The Coalition may not be in its best shape, but when they were in power, most Australians were better off. We keep hearing about how Albo inherited all this debt and deficit, but it’s nonsense. By the time Albo moved into the Lodge, prices were already going up. As he lifted wages for unionised sectors, the false economy showed low unemployment (mostly government jobs) but inflation kept going up. One interest rate cut went straight into ever-increasing power bills. Nobody is better off.
Refusing to learn from the Morrison disaster, the Coalition has played Labor-lite. There’s enough policy mimicry to justify the Uniparty concept, but don’t be fooled. The minor conservative parties are destroying any chance we have of recovering our standard of living. Whether we like it or not, only a Coalition government can guarantee our prosperity. In my opinion, the electoral strategies of minor parties like Gerard Rennick’s People First Party risk putting conservatives last.
Senator Rennick lost LNP preselection to remain as a Senator for Queensland in 2024, resigning from the party in August 2025. He has since formed his own party. During a February 2025 Senate hearing and subsequent media appearances, Rennick made suggestions that Israeli intelligence (Mossad) might have infiltrated Australian media, particularly News Corp, and that a politician could have betrayed Australia to Israel. These remarks were in response to a Daily Telegraph stunt at an Egyptian café, where a Jewish man wore a Star of David cap apparently to gauge reactions amid rising antisemitism.
In this masthead, Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory suggested that such fringe ideas on the right were an ‘unnecessary distraction’ in the lead-up to the election.
In the meantime, Senator Rennick is running a joint ticket as the People First Party and Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) candidate. There is some speculation that Rennick will likely arrange preferences to favour allies like Katter’s Australian Party (due to their joint ticket) and possibly the Libertarian Party, given his Australia First Alliance. He may prioritise minor, right-leaning parties over the LNP and One Nation, with whom he competes for similar voters. While he is unlikely to preference Labor or the Greens, the result will see votes taken away from the LNP and One Nation.
In the 2022 federal election, One Nation directed preferences to the LNP in every Queensland seat, including the Senate, as a strategic move to bolster the Coalition against Labor. But with One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts facing competition from Gerard Rennick’s People First Party, things have changed. One punter on X suggested that Queenslanders can have Gerard Rennick or Malcolm Roberts, not both. If I were a betting man, I’d put money on that outcome.
The consequence of minor parties jockeying for preferences is detrimental to the Coalition. In Mr Dutton’s electorate of Dickson for example, Family First candidate Suniti Hewett’s how-to-vote card has Mr Dutton fourth behind One Nation and the Trumpet of Patriots candidates respectively. What is happening in Mr Dutton’s seat is precisely what I have been warning about.
Uniparty critics keep saying ‘you can give your first preference to a minor conservative party and your second preference to the Coalition and still get a Coalition government’. As I predicted, the minor conservative parties aren’t exactly promoting that idea.
Indeed, I have warned repeatedly that, whether in the House or the Senate, the conservative vote is splintering. The likely outcome is that one minor party will benefit directly, while Labor will benefit overall. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) provides public funding to eligible political parties, candidates, and Senate groups based on the number of first preference (primary) votes they receive in a federal election, provided they meet certain criteria.
For a registered political party, funding is payable when its endorsed candidates collectively achieve at least 4 per cent of the formal first preference votes in the contested electorates. For the 2025 federal election, the AEC has set the funding rate at $3.386 per eligible first preference vote for both houses. With electoral funding as a motivating factor, it is likely that minor parties are focused on immediate self-interest than the longer-term good of the nation.
This is a double-whammy for the Coalition. It not only loses votes but also loses electoral funding. Without the fundraising base of unions and superannuation funds enjoyed by Labor, well, you can see where this is heading.
Sir Robert Menzies brought together some 18 non-labour groups (not just political parties) in 1944 to form Australia’s most successful political party. In the 2025 election, a handful of self-interested minor parties appear likely to undo that legacy. If the polls are accurate, the outcome of this election will ensure Australia’s standard of living suffers for the foreseeable future under Labor and the Greens. So choose wisely.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is The Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. All opinions in this article are the author’s own.