Chisholm: Sharpen minds and pencils, decision day is here
Nothing sharpens the mind of a candidate standing for election during a long campaign than early voting starting up. If you allowed your thoughts to wander over the previous week, those thoughts disappeared over the weekend, knowing there would be voters queuing on Monday morning to cast their judgement.
This week I have been at pre-poll in Regional Queensland and around Brisbane, and the dislike for Morrison is becoming the dominant issue of the election campaign. People are sick of him and his tired, near decade-old Government, and as I’ve previously written about in my first column, he is running with a record. It’s a record that has failed to deliver for Australians.
While I have experienced a strong dislike for Scott Morrison across the State, I find it is particularly pronounced the closer you are to the CBD.
In my duty electorates of Brisbane & Ryan I have had the strong sense for more than 12 months that voters feel the PM and the LNP just don’t represent their values anymore. Whether it be on integrity, equality for women or the fact that Joyce and Canavan dictate climate policy, the LNP are completely out of step with the electorate. The problem for the incumbent MP’s is that there is zero evidence this would change if they were re-elected.
Even during the recent floods, the PM has been on the wrong side of these electorates, Ryan and Brisbane were some of the worst impacted, yet Scott Morrison failed to deliver for them. He turned up for a photo op but when it came to delivering, he was missing in action. Queenslanders received a third of what people in Lismore got.
So, it is no wonder that the dominant theme in these seats is whether you want to give Scott Morrison another term as Prime Minister.
It makes Labor’s equation in these electorates is simple: if you want to change the Government and get rid of Scott Morrison you need to vote Labor, it is only a vote for Anthony Albanese and Labor that can form a majority government that can actually deliver a better future for all Australians.
Queensland ALP Senator Anthony Chisholm Liberal counterpart James McGrath will bring an upper-house view to the election campaign every Thursday.