The bulldozer versus the bungler
Australians prepare to vote for PM
A long campaign trail came to an end yesterday for Australia’s political leaders — with the country going to the polls today.
According to the latest polling numbers, Labor under leader Anthony Albanese remains in the box seat to form a government, with about 53.6 per cent support.
Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party will hope the polls have got it wrong if it’s to win another term.
However ALP’S internal polling also shows Morrison at his highest disapproval rating since the election was called. Despite a string of gaffes and skirmishes with the media during Albanese’s campaign, the results suggest that voter anger towards the Prime Minister is unyielding and will be enough to secure victory.
But the Liberals still maintain they can flip enough seats to form a minority government with independents, and new focus group research conducted for the Liberal Party reveals Albanese’s character remains an issue with questions over whether he is “up to it”.
The Labor leader’s lack of mastery of the detail was high on voters’ list of
concerns, issues the Morrison has hammered calling the Labor leader a “loose unit”.
“You want your prime minister to know what’s going on with the country, he just doesn’t know, and he looks awkward, what else doesn’t he know the answer to?” one voter said.
While the Prime Minister has admitted he can be “a bulldozer” and faced criticism over his trip to Hawaii, the vaccine rollout and RAT test shortages over Christmas, there’s still voter hesitation over the Labor leader’s credentials.
Voters participating in the focus groups came from Western Sydney,
including the Labor-held seat of Werriwa, where Morrison made a surprise stop this week as the Coalition tries to flip seats in the outer suburbs to offset losses elsewhere.
Polled voters were also concerned that Albanese’s early stumbles over
detail suggested he wasn’t ready for the top job.
Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton, who may emerge as opposition leader after the election, said there was no doubt the result would be “tight” and it was the wrong time to
install Albanese as prime minister.
“I think Australians realise that he’s just not ready to be prime minister of our country,” Dutton said.
However, Albanese declared he planned to have “nothing left in the tank” ahead of the federal election and that he had given the six-week election campaign “absolutely everything”.
“I’ve got nothing left in the tank . . . I’ve been to four states commencing here in Sydney, going to Adelaide and then travelling to two more states and I’ll keep going until 6pm on Saturday because I absolutely believe that Australia needs a better future and you can only have that if we have a better government,” he said.
Asked if he would stand down as leader if he falls short, Albanese said he had not contemplated that outcome.
Speaking in Adelaide, Australia’s first female prime minister Julia Gillard said the Labor leader was ready. “We have known each other for more than 40 years right back to when we were university students. And with the authority that the more than 40 years of friendship gives me, I can certainly say the following about Albo . . . he will be a great Prime Minister,” she said.
Gillard issued a message to the women of Australia, urging them to choose Albanese as their next leader.
The former PM has stayed out of the media since leaving parliament, but said she had made a “particular exception” to support Albanese. Agencies