OK. Someone said to me, its easy enough to criticize Joel Fitzgibbon, but what do I have to say that is constructive? Here are seven points, where Labor seems to have failed, and some simple fixes.
1) Too many policies. We should have learnt from the Right by now. Have a strong central narrative, and do not give details. Return to the strong central narrative, whenever you are questioned about details. This is what sticks in peoples’ minds.
Labor did not have a strong central narrative. Partly because of points 2 and 3, below.
2) Too many policies that seemed incoherent. You are going to fight climate change and promote coal and fracking? This does not make sense. It means both those who support coal and support climate action, think you are half hearted, and probably lying about something. Choose one side or the other, preferably climate action. Point out there are few jobs in coal. Point out that the Adani mine will use, and pollute, lots of water in a drought. Point out the Adani mine will very likely damage the great Artesian Basin, and thus damage agriculture and jobs all down the East Coast. Point out that Adani have already polluted the Great Barrier Reef. Etc. Etc. Point out climate change is not just an inconvenience but deadly and that, yes, some sacrifices might be required to fight for our children. Put forward policies to guarantee good jobs in mining areas for miners and their children. Make it clear there are good jobs in Renewables under Labor, and that people will not be abandoned.
Job and income security is important, and is not threatened by going green, but it is threatened by climate change.
3) Don’t fight an election on policies no one understands. Franking credits? No tax rebates on tax not being paid? Great idea, but how many people understood what you were talking about? Almost nobody. The majority of people were easily convinced you were somehow likely to take their pensions away, or start taxing them harshly. This made the Coalition’s day. They could lie continually, and you had no defense, because hardly anybody knew what you were talking about, and those who did know where probably not going to vote Labor anyway. I still hear people, in the media, say that you wanted to abolish tax-free earnings on shares.
You did not need this policy. If you have policies like this, introduce them when you are in power, and have the time to explain them carefully, and see what happens.
4) It does not matter what you say, the Murdoch Empire will attack you. So don’t worry about it. Give up trying to please them. Go for a coherent and memorable message.
5) Moving to the Right will not save you. Even if you vote with the Coalition 100% of the time, the Murdoch Empire will still brand you as ravening socialists or Nazis, because they like confusing the two. Moving to the Right will only loose you votes, as people move to independents or Greens. Moving to the Right, also serves to confirm that the Right are right, so people might as well vote for a real committed Right-wing party, not you.
You even have an allegory for what will happen. Malcolm Turnbull, continually gave into his hard-right Murdoch inspired acolytes, and never won their acquiescence or support. He simply received stronger demands, and their contempt, until nobody knew what he stood for or even if he stood for anything. The Empire will always behave like this. Accept it, and steer around it.
Remember the Right are fundamentally wrong, and make this point repeatedly.
Move to the Left if you want, it will help distinguish you from the others.
6) Its ok to attack the Coalition – they will attack you. You let the Coalition get away with 7 years of incompetence, stupidity and corruption. You did not even try to remind people of the continual scandals and idiocies that they brought forth. This allowed them to pretend that they had been a good government. Their narrative won, because there was no counter narrative, and because they kept blaming everything wrong on Labor. They stayed with their strong coherent (lying) narrative that Labor were high taxing and economically incompetent, something reinforced by point 3. You cannot expect, like the Coalition can, that the media will remind readers of your opponents’ stupidities (see point 4 again), so you have to make the points yourself. Repeatedly. This is not being nasty, this is trying to save Australia from more of these people.
We now have Scott Morrison who is worse than Tony Abbott, unbelievable as that seems, partly because you refused to remind people of what the Coalition are like.
7) The Greens would like to be friends. But you keep hitting them. It is easy to think you hate the Greens more than the Coalition. This goes back to point 4 – the Murdoch Empire will attack you for being green no matter what you say. So you might as well say you are the ‘sensible Greens’ or something, and demonstrate it, but yes be open about it. You are probably more likely to ally with the Greens than One Nation; at least everyone, on your side of politics, would probably hope this is true. By attacking the Greens as much as you do, you either look small minded or hypocritical. No one on the Right will believe you are not Green allies, whatever you say, so get over it. The Greens are not your party, and they won’t always agree with you. Get over that as well. Be prepared to negotiate, which you were not in 2009.
Remember it was the CFMEU and Clive Palmer, not the Greens, who actively campaigned against you in Queensland.
Tags: climate change, politics, social action
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