Miranda Devine: Six reasons why voters dumped the Liberals

Despite skilfully guiding Australia through the pandemic, the Morrison government has been ousted from power. Miranda Devine outlines six possible reasons why.

It will take a while for the dust to settle but forget the glib analysis for Australia’s rejection of the Morrison government. Here are six possible reasons, starting with the obvious.

1. Time’s up

Australians historically tend to turf out three-term governments. Nothing personal.

The election was not an endorsement of Anthony Albanese, who ran a calamitous campaign. Not knowing the unemployment rate or the cash rate, let alone details of his own NDIS policy, then saying that the borders are closed when they’ve been open since November, were worrying memory lapses.

They showed a lack of ability or willingness to get on top of his brief or even be aware of his surroundings.

Anthony Albanese addresses Labor supporters after winning the 2022 Federal Election. Picture: AFP

There also was his Bidenesque habit of turning his back on reporters and walking out of press conferences, often cutting short his campaign day and holing up out of sight.

Both major parties suffered a savage swing in the primary vote, with Labor scoring a near-record low of about 32 per cent.

This pox-on-both-your-houses election has bequeathed the country the toxic legacy of a bloated, left wing-dominated crossbench.

2. Media-driven woman scandals

This line of attack to soften up the Morrison government pre-election was Australia’s version of Black Lives Matter, without the riots.

Leap on a couple of scandals, blow them up out of all proportion, lie about them, then hang them around the neck of a hapless Liberal minister, turn the “victims” into prime-time heroines, paint the PM as the enabling villain because he didn’t fire the “predators”, depict the Liberal Party as irredeemably misogynistic, enlist mothers and daughters in your cause and disable the men in their lives.

The Liberal Party was forced to spend a chunk of its war chest fighting the ‘teal’ independents. Picture: Terry Pontikos

Morrison tried to accommodate and appease when the only course of action was to crash through and call it for what it was: a political hit job.

This opened the door to the teal independents. An undeclared party bloc, bankrolled and curated by the unpleasant son of a wealthy man, Simon Holmes a Court, the teals were socially engineered to exploit Liberal weakness and strip away elitist votes.

Professional middle-aged women, pleasant and approachable, like the mum in the Range Rover in the school pick-up line, the teals had the grab bag of acceptable beige views: climate, integrity, girlpower, tolerance of everything, being nice.

It is the ABC mantra: let’s all just get along. As long as you do what I say, there will be no trouble. If you disagree, you are divisive, cruel, a zealot and hateful.

3. Climate change

This was the symbolism of the teals, but the issue was not much mentioned in the campaign.

In any case, Scott Morrison had pledged net zero, just as he has tried over the past three years to neutralise any natural advantage Labor enjoyed on health and education.

Obviously, none of that worked, and he lost much of the party’s conservative base by creating a policy agenda they regarded as Labor-lite.

What he saw as neutralising his opponents’ strong suit, they saw as appeasing the left.

The Liberals were never going to be able to match Labor on climate alarm, especially with the Nationals spruiking coal in the background.

Victorians were not fans of Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg. Picture: Jason Edwards

4. Pandemic fatigue

Despite the fact Morrison and his treasurer Josh Frydenberg steered Australia through the pandemic better than any comparable country, judging by the key metrics of fatality rates and economic growth, the electorate slapped them down at the first opportunity.

As former Liberal senator Michael Baume said on election night: “No good deed can go unpunished.”

Call it the Winston Churchill effect people didn’t want to be reminded of the bad days.

5. Hatred of Morrison and Frydenberg

This is most palpable in Melbourne.

It is driven by emotion, not reason, since it was Dan Andrews who was responsible for endless lockdowns.

But Victorians felt the federal government blamed them personally for their predicament.

ScoMo haters nominate his “I don’t hold a hose, mate” comment after his Hawaii holiday during the 2019 bushfires and “It’s not a race” line over the vaccines.

Petty grudges in the scheme of things but exploited well by Labor.

6. Covid pushed Australia left

This is the big unknown.

As Jane Fonda said: “Covid-19 is God’s gift to the left.”

The pandemic was seized by “Build Back Better” lefties to institute centralised government control.

Fear of the virus became a sort of beta test for future totalitarians.

Australia came to be seen around the world as ominously punitive and freedom-crushing.

Originally published as Miranda Devine: Six reasons why voters dumped the Liberals