially conservative migrant communities, recorded the highest No vote.

This is a vulnerability the socially conservative Morrison could exploit, says Dastyari.

“You have a Labor base that is economically left wing and socially very, very conservative,” he says.

“Labor’s challenge [is] how do you reconcile that.

“That is where someone like Scott Morrison will play really heavily into. It’s no secret Scott is socially conservative, he’s religious. I respect that …. He is what he purports to be.”

His advice is the Labor Party is “bring our base with us … What we cannot do is assume our socially conservative base will be there no matter what.”

Judging by the identity politics embedded in the ALP’s national policy platform, pigs might fly too.