Today’s email heading is my quote of election night, from former Malcolm Turnbull political adviser Tony Barry on the ABC’s election coverage. Barry was talking of the Liberals’ dire showing in Western Australia, but his colourful observation applies to the whole sorry show.
A (bare) majority Labor government with less than one-third of the primary vote, and the monstrous regiment sweeping Liberal heartland seats, is an extraordinary outcome. Enough said.
New (swallowing hard) PM Anthony Albanese is sworn in today, presumably without swearing allegiance to the Queen. Then he is off to the Quad meeting with the leaders of Japan, India, and the United States. He leaves behind his hard-left victory speech of late Saturday night, reminding us that the Albanese gaffe machine of the campaign camouflaged an old-time woke warrior with an agenda more radical than he ever hinted to voters.
Labor will govern with at least 76 seats, the barest majority they can get. They need 77 if they are to provide a Speaker. While the surge of green and teal gives Albanese the – ahem – green light to go harder and faster on emissions than Labor has already promised, it’s also clear the Leonards (Teale, geddit?) are in no mood to compromise or negotiate on their far more ambitious, and economically damaging targets. Strap yourselves in, ladies and gentlemen, it’s going to a bumpy rude, Labor majority or not.
If you want sound reflections on Saturday’s Liberal debacle, go no further than today’s Flat White and Magazine selections, all chosen for their pungent post-election commentary. Read his piece for yourself, but surely James Allan writing so confidently about a reformed Liberal party winning in 2025 is reminiscent of Daryl Kerrigan looking for unlikely bargains in the Trading Post? In the World section, you can also see how I explained Saturday to our UK friends.
But there’s at least one consolation. Kristina Keneally in her parachute seat of Fowler crashed on arrival, scraped off the tarmac by local independent, Dai Le. KK maintain her perfect personal loss record since she left the NSW parliament. Why Labor persists with her is a mystery, but this Mean Girl will not be missed by her colleagues, let alone anyone else.