ALL AROUND Australia this morning, Sunday May 19, 2019, there are very sad, and very happy, voters.
A quick flick through my Facebook feed shows plenty of both. But how did it happen?
While there are a few factors, there are two that have been hardly touched on by the various commentators.
THE FIRST FACTOR: Lying has become acceptable
Distorting the truth by any means – whether by talking outright bullshit or whether by omitting crucial items so you change the truth of the full story – is outright lying.
Lying is like being pregnant. You either are, or you’re not. You can’t be a little bit pregnant, and you can’t lie or tell the truth a little bit.
Calling your lies “spin” doesn’t change anything. If you tell lies, that’s what you’re doing. Lying.
A quick run through the ABC’s Fact Check shows that over the 6 weeks of the campaign, both major parties indulged heavily in distorting the truth, ie lying.
And for some reason, this seems to be acceptable to everyone in politics. It’s not.
THE SECOND FACTOR: Political factions
Tony “Albo” Albinese would have probably won this election. He didn’t have anywhere near the baggage that Shorten had. But he’s not in the right (pun intended) faction, so he’ll never get a run.
Tony Abbott was part of a destructive faction that was one of the main causes of all the Libs’ troubles over the past six years (or longer) in the first place.
Factions are destructive… a distortion of true democracy.
Elitism
Over the past 24 hours I have heard the term “True Believers” many times. I understand and recognise the passion behind this phrase, but be warned.
If you say you are a True Believer, you are also saying everyone else is a True UNbeliever. You are putting yourself up on a pedestal.
Most Australians don’t like that… not even a little bit.
Not Reading the Australian Public Correctly
Don’t get me wrong. The ALP presented possibly the finest raft of terrific policies to help Australia in the future.
Agree or disagree, ALP candidates were passionate in selling these policies. They really believed in them.
But the ALP marketers missed two crucial things:
- Most referendums since forever have been won by the “No” side, and therefore
- It’s obvious most people don’t like change
It happened politically in recent memory when John Hewson lost the “un-losable” election.
Scott Morrison is from the advertising industry. He knows how to make your advertising work.
Out of maybe a dozen primary advertising principles he used four in selling his message to Australian voters:
- Personal appeal – Morrison went to extraordinary lengths to portray himself as a “normal” Aussie. And succeeded with enough people for it to bear fruit.
- Fear – remember Mediscare? It nearly worked for the ALP last election. In this election Morrison used Death Taxes, jobs, the economy and a bunch of other hip pocket issues, non-stop. And he never talked up Lib/Nat policies… he didn’t need to.
- Greed – Again, exploiting hip pocket issues and “I’m on your side mate. I’ll get you what you want.”
- Persistence overcomes resistance – Morrison went hard, non-stop from start to finish.
He went hell-for-leather in a non-stop presidential campaign against Shorten, a person that a boatload of Australians didn’t like… for a basket load of reasons.
I doubt he would have done as well against Albo.
What’s the Answer For the Future?
Stop lying. The first requisite of telling a lie is contempt for the intellect of the people you are lying to. After all, you’re expecting them to swallow your bullshit, aren’t you? So there’s no way you could have any respect for them, is there?
As part of not lying, stop using memes that only tell part of the truth. And don’t fire off so many. I have around 3500 friends on Facebook, but I’d say less than a dozen bombarded me with political memes non-stop. The rest of them, like me, would have been at the very least irritated by them. And many would have voted accordingly.
Start Campaigning for the next Election TODAY. Start selling policies honestly, backed by factual data. Do it gently, subtly… you’ve got the next three years.
And NEVER, ever use high speed rail from anywhere to anywhere, as bait for votes.
Malcolm Turnbull tried it last election, and in less than half a day qualified people had costed his project and it was immediately clear rail tickets would have been 6 times the price of an air ticket to get to the same destination.
Finally, to all politicians and political parties out there: learn your lessons from past failures, no matter who suffered them.
Australians might not be True Believers, but they are good at smelling bullshit, and most of them have memories that are good for at least three years…