OPINION
As the fallout from the “Voice” referendum continues, “Airbus Albo” is scuttling off overseas, yet again. Of course, the trip would have been booked months ago, and there are a few things going on in the world. But politics is as much about appearances as substance, and the appearances here, the “optics” as they say, are not at all good.
No doubt, the PM was expecting this particular jaunt to be something of a triumphal tour. Now, he looks like just what he is: a beaten, demolished leader, scurrying away from the ruins of what he so unwisely toppled.
Voters who’ve already marked Albanese’s penchant for enjoying the taxpayer-funded perks of office, are going to be far from happy.
They were already clearly unamused before the referendum was even settled in such spectacular fashion.
Support for Anthony Albanese and his government has fallen in the states that helped secure Labor an election victory, as males and younger voters turn away from his government.
The latest Newspoll has found that the ALP lost significant ground in Victoria and Western Australia, while the Prime Minister’s popularity gradually fell over the six months leading up to the Voice to Parliament referendum.
The poll also highlights, yet again, what was so stark in the referendum results: the sheer, yawning canyon dividing the elite Brahmin class and Menzies’ “quiet Australians”.
The Coalition has clawed back male voters living in the suburbs while the Greens have made notable strategic gains among professional women living in the cities.
The recent increase in support for the Liberal Party reflects a four per cent swing in their favour against Labor in the two-party-preferred vote since the beginning of the year, changing the ratio from 57-43 per cent to 54-47 per cent.
Approval for Mr Albanese’s performance as leader has gradually fallen, and he’s taken a dive in both South Australia, where he chose to launch the Voice to Parliament campaign, and in Queensland.
The Daily Mail
The polls are not quite the kiss of death for Albanese or the Labor party. Rather, they’re just another ebb in the slow bleed that is steadily enervating the government.
The analysis reveals significant shifts in party support for Labor in Victoria and WA and a loss of satisfaction with Mr Albanese as leader over the six months prior to the referendum.
It would be foolish, though, for the opposition to start thinking it can cruise to victory on the back of the referendum alone.
There were also warning signs for the Coalition, with the key battleground state of NSW improving slightly for Labor and the less critical state of SA turning against the Liberals and the Nationals […]
The Newspoll trend points to an averaged loss of electoral backing for the Albanese government between March and October this year, with a two-point decline in primary vote to 36 per cent, amid a gradual decay in support for the Prime Minister whose net approval ratings have fallen to zero.
In a key shift in voting intention, the Coalition has made an electoral recovery in WA since the resignation of popular WA Labor premier Mark McGowan.
It has also reclaimed territory in Victoria, which is regarded its worst-performing state, with long-term Labor premier Daniel Andrews having also recently resigned
The Australian
What Dutton and the Coalition must do is, not sit back and watch the government bleed itself to death, but keep sticking new and sharper knives in.
Because the crises aren’t going to stop, for the government, with its referendum drubbing. All the issues that Albanese relegated to second-rate importance while he proclaimed the referendum his “number one priority” haven’t gone away — indeed they’ve got significantly worse. The cost-of-living crisis is biting so hard that even a staggering number of middle-income households are reporting “food insecurity”.
Voters were already angry enough that Albanese prioritised a divisive, boutique, racialised referendum ahead of an increasingly existential cost-of-living crisis. In the months to come, as the government shows it not only has no answer but is actively making the crisis worse with policies such as “Net Zero”, voter fury will rise and rise.
The challenge to the opposition is to capitalise on the referendum momentum by shifting gears and offering policy prescriptions aimed directly at the hip pockets of voters outside the inner-city “quinoa belts”.