There is so much hot air blowing around at the moment. Almost every leftie on social media is having a meltdown. Never mind that their partisan nonsense caused the swamp to need draining in the first place. Many conservative voters are not convinced that Mr Dutton will turn the Liberals around in the way Donald Trump reformed the Republicans. But will the Don’s decisive action be enough to inspire Mr Dutton to undo the Uniparty?
The concept of a Uniparty in two-party liberal democracies is as old as the system itself. Cartoons depicting a fat capitalist with arms outstretched holding the Republicans in one hand and the Democrats in the other sum up the idea of the Uniparty succinctly. One reason for the Uniparty concept infiltrating Australian politics is that so-called ‘moderate’ Liberals have gone so far left they are known as LINOs (Liberals in name only).
I have argued previously that Australians ought to change conservative political parties from the inside rather than punish them at the ballot box. Doing so invariably ends up with a Labor government with the Greens as the dystopian comic relief. Lord knows we can’t afford another three years of these economic vandals.
At the same time, ‘moderate’ Liberals who suddenly retire and appear as Labor’s allies don’t help. Trying to out-Teal the Teals or to campaign by becoming Labor-lite don’t help the image of the Liberals as a different branch of the Uniparty, either.
For all the importance of his Aukus masterstroke, Mr Morrison shares much of the blame for the Liberals’ demise at the 2022 election. His small target strategy alongside Albanese’s small target strategy turned into a case of which leader stunk the most. Hence the muck-fight we are stuck in now.
What worries me most is that conservatives will splinter the conservative vote and hand Labor the election. Labor’s and the Teal’s spin-doctors are working overtime to convince voters that everything is fine if you just return them to power. Anyone who follows Elon Musk’s X knows that the lefties all post around a common theme at a common time. It is easy for the left to coordinate in that way because they are not individual thinkers.
The regrettable thing about conservatives and conservative voters is that they think for themselves. You can’t just repeat the same message over and over or shout it louder to get your message across. They want evidence. They want common sense. They want leadership.
Trump’s success is his ability to lead. His brash style is transactional, and his ability to negotiate is almost of another culture. His claims to flatten Gaza and rebuild it are the extreme edge of his offer. Watch as the lefties cry themselves to sleep while the parties to Trump’s bargain start making offerings to appease him. Trump is all about action and movement. The next four years will be a wild ride for everyone, but you can be sure that the world will be better for it.
Trump has re-written the Republican playbook. Nobody is referring to the Republicans as part of a Uniparty now. The swamp was being drained even before he took office.
We are starting to see Mr Dutton project his strength. While the prime minister hides from conflict, Mr Dutton is starting to flex his muscles, and his popularity is gaining momentum in the polls. At the same time, I spoke to one respected political analyst today who agreed that the splintering of the conservative vote will not help put Mr Dutton in the Lodge.
The Uniparty concept is therefore a form of cognitive dissonance that may stymie the Coalition’s attempt to win back government.
If the Opposition acts in any way like Labor, especially on no-brainers like social media bans or anything that impacts freedom of speech or religion or that tries to reinvent nature, they confirm the Uniparty theory.
If voters think the Liberals are part of the Uniparty, they will vote for minor parties which could very much give us another three years of Labor. Labor punters would be wise to push this ‘narrative’ to help the Prime Minister get back over the line. But that would be a tragedy for almost everyone’s standard of living.
If there is one thing Mr Dutton can take from Mr Trump’s playbook, it is to break the Uniparty idea by developing policies that do not mimic Labor in any way. Moderates who are worried about Teals need to worry more about winning government than feathering their own nests (yet another complaint directed at the Uniparty).
To be sure, Australia is not the US. At the same time, Australia is ready for a leader who has the strength and the courage to drain the swamp. All we want is a government that stands for us and not the Uniparty.
I hope Mr Dutton wears his waders during the formal election campaign. The swamp is deep, and it will take some draining if he is to convince us that he stands for us and not the Uniparty.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is a political scientist and political commentator. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILTA), and a Member of the Royal Society of NSW. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, Chairman of the ACT and Southern NSW Chapter of CILTA, and a member of the Australian Nuclear Association. Michael is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and was appointed to the College of Experts at the Australian Research Council in 2022. All opinions in this article are the author’s own and are not intended to reflect the views of any other person or organisation.
