Cleaned out: The base strikes back

CENTRE-Right voters have overwhelmingly abandoned the Liberal Party’s Left-leaning MPs delivering a devastating defeat to Scott Morrison in yesterday’s federal election. 

While the national swing against the Liberal Party averaged about four per cent, the punishment dealt to so-called “moderate” Liberals was double and triple that figure. 

In a clear statement from voters, almost all Liberal MPs who have publicly aligned with Labor and The Greens have been removed.
Politicom

The clean out of at least six high profile Leftists, along with the defeat of Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, opens the door for a course correction for the Liberal Party.

A vanquished Coalition, which had retained government in 2019 with 77 seats, will likely be left with only 59 MPs in the new parliament.

SUPPORT

Labor, which is on track to claim 78 seats, is confident of governing without cross-bench support.

As counting continues, The Greens are edging towards two lower house MPs while the Independents (including the “teals”) have claimed 10. Katter’s Australian Party and Centre Alliance each have one.

Mr Frydenberg’s loss was most consequential for the Liberal Party. He was defeated by teal independent Monique Ryan with a swing against him of seven per cent (46 to 54 two party preferred).

The Treasurer, who was considered a possible opposition leader, labels himself centre-Right, however, is closer to Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison in his policy positions.

His defeat – along with the removal of a swathe of Leftists from the Party room – opens the way for conservative Peter Dutton to take the reins of the Liberals.

In a clear statement from voters, almost all MPs who have publicly aligned with Labor and The Greens on global warming, anti-religious and anti-mining positions have been removed.

Four of the five Liberal MPs who crossed the floor to oppose religious freedom legislation are among those to go.

SUFFERED

These include North Sydney’s Trent Zimmerman, Wentworth’s David Sharma, Reid’s Fiona Martin and Higgins’ Katie Allen. Only Bass’s Bridget Archer survived, though she suffered a swing against her to hold her seat 51 to 49 TTP.

Mr Zimmerman lost to teal independent Kylea Tink with a swing of 14 per cent (47 to 53 TTP). Fiona Martin lost her seat to Labor’s Sally Sitou with an 8.6 per cent swing (44.5 to 55.5 TTP), while Mr Sharma lost to teal Allegra Spender with a swing of 8.8 per cent (44 to 56 TTP).

Mr Sharma, who describes himself as a “modern” Liberal along with Mackellar’s Jason Falinski and Goldstein’s Tim Wilson, had recklessly told conservatives “to get over it” after they publicly questioned his global warming extremism.

Like Mr Sharma, Mr Falinski and Mr Wilson – both outspoken climate activists – also left parliament on Saturday.

BISHOP

Mr Falinski lost his impossibly safe Liberal seat (formerly held by Bronwyn Bishop) to teal Sophie Scamps with a swing of 12 per cent (47 to 53 TTP), while Mr Wilson was also replaced by a teal, Zoe Daniel, suffering a 13 per cent swing (46.5 to 53.5 TTP).

Mr Dutton will now have an opportunity to reset the course of the Liberal Party in a direction that has historically delivered it sizeable victories – as did John Howard in 1996 and Tony Abbott in 2013.PC

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:  Peter Dutton. (courtesy BBC)

10 thoughts on “Cleaned out: The base strikes back

  1. Morrison forgot Malcolm Fraser and the lesson of the past – “you can’t please everybody”
    The Liberals should try to recapture the spirit and policies that made them winners in 2113. Peter King standing for Wentworth would be a good example.
    And if you need a strong argument to challenge the Global Warming Myth, follow scientist John Mclean. It would also help to look up the CET ( Central England Temperature) figures on the net.

  2. I’m worried about living under a Labor government for the next three years but the silver lining is the removal of the moderates from the Liberal Party. I voted for Jason Falinski (even though I disagreed with his advocacy on climate change) because I didn’t want a Labor/Greens government.
    Moving forward, I believe Peter Dutton will be a wonderful conservative leader who will drag the party back to its roots. We need a strong leader for the troubling times we are facing and I will feel a whole lot safer with Mr Dutton at the helm. The Liberal Party now has three years to lure back their conservative base. I can foresee a landslide victory for the Libs in 2025. It can’t come soon enough!

    11
    1. From my experiences beginning with watching the election results on television the day Whitlam Labor succeeded in forming Federal Government and then observing the gradual implosion, and listening to the Labor excuses and “social justice” (socialist justice) success claims, Union controlled and managed Labor are not competent managers and/or their political objectives get in the way.

      Terry McCrann wrote today in the Daily Telegraph headed “Chalmers dead wrong and also irresponsible”, and so early in the still being formed Union Labor Federal Government. He referred to PM Albo as “Whitlam lite, very lite” and extremely critical of the Treasurer.

      He finished: “As I wrote Monday, fasten the harness”.

      It looks like a Kevin & Wayne situation!

    2. Unfortunately, we still have some “Lefty lunies” in the Coalition. Susan Ley was the environment minister. David Littleproud and Michael McCormick also have leadership aspirations, and I sense a threat to continue lefty, climate change policies if any of them become Peter Duttons deputy. PS Prayer is now needed to save Australia from a dangerous Leftist direction, which is now commonsense throughout the world. The world has abandoned God, and won’t be able to handle the consequences of the actions that are coming.

  3. But you won’t hear this on the ABC….they are running the Matt Kean line and this morning they have launched a campaign against Barnaby Joyce, blaming him for the loss of seats held by Liberal “progressives”.

    1. The filing cabinet is marked “Dirt Files” and inside there are sections for Nelson, Abbott and Morrison now closed, and new sections marked Dutton and Joyce.

      Will the character assassination and general smearing be about women problems again, incompetence allegations based on State Government areas of responsibility and powers, blame for anything and everything that Albo Union Labor get wrong?

      No doubt the ABC will be given insider access.

    1. It was not a great Labor victory, but it has again reminded us that the preferential voting system is badly flawed and becoming increasingly worse.

      The candidate with the most primary votes should be the winner.

    2. Centre right on the political spectrum is Tony Abbott, for example, John Howard too.

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