After three years, a huge proportion of voters — more than one in four — cannot make up their minds about who they want in government. That’s a damning indictment on both major parties.
This indecision comes after a merry-go-round of scandals and botched decisions, broken promises and poor judgment by the Morrison government. But still the verdict is murky, and that’s almost difficult to believe.
After a Hawaiian holiday while the home front burned, to how his government dealt with sexual misconduct allegations, to a delayed vaccine rollout to ministerial misconduct, Scott Morrison is still preferred prime minister.
And one in every four voters — according to Resolve Strategic polling for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age — remains uncommitted. In fact, that number jumped even over the past fortnight.
Labor has to take the blame for some of that, and Anthony Albanese, if he wants the top job, needs to do better and know the answers to simple questions like the unemployment and cash rates. They weren’t “gotchas”, unlike many of the questions that followed, and he’s paid the price for an unsteady first week.
But perhaps more telling is that over the past three years, as one stuff-up followed another, Albanese and his party have not been able to build a narrative for voters on the Australia they would lead.
As ministers resigned and promises, like a federal integrity commission, came and disappeared, Labor has not been able to capitalise on voter disenchantment with a government that prioritises spin, at every opportunity, over policy.
That is almost as damning an indictment as Morrison’s leadership. Shouldn’t we be able to expect more of both our government and the opposition? Shouldn’t we expect a contest of ideas where we can vote for a clear-cut vision?
Neither party seems to want to inspire us. Neither party wants to provide a vision for what comes after the election. And that means neither party has a plan for complex issues that run beyond the election cycle — such as research into cancer, dealing with long-term mental health problems like youth suicide, or lifting our education system to deal with sticky diplomacy beyond our shores.
So far the Coalition is hell-bent on turning every question into a monologue on the economy (and every now and again, defence). That’s because it thinks it has the upper hand there.
But what has the Coalition given us, the voters, over the past three years? Where has it filled us with a hope for the future, or a legacy to be proud of, after a pandemic? Why hasn’t it helped “disrupt” the way we educate our children after COVID, or created a national health offensive, one that could have long-term impact?
Imagine if we ran our businesses or schools or families like that — without any consideration to their health beyond the next couple of years. Morrison’s government has only been interested in short-term fixes that peak at election time. In between it has bounced from mediocrity to mediocrity.
Albanese, on the other hand, just wants to win power. Full stop. A first-week gaffe won’t be fatal for his ambitions. But an inability to show up the government and to provide a compelling picture of what we are investing in with a change of government might be.
Scaremongering over Medicare won’t work. We’re more intelligent than that. Neither will taking to the stage at Bluesfest. Or cuddling umpteen babies.
A lacklustre offering on both sides is the reason why the independent vote is up. It is why Clive Palmer’s expensive advertising campaign is gaining traction. It is why good, decent people, including mayors, are putting up their hands to run.
Morrison doesn’t deserve another term. Many Coalition supporters would agree with that. But what’s stopping that one in every four undecided eligible voters from decisively turning towards Labor?
There can be only one answer: Labor. Who knows if Tanya Plibersek or Jim Chalmers could “perform” better on the campaign trail? That’s academic. What is not academic is the challenge between Albanese and a very average incumbent competitor.
And the fact that Albanese is not streets in front, and that so many voters are not sure if they want him as a leader, means this is a disappointing race for a lot more than one in four voters.
