Forsaking workers for a Greens’ line was a losing strategy

Sitting on the fence over Adani was supposed to be a positive for Labor. The facts tell a different story.

Losing Longman and Herbert and the swings in Queensland was not compensated by gains in Victoria. The two seats Labor won in Victoria were already notional Labor seats following redistribution.

Forsaking blue-collar workers for a Greens-lite agenda is a losing strategy. Looking to attribute blame on polls or ads is a facile response.

If the needs of workers and their communities are not put to the forefront, you can hardly blame them for shifting their votes elsewhere.

Jennie George, Mollymook, NSW

If you want to distil all the collective speculation down to one issue, it is surely Adani. And if you want to drill down further to find out who is responsible for Labor’s crushing defeat in Queensland, it is the state’s Deputy Premier, Jackie Trad, who needs Greens support to hold on to her seat. She is directly responsible for this mine not going ahead. I am therefore of the view that Trad has probably cost Bill Shorten the election.

Peter Steele, Brisbane, Qld

Shorten inept on costs

A great untruth of political discourse over the past decade has been the degree to which Australia can influence our climate by our emissions reductions. The rhetoric of the Left has been that we can fix climate change. Bill Shorten’s pitch claiming that the cost of his energy policy didn’t matter because inaction would cost more, was probably the most inept pronouncement by a political leader in an election

The truth is that with Australia producing about 1.3 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, we cannot directly influence the world’s climate. And to suggest that our political or economic weight extends to influencing the biggest emitters (China, the US and India) is naive. We need the scientific community and politicians of integrity to come together to tell the truth on this matter, and put us all on the same page with the facts.

Paul Bailey, Auchenflower, Qld

A wise people

Leftist commentators are blaming the Labor collapse on its big reform agenda. What nonsense. The Labor pitch was to appeal to the politics of envy and class warfare. The average voter would not have it.

We should always be thankful that power still rests with ordinary Australians, not the politicians, staffers and academics. The Australian people are far from ordinary in their wisdom and rarely, if ever, make a mistake.

John Hill, Willoughby, NSW

Sales team was no help

While I agree with Judith Sloan that the main reason Labor lost was because of its bad policies, the sales team was no help (“It was bad policy that sank ALP’s chances”, 20/5), Bill Shorten was shifty at times, Chris Bowen did not understand franking credits or the harm he was doing to so many, and the thought of Penny Wong running foreign affairs must have sent shudders up many a spine.

Doug Hurst, Chapman, ACT

Treachery within

When Kevin Rudd sniped at Julia Gillard at the 2010 election he brought Labor into minority government. But the Turnbull family’s treachery this election delivered majority victory to Scott Morrison.

History will cite Turnbull’s astonishingly poor judgment and Tony Abbott’s demise as little compensation. GetUp reportedly spent $12 million to bag Abbott’s scalp but lost Kerryn Phelps. Zali Steggall would be wise to moderate her haughtiness.

Meanwhile, Julie Bishop lauded Labor’s female leadership while decrying the Coalition’s problem with gender equality. Voters disagreed.

Greg Jones, Kogarah, NSW