Why the Liberal Party can beat Labor

Origionally published in The Australian

The centre right of Australian politics is clearly under pressure, but permanent fracturing isn’t inevitable. 

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Long term splintering wouldn’t be in Australia’s interests as the nation needs a strong opposition to drive better outcomes for citizens. It transcends any individual or sectional interest. 

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Australia’s centre-right is not alone in facing challenges. The UK centre-right has fragmented and the US Republicans now look more like the Trump party than traditional Republicans. The centre-right Canadians were unexpectedly crushed by Trump factors. 

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There are two main lessons for those in the centre-right in Australia who want a strong opposition and to ultimately win government. 

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Firstly, patriotism matters, and it should be part of the right’s offering. But, believing in Australia doesn’t require an anti-migrant position. 

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The Australia I grew up in felt more self-confident and more cohesive. In the lead up to the Sydney Olympics, and in the aftermath, it felt like Australia was on top of the world. 

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In the 25 years since, we have settled over 5 million people.

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This has coincided with a period where Australia has undertaken an extraordinary amount of introspection and, often valid, self-criticism. 

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The balance today isn’t right.

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We seem to be less proud to be Australian. This is wrong. We are too critical of ourselves and insufficiently worldly in our view of Australia as a beacon of democracy and freedom. 

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We seem unprepared to celebrate the remarkable Australian achievement. Our sports stars seem unable to sing the anthem. Our national flag can be burnt without consequence.

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We should give new Australians something to coalesce around - our national symbols should be front and centre. 

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We should be proud of our incredible democratic egalitarianism. 

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New migrants who want to be part of this great country must find our reluctance to celebrate Australia very strange. 

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The right should always promote national pride. The left always seem embarrassed about celebrating Australia. 

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The catch is, being proud of our capacity to settle people from all over the world is part of being Australian.

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Embracing all Australians is Australian - whether they have heritage tracing back thousands of years or they arrived last week.  

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That’s why blaming migrants for the housing crisis is not the way to go. 

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The increased demand from Labor’s reckless migration programme has been damaging, but it is not the major driver. 

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The major driver of the housing crisis is the collapse in housing supply. 

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We have gone from 220,000 new dwellings in 2018 to just 160,000 last year. Labor will miss their own housing target by as many as 80,000 houses this year. 

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We don’t have enough homes. The OECD average is nearly 500 houses per 1,000 people, but Australia has around 400 houses per 1,000 people.  

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Labor is spending over $60 billion to make Australia’s housing crisis worse. 

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Coherence on housing policy is a prerequisite for the right.

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We must be pro-supply and pro-development, but not in the business of blaming migrants for our home-grown housing crisis. Menzies is famous for his migration and his home building and home ownership prowess. 

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Secondly, Australians are leaders and contributors. We must maintain our ambition as a productive, open and clever economy. 

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Isolationism isn’t an option for an economy which is incredibly trade exposed. It’s wrong economically and politically. 

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Exports account for around 25% of Australia’s GDP. The US has just 11% of its GDP linked to exports. 

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The isolationist tendencies that sometimes drive US politics would be poisonous for Australia. We don’t have a large domestic market; we rely on selling our wares abroad. 

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This means we can’t be quitters. That’s why we fight against protectionism and subsidisation of industry. 

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Australia led the Cairns Group in the 1980s as we fought protectionism. 

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Competitiveness remains critical. Take the climate accords today. The whole G20 bar one (the United States) is in. 

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There are a wide range of net zero commitments from 2047, 2050, 2053, 2060 and 2070. 

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The argument should be how Australia can achieve it - not whether we should be in it. The net zero agreement contains most other nations which plan to get there at very different points and in very different ways. 

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Yet in Australia, Labor’s net zero has failed households and industry. They have also failed on decarbonisation. It’s been a disaster. 

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There are so many ways to do net zero better than Labor - by making it cheaper for households and industry while also achieving carbon emissions reductions. 

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The argument must therefore be: We can make net zero work better for Australia than Labor has done. 

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This is the way to go rather than arguing about whether you believe in it or not. 

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China is long on renewable energy. But it is also long on coal. It along with 36 other nations are in the process of opening new coal fired power plants.

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We should be availing ourselves of all energy sources on a technology agnostic basis, rather than pretending to be God in Canberra playing with the energy grid. 

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This is the leadership Australians are looking for. 

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Focusing on productive, growth oriented economics is essential: doing net zero without Labor’s economic self-destruction is but one element. 

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Alongside it would be coherent and ambitious tax, business regulation and housing policies which reward aspiration, ingenuity and enterprise. 

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These things are germane to the Australian people as we offer ourselves as an alternative government. 

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Combining a serious and coherent economic programme with a stronger version of Australian pride will avoid fragmentation of the centre-right. That’s the best outcome for the country. 

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Senator Andrew Bragg is Shadow Minister for Housing & Productivity