Reflections on the 2018 Batman by-election (AUS)
There is a lot to be discussed recently when it comes to national politics, with Dutton pulling the cameras toward him in a moment of idiotry and racism not expected even from him; or the Greens debilitating loss in the Batman by-election. I wish within this essay to focus on that bi-election, and investigate why the greens lost this election.
To look at the results of this election one cannot focus on just one issue — as the Greens have done in their rather over the top approach to the leaks that they claim lost them the election. This is a personal and party political issue for the Greens and I wish to investigate this and Labor’ policy including the national conscience in the lead up to the election.
The election was followed all the way by a discourse focused entirely on the Adani Coal mine, and then for the last few weeks by the proposed dividend tax change proposed by Mr Shorten and Labor. The Greens in Canberra have for at least a year now struggled to take hold of the national discourse and struggled further to take advantage of the growing discontent aimed at the two major parties.
Their collective response in the words of Katharine Murphy of the guardian been “to shout louder, and pick fights in the parliamentary chambers with all the subtlety of a bunch of internet trolls.”. As scathing as this is, it holds some truth, the Greens have been trying to find some issues on which they can base their ideology, unfortunately, this has not worked out as planned. The image of a party which has the possibility to lead the country, and who’s views are as wide-ranging as the two major parties has been pushed by the greens, yet they have not been able to find tangible issues currently to actively show this growing ideology.
What this has left is the antithesis to what they had hoped — they were trying to build a wide-reaching, socially progressive ideology, and instead, voters seem unsure for what exactly the greens stand for. The tremendous failure of the Greens in pushing for the support of the older, wealthier senior citizens, stating we will protect your pension, frustrated and angered some of the younger more radical wings of the party. The greens ideology and policies within the Batman by-election can be summed up as anti-Adani. As powerful, and relevant as this message is, it is not enough to win an election on, especially when this issue was played by Labor and specifically Mr Shorten.
Within the Queensland Greens, one can see a push toward dealing with economics issues within a nation, looking at the growth in inequality, as well as the damage being done to the environment and fuelling climate change. In doing this, they secured themselves the highest Greens state election vote that Queensland has ever seen, plus their first MP. This is the counterpoint to Batman, and I believe highlights not the shrewdness of the Labor election in Batman, but the incompetence of the Greens.
With a limited ideology and a hamstrung set of voters being stolen by the Labor parties move to the left, the Greens are limited if they stay on this course, there is little they can sell to the public as their policies when they hold very little of them. Their ideology must spread beyond protecting the environment if they are to win seats in elections.
Greens, if they want to adapt and win elections, must do a few things, one of these being not focus on the leakers within your own party, or constantly bring the media’s attention to your own inner-party failures for this will only bring negative attention. What you must do is show some political agility, an ability to grab voters outside of your safety-zones, to put forth some policies which you can sell to the public, rather than a vague ideological standing, only once you do these things will the Greens have a chance at securing some seats and voters.
This article was written prior to the 2018 Batman by-election
