Astute:
The March 21 state election now stands as the ultimate litmus test as to whether the Liberals can survive the onslaught from the new forces of conservatism.
But it is also creating a new campaign dynamic for the ALP, where it must broaden its message to voters who have drifted to One Nation with diverse grievances.
Chief among them are the cost of living and cost of housing, the conviction that immigration is fuelling both, and the sense that
the political class is more interested in woke pursuits such as voices to parliament and clean-energy targets than bread-and-butter concerns....
Malinauskas realises that if One Nation is unchecked it could pose just as big a threat to Labor as it currently does to the Liberals, with successive voting trends showing Labor is now more the party of the university-educated affluent middle class, a voting bloc that has supplanted its former blue-collar base as the bedrock of Labor support.
At a time when others on the broad left of politics rail against Hanson and her new recruits, and turn up their noses at her disenfranchised supporters, Malinauskas has decided the best way to tackle the threat is via the centre – and, unlike others in the ALP, giddy with joy at the damage being done to the Liberals, to recognise the
threat could be coming Labor’s way too.
Forum
Pages: 
