For Conservative Pamela Jacka, the joy of election night has been followed by a quiet satisfaction in the new Coalition ministry, including 11 women – without the need for quotas.
By Pamela Jacka
Were you surprised by the election result?
Yes, I was. I had a suspicion that the Coalition could hold on but if one listens to the media, the Coalition was dead and buried. I deliberately watched a movie until about a quarter past nine and then had a look at Sky News to see what was going on. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, so I popped over to the ABC and the Coalition was even better off. I then believed that it was possible.
What was your immediate response to the election result?
Absolute pure joy from a political and national point of view and then incredibly relieved, from a financial point of view. I felt sympathy for the losers, which is why I was never a truly successful sportsperson.
What have your thoughts been in the two weeks since then?
I’m quite pleased with the Prime Minister’s performance in the time since the election. He’s just got on with the job and has a nicely balance looking team. It’s been a relief that all the sniping and nastiness has been silenced and we can all get on with our lives. We can trust this government not to target certain sections of society and simply govern for everyone. It seems that Labor have forgotten their gender balance mantra? The Coalition’s done quite nicely, though, don’t you think, and that’s without having a requirement for gender balance.
Why do you think the voters swung behind the Morrison Government?
I don’t believe voters were not behind the Morrison Government. For quite some time, the polls have been saying that Scott Morrison was the preferred Prime Minister. The Coalition was sneaking up on the Labor in the polls. Because of the shocked reactions to the result, it became clear that the lazy commentators and, perhaps, the left leaning were using Twitter as their barometer. The majority of “silent Australians” don’t go anywhere near social media and especially Twitter. Labor’s threatened taxes and earnings attacks, not to mention unrealistic renewable energy targets, scared a lot of people and Labor said if you don’t like it, don’t vote for us. Easy.
Any others comments?
The commentators, who were presuming that Labor would win the election, were saying that Australians didn’t like change. Which is exactly why they voted for the Coalition. To do otherwise would mean a change! It sounds rather arrogant that the leadership changes within the Coalition over the last few years were a good enough reason not to vote for them. How quickly everyone has forgotten the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd years.
It looks like the Coalition will win the next election as well, because the former Labor leader has not acknowledged that they alone are responsible for the campaign they ran. In the paper today, Shorten is quoted as saying things like “Powerful interests were against us” and blaming “corporate leviathans” and sections of the media for the loss. The powerful interests were the silent majority and it appears the left’s stranglehold on the ABC didn’t work for them this time.
For the first time I voted below the line in the Senate and marked fifteen boxes. For the record, I vote for the party, not the candidate and I’m really glad that Tony Abbott lost his seat. Hopefully Broadbent will go sooner rather than later. Labor did not lose the election, they did not win.
Pamela Jacka is a lifelong Conservative voter.
Were you surprised by the election result?
Yes, I was. I had a suspicion that the Coalition could hold on but if one listens to the media, the Coalition was dead and buried. I deliberately watched a movie until about a quarter past nine and then had a look at Sky News to see what was going on. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, so I popped over to the ABC and the Coalition was even better off. I then believed that it was possible.
What was your immediate response to the election result?
Absolute pure joy from a political and national point of view and then incredibly relieved, from a financial point of view. I felt sympathy for the losers, which is why I was never a truly successful sportsperson.
What have your thoughts been in the two weeks since then?
I’m quite pleased with the Prime Minister’s performance in the time since the election. He’s just got on with the job and has a nicely balance looking team. It’s been a relief that all the sniping and nastiness has been silenced and we can all get on with our lives. We can trust this government not to target certain sections of society and simply govern for everyone. It seems that Labor have forgotten their gender balance mantra? The Coalition’s done quite nicely, though, don’t you think, and that’s without having a requirement for gender balance.
Why do you think the voters swung behind the Morrison Government?
I don’t believe voters were not behind the Morrison Government. For quite some time, the polls have been saying that Scott Morrison was the preferred Prime Minister. The Coalition was sneaking up on the Labor in the polls. Because of the shocked reactions to the result, it became clear that the lazy commentators and, perhaps, the left leaning were using Twitter as their barometer. The majority of “silent Australians” don’t go anywhere near social media and especially Twitter. Labor’s threatened taxes and earnings attacks, not to mention unrealistic renewable energy targets, scared a lot of people and Labor said if you don’t like it, don’t vote for us. Easy.
Any others comments?
The commentators, who were presuming that Labor would win the election, were saying that Australians didn’t like change. Which is exactly why they voted for the Coalition. To do otherwise would mean a change! It sounds rather arrogant that the leadership changes within the Coalition over the last few years were a good enough reason not to vote for them. How quickly everyone has forgotten the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd years.
It looks like the Coalition will win the next election as well, because the former Labor leader has not acknowledged that they alone are responsible for the campaign they ran. In the paper today, Shorten is quoted as saying things like “Powerful interests were against us” and blaming “corporate leviathans” and sections of the media for the loss. The powerful interests were the silent majority and it appears the left’s stranglehold on the ABC didn’t work for them this time.
For the first time I voted below the line in the Senate and marked fifteen boxes. For the record, I vote for the party, not the candidate and I’m really glad that Tony Abbott lost his seat. Hopefully Broadbent will go sooner rather than later. Labor did not lose the election, they did not win.
Pamela Jacka is a lifelong Conservative voter.