The Liberals’ Brilliant Plan to Win: Become Labor. What Could Go Wrong?

The Liberals’ Brilliant Plan to Win: Become Labor. What Could Go Wrong?

The Liberals’ Brilliant New Election Strategy: Become Labor

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Liberal Party has decided to flatter itself into oblivion.

The Liberal Party has come up with a way to improve its electoral fortunes.

Are you ready for it?

Here’s their great plan.

Gender quotas.

That’s right, they’re proposing to ease up on the whole meritocracy thing in order to make room for some good old-fashioned DEI.

Liberals Chasing Gender Quotes and Climate Change Solutions?

But that’s not all.

They’re also proposing to go harder on climate change. It’s what the young people want, apparently.

So, to summarise… the Liberal plan is to become more like Labor which just means they’ll be chasing their tails. Sorry, chasing their Teals. Tails? Teals? Same thing.

The Australian reported on Friday that an internal discussion paper had recommended the moves as a way of turning the Liberal Party into – and I quote – a…

“… fit for purpose political machine”.

Well, if your purpose is to continually bleed voters to One Nation while reassuring the ABC political panel you’re not frightening anymore… I’d say quotas and climate change are a wonderful strategy.

Queensland Senator James McGrath chaired the special commission that came up with these brain waves.

He has reportedly told Liberal members…

“Our question must be ‘what would Menzies do’.”

I think we all know the answer to that. Menzies would… vote for One Nation.

Menzies built a conservative party around ideas. McGrath and co propose to rebuild the conservative party around demographics.

Menzies believed people should be persuaded. The modern Liberal Party seems convinced they should simply be categorised so as to be more easily pandered to.

Let me take you through the key findings in this Liberal Party review…

According to Friday’s report in The Australian…

“The paper warned the parliamentary wing of the party was no longer representative of the average Australian, which it identified as a 38-year-old woman who was either born overseas or has at least one parent that was.”

To which I would reply… and?

The Liberal Party can fill their party room with 38-year-old female immigrants, and they’ll still be completely unelectable if they don’t work out what they actually stand for.

People don’t vote for a consensus. People vote for a cause.

The report says the Party’s stance on climate change is a turn off for younger voters.

It found…

“Climate change remains a top-tier issue for under-35s who perceive the party as resistant to climate action relative to our opponents”.

To which I would reply… And?

Win the argument!

If the Liberals are correct that the pursuit of Net Zero is sending us broke while making no meaningful difference to global temperatures… then make the argument and keep making the argument until you win the argument.

Leadership isn’t following the opinion polls. It’s changing them.

Instead, the internal Liberal review hints that it might be time for yet another climate conversation.

Will the Real Liberal Party Please Stand Up?

My advice to the Liberals would be to quit telling us what the polls say and start telling us what you believe.

Or… they could flip-flog… again.

Ironically enough, this is the exact thing Liberal leader Angus Taylor warned about after the Liberals were trounced in the Farrah by-election.

He said that for too long the Liberals had been a party of convenience rather than conviction. And that needed to change.

That warning looks to have had the shelf life of supermarket sushi.

The internal Liberal Party report worried that…

“Just 21 per cent of Liberal members are women, with men outnumbering women four to one on the floor of the lower house, meaning just 33 per cent of Liberal parliamentarians across the country are women — compared to Labor’s 53 per cent.”

To which I would reply… And?

So 53 percent of Labor MPs are female. And how’s the country going?

Has the cost of living fallen because Labor has more female MPs?

Did electricity prices collapse because Parliament reached gender equilibrium?

The Housing Minister is a woman… has the housing crisis disappeared?

No?

Funny that.

I think the Liberal Party will discover — hopefully not to their detriment — that voters tend to care far more about paying the mortgage than balancing the chromosomes in Question Time.

What’s more important? Correctly gendered politicians with incorrect policies?

Or politicians with sensible policies… irrespective of whether or not they’re wearing sensible shoes?

The internal Liberal review warns…

“It is increasingly clear that if serious progress is to be made in delivering greater gender balance in our parliamentary team, additional measures will be required.”

Delivering greater… gender balance?

How about serious progress delivering cheap, reliable power.

How about serious progress delivering a sustainable immigration program that serves the country rather than upends it.

How about serious progress delivering a budget surplus?

The Liberal Party appears to have convinced itself that conservative voters abandoned it because there weren’t enough women dressed in blue ties.

They didn’t.

They left because the Liberals increasingly looked like a pale imitation of Labor — less confident, less courageous and usually 12 months behind.

That’s why I find this internal review paper so astonishing.

It reads less like a paper on rebuilding the party, and more like an exit interview.

Menzies would be rolling in his grave… while voting One Nation.

Hey, the US Democrats do it.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report.

Image via Adobe.

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ODM Daily Commentary

Let’s be honest: the Liberal Party has lost its mind. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they have decided to flatter themselves into oblivion by becoming a pale imitation of Labor.

The article from The James Macpherson Report is a brutal takedown of the internal review that recommends gender quotas and a softer stance on climate change as the path to victory. The logic is breathtaking. The party that was founded on ideas, meritocracy, and conviction is now proposing to rebuild itself around demographics, quotas, and pandering.

The report warns that the parliamentary wing is not representative of the “average Australian,” identified as a 38-year-old woman born overseas or with a parent born overseas. To which the article replies: “And?” The party can fill its room with 38-year-old female immigrants, but it will still be unelectable if it doesn’t know what it stands for. People don’t vote for a consensus. They vote for a cause.

The report worries that climate change is a turn-off for younger voters. The article’s response is devastating: “Win the argument!” If the Liberals believe that Net Zero is sending us broke while making no meaningful difference to global temperatures, then they should make that argument until they win. Leadership is not following the polls. It is changing them.

The article points out the absurdity of the gender quota obsession. Labor has 53 per cent female MPs. Has the cost of living fallen? Has electricity prices collapsed? Has the housing crisis disappeared? No. Voters care about paying the mortgage, not balancing the chromosomes in Question Time.

The internal review warns that “serious progress” is needed to deliver greater gender balance. The article suggests instead: serious progress delivering cheap, reliable power; serious progress delivering a sustainable immigration program; serious progress delivering a budget surplus.

The Liberal Party has convinced itself that conservative voters abandoned it because there weren’t enough women dressed in blue ties. They left because the Liberals looked like a pale imitation of Labor—less confident, less courageous, and usually 12 months behind.

The article’s conclusion is devastating: the review reads less like a paper on rebuilding the party and more like an exit interview. Menzies would be rolling in his grave—while voting One Nation.

So here is the challenge: the Liberal Party needs to rediscover its soul. It needs to stand for something. It needs to fight for its principles, not chase the latest poll. It needs to remember that people vote for a cause, not a consensus.

Menzies built a party on ideas. The modern Liberals are building a party on demographics. And demographics will never be enough.

— ODM Daily