Labor’s decline: How Albanese’s policies and Dutton’s image are shaping the future of the South Coast, The Bugle, 18 June, 2024.

This is an opinion article written by John Stapleton.

A curse on both their houses. So say the general public. 

Two years ago, Anthony Albanese, a Labor Party machine man if ever there was one, lied his way into office by promising to reduce household electricity bills by $275 just as “the cost of living crisis” hit.

“Life will be cheaper under me,” he declared in the run up to the 2022 election. Oh yeah, sure. 

Albo ended nine years of dismal conservative rule during which the electorate was forced to endure first Tony Abbott, followed by Malcolm Turnbull, frequently declared the worst Prime Minister in Australian history, only in turn to be hunted out of office by the even more widely disliked Scott Morrison.

Fast forward to the present and Albanese has squandered all his political capital. A panicked Labor Party can see the Opposition benches beckoning.

These are just some of the headlines that have greeted our beleaguered Prime Minister in recent days.  

“Peter Dutton edges out Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister.”

“Dutton edges ahead as voters thump Labor on the economy.”

“Beware the uncomplicated politician: Dutton on the rise as PM falls.”

Even the left-wing Guardian Australia is satirically declaring: “In a recent poll a large dollop of Australian voters say their preferred prime minister is Peter Craig Dutton. Oh My God Albo what have you done? Imagine being less popular than one of the worst people in the world. Meanwhile cheering hordes of cynical progressives are chanting his name: Albo! Albo! Albo! Albo! But why? Even the rusted-ons are abandoning Labor now – isn’t Albo a massive disappointment? Yes he is.”

The failed “Yes” campaign costing taxpayers $400 million is the rope Sky News most likes to hang around Albo’s neck. But there are many other issues they perhaps conveniently forget.

Prior to his election Albanese didn’t bother to tell the Australian electorate that he was embarking on a massive demographic transformation of the country through record high levels of immigration. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Australia saw a 73 percent increase to 737,000 in the number of immigrants in 2023 alone. This policy is fuelling both the housing and cost of living crises. 

Nor did he mention that he would be returning family law back to the dark days when many fathers entering this dysfunctional jurisdiction rarely or never saw their children again. But in passing family law amendments with almost zero public consultation, mirroring tactics used in the wind farm debate, this is exactly what Labor has done.

That Peter Dutton is now in serious contention for the top job is an epic Labor failure.

Prior to the ascendance of Dutton some of the most senior strategists in the party were slinging the epithet “go woke go broke” at the Turnbull/Morrison leadership.

Nobody’s ever accused Dutton of being “woke”, and his seriousness, his stolid, stern demeanour, now suits the temperature of the times. 

The wind farm backlash, both around the nation’s coastline and across its interior, is very real. Community after community claim they have not been properly consulted. The ugliness, expense and grotesque environmental damage associated with wind turbines is now clear for all to see. 

During a widely publicised visit to the Illawarra this week National Party leader David Littleproud said he would be cancelling the offshore wind farms and would not be in Coalition with the Liberals if they did not join him in doing so. 

Littleproud addressed a community forum in Towradgi hosted by the banner group Responsible Future and spent some two hours answering questions. The gratitude of the activists that a senior political figure was at last taking them seriously was evident.

The electorate of Whitlam encompasses Shell Cove, Shellharbour, Warilla and Oak Flats, all the way up to Robertson, Sutton Forest and Moss Vale.

It is probably fair to say that half the voters in the seat of Whitlam could not name their local member, a man missing in action and riding on working class Labor traditions of the area long after the party abandoned its grassroots.

Littleproud has announced he is searching for a Nationals candidate for Whitlam, “a local hero”.

The Australian Electoral Commission declared the 2022 final two party preferred tally as Stephen Jones, Labor, 60.07. Mike Cains, Liberal, 39.93. 

The coastal seat of Cowper, running from Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour, is already in the hands of the Nationals.

In an era when both major parties are on the nose, throwing a third major player into the ring means the next year here on the South Coast will prove to be one of the most fascinating political contests in the country.