Littleproud paves the way for Ley-Wilson Wokefest

Canavan was a missed opportunity for the Nationals.

The National Party had a chance to give conservatives a sense of dignity by electing Matt Canavan as their new leader. Instead, we will get more of the same. This will embolden the Liberal left (I can’t believe such a term even exists) against Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. The worst outcome will be a Sussan Ley-Tim Wilson win tomorrow. I think that will spell the end of the Coalition as we know it.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Bunfight at the OK Tearooms. Yes, that was an episode of The Goodies. But it could just as well be the Liberal party room this morning, when leadership contenders Angus Taylor and Sussan Ley may as well shoot clotted cream and tomato sauce at each other, as neither have any real policy ideas. As stated yesterday, I have no confidence whatsoever in either of them to bind party wounds, start on developing costed and funded sensible centre-right policy nor, indeed, drag the Liberals back to the sensible centre-right zone where most voters tend to congregate if they have a viable choice. Michael de Percy shares my pessimism about Ley at least, especially after Matt Canavan went down to David Littleproud in yesterday’s leadership ballot for the Nationals. My expectation is Ley will just have the numbers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Wilson, having ruled out a leadership tilt because ‘it’s not my time’ (ie, ‘I don’t have the numbers’) pops up as Ley’s deputy, defeating Jacinta Price. The ultra-ambitious Wilson will hitch himself to a dud if he does that, but that’s his call.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

That dream was a dying gasp, nothing more, from a Coalition that has spent all of its time and money listening to people who want it to lose. Sometimes it’s tempting to believe that the Coalition doesn’t want to win. I’ve heard that repeated by our readers. That, like their Victorian state counterparts, they enjoy being curled up in the corner of Parliament like cats with no responsibility and endless free meals. I’m not so sure I believe that anymore. Rather, perhaps the situation is more serious, and the federal Coalition believe their ideas are good and that victory lies in chasing voters to the left. If they win they reach socialism first, they can form government. But who would that be a victory for?

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Littleproud paves the way for Ley-Wilson Wokefest. 

Speaking after his re-election as leader, David Littleproud said:

‘I’m proud of our achievements over the last three years, the last three years where I think we set the policy agenda.’https://t.co/voMJyefTpv

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) May 12, 2025

Factions killed Liberal broad church

The same factions that lost the 2022 election are back in strength. In my opinion, the Liberals are done.

Formalised factions are commonly associated with socialist political parties. Marx viewed religion as the opiate of the masses. No wonder whoever dreamt up formalising factions for the Liberal Party is responsible for killing the broad church.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

They absolutely need to get some fresh direction or these will be the last three years of their Coalition.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Factions killed Liberal broad church.

Many hate the idea of a broad church, but John Howard used it to reinvent Menzies’ party and to accommodate economic liberals and conservatives.

Paul Kelly has argued the failure to reinvent the broad church is to blame for the Liberals’ demise.https://t.co/blrGKFk6ny

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) May 9, 2025

Greens leader Adam Bandt is gone!

It seems that you can stop the music. Bye, Felicia!

While I don’t like the Labor Party, the gracious exchanges between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese gave me some hope for our democracy. I have never wanted Labor to win so much as I did in the seat of Melbourne.

While I think Labor in their current form are socialist, they are a reflection of the weakness of conservatives in Australia. The Greens, however, are extremists. In my opinion, they have no place in Australian politics.

The good news is that Adam Bandt is gone!

Writing in Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Despite a few ‘glimmers of hope’ (for Adam Bandt), it seems inevitable that he has lost his seat and the leadership of the Greens. His arrogant campaign to ‘keep Dutton out and get Albanese to act’ failed to resonate across the country. Although Bandt’s problems were also local, with a 2024 redraw of boundaries robbing the Greens of a few strong suburbs. Bandt wasn’t brilliant, but I fail to see how the movement can survive with someone like Mehreen Faruqi in charge. How many old school environmentalists envisioned their tree-hugging party as a Palestine-centric, rainforest-bulldozing, communist machine?

Terry Barnes had a few words to say, too, in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy’s working overtime in this election season. Today he rejoices in the demise of the diminutive leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, and the possibility the party of hard left activism will have no seats in the lower house. However, the Greens are not gone – this carbuncle on the bottom of Australian democracy still has power and influence in the Senate, wielded by people even more unpleasant and toxic, if that be possible, than Bandt. We are not done with this malevolent incubus yet, more’s the pity.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Greens leader Adam Bandt is gone!

The really good news is that Adam Bandt is gone and Senator Mehreen Faruqi has been re-elected in NSW.

Hopefully, she will become the Greens’ leader.

Her vision for the party will ensure the Greens go away.

Forever.https://t.co/REYW4y73Q1

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) May 7, 2025