Alex Schlotzer

The past 12 months since the 2007 federal election has been an absolute roller coaster ride in the political world.  And there has been a great deal of change and obviously upheavel in the former tight-knit and steadfast partners, like the Liberal Party of Australia and The Nationals.  But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Rudd and his new government; although arguably the Labor Government has faired a lot better than the Coalition.  As 2008 comes to a close what does the political landscape look like.

The year started out with Dr Nelson at the helm of SS Coalition and quickly ran onto rocks and was replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, who is proving to be just as popular as Leader of the Opposition as Nelson before he was axed.  The Liberals started with a series of back-stabbing, image destroying articles and rumours popping up on TV.  Rudd started the term keeping a couple of promises by signing the Kyoto Protocol and delivering an apology to the Stolen Generations.  Although, there were the Neal problems, NSW Labor being profoundly unstable and then there was the series of economic stimulus measures. 

There were a 3 federal by-elections; 3 state elections and 3 states’ local government elections (amazing that things turned out in 3’s).  The 3 federal by-elections turned out the way they were expected; Labor lost in WA but have kept reins of government in NT and ACT by the narrowest of margins; and the Liberals picked up Brisbane (and control of Council) and Melbourne Lord Mayoralties in the local government races.  The Greens and independents picked up significant votes across the by-elections, state elections and local government elections. But the point being that there has been a varying pattern to voters reaction, which may be indicative of the quirky nature of Australia’s states and territories, as opposed to a national sense of opposition to the Coalition, which saw the end of Howard’s regime.

I know I’ve discussed whether voters were seeking a change or were trying to continue with the time-honoured tradition of having one mob in at a federal level and the other mob in at a state level.  It hasn’t quite worked that way though in ACT and NT, but nearly did.  I still believe that voters were seeking an alternative to the tired old parties.  However, with voters seeking alternatives it has changed the political landscape across Australia.  Arguably this  trend started with the 2007 federal election.

So where does all of this leave us.  The Liberal Party of Australia and Nationals Coalition arrangements may well disintegrate, while the Liberals experience a profound period of time in opposition.  The Liberals have been in disarray with the instability from losing the 2007 federal election in magificent fashion; notwithstanding the history created by former PM being only the second Prime Minister in Australia’s history to have lost both the election and then his own seat in Parliament.  And then you have the  Liberal National Party (LNP) in Queensland still incapable of appealing to voters, while the Nationals remain strong federally.  With those irritating questions around whether Queensland Nationals’ Senators are LNP Senators or not.  One final thing you can’t forget is the fact that Turnbull keeps telling Australians that WorkChoices is dead and the Coalition won’t stand in the way of the new IR laws, while Bishop and Keenan tell of how the Liberals are going to challenge the laws.

At this point in time the federal ALP is still going well. Of course the Rudd Government still has a major test remaining for the year with the announcement of greenhouse gas reduction targets, supposedly, early next week.  And this will be a big test and determine how the Government is perceived on a major issue before Christmas/New Year really kicks in. 

Life will soon turn to the cricket and soccer, the golf and tennis and romanticising summer time.