Soul-searching looms for Libs, no tears for Greens

It’s crucial to review the Liberal Party leadership behind the scenes. Just four days after the election a group called Liberals Against Nuclear launched an advertising campaign urging the party to abandon the nuclear distraction.

John Howard described the Liberal Party as a “broad church”. But how broad does it need to be? Could it be that some members are working against the party from within? The voting public needs assurance that the party operates as a united team, especially once an election has been called. What is the point of voting Liberal if the representative you choose is being guided by another power?

John Holliday, Tallai, Qld

The election result yielded some interesting insights, given the Liberals’ failure to launch. The Greens imploded; I suspect the party’s overt anti-Semitism and hubris put many voters off. Employers calling post-election for productivity improvement are set for a shock. That is the last thing on the mind of the unions.

For me, the most striking message was shown in a picture of successful Labor candidates, all women. If they have the smarts and want to stay elected then maybe they will be numerous enough to influence government thinking, such that some of the nation’s critical issues will actually be addressed in the coming term.

Ken Dredge, Camp Hill, Qld

Liberal supporters should not lose heart after this bad result. Labor’s margin is now high, but governments with such large margins have been toppled or almost toppled before after one term. The Rudd/Gillard government almost lost the 2010 election, having to depend on the support of two renegade opposition party members and an unholy alliance with the Greens to survive.

Then, after only three years, the Abbott/Turnbull government almost lost the 2016 election, winning by only one seat. At the state level, Campbell Newman lost after only one term. Australians will learn quite soon that they have been conned by Labor’s campaign of deceit and bribes but having offered no answers to the bogeymen of cost of living, the trillion-dollar and growing debt, our hopeless defence preparedness and other great risks to a secure future remain, even if overlooked on May 3.

Max Flint, Greenway, ACT

Peta Credlin’s article was a very measured and articulate response to the federal election result. Civil history is indeed not a closed system and a thumping seat win is also not a guarantee of either anticipated good governance or consecutive terms in office. In terms of Peter Dutton’s legacy, perhaps his greatest achievement in defeat will be the fact that shrewd preferencing and candidate selection has seen teal seats overturned and the decimation of the Greens in the House of Representatives. This is both a silver lining and a more than small mercy. No longer interested in maintaining the founding ideals of Bob Brown, the Greens have shown themselves to be a movement populated by perpetual malcontents, spurned on by an assumed moral superiority, championing a vision for Australia that is underpinned by guilt, grievance and ungratefulness.

Whether it was brazenly removing the Australian ensign from a press conference, being unable to vocally condemn Hamas, raging against the Lord’s Prayer in parliament or protesting in kayaks at ports in an effort to stop ships arriving from Israel, no political party has done more damage to our social cohesion or stoked the fires of a renewed sectarianism than the Greens. Their sour presence in the lower house will not be missed and no one should mourn their waning. The Albanese government must now govern for all Australians and not just those voters who gave it a number one preference on the ballot paper.

Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic

All those saying that Labor will now be in office for a generation seem to have forgotten the old adage that a week is a long time in politics. That said, if the Liberals adopt a defeatist attitude hoping to only pick up a few seats at the next election they will become irrelevant. The Liberals need to adopt substantive policies on, for example, the economy, migration, defence, and the “culture wars”. The Liberals also need generational change at the leadership level and anyone involved in the recent train wreck of a campaign should take a back seat. But what are the chances of that?

Max Spry, Sherwood, Qld