The problem with Labor’s messaging

As we noted yesterday, it will take more than a single day to process every thought on the election. Readers seemed to agree, with our comments line continuing to run hot. With a few days to recover, Crikey readers began to really consider where it all went wrong for Labor. Some agreed that it was Labor’s folly, others blamed LNP tactics and the media. The consensus? That there are some hard truths to confront, and that the next three years will be long ones.

Rhys Daniell writes: Let’s zoom out and take a wide view of our political system rather than focus on the minutia of the campaign. The fact that the major progressive party in our political system couldn’t lay a glove on one of the nastiest and least competent governments in decades suggests that Labor are simply not doing the job of providing a viable alternative. If Labor are not prepared to reinvent themselves and restore balance to our political system, somebody else must. None of the existing parties seem to be capable of that so perhaps it’s time for a major realignment that draws existing candidates from across the political spectrum.

John McCombe  writes: If Chris Bowen was hands down Labor’s best performer, how was the franking credits rort successfully turned into a retirement tax? Bowen never satisfactorily sold that policy.

Doug Pollard writes: Quexit is a fine joke, but don’t let it distract us from the facts. Labor did not offer a credible alternative to the folks here in Queensland, or communicate one in clear and simple language. People are not stupid. They know coal mines are bad, that we need to move to renewables, save the reef, put the water back in the rivers. They see and live with the damage done. What they don’t see are viable economic alternatives, because no-one is offering any. Queenslanders have said, in effect: OK, close the mines, remove the water from agriculture. Shut down polluting industrial plants. Now tell us what we are going to do for a living? Don’t go all Thatcher on us and say the market will do it, because we know it won’t, certainly nowhere near fast enough. What projects will you fund that will employ us all in the short term? What businesses will you, as a Labor government, bankroll in this region to create secure, permanent, long-term, well-paid jobs for us and our kids? Labor had no effective counter.

Christine Cole writes: A huge problem was that the LNP were not hounded by journalists to explain where their funds were coming from to fund their promises. My guess is selling off the ABC, and taking more money away from welfare programs. Shorten and Labor politicians were constantly harangued about “new taxes”, but still asked how they would fund their programs. Poor journalism from people who could not see through the huge holes in Liberal promises.

Dean Ellis writes: Comrade Rundle wrote that “almost worse … is the feeling that this was all a waste of time”. Well, not quite — at least Abbott has been dispatched to one of the circles of political death. But dispatching Abbott is grim reward for all the effort, three more years (at least) of Scott “Hallelujah” Morrison and opposition.