An interesting Australian election

[Alien]

The commentary I heard on Australian TV as I was watching the election was that Labour felt they had suffered last election from having too many policies, which allowed individual voters to find fault with them on something and therefore not vote for them. So their plan this election was apparently to go for no policies and be a blank slate to allow voters to project their own preferred policies onto them.

So long ago and still so funny ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxBtGuu9BVE

[rogue06]

A common lament among Democrats was that Trump was the first president in decades to actually keep his campaign promises.

That was said about George W as well.

But that was in contrast to Bill Clinton, who as George Stepanopolous famously said, has "kept all the promises he intended to keep."

The MSM literally did not how to respond to Bush when he first took office. They kept asking "but what does he mean when he says..." not being used to someone saying pretty much exactly what they meant after four years of President "It-depends-on-what-the-meaning-of-the-word-'is'-is"

[Mountain Man]

A better comparison was Obama's "Change you can believe in" while never discussing what sort of change he had in mind and allowed people to project their own ideas onto it.

Trump actually had a laundry list of things he wanted to do and campaigned on them.

A common lament among Democrats was that Trump was the first president in decades to actually keep his campaign promises.

[rogue06]

Yeah. A lacklustre election usually means that neither party really wants to take the reins. Much easier to sit back and blame the other side for all the tough decisions that need to be made.

For several decades it seems that was what most conservatives here were content with -- playing the roll of what used to be called the loyal opposition. They never made any serious attempts to become the majority in Congress and instead were content with acting as a brake on the left's policies.

[tabibito]

Maybe they resorted to personal attacks to avoid talking about onerous policy proposals.

Yeah. A lacklustre election usually means that neither party really wants to take the reins. Much easier to sit back and blame the other side for all the tough decisions that need to be made.

[rogue06]

Amusingly that was reflected in the leaders of both major parties having a negative approval rating. Only other time I recall seeing something like that was Trump vs Hillary.

The commentary I heard on Australian TV as I was watching the election was that Labour felt they had suffered last election from having too many policies, which allowed individual voters to find fault with them on something and therefore not vote for them. So their plan this election was apparently to go for no policies and be a blank slate to allow voters to project their own preferred policies onto them.

It reminds me of Trump's campaign in 2016 where he would endorse both sides of every issue in his rambling speeches, which allowed voters to decide that what he really meant was the statement of his they agreed with, and that the statement of his saying the opposite was just a cunning plan to trick people who didn't agree with them into voting for him.

It's something that can only really work once, because once you've been in office for a term, people know what your policies are from what you do.

A better comparison was Obama's "Change you can believe in" while never discussing what sort of change he had in mind and allowed people to project their own ideas onto it.

Trump actually had a laundry list of things he wanted to do and campaigned on them.

[rogue06]

Distrust (27.74% in the polling) is a major factor. My own choices were tempered by the worry that both parties might keep their promises.
Disgust also that this election was far and away the most vicious in terms of personal attacks on opponents that I can remember. There was almost no focus on policies, and the few policies that were promoted did not bode well for the coming parliamentary term.

Maybe they resorted to personal attacks to avoid talking about onerous policy proposals.

[Starlight]

Disgust also that this election was far and away the most vicious in terms of personal attacks on opponents that I can remember.

Amusingly that was reflected in the leaders of both major parties having a negative approval rating. Only other time I recall seeing something like that was Trump vs Hillary.

There was almost no focus on policies

The commentary I heard on Australian TV as I was watching the election was that Labour felt they had suffered last election from having too many policies, which allowed individual voters to find fault with them on something and therefore not vote for them. So their plan this election was apparently to go for no policies and be a blank slate to allow voters to project their own preferred policies onto them.

It reminds me of Trump's campaign in 2016 where he would endorse both sides of every issue in his rambling speeches, which allowed voters to decide that what he really meant was the statement of his they agreed with, and that the statement of his saying the opposite was just a cunning plan to trick people who didn't agree with them into voting for him.

It's something that can only really work once, because once you've been in office for a term, people know what your policies are from what you do.

[tabibito]

In Australia's election on saturday, the 3-term right-wing Coalition party government was ousted, and a new left-wing Labour party government elected.

But what was interesting was the record number of people who voted for 3rd parties and independents: An estimated 1 in 3. The Green party got a record number of votes and seats. And a squad of 'independent' female candidates running on a mix of environmentalism and right-wing economics ("Teals") won multiple seats.

Distrust (27.74% in the polling) is a major factor. My own choices were tempered by the worry that both parties might keep their promises.
Disgust also that this election was far and away the most vicious in terms of personal attacks on opponents that I can remember. There was almost no focus on policies, and the few policies that were promoted did not bode well for the coming parliamentary term.

When voters were surveyed about their #1 issue, a plurality said Climate Change. That is reflected in the record number of votes for the Green and Teal candidates. Australia recently had extremely severe bushfires, as well as severe flooding. And the conservative government's minimalistic actions on the Climate Change topic were not looked on favorably. It seems fairly likely that as a result of this election the incoming Australian government will be inspired to make significant commitments addressing climate change.

Flabbergasted.

[Starlight]

In Australia's election on saturday, the 3-term right-wing Coalition party government was ousted, and a new left-wing Labour party government elected.

But what was interesting was the record number of people who voted for 3rd parties and independents: An estimated 1 in 3. The Green party got a record number of votes and seats. And a squad of 'independent' female candidates running on a mix of environmentalism and right-wing economics ("Teals") won multiple seats.

Australia's ranked-choice voting system allows people to vote for a 3rd party who is likely to lose, safe in the knowledge that their vote will still 'count', as they can also include a preference between the major candidates. A big advantage of this system is to ensure two main parties strive to keep their voters happy rather than just trying to be the 2nd-worst party, as their base does have other options and aren't simply locked into voting for the 2nd-worst of the two bad options. Failure to actually be a good party in the eyes of voters, will have them ranking independents and 3rd parties higher than their main party preference in their vote, as happened in record numbers this election.

When voters were surveyed about their #1 issue, a plurality said Climate Change. That is reflected in the record number of votes for the Green and Teal candidates. Australia recently had extremely severe bushfires, as well as severe flooding. And the conservative government's minimalistic actions on the Climate Change topic were not looked on favorably. It seems fairly likely that as a result of this election the incoming Australian government will be inspired to make significant commitments addressing climate change.

A blood-red sky in Australia in 2020 as the bushfires raged...

https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F200104195017-01-australia-fires-red-sky-0104.jpg
We had some days during that time where the wind was blowing such that our sky in New Zealand, 1500 miles away, turned red.