Article by Editorial, courtesy of The Australian.
25.02.2025
The muddle of minority government looms large, unfortunately, for the national interest, political editor Simon Benson wrote recently, with Newspoll showing the two major parties stuck on 65-70 per cent of the primary vote combined. It is a result neither major party wants, for good reason, and The Australian believes such an outcome would be disastrous. Peter Dutton addressed the issue recently, saying if voters delivered a hung parliament and the Coalition was in a position to form government, there’d be “a conversation to have’’ with independent MPs Bob Katter, Dai Le and teal MP Allegra Spender. Ms Spender, who represents the formerly blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Wentworth, has indicated she would be open to putting the Coalition into office.
Mr Albanese has been reluctant to discuss the issue, and has said he would not share government with the Greens. “I’ve ruled that out … there’ll be no deals with the Greens,’’ he said recently. To that end, we would urge both major parties to put the interests of Australians first and put the economically destructive, anti-Semitic, anti-American Greens last in every seat. It remains to be seen if Labor rises to that challenge, which Mr Albanese refused to agree to on the last sitting day of parliament. But Greens leader Adam Bandt has other ideas, predicting “the Greens will keep Peter Dutton out and get Labor to act … on the climate and the cost-of-living crisis’’.
Spare us. In a series of exposes in July last year, The Australian put the blowtorch on the Greens’ policies, none of which, however they were negotiated or watered down, would help the nation. Amid the worst strategic outlook since World War II, Joe Kelly reported – the latest example of which is China’s live-fire exercises off the Australian coast – the Greens claimed to be more worried about the strategic risks of the US alliance than Beijing’s push for regional dominance.
They favour reviewing the US alliance, cancelling the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines and cutting defence spending from its already inadequate level. While they would be allowed nowhere near strategic and defence policy under a Labor minority government, they would be a destabilising, dangerous influence, especially in the Trump era.
The Greens’ “Robin Hood’’ economic policies, including slugging corporations to fund free university places, student allowances, free childcare and dental care under Medicare, boosting the “social safety net’’, and aiming to achieve decline in housing values, would put millions of Australians on the road to poverty. “No coal, no gas, no nuclear has a next logical step,’’ Adam Creighton wrote, “no economy’’, as investment and jobs move offshore. Teals policies could wreak havoc, too.
Individual Labor members appear concerned about the potential loss of seats, including Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who ordered mass citizenship ceremonies in western Sydney recently, where he represents the seat of Watson.
The timing was cynical – to allow thousands of people to enrol to vote in key seats. “Enrol to vote”, a giant screen behind Mr Burke urged the new citizens at one ceremony. Materials and information packs were distributed.
With the Greens and teals set to demand a stop to the North West Shelf extension in the event of a hung parliament, the row is a prime example of why voters need to back a majority government, with our economic future front and centre of its policy platform.
The opposition of green activists – Western Australian teal MP Kate Chaney and Greens senator Dorinda Cox – to Woodside’s planned $30bn North West Shelf extension gas project, which has been approved by the WA Labor government, underlines the pressure Anthony Albanese, and the national economy, will face if Labor falls into minority government. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has requested another 30 days to make her decision, taking the timing to late March, possibly delaying a decision until after the election. With polls pointing to a possible hung parliament, the extension could become a bargaining chip for the Greens or teals in any future deal with Labor. That would be bad for the nation. The prospect of a hung parliament is causing increasing frustration and concern for industry, including Woodside, Paul Garvey reports. As WA Premier Roger Cook, who goes to the polls on March 8, said: “You hurt Western Australian industry, you hurt the national economy.’’