Scott Morrison’s next move amid ‘seismic’ federal election result

Anthony Albanese’s election win has not only been described as a seismic shift, but the biggest change to politics in Australia. So what does ScoMo do now?

Anthony Albanese’s election win has been described as a “seismic shift” and potentially the most significant change to Australian politics for almost 60 years.

Appearing on The Project on Sunday night, veteran Australian political journalist Barrie Cassidy revealed three elements that made the 2022 election one of the biggest bombshells in Aussie history: The Labor majority government, the never-before-seen influx of independents, and gains by the Greens, including taking a federal seat from Liberals for the first time, which Cassidy attributed to climate change.

“It’s a seismic shift, and I tihnk it’s potentially the biggest shift in Australian politics since the DLP (Democratic Labor Party) split from Labor (in 1955),” he said.

He also predicted what outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison would do next: “He does what every other former prime minister does, he creates mischief.”

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Mr Morrison has confirmed he will stand down as leader of the Liberal Party but will stay in parliament after conceding defeat in Saturday’s election.

Mr Morrison said he looked forward to continuing to serve his constituents in the Sydney seat of Cook.

“The people of Cook have supported me so strongly and I will continue to be your representative,” Mr Morrison said.

On The Project, however, Cassidy warned: “They really ought to get out of there”.

Former prime ministers Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd both stayed on in politics after losing the leadership, creating havoc for their successors from the backbench.

Scott Morrison tears up while addressing Horizon Church after his election defeat on Sunday. Picture: YouTube/Horizon Church

Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese signs a poster for a young boy as he shares a coffee near his home today. Picture: James D Morgan/Getty Images

This year, Cassidy said major wins from independents and The Greens added an extra element to the Liberal party’s shock election result.

Former Wentworth MP Dave Sharma is one of the six Liberal MPs who lost their seat to teal independents. Allegra Spender, whose mother is also the legendary late fashion designer Carla Zampatti, stole the show from Mr Sharma, while Zoe Daniel (Goldstein), Kylea Tink (North Sydney), Sophie Scamps (Mackellar) and Kate Chaney (Curtin) are also among those to win the vote.

This was also in addition to the three independent MPs – Zali Steggall (Warringah), Andrew Wilkie (Clark) and Helen Haines (Indi) who retained their seats.

“First of all you have the Labor Party wins majority government and the Liberals lost 20 seats,” Cassidy said.

“Then you add the independents element to it, and we’re not talking about the rise of minor parties here, five individuals all came in at the same time.

“We’ve never seen that before.

“Then you look at what the Greens have achieved. The Greens have beaten Labor before but they’ve never at the federal level have taken a seat from the Liberal party.

“And they did in Queensland. And what’s more is it looks like they might have denied Pauline Hanson a Senate seat. This is all a pretty big deal.”

The One Nation founder is fighting to hold on to her spot, with tally results as of Sunday morning putting her behind a second Labor candidate and Queensland Greens candidate Penny Allman-Payne.

One Nation had polled just 7.8 per cent of the Senate vote as of Sunday morning, significantly trailing the Greens’ 14 per cent.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, for Senator Hanson to retain her seat she would need 154,761 votes to regain her seat.

Australian politics has undergone a major shift in the last 24 hours and there are multiple factors at play. @barriecassidy goes through where the Liberals fell down and where the minors and Labor pulled through. #TheProjectTVpic.twitter.com/gg8Ni1bzcI

— The Project (@theprojecttv) May 22, 2022

Cassidy said the major result was due to climate change which has “finally arrived as an issue”.

“This time the voters rewarded those with the strongest climate change policies. They rewarded Labor, they rewarded the Greens and they rewarded independents.”

Project co-host Lisa Wilkinson described the result as “extraordinary and unprecedented” and hailed the “overwhelming” number of female candidates voted into seats.

“And a certain kind of female, of a certain age. They are all professional, all very sophisticated candidates,” Cassidy agreed.

Monique Ryan appears on The Project

On election night, Mr Morrison paid tribute to his deputy Josh Frydenberg, who looks as if he will lose his seat of Kooyong to independent Monique Ryan.

“From my modelling, it looks like the decision in Kooyong is finalised,” Ms Ryan told Wilkinson.

“We haven’t heard from Mr Josh Frydenberg yet. We are awaiting that telephone call with some enthusiasm.

“The people of Kooyong chose an independent as opposed to a member who they had for 12 years and who hasn’t in the electoral cycle reflected their values and what they want from their local member.

“What you’re seeing is a number of electorates speaking in the same way. This is not something we’ve done, this is an outcome the Liberal Party brought on itself.

“The electorate spoke about its dissatisfaction with what the Morrison government has failed to provide in the last three years.”

Originally published as Scott Morrison’s next move amid ‘seismic’ federal election result