We’re in sight of the home straight in Australian federal election 2019 and Labor’s spend-a-thon campaign is doing little to arrest their slide in the polls. But Labor are still in a winning position – if less and less so by the day – and whether the next two weeks will be enough for the Coalition to snatch victory remains to be seen. But Labor is clearly worried and the campaign is fast turning nasty – very nasty. Quote:
Popular support for Labor has fallen to its lowest level since Scott Morrison became Prime Minister in August last year, with voters turning sharply against Bill Shorten despite $16 billion in further spending promises…The result also locks in a six-point turnaround in the two-party-preferred vote in the past two months. End of quote.
This is increasingly looking like an election that will be decided by the cross-bench, especially if voting follows recent local and global patterns of walking away from established parties. It certainly looks as if Pauline Hanson’s extraordinary interview with Tracy Grimshaw is paying dividends, while the Greens remain stagnant. Quote:
Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party fell a point from 5 per cent last week, giving up ground to One Nation, which rose a point to 5 per cent.
The Greens remained unchanged on 9 per cent, where their support has rested all year. End of quote.
theaustralian
Labor’s big problem remains Bill Shorten. Shorten is a turn-off for many voters, not least women. Labor’s feminine hygiene strategy of trying to hide the disliked leader behind a shield-wall of women is becoming more and more obvious. Quote:
Bill Shorten has been forced to defend Chloe Shorten’s star role at Labor’s campaign launch yesterday, refuting claims it was a reflection he was unable to convince voters himself that he was a top bloke…
[David Koch, Sunrise]: OK, you could say you ignore it (the polls), but look it seems as though the more people see you, the more they don’t like you. What don’t people get about you? What are the areas that they are missing? Last night Chloe Shorten, Mrs Shorten, was a real star of the show having to explain what a nice bloke you are…Is that a reflection though that you need her to come out and convince the Australian public that you are a decent bloke? That you’re not able to do it yourself? End of quote.
theaustralian
Meanwhile, things are fast taking a disturbing turn on the hustings. Quote:
Racist graffiti has been found on a campaign billboard belonging to Chinese Australian George Hua, the Liberal candidate for Hotham, just days after his official campaign website was hacked…This latest act of vandalism comes after Hitler moustaches, devil horns and the words “right wing facist [sic]” appeared on posters of Josh Frydenberg in his Melbourne electorate of Kooyong, with the Treasurer slamming the defacing as a “cowardly and criminal act”.
Textas were used to deface a number of posters of the Jewish MP in Hawthorn. End of quote.
theaustralian
It was actually worse than that: Frydenberg’s picture was also adorned with swastikas and dollar signs. Not only is this a personal affront to Frydenberg, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, these cannot be seen as anything other than shockingly anti-Semitic slurs.
The most disturbing act of an increasingly feral campaign of intimidation from the left occurred in rural Victoria. Quote:
Mr Morrison said a supporter of Victorian Liberal MP Sarah Henderson had also been recently targeted during the campaign…”One of her supporters had a poster of her in her yard. Someone shot her dog and put the body of the dog below her sign.” End of quote.
abc
I would be hesitant to suggest that these horrible acts were sanctioned, let alone organised by Labor’s campaign office. More likely that the left – and it is exclusively the opponents of the left who are being targeted by these disgusting attacks – have whipped their supporters into the same feral frenzy that moves Antifa mobs to attack peaceful speaking events by conservatives. On the other hand, the attack on the Canberra home of an economist the day after he published a report contradicting Labor’s claims about its climate policies, suggests a degree of organisation that is truly disturbing to consider.
Labor’s union heavies have long been notorious for sending bullets and dirt-covered shovels to their opponents, openly threatening their families – including their children – with rape, hiring underworld bosses as “negotiators”, and worse.
If this sort of thuggery is becoming mainstream political activism for the left, Australia is headed down a very, very dark path.