How could anyone say that the last election " …. should never have been lost" by the ALP after it's unacceptable policies and it's arrogant 'if you don't like it don't vote for us' attitude. The ALP is no longer interested in anything but itself. It has dumped its core constituency.

Just 22 per cent of Australians hold a tertiary degree. Yet within the active and activist ranks of the ALP, about 70-80 per cent would have a tertiary degree; fully 90 per cent of Young Labor is sourced from and organised on university campuses.

The average Labor staffer, activist, MP or even member tends to be a university-educated, socially liberal, higher-income and to live closer to the inner city.

By contrast, the average Labor voter tends to be older, more likely to have a trades or technical education, be more cautious of social change if not socially conservative, with a lower income and living in the suburbs or regional centres. They more likely to at least identify with some form of religious tradition or culture.

A large proportion of Labor’s elite look, sound and think like Greens.

Compton, as usual is as blind as a bat. Shorten did go to the electorate investing " heavily in Climate Change", with even more bizarre CO2 reduction targets and dearer electricity. Duh! And he got his just desserts.

Hardly surprising mate, given the left-leaning Lady, has some self-evident morals, the courage of conviction and stands for something!

Jermy, on the other hand, a power junkie, who seemingly thought by just being in opposition for opposition's sake, spending like a drunken sailor, making pie in the sky promises, would allow him to slip-slide to a win.

The democrats at least have a strategy hand to them on a platter by a recalcitrant Republican-dominated Senate! And can go to the November elections with a claim that both the president and that chamber want to trash the constitution and in so doing create a precedent that would allow any other part to be jettisoned, torn up or otherwise ignored. And by the simple expediency of refusing to allow a fair trial of, it would seem, a now unimpeachable President who is now effectively above the law!?

Make no mistake that's is going to be front and centre all the way to the November elections. Lead in the democrat's saddlebag is having too many candidates and too many positions on almost everything!

Boris, looks and sounds like an elected dictator and will likely be undone by stubbornly refusing to allow a second Scottish referendum. Which if passed could allow Britain to have its cake and eat it too. But Boris is not clever enough to see that!?

Democrats, desperately need a New Zealand style/lookalike candidate, with moral values, actually stands for something and has solutions that unite rather than divideth the country/the haves against the have nots!

And action on climate change that rather than tanking the economy turbochargers it! Therefore needs to be based on carbon-free, safe, clean, affordable nuclear energy! TBC.
Alan B.

Everard,

The answer is simple, the left has abandoned the centre. With the "workers" now accumulating wealth the promise of a tax and spend agenda has lost its appeal.

Jacinda the New Zealand show pony has largely lost her lustre due her poor handling of a sexual harassment case by a Labour staffer and the incompetence of her ministers.

The only way for the left to get back in power is craft their policies around what the voters want, as trying to mold the voters to their policies will fail every time.

I think that Shadow Minister sum up the problem well:

"The only way for the left to get back in power is craft their policies around what the voters want, as trying to mold the voters to their policies will fail every time."

There is a degree of intellectual arrogance in believing that voters can be moulded.
That may have been true way back when the Left parties were created, but in today's society people are more educated and also have more time to think critically. The old days of 'going along with the mob' are well past.

Great replies all !

On the one hand, there is St Jacinda of the Veil. On the other hand, there is NZ Labour, which has catastrophically failed, in its election targets for much more housing and much less migration. Let's see what NZ voters make of it.

Everald is certainly suffering from Trump derangement syndrome. You would think with egg all over his face he would just shut up, But no like a good leftie he continue's to defend the swamp, push his rhetoric and ignore America's economy, unemployment rate and cheap energy. How can people be so deluded.

'My Government will invest heavily in Climate Change and together all Australians will become far more prosperous than we are today".

That's the kind of standard unrealistic academic quibble that turns the average blue collar wage earner away. Idealism bleating Govt handout depending theorisers with not a clue of the daily challenges, are gradually having their irrelevance exposed. It is only natural that working voters turn away from such elitist but incompetent wannabe saviours who have saturated the Labor party. Everyday people want & need practical policy makers & administrators not tax Dollar guzzling hangers-on with their insidious perpetual sabotage of anything beneficial to the working community by persecuting the doers & rewarding the hangers-on !

The centre-left will get its chances again once the electorate tires of the centre-right's struggle to meet the many policy needs in a much more competitive world than ever.

I don't think any side of politics can seriously claim to have the answers. I mean take a look at Australia with its growing policy difficulties.

And, yes, the days of a centre-left seeking to please every community sector with its simplistic feel good approach are probably over.

The left has left and are now further to the right than Mezies's liberals!

The right has reacted by lurching far further to the right, and no longer listen to anything but the echo chamber and deb laden, tax-avoiding, price gouging, profit repatriating, foreign investors? Their string-pulling masters?

And therefore are welded to coal? And price gouged, privatized power?

Like all extreme right-wing thinkers incapable of understanding that every western-style economy rests on just two pillars, energy and capital?

Think instead, how much the market can bear as they seek to impose economy wrecking privatisation, in the mistaken belief that private enterprise can always do it better!

And it can, just not the monolithic monopolies they preference and allow!

What we need instead of their prefered destructive, extreme capitalism is cooperative capitalism. On the understanding that co-ops stood almost alone during the Great Depression as the only free market, private enterprise business model that largely survived the great Depression mostly intact!

Why?

Because it beats the pants off of every other business model in efficiency and productivity! Hated by the price gouging exploitive, extreme capitalists because it rules them out and eliminates their investment opportunities!

Likewise also hated by trade unions because it completely negates their necessity or involvement, given co-ops pay top dollar and share all the profits, and have conditions also decided by the entire workforce!

And eliminate the drones and the bottlenecks!

That's why those on the right systematically dismantled them to the detriment of the deluded former shareholding partners.

Dairy, sugar, fruit and wool come to mind as co-ops that suffered at the hands of conservative governments with a born to rule mentality and a master-servant mindset?

Instead, should have been used as a template for our energy supply paradigms and manufacture! TBC.
Alan B.

Ponder: Agree and well said!

Runner: You should know!
After all, you are our resident expert!
Y'll have a nice day now, y'hear.
Alan B.

Oh dear, poor Alan is moving even deeper into fantasy land.

In a nutshell, the providers are simply getting sick & tired of the takers !

The following statement about Jacinda Ahearn "Most voters regard her as one of their own, someone who can be trusted." nearly caused me apoplexy. It is my view that Jacinda is shallow, and is not to be trusted, especially with NZ's social policies. Time will tell I guess.

Oh dear, there are some errors in logic here.
First of all, let us dismiss "the greenies are enemies of the workers" canard. Global corporatism is the enemy of workers. This makes it difficult for Labor parties to operate. When trying to introduce responsible environmental and social legislation, the publicity [ie misinformation] machine of the capitalists swings into action.
So we have seen Labor lurch to the right, in an attempt to capture enough votes for government. Traditional Labor folks feel abandoned, and they are right. But the solution is not to vote for the Liberal-Nats.

In Europe "green issues" are non-controversial, and have broad support across the political spectrum.

The main issue is privatisation. Privatising core government services is the real enemy. Because such services are SUPPOSED to run at a loss.
"Trickle down economics" is another lie of the right. Ordinary people might not be well represented in Parliament now, but the solution is not to vote for a Clive Palmer or a Donald Trump. We need to unite" the intellectuals, the workers, the greens and small business owners.
The trick is not to leave anyone behind. Refugees are not stealing people's jobs, and yet listen to the racist rhetoric of the Morrison government. A government that ignores 23 million acts of STEALING by a bank.

Come on Rob, you've got to be kidding.

The intellectuals despise the workers, who are way beneath their dignity, & the Greens despise everybody, including each other.

All too many doctors are not that good at their day job, to have the time to involve themselves in matters beyond their understanding.

Hi Hasbeen,
I am working class stock. I have done labouring, worked as a mechanic, a cleaner, etc. I am an intellectual. Do I despise YOU? I got my free university education from Geoff Whitlam's Labor reforms in education.
Yes, some intellectual SNOBS despise workers. But no means all. The thing about an advanced education, is that is is an opportunity to learn how to really think. [But not all people who go to university take advantage of that. All people think. Trades-people have to think, but it is usually on practical problems. Nevertheless, logic is logic, and evidence is evidence. So more people are "intellectuals" than they realise. So the "gap" is more imaginary than real.
Science is a very practical skill, and I used to love teaching it.
As far as the "intellectual class goes", the worker will find more enemies among people like economists than science people.
Anyway, it's just a thought

Rob H,
you can't be an intellectual if you've been exposed to pragmatism !

Hi Rob H,

Hassy despises the educated, not having that opportunity himself. He is also not been of the working class, refraining from the mundane tasks of working, preferring to play the part of Captain Bligewater, dropping boats loads of sludge on the Great Barrier Reef for yonks, whilst most likely collecting his dole relief from the Aussie taxpayer.

Merry Christmas Hassy!

British trade union activist Paul Embery on where UK Labour went wrong:

“We sounded the alarm bells again earlier this year when, in the local and European elections, Labour haemorrhaged support in several working-class communities across the north and Midlands.

But the woke liberals and Toytown revolutionaries who now dominate the party didn’t listen to us. They truly thought that ‘one more heave’ would bring victory. They believed that constantly hammering on about economic inequality would be enough to get Labour over the line. In doing so, they made a major miscalculation: they failed to grasp that working-class voters desire something more than just economic security; they want cultural security too.

They want politicians to respect their way of life, and their sense of place and belonging; to elevate real-world concepts such as work, family and community over nebulous constructs like ‘diversity’, ‘equality’ and ‘inclusivity’. By immersing itself in the destructive creed of identity politics and championing policies such as open borders, Labour placed itself on a completely different wavelength to millions across provincial Britain without whose support it simply could not win power. In the end, Labour was losing a cultural war that it didn’t even realise it was fighting.”

http://unherd.com/2019/12/is-this-the-end-for-labour/

I think a lot of this could also apply to Australian Labor. By embracing identity politics, mass immigration and internationalism, left parties have totally alienated their old constituencies.

Rob H
You make a statement that defines your position as regards to the subject matter and then you demean it by saying 'it's just a thought'

thought' .....is the journey
to a destination called 'knowledge'

only ....when at the destination...
does one make a decision.....

decisions made on....''thoughts'...
are often journeys without end

Isa Stralian

Hassy despises the educated,
Paul1405,
Wrong !
Not the educated, the indoctrinated ! Educated people contribute positively to society & no-one despises them.

Rob H said-

let us dismiss "the greenies are enemies of the workers" canard

Answer- Greenies are not green they are watermelons- Communists with green clothes. Cultural nihilists. One thing the Greenies could support- if they really believed in a less anthropocentric world- is rewarding those cultures that historically manage their population growth better.

Rob H said-

Science is a very practical skill, and I used to love teaching it.

Answer- As a science teacher you must be able to see the sad state of science education. Do you have a degree in science- most teachers of science don't from what I understand- due to the dominance of the teachers union. When PE teachers are teaching science rather than science graduates skilled in the relevant discipline- not skilled in political correctness- this bears ill for the children. As with many "modern" institutions- the ABC, the Universities, the Teaching Profession, the Human Resources Sector, etc, etc- need a broom and need to be de-funded- "no taxation without representation".

See US Declaration for appropriate government institutions- not a government of the few.

I have a greenie friend high up in the local movement who came over for a barbie after their analysis of the year's failure. They are totally incapable of seeing their own reflection, coming to the conclusion that the election simply came down to public misinformation and backing the wrong messiah.

I just couldn't get across that it was all about policy direction and detail and trusting in the aggregate intelligence of the electorate. But oh no, apparently the electorate should trust in the general gist of the left and were duped by the right into not doing so.

I think the left can come back towards the centre and win the next election, especially as the demographic is moving left as our left inculcated youth (via the education system) come through to voting age. It needs to make its policies more detailed and fairer.

One example would be to explain whether, while it would abolish NG, losses could carried forward. Something so basic as this was never spelled out and the left wonders why it lost the electorate's trust.

losses could carried forward
luciferase,
Losses should be copped like all wage earners have to ! Either we all lose or no-one loses, being selective as to who has a loss & who doesn't is crap !

Not sure about PAYE taxpayers copping losses. There are work-related tax deductions that are generally less than income from work, and there's a tax-free threshold.

In business carried on without a company structure, as mum and dad investors do, Labor's proposal was to share in your profits but if you make a running loss in a tax year you're on your own, no suggestion of writing this off against future profits to reduce future tax.

That's not fair. The aggregate intelligence of the electorate was enough to note this and the unfairness in several other Labor proposals, hence Labor lost. If it fixes these things it can win next time. It also needs a coherent energy policy embracing the necessary evil of coal or nuclear, instead of pie-in-the-sky renewables targets that would fail on emissions while impoverishing taxpayers and consumers and bringing our international competitiveness to its knees.

I repeat, the electorate is not stupid, but Labor was.

Not sure about PAYE taxpayers copping losses.
Luciferase,
Well I AM sure of having losses mainly due to crime & Bureaucrat incompetence/corruption.
As a PAYE I was not entitled to "write off" any of them. The ATO only acknowledges losses when they're mere shortfalls of predicted business income/profit but not when they're genuine losses incurred by wage earners !

Luciferase,
A comment re commercial Welfare would be appreciated !