Voters feel locked out

The most significant Cabinet move was Christopher Pyne’s appointment as the Minister for Defence Industry, which in real terms translates to the minister for South Australia. Consequently Greg Hunt moved to Mr. Pyne’s former portfolio, Josh Frydenberg became the Minister for Energy and Environment, an interesting but logical coupling and the Nationals’ Matt Canavan became the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia.

Kelly O’Dwyer, who many consider responsible for the superannuation angst, lost small business which went to the Nationals’ new addition to the outer ministry, Michael MCormack.

Meanwhile, on the Labor side, most focus was on Victoria’s shadow ministers with the Left faction’s marshalling the forces to force Kim Carr to make way for new blood and the Right’s determining to dump David Feeney after, what was for him, a disastrous election campaign. While Mr. Feeney held out the Greens despite a swing of more than 9 per cent against him in two-party preferred terms, most Labor observers think that holding Batman is a fight which Labor will lose sooner rather than later, just as they think Labor will lose the fight to retain Wills in the medium term and Melbourne Ports when the current member Michael Danby decides to retire.

Kim Carr has survived the assassination attempt by Mr. Shorten’s expanding the shadow ministry. The support he has given Mr. Shorten both during and since the leadership contest between Mr. Shorten and Mr. Albanese three years ago, and the threat of his Victorian supporters to form a sub-faction within the Left saved him.

Mr. Feeney was not so fortunate. It was revealed during the campaign that he had failed to declare a $2 million house he owns but in which he does not live. In addition to the embarrassment this failure caused Mr. Shorten, with whom Mr. Feeney has been a close ally, it is said that Mr. Feeney further blotted his copy book when he took umbrage at being questioned by Mr. Shorten’s office about the matter.

Mr. Feeney was a big loser from the implosion of his power base, the Hospital Services Union. This latest incident was enough to bring about his dumping from the shadow ministry. If Mr. Feeney wishes to move to greener pastures than Batman, just as he moved from an unwinnable third position on a Senate ticket to Batman in 2013, it will be interesting to see if this outcome inhibits him.

The Greens also have fared poorly. They championed the changes to the Senate election system because they thought they would be winners if some of their competitors (i.e. micro parties) were forced out of the contest. However, their Senate vote is down by about one per cent.

Despite the fact that there was a double dissolution and that having senators elected should have been easier to achieve than it is during a normal, half Senate election, they have lost a South Australian senator to Nick Xenophon’s party and they could lose another. While their longer-term prospects in seats like Batman, Wills and Melbourne Ports remain unchanged, they barely increased their vote in Grayndler, Anthony Albanese’s seat, and went backwards in two-party preferred terms.

While the Senate results still are uncertain, it is clear that the Coalition’s teaming up with the Greens and Nick Xenophon to change the electoral rules to reduce the prospects of micro parties has failed. The Liberals seem not to want to understand that at least 25 per voters do not want to vote for major parties in upper houses and that transparent efforts to put impediments in their path is likely only to increase their determination to do so.

In these elections, for example, about 25 per cent of voters have voted for micro parties and more than 8 per cent have voted for the Greens. All that has changed is the faces, and particularly Pauline Hanson and former Victorian radio announcer Derryn Hinch. Only Nick Xenophon has profited from the exercise.

If Pauline Hanson’s team comprised three senators it would be a more impressive achievement than that of Nick Xenophon whose team has secured three Senators and a lower house seat. It would mean that her team would have won in three states without either the publicity Nick Xenophon attracts or the advantage of incumbency.

Further, not only is Nick Xenophon’s success limited to one state, but also it is built on the legacy of the Australian Democrats whose success, in turn, was based on the foundations laid by Liberal state and federal politician Steele Hall and Labor premier Don Dunstan.