Open letter to Mark Latham: You cannot win without my vote!

Dear Mark,

Let me begin by stating what should be the bleeding obvious: YOU CANNOT WIN WITHOUT MY VOTE.

Who am I to make such a presumptuous statement? Well I'm a motor mechanic, I'm married, I have two mortgages, and I've just voted in my seventh federal election. I wear a blue collar and get greasy and sweaty for a living, and occasionally despise my job. I'm a member of a union (for the moment) and a service club, as well as being a part-time uni student. I have been both tenant and landlord, sometimes simultaneously. I've either worked as an employee, independent contractor or run my own business in four different electorates in three states during the last decade. Oh, and I occasionally write a column in On Line Opinion on the politics of the workforce under the pseudonym Ern O'Malley. Demographically I should be an unquestioning Labor supporter. So why have I voted for the Coalition at the last 4 elections?

Mark, it is because the union hacks, policy wonks, shiny-bums, bleeding hearts and pointy-heads that run your party have simply failed to comprehend the changing nature of the Australian workforce that Labor purports to represent. You are still assuming a dichotomous Australia, divided between the haves and the have-nots, the privileged and the under-privileged, the white and the blue collar. Guess what, mate? The country no longer works that way. Neil Brown in The Australian (October 12, 2004) is at least one member of the “commentariat” who understands the fault lines have changed.

So you won 38 per cent of the vote this time, one of the lowest ever primary votes for Labor. No doubt that the majority of these people are rusted-on Labor voters, who wouldn't change their vote. They are the welfare recipients, the taxi-drivers, the award workers and the true believers.

But what of the skilled workforce? The modern tradesperson is smart, savvy, opinionated and influential. “Tradies” may wear blue collars and have dirt under their nails, but many of us have university-graduate incomes and middle-class lifestyles. We are climbing our own individual ladders of opportunity, through education, small business opportunities, and negative gearing. And there are a couple of million of us out there.

Mark, be crystal clear on this: LABOR CANNOT WIN WITHOUT OUR VOTES!

I know hundreds of skilled workers, and the overwhelming majority have voted for the Coalition since 1996, despite traditionally being Labor voters. We were "Howard's Battlers" who struggled under the 13 years of "Hard Labor" and finally tired of Keating's arrogance. Since then, we have worked hard to climb the economic ladder of opportunity offered by the reforms of both the previous Labor and current Liberal governments. We are now a distinct class of our own, and have much in common with both sides of the previous dichotomy. And we are the votes you must win back to win government.

The danger for Labor is that after four elections, the skilled workforce is now voting Liberal by default. What this means is that with no discernable policy difference between the parties, our vote will go to the Coalition. Labor must give us a reason to change our vote in order to win it, or be forever doomed to Opposition.

We were all hanging on waiting for that reason, Mark, and it never came. That is why the opinion polls showed such a large “undecided” vote so late in the campaign. We wanted to hear about your "ladder of opportunity" that featured prominently several months ago. We wanted to hear about tax reform. We have grown tired of Howard and wanted a reason to change, but you failed to provide it. There were three distinct moments when you drove a stake through the heart of your victory: school funding, Medicare Gold and the forests policy.

Regardless of the current inequities in the system, your school-funding announcement was dangerously exclusionist and smacked of religious favouritism. Our kids may not go to private schools, but it is our aspiration that they do.

We saw Medicare Gold as an uncontrollable expansion of the welfare culture that would ultimately come from our pockets and as being an exclusive policy creating further class division.

The forests policy threatened the job of each and every skilled worker in the country, because it showed us that job security is not a core feature of Labor's vision. Under a Labor government we would have always been threatened by the insidious influence of the Greens and the left of your party. This is one skilled worker who felt particularly sympathetic to the timber workers, having once lost a job as a direct consequence of a Keating budgetary decision. The forests policy announcement picked up those few of us who were still wavering after Medicare Gold and sent us scurrying back to the safe arms of the coalition.

Mark, tap this mantra into your skull until your nose bleeds: LABOR CANNOT WIN WITHOUT OUR VOTES!

Who decides what policy will fly with the electorate? The union hacks? What would they know - they represent barely a fifth of the private sector workforce, and probably less than one in ten tradespeople. And they are historically proficient at looking after themselves, not their members.

The bleeding hearts? Sorry, Carmen, but preferential voting will always ensure that Labor captures votes on the left. Despite all of Bob Brown's threats, what self-respecting watermelon or avocado would ever seriously preference the Coalition? It is “middle Australia” who will win you government, not the Greens. Pandering to them will doom you to opposition.

The shiny-bums and pointy-heads? Have Tim Gartrell, Mike Kaiser or Hawker-Britten ever raised a sweat or got dirt under their nails? How would they have a clue as to what we are thinking - they would be flat out changing a tap washer in the parliamentary bathroom.

My point is that you don't seem to have anyone real advising you on policy, and it shows. I'm sure you will try to tell me that you focus-grouped everything and it flew with them. Well clearly that doesn't work, because your policies were low-grade toxic political waste, and 62 per cent of the electorate agree with me that they should be dumped in South Australia. Here 's a clue - next time a policy “wonk” has a brain flash, hire a dozen “tradies” from a labour hire company for the day to tear it to pieces. Run policy past real people, not vested interests or political “wannabees”.

Let me make it abundantly clear to you, Mark, in terms that even Bill Ludwig would understand. LABOR CANNOT WIN WITHOUT OUR VOTES!

Politics is about policy, not personality. Elections are not Australian Idol. If they were, Kim Beazley would be Prime Minister. He's the Guy Sebastian of Aussie politics, compared to your Shannon Noll and Simon Crean' s Willie Hung. You will only win by formulating better policy than the government, and then actively selling it. When we first heard about your "Ladder of Opportunity" we were hoping for a courageous and comprehensive policy initiative - a Labor version of John Hewson's Fightback!, which was brilliantly crafted and poorly sold. Don't try to sell us cheap, poorly crafted policy. There is a reason good tradesmen never blame their tools - because they are of superlative quality. Likewise, if the policy Labor offers us is not up to the job, we won't buy it. Think Snap-On, not Supa-Tool.

While on personality, drop the anti-Costello scare campaign that just insults our intelligence. Many of us voted for Keating in '93, so we would have no problem voting for Costello in 2007.

Two rules for you to observe. ITES and KISS. Slick Willy said it best, "It' s The Economy, Stupid!" You can have all the touchy-feely policy you want - free double latte's for gay childcare workers on national tree-cuddling day - but if you cannot sell economic policy, you will not win. Taxes must be simple, employment must be strong, and interest rates MUST remain low. You have to convince us that you are up to the task. And of course "Keep It Simple Stupid!"

I'm not interested in delving through the excruciating minutiae of your Family Tax Benefit C policy to find I can claim the possum in my tree as a dependant on alternate Wednesdays. I should not need a slide rule, a piece of string and some tealeaves to work out if I am better off. And the scattergun approach to policy used at this election failed to score a single hit - look at the polls.

Try simple policies that all Aussies can understand and relate to or benefit from. A $10,000 tax-free threshold. Paid maternity leave. Income splitting between working couples. Reduction in fuel excise. More apprenticeships and traineeships. Taxation simplification. Superannuation reform. There you go - a comprehensive reform for working Australians in 25 words. If you cannot sell policy in 25 words or less, then as Tony Soprano would say, “fugghedaboudit”!

Once more time for the road, Mark. YOU CANNOT WIN WITHOUT MY VOTE. If you are fair dinkum about winning in 2007, hop in your comcar and take the three-hour drive to Parkes, and we can discuss this further over a beer at the Railway Hotel. You have everything to win, and nothing to lose.

Cheers

Nige (Nudge) Edwards