No ideas and no fighting spirit, Coalition awaits its fate

For many well-heeled Liberal voters in Victoria on Saturday, the habit of a lifetime was broken. If a 19-year-old kid who spent two bob on his campaign could come within a whisker of winning a seat such as Brighton, which is about as safe for the Liberals as Wentworth, then it is time for the Liberals to realise that their situation is almost hopeless.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting of Victorian federal MPs in the aftermath of Saturday’s rout. If there was any honesty in that room, they must have acknowledged that Scott Morrison is leading them to their biggest defeat. That the government seems to carry on with a “steady as she goes” attitude is simply staggering.

Even in the Hawke years, Labor never recorded a really big win, but Bill Shorten looks like he will enter the record books with a victory to rival those of John Howard and Malcolm Fraser. The government has successfully managed to get everyone who wants a job into one, but has failed to grasp the disillusionment of the mob whose wages stay stagnant while the government claims the economy is in great shape. This is an incendiary dichotomy and the punters are becoming more sullen by the day.

When the Treasurer attacks Labor with the old line that they are spendthrifts, the attack falls on deaf ears. Out there in the suburbs, towns and villages, it is well known this government has more than doubled the debt Labor left it. The distrust in politicians so rife in our community means the punters wish a pox on both their houses. With all that ill-will permeating the electorate, the only thing the government can do is come up with a big and bold plan, but it does not seem to have the stomach for that.

The Opposition Leader is not trying to take too much of the spotlight. He is content to watch the government flounder, just prodding and poking when appropriate. When Newspoll was published on Monday morning, that 55-45 per cent result must have sent chills down many a Coalition spine. There is no sign the government is recovering its numbers and I can’t image how the future could look more bleak.

To try to paint the government malaise as a by-product of the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull ignores the fact that Turnbull lost 38 Newspolls in a row. The Coalition is not offering anything the electorate wants to buy.

As the mob sees the government as tired and pedestrian, you’d expect to see dynamic proposals from the government to get itself back in the race. Nothing like that is happening; it appears it is meekly accepting its fate.

When Labor dumped Bob Hawke in December 1991 and replaced him with Paul Keating, those of us involved did not really believe Labor would win the next election. What we wanted was at least to go out fighting. At the moment, the Coalition is not putting up much of a fight.