LABOR has admitted it’s baffled by its ongoing election losses in spite of the Party’s self-proclaimed “intellectual and moral superiority”.
Former Labor Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said his Party had an unhealthy opinion of itself and showed little respect for its opponents.
He said Labor had repeatedly under-estimated former Liberal PM John Howard and risked doing the same with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
- Labor has an unhealthy self-opinion and shows little respect for its opponents.
- Party 'massively' underestimated Scott Morrison when he took the leadership.
- Scott Morrison has learned much from John Howard.
“We have an unhealthy belief in our intellectual – and moral – superiority,” Mr Fitzgibbon said this week at an event commemorating 25 years since Mr Howard’s rise to power.
“Yet we keep losing elections.
“Scott Morrison is the latest to benefit from Labor’s failure to take its opponents sufficiently seriously.
“We massively underestimated him when he took the Liberal Party leadership.”
Mr Fitzgibbon said this was a serious case of déja vu for Labor.
“I vividly recall too, hearing senior Labor people dismissively speaking of John Howard in 1996,” he said.
“It’s easy to think about the Howard government as one which was pretty much invincible for most of its lifetime, but that is far from reality.
“For several long periods, Labor’s years in the wilderness looked like being somewhat shorter.
“The fact that it wasn’t is testimony to John Howard’s shrewd political judgement and political skill.
“Scott Morrison has learned much from him.”
ERADICATE
Meanwhile, Mr Fitzgibbon has dedicated himself to eradicating “extreme progressives” from Australian Labor.
“What I’m trying to do is bring the Labor Party back to the sensible centre, back to its grassroots,” he told The Weekend Australian Magazine last week.
“It’s a very difficult task but I’m determined not to let it beat me.”
Mr Fitzgibbon has targeted climate radicalism as Labor’s biggest threat to success.
“I’ve said a million times, you can have the best carbon policy in the world, but if it stays in the top draw after every election – ‘cause you’ve lost again – you’ve achieved nothing.
“We need a recalibrated policy, a new narrative and a news salesman,” Mr Fitzgibbon said, taking a shot at struggling ALP leader Anthony Albanese.
“Australia has signed up to international commitments to climate,” he said. “So our job is to do just enough – no more than what is required.
“I’m not in the panic room when it comes to climate change. I just don’t accept it as being urgent.” PC
As Labor move further and further to the woke, inner suburban left, pollies such as Joel and their supporters become more isolated. This is why Howard’s Battlers, Tony’s Tradies and Morrison’s Quiet Australians move over to the Libs. And this is why it is vital the Libs do not follow this shallow, self congratulatory race to the left.
The Labor party of Keating and Hawke is just a memory, the current mob do not represent the workers only the elite left wing urban latte set. Joel is a lone voice and he will be quietly pushed aside.
Election after election, whichever party promises the most action on climate change gets smashed and yet there are still “senior Labor figures” who think action on climate change is a winner. Unbelievable.