So yesterday (May 18th 2019) Australia went to the polls and elected Scott Morrison to continue to be it’s Prime Minister. There is lots of analysis on the result in the papers so this is not the purpose of this blog. Rather my musings about a few things that I noticed in the campaign or on election day.
- First up, how useless are Opinion Polls. The Coalition had lost more than 50 Newspolls in a row and then won the election. What does that tell you? On the morning of the election, the media were reporting that Exit Polls were all saying an ALP win. As I sat and watched the election results on Saturday night, within 90 minutes I could see that the results, even though super early, were not in line with what the Exit Polls were showing. (And I called a Morrison win). I remember the Polls in the US showed Trump wasn’t going to win and in the UK Brexit wasn’t going to get up. I think fundamentally there is something wrong with these opinion polls and they need to be scrapped.
- I noted with interest that there was a fair bit of argument over who won each of the three Political Debates, but did you realise that Scott Morrison won every coin toss. Maybe this is a more reliable predictor of who is ahead in the political race.
- It would appear that spending $70 million on advertising doesn’t buy you a Senate Seat. Clive Palmer spent that amount of money and it appears he is not going to get in.
- When Hawke died on the Thursday before the election, I was asked whether I thought that would help the ALP:- kind of like a sympathy vote. My comment was that I didn’t think so. It was interesting to hear one commentator this morning say that he believed Hawke’s death actually hurt Shorten as all the news outlets ran commentary on how great a Prime Minister Hawke was and how much he loved Australia and Australians, and that people saw that Shorten simply didn’t measure up.
- I thought John Howard made an astute observation last night when asked where did he think Shorten went wrong. Howard said that Shorten had attempted to divide the nation constantly complaining about the ‘top end of town’. He then went onto say the top end of town, it seemed in Shorten’s mind, was someone on $150,000 with an investment property….Howard said that guy, is just an Aussie having a go at getting ahead. He said no one wins when you divide a nation.
- There is a part of me that feels sorry for Bill Shorten. He was so confident that he would be Prime Minister by this morning. He would have had plans to move into the Lodge, he would have worked out his first 100 days etc….instead he is a opposition backbencher. The emotional roller coaster that that must be would a tough ride to be on.
- With 6 million people voting prior to election day – the largest in history – maybe its no longer ‘Election Day’ but ‘Election Fortnight’, as people clearly like the choice of when to vote.
- I sure hope the media now get the message that Australia doesn’t want the hard leftist agenda that they have been trying to get through into our culture and political system.
- As a Christian, I am clearly very happy that we have an active Pentecostal Christian as the leader of our nation. All believers, regardless of political persuasion should be praying for him.
- I congratulate Scott Morrison on being relected. When he became PM last August, I blogged a letter to him. I was going to write another today but my sentiments are well expressed in last year’s letter. Click here to read the letter.
So just a few musings post election.
Peter
Categories: Australian, Current Affairs
peterpilt 
Good musings, and better conclusions.
My most disappointment… this win has not been attributed to the place is rightly belongs…Our God.
No, I guess the media are not yet ready to acknowledge Him, but I think in time, they just might have to.
Born for a time such as this, thanks Scott Morrison for being willing and available.
I was thinking the same things this morning Pete…I also wonder if either side feels a little humiliated the day after an election when they think about some of the horrible things they said about “the other side” during campaigning…it makes me feels very uneasy & a little angry when they bag each other out so personally at times.
NO ONE is mentioning the elephant in the room – the Labour leftist agenda of social change / manipulation. From policies such as Medicare funded abortion-to-birth; social constructs such as gender fluidity; the gagging of any thought other than their own (the “Izzy Factor”). The fact that a gay Qantas CEO can dictate who can / cannot play for the Australian Wallabies shows that money talks louder than anything else in some people’s minds.
Hey, and don’t forget – the other unmentioned factor. The nation was called to prayer and fasting over this, and guess what – God listened!
Peter I agree with all of your observations but would add that Shorten and Bowen’s hubris would be a factor which worked against them. That hubris made them arrogantly dismiss large swathes of the voting public.
Another factor was that people began to see the sort of socialist ‘utopia’ we were being offered and balked at the option. ‘Make Australia Venezuela’ was a slogan which paid dividends and Shorten’s inability to cost his climate change offerings also showed him as inept.
Three weeks of Christian prayer and fasting, led by Margaret Court, was another factor and showed that the church was beginning to stir.
We have graciously been given another three years and in my opinion the church and every believer needs to be about the business of proclaiming the Gospel and helping to turn our country into a true Christian nation.
For the first time I can remember, we have a truly Christian leader and he needs our support 100%
Well said Peter