As Labor goes through the painful process of examining what went wrong at this year’s election and how it might win the next, there are 10 key lessons to be learnt.
Bill Shorten with wife Chloe the day after his party’s electoral defeat.
AAP/James Ross
Labor’s defeat revives a familiar problem in Australian political history: the left’s inability to show how its policies can improve people’s material conditions.
Against expectations, Scott Morrison has led the Coalition government back to power.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
This result, which is vastly different from what opinion polls were indicating, shows the probability of “herding” in polls, and also emphasises that betting odds are to be treated with great caution.
In 1990, Bob Hawke and his cabinet looked poised to take climate action. But the following year his prime ministership ended.
NAA
What if Bob Hawke, hailed as a leader who actually ‘got’ environmental issues, had never been rolled by Paul Keating? Perhaps the climate policy wars would have turned out differently.
Visualisation of election-related Twitter activity on QUT’s Sphere display.
QUT Media
Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology; Daniel Angus, Queensland University of Technology, and Timothy Graham, Queensland University of Technology
Analysis of tweets from the election campaign reveal two key trends: independents are organising, and embattled Liberal candidates are having to take the fight to their rivals.
Arthur Caldwell almost defeated Robert Menzies in the poll in 1961, and won the debate about policy.
National Archives, National Library of Australia, Wikimedia
Labor has ditched its reliance on a single economy-wide climate policy, in favour of a range of different measures that will all help drive down emissions. But some crucial issues remain unaddressed.
The WA Environmental Defenders Office was a crucial part of the legal fight against the James Price Point gas hub proposal.
Nigel Gaunt/AAP
For more than 30 years, Environmental Defenders Offices around the country have worked to help people take legal action on environmental issues. They’ve notched some big wins along the way.
The losers from Labor’s capital gains tax policy aren’t all where you would expect them to be, whatever you expect.
Shutterstock
At times we are told Labor’s capital gains tax policy will hit mainly high earners. At other times, low earners. The truth, uncovered by our microsimulation model, tells us something about ourselves.
Scandals have dominated the recent headlines, but healthcare, education and public transport have been at the core of the policy debates.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
Clare O'Neil on Labor’s listening tour for banking victims
Shadow minister for financial services Clare O'Neil says the ALP exercise will give a voice to people in areas the Royal Commission hasn't had time to visit.
The Labor party has announced roundtables in cities and towns that haven’t been visited by the banking royal commission.
AAPONE/David Crosling
Bill Shorten says Labor’s plan to make super contributions on behalf of women on paid parental leave would have a “big impact”. We find its impact would be be minuscule.
The latest Fairfax Ipsos poll gives Labor a 53-47 lead, a two-point gain for the Coalition since mid-August.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Fairfax Ipsos gives Labor another win on two-party preferred, albeit with weird primary vote numbers, while the Labor party in Victoria has another poll win just over two months ahead of the state election.
Politics podcast: Wayne Swan on Labor’s byelection victories and beyond
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Incoming national president and outgoing MP Wayne Swan dismissed the notion that party reform is on that agenda saying there "is no issue ... my priority is winning the battle of ideas.”
If Malcolm Turnbull is to draw any comfort from a self-inflicted wound, he might consider the history of leaders who have endured bad polling and prevailed.
AAP/Darren England