Scott Morrison is in the strongest position as any Liberal leader since John Howard
Scott Morrison returns to Canberra in the strongest position any Liberal leader has enjoyed since John Howard left the scene in 2007.
Scott Morrison returns to Canberra in the strongest position any Liberal leader has enjoyed since John Howard left the scene in 2007.
Not only will he have won the love of his party for winning them a third term against all expectations, but he will also be the first Liberal leader since Howard to have no serious rivals for the leadership.
Malcolm Turnbull took himself off late last year and the voters of Warringah took out Tony Abbott on Saturday.
Everyone in Canberra will want to know what Morrison plans to do with the authority his victory has given him.
It is easy to see the areas he needs to deal with if he plans to be around at the next election: giving the government a climate change and energy policy that they can all live with, while doing something about turning around Australia’s declining home ownership rates.
Labor officials believe the over-65s were responsible for the government’s victory, but it would be a mistake for the Liberal Party to put all its eggs in the oldies’ political basket.
This was the last election before the arrival at the polling booths of the children who were born following the introduction of the baby bonus.
For those children, who have been through the education system of the last 18 years, climate change is likely to be at the top of their list of concerns. So it will be vital that the government has a climate policy that gives it something to talk about.
Expect to hear the government spruiking its climate solutions fund and its national hydrogen strategy, which could see that emissions-free element powering our cars.
And there’s nothing like paying off a mortgage to change how people see elections. The implementation of Mr Morrison’s first First Home Loan Deposit Scheme should help give the government something to talk about.
Whether it helps to improve homeownership rates will take longer to become clear.
Potentially the most nation-changing part of the government’s re-election agenda was its long list of promises to fund infrastructure nationally.
For Victoria, the most eye-catching promises were the pledge to build a fast rail service to Geelong.
Labor mocked it as pie-in-the-sky, but from conversations with the PM it is clear he wants to build it.
There’s also the renewed and expanded commitment to building the scrapped East West Link tollway.
Both of these projects would require the co-operation of Daniel Andrews’s Labor state government.
While there’s a chance it might smile on the former, it has absolutely no interest in allowing the latter to be built.
The retirements of Nigel Scullion, Christopher Pyne and Kelly O’Dwyer has given the Prime Minister three seats at the Cabinet table to allocate.
If Mr Morrison decides one of them should go to a Victorian, expect the Infrastructure Minister, Alan Tudge, to get the chocolates.
Other Victorians who have claims for promotion are Tim Wilson, who did so much to make franking credits an election issue, and Senator Jane Hume, who is a strong media performer.
Deakin MP Michael Sukkar, who was dumped from the frontbench when Morrison entered the Lodge, would also be hoping to be reinstated after winning his seat comfortably.
The Prime Minister has already made it clear that a large section of the Cabinet will be keeping the jobs they had before the election.
Josh Frydenberg will continue as Treasurer, Dan Tehan will stay in Education, Greg Hunt will stay in Health, Linda Reynolds will stay in Defence, Marise Payne will stay in Foreign Affairs, and Peter Dutton will keep Home Affairs.
The commitment to continuity in Cabinet positions is more important than it might at first seem.
One of the problems the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments have had is that nobody has stayed in any job for very long.
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Indeed, retiring ministers Mr Scullion (indigenous affairs) and Julie Bishop (foreign affairs) were the only two Cabinet ministers to have stayed in their jobs throughout the first two terms of the government.
Keeping people in place to finish the jobs they have begun would be a great change after the chaos of the past few years.
But a major factor — if not the biggest factor — determining what Morrison is able to achieve in the top job will be the outcome of the election in the Senate.
If there is a government-One Nation-Central Alliance majority, Mr Morrison may have an easier time of it than his two predecessors.
Originally published as Scott Morrison is in the strongest position as any Liberal leader since John Howard
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