There were a lot of reasons Labor lost the election.
Shorten was always aiming to be PM. I went to Uni with him, always naked ambition. He didn't sully himself with student politics much as he had other agendas, which was silly in retrospect as student politics is a great training ground for public speaking. I never had much time for him. As a union leader the word I heard was that he was very good, a surprise to me, actually listened to and cared about the members and the like. Given he was parachuted into a union leadership position as a stepping stone to parliament, taking any notice of the union members is not a given. At the end of the day Shorten comes across as a personality-free zone. He was leader because he had the numbers, simple as that. But why pick a leader with negative charisma? Well, there is an old truism in politics: oppositions don't win elections, governments lose elections. While this is largely correct it isn't completely correct, you also need to have a convincing leader and at least a semblance of policies.
So, policies. Getting rid of negative gearing, and the ridiculous franking credits deductions for those paying no tax such that they get a refund, are good policies. As is getting rid of any capital gains tax discount for property (why earnings from capital are not taxed at the same rate as earnings from labour is beyond me). But these are complex matters, not easy to explain, especially since most people likely don't even know what a franking credit is (note, too, not many countries actually have franking credits, the USA doesn't). Complex policy is bad policy, even more so when it can be the subject of a scare campaign. They should have just done these things in the first budget, not tried to sell complex policies at the election. The real lesson here is not so much a small target strategy (although that is the lesson they will take) but clear and simple policies.
Albo is almost as uninspiring as Shorten. The ALP need a better leader. Albo can come across as a bit of an everyman which is a good thing, but he just fails to draw any attention. He won't win an election, but he won't have to if the government loses an election.
Would be nice to see Labor pre-select more politicians from those who have actually worked in industry. They used to get parliamentarians from union leadership who had risen from the shop floor. Was it Chifley who was a train driver?
Both major parties are just full of professional politicians and they're not very impressive.
DS
www.crikey.com.au
