Australian Hotels Association President Scott Leach
EDITORIAL
“…democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried…” - Winston Churchill The famous British Prime Minister would know the truth of those words. In July 1945 the great war-time leader was unceremoniously booted from office after leading Britain to victory over Nazi Germany that same year. Proving once again the public usually won’t thank you for what you’ve done – but are more interested in what you are going to do. Churchill’s words and his fate sprang to mind as I watched the election results roll in on the night of Saturday, May 21 from behind the bar at The Rose of Australia.
Those skills will be needed yet again as election night saw Labor return to power with less than 33 percent of the vote, with one in three voters turning to independents or minor parties. The rise of the teals and a new crossbench of 16 in the lower house (and my congratulations to them all) marks the fracturing of our Parliamentary system.
For good or ill - depending on your views - I believe it is here to stay. The voting figures speak for themselves.
In 1951 almost 98 per cent of the vote went to the two major parties – in 2022 that figure was at an all-time low of 68.5 per cent. And once elected, Independents have a way of increasing their majorities. Just have a look at Andrew Wilkie in the Tasmanian seat of Denison. In the 2010 Federal election, Wilkie was elected on a primary vote of 21.3 per cent, following strong preference flows from the Greens (19 percent) and Labor (35.8). By the 2019 election he had turned that into a primary vote of 50 per cent! In May he still managed 45.54 per cent of the primary despite strong challenges from Labor (18.76), Liberal (15.85) and Greens (13.45) candidates. In North Sydney, Independent Kylee Tink won the formerly blue-ribbon seat from the Liberals Trent Zimmerman with a primary vote of 25.20 per cent compared with Zimmerman’s 38.05. The seat of former Liberal Minister Julie Bishop (Curtin, WA) was taken by independent candidate Kate Chaney, on a primary vote of 29.46 per cent despite the Liberals receiving 41.33 per cent of first preferences. In the Western Sydney seat of Fowler, Independent candidate Dai Le was elected with a primary vote of 29.51 per cent compared
It soon became clear our former PM Scott Morrison was to share Churchill’s fate – despite steering Australia through the choppy waters of the pandemic relatively unscathed. What also became rapidly clear on election night was the fracturing of our body politic – perhaps permanently. Labor won the election with a majority – just (and congratulations to Anthony Albanese for proving a boy from a housing commission in the backblocks of the Inner West can make it to the top office in the land). In fact, we are lucky to have a man of Albanese’s character in the top job at this time. As the manager of house business in the Gillard era he was able to use his considerable negotiating skills to steer more than 300 pieces of legislation through Parliament. This made her Government one of the most productive in our history despite being in minority.
14 Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/July Edition
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