Skip to main content

Are there lessons learned from the Australian Election?

From CNBC's the Exchange" newsletter May 20, 2019, quoted in its entirety. We should pay attention.
The Australian dollar saw its biggest rise of the year overnight after a shock win by the conservative* coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who replaced Malcolm Turnbull just nine months ago. 
The results were such a surprise the win has been called a miracle and a bombshell--and it's right in line with Brexit and Trump's victory in terms of major electoral upsets that have caught experts and pollsters flat-footed.  
After all, as the BBC noted, "For well over two years, the coalition has trailed behind Labor in the opinion polls, and the assumption had been it would be Labor's turn to govern." (Emphasis mine.)  
Morrison thanked "the quiet Australians" who turned out to vote: 
"It has been those Australians who have worked hard every day, they have their dreams, they have their aspirations, to get a job, to get an apprenticeship, to start a business, to meet someone amazing," he said. "To start a family, to buy a home, to work hard and provide the best you can for your kids. To save for your retirement. These are the quiet Australians who have won a great victory tonight!"  
Labor leader Bill Shorten had run a very different campaign, on raising taxes for the wealthy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. (The New York Times: "It was supposed to be Australia's climate change election. What happened?" Well...it was, and that approach lost.) 
Here's why that lost: "Labor scrutineers told news.com.au [that] older voters have punished the party for its higher-taxing agenda. States where the economy is not thriving – such as Queensland, WA and country areas – have backed the [conservatives]’ agenda focused on the economy and jobs." 
It's a lesson politicians all over the world continue to ignore--at their own peril. -- Kelly Evans
*Technically, it's the "Liberal-National Coalition," using "liberal" in its original sense

** Voting in Australia, by the way, is compulsory, with a $20 Australian dollar fine (or about $14 U.S. dollars) for not turning out. That means their turnout--a key campaign focus on the U.S.--is often well over 90%.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for the comment. Will get back to you as soon as convenient, if necessary.

Popular posts from this blog

Top Five Consumer Cyber Security FAQs

Business, technology, environmental and economic changes are a part of life, and they are coming faster all the time. All of these changes and advancements can be distracting and make us more vulnerable to cyber scams. That's why protecting your credit is a critical part of protecting yourself from cyber security threats. Security researchers have reported that hackers and scammers are using any opportunity or vulnerability to target both individuals and companies. You may have already seen these attempts in the form of fake emails or calls. Here are the top five questions Equifax ®  has received about how individuals can protect themselves from cyber security threats and help to improve your credit protection. 1. How can I better protect my credit? Check your credit reports frequently. You can get free credit reports from the nationwide credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian ®  and TransUnion ® ) at annualcreditreport.com. Check your credit reports frequently to closely...
Post a Comment
Read more

School Choice Passed by Texas Senate

The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a $500 million school choice bill mostly along party lines after hours of passionate debate. It will now head for consideration in the House, where members rejected similar proposals during the regular session. Senators passed Senate Bill 1 by a 18-13 vote, with one Republican joining all Democrats in voting against the measure. The bill will likely face steep resistance in the House, where Democratic members and many rural Republicans have vehemently opposed such proposals. School choice programs, also called education savings accounts or vouchers, use public money to help pay for a child’s private schooling. “We must recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't fit the needs of our diverse student population,” said Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who authored SB 1 and estimated the proposal could serve about 60,000 students. Texas has about 5.5 million children in public schools. Public schools have failed the American people, especi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Diversity Programs Don’t Make Companies More Profitable

A new study by two scholars at the University of North Carolina and a professor at Texas A&M examined the impact of DEI programs in corporate America and found no evidence that these programs lead to higher returns. The study reported: “The business case for diversity” is the dominant rhetorical paradigm for how U.S. corporations debate actions and policies around racial/ethnic diversity. In this paper, we conduct an empirical test of the paradigm by gathering data on the race/ethnicity of the individuals shown on the leadership pages of S&P 500 firms’ websites as of mid-2011, 2014, 2017, 2020 and 2021, and then determining if any of nine measures of the racial/ethnic diversity of these executives reliably predict…their firms’ financial performance over the next fiscal year. We do not find reliable evidence that they do. As such, our results do not support the “business case for diversity” when the claim is assessed using 1-year-ahead financial performance metrics and multiple ...
Post a Comment
Read more