Both LibLab have been slowly but consistently losing voters for decades, but Libs were already an endangered species in WA for years, and now have even been ousted in Tassie! This isn’t new, but the federal level of manipulation/propaganda through Uncle Rupert kept the larger populations esp of Boomers in the fold, but fortunately, they are finally dying off and aren’t the biggest demographic anymore. Thank fuck.
Comment on Secret figures show Liberal party’s ageing membership in freefall in NSW and Victoria
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 6 days ago
I’m a bit iffy on this, all this proclaiming the liberal party is dead after 1 admittedly bad result
I feel like a similar article about low membership of Labor could have been written about after 2013:
The Labor Party recorded its lowest two-party preferred vote since 1996 and lowest primary vote since 1931
en.wikipedia.org/…/2013_Australian_federal_electi…
Maybe because I’m old and the liberals have been in power 2/3rds of my life that I just refuse to believe if they put someone who isn’t a complete muffin in charge they won’t claw back a large amount of seats
kudra@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Ilandar@lemm.ee 6 days ago
It’s not just one bad result, though. The initial bad result was in 2022, which they then doubled down on instead of learning from. Now they’ve been wiped out of most capital cities, and have given teal independents at least six years to build their own support base. Even a single-term independent is difficult to dislodge, let alone one with six years of community engagement and networking. Their main voter base is rapidly dying out now and they are struggling to replace them with younger voters. The party itself is clearly in a fucked position, although that shouldn’t be confused for traditionally centre-right politics/voters in Australia suddenly moving to the left.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 6 days ago
I have little doubt they’ll come back eventually, but it’s going to require some serious soul searching on their part first. After 2013 Labor improved their leadership process which is what led to the internal instability that led to their incredible unpopularity back then.
Right now, the Liberals’ problem seems to be a trend away from the so-called “sensible centre” into embracing extreme-right Trumpian politics. This is caused in part by the more moderate Liberals losing their seats, giving the moderates no leverage in the party room. And also by their party preselection process being overrun by Sky After Dark fans. They need to find a way to re-embrace the former “wets” and win back the voters who abandoned them for the teals. That requires them to win back the trust of women and to begin to take climate change seriously for once.
A different option could be for the teals to be folded into the Coalition itself. Turnbull suggested that as a possibility in a recent interview, if the teals were to form into a party which could then negotiate with the Liberals and Nationals into a broader Coalition.
But without a doubt, something will change. Whether it takes them until 2028 or 2031 or longer, the Liberals in some form are unlikely to go away for good.
skribe@aussie.zone 6 days ago
I can’t see them coming back. They’re hemmed in. The further right they move, the less palatable they are to the majority of Australians. They can’t go left without alienating their base.
They also don’t have a leader to drag them kicking and screaming through the necessary process to change. Nor do they have the ability to recruit one young enough to make it worthwhile. It will be a long and painful exercise.
Right now, I fully expect them to continue along their rightward path. As a result, I can see them reduced to One Nation numbers within a couple of electoral cycles, which is still more than the Nats get.
hitmyspot@aussie.zone 6 days ago
Do they have someone who is not a complete muffin to put in charge? From my perspective, it seems they have a similar problem to the USA. They have worked so hard excluding so many, that it’s difficult to attract new members and voter with different values. The Republicans were dying before Trump. Hell likely kill them off, as he destroys everything but the libs don’t have an equivalent to win voters and votes back.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
Andrew Hastie is the evil in the wings,. good looking (not goofy looking like Dutton) and a creationist, anti science, ex-soldier. He’s the horror thats a perfect fit for modern day liberals.
hitmyspot@aussie.zone 3 days ago
So, a complete muffin then?
I think they have had a problem whereby they scare off moderates, which leads to more on the extremes which leads to less moderates which scares off voters and members which leads to more extremes.
I have a friend who got into politics and aligned with the libs based on their past economic policy. She went to some meetings and was taken aback as it was all about who to hate and smack down on rather than make positive changes.
I laughed and told her that’s who they are now. It’s. It about making Aussies lives better, it’s about pushing an ideology.