Opinion
Save us from left-wing politicians desperate to save their electoral bacon against all odds. Faced with collapsing poll numbers, left-wing governments will do what left-wing governments always do — only more so. Spend, spend, spend: the more of other people’s money they can waste, the better. No mountain of debt is too small for a left-wing government trying to save itself from the wrath of voters.
As the Albanese Labor government celebrates its second anniversary and enters its third and election year there is a surrounding sea of adversity, a heritage of failure and a disappointing public reaction in the latest Newspoll to a big-spending budget designed to ease the cost-of-living crisis.
The Australian
Anthony Albanese is spending up mega-bucks to try and save his political bacon. Is it working?
Voters have rejected Labor’s central claims about Jim Chalmers’ third budget.
Fewer than a third believe it is good for the economy – a record low – and less than that believe they will be better off financially as a result. This is despite more than $30bn in handouts, if you include tax cuts and cost-of-living subsidies.
The Australian
It’s a case of rinse’n’repeat for Albanese, who pitched his spectacularly-broken promise on Stage 3 tax cuts as cost-of-living relief for the workers — to a wall of indifference. Polling showed that, while voters were fine with getting some of their own money back, they weren’t prepared to change their minds about the government that two-thirds of them didn’t vote for in the first place.
They’re still unconvinced, to say the least. Not only do a majority believe the budget will make inflation worse, less than one third believe it will make them personally better off. Another third think they will be worse off.
The 27% who believe the budget will be good for the economy is the lowest recorded since polling began, 25 years ago. While Labor is nearly always seen as the weaker economic manager, this is a dire result even for them.
There are whispers, though, of an early election. After all, if this is as good as it’s going to get for Labor, best take their chances and hope to scrape in by the narrowest of margins again.
Because there are signs aplenty that things are going to get a whole lot worse.
If the energy market operator is right, the lights are going to go out across much of eastern mainland Australia over summer.
The last thing Labor would want is more colour added to the energy nightmare it is already presiding over as it prepares for an election year. But that is what is about to happen.
There are no prizes for guessing what the problem is: The failure by state and federal Labor governments to address the reliability of the national electricity market in anticipation of coal’s exit. The Australian Energy Market Operator’s report is clear.
Reliability has deteriorated in NSW, Victoria and South Australia over the past year, forcing it to warn it will have to bid for emergency power reserves to keep the lights on over summer in the two largest states of NSW and Victoria. South Australia is also again in trouble.
The Australian
The problem for Labor is that it has wedged itself. It’s beyond doubt that “Net Zero” has been a policy disaster. If Labor persists, things will only get worse. Yet, if they back down, they risk being hung out to dry for their utter hypocrisy. This is, after all, a government which has run hard on the “climate emergency” furphy. Turning their backs on it will only add to the perception that it was all a load of old bollocks, all along. Even more dire for Labor, they will haemorrhage yet more of the hardcore left to the Greens.
Meanwhile, another Labor government facing certain poll death is pulling out all the spending stops to try and buy a little love.
Queensland Labor will increase the state’s soaring debt by $41bn in the next four years and abandon its forecast surpluses to pay for cost of living handouts ahead of the October state election.
The Australian
All left-wing governments come to a merciful end, sooner or later. The only problem is that we’re stuck with the millstone of their profligacy around our collective necks long after they’ve shuffled off to enjoy their luxurious pensions.