The defeat of ‘The Voice’ will not trigger much self-reflection

Moral absolutism on issues that are anything but absolute, breeds resistance, not obedience. By showing these characteristics during the campaign, the Yes case also has to share the credit for the referendum's defeat with the No case.

Then there is the charge that the No campaign was based on misinformation and disinformation, charges that were made on the night against prominent spokespeople for No, like Warren Mundine.

When you dig into this, the charge itself is a lie.

The three most popular examples, as determined by ChatGPT, were that The Voice would have been a third chamber of parliament; that it would lead to separatism, division or apartheid; and that The Voice would cost taxpayers money.

Rather than lies, these are speculations on how The Voice would develop.

Who else is being blamed for The Voice result?

They are also blaming Mr. Albanese. While this may be fair, it undermines his authority if he is genuine in his intent to change direction. It is also not a variable they are in a position to change-he will lead Labor to the next election, cemented into place by the "reforms" that former leader Kevin Rudd introduced designed to ensure no more palace coups against sitting prime ministers by nervous cabinet colleagues.

Then there is the desperate claim that this is all Mr. Dutton's fault. Again, it hinges on a belief in the absolute righteousness of The Voice, and the idea, insulting to voters just as much to Mr. Dutton, that it was their duty to give it a tick.

Will this trigger self-reflection?

Labor has occasionally provided good and durable government, most notably during the Hawke-Keating era, when it governed pragmatically from the centre (and even the right), and tried as much as it could to be consultative.

Other Labor administrations, convinced of their own purity and dismissive of the democratic will and intelligence of the voters, have spectacularly self-immolated, like Gough Whitlam, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, and then the phoenixed Kevin Rudd again.

The Greens show even less of the traits required to govern from the centre, bringing governments of the left down for failures of ideological purity.

The defeated referendum campaign displays all those Labor and Green traits with none of the humility and understanding of human nature, or the bounds of reality, required to run a successful democratic government.

So while there are signs from Mr. Albanese that he wants a new start, the old ways are deeply embedded in his government, and those who support it. That means that sooner or later they will face another eruption like they did last Saturday.

You would think that with a result this decisive they would be changing course, but old habits, and human nature, die hard.