“I was not expecting this. Most of us got it wrong,” said economist Dr Vinod Mishra of Monash University.
The coalition has managed to regain power for the third time in a row, which is ‘miraculous’ even for Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He said in his victory speech, “I have always believed in miracles!”
Exit polls had predicted a Labor government after Saturday’s voting. For months, Labor had been running ahead of the coalition on the two-party basis. However, the surveys and polls could not read the voters mind.
“Exit polls in Australia are usually accurate,” says political scientist Dr Purnendra Jain of the University of Adelaide adding, “but with their sampling on mobile phones instead of landlines and the social media influence, they went a little wrong this time.”
Indian-origin voters
Indian-origin voters are inclined to both the major parties in Australia; therefore, there is no clear verdict on the community preferences. An expert in Asian Politics Dr Pradeep Taneja of the University of Melbourne says new migrants tend to incline towards Labor.
“Indian migrants are inclined towards both parties, but policies on education and health most impact the new Indian migrants. And Labor has focused on these issues, but that does not mean Indian migrants do not support the Liberal party,” Dr Taneja said.
The coalition government has been tough on migration policies reducing total intake and making it more robust for migrants to move to Australia without proper English language and other skills. With coalition coming back to power, the policy pushing migrants to the regional areas is expected to continue.
‘This means there is no surprise in for the migrants,’ says Dr Vinod Mishra.
“People are aware of the government’s policies. They understand nothing much is going to change shortly. People have voted for status-quo.”
In case of a status-quo, what is the takeaway from these results?
“Lesson for both parties is it's easy to give a concession but to take it back is the most difficult thing,” Dr Pradeep Taneja said.
