Contrary to all predictions, Australian Labor Party leader Bill Shorten lost the ‘un-loseable’ elections on May 18, with Scott Morrison leading the Coalition to a majority government, in a 'miraculous' victory.
ALP National Conference Delegate and Policy Advisor Jasvinder Sidhu told SBS Punjabi, “We never ever thought we would lose. In fact we were thinking of ways to implement our policies – so this is a shock result indeed.”
“Basically, Queensland decided on who will be Australia’s next Prime Minister. The Coalition won 23 seats in the state while Labor only managed to win 5, and that is a huge gap.”
“While Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson played a role in Labor's loss, Adani mine was the major factor,” said Mr Sidhu.
“We have to accept that Labor party had no decisive policy about the Adani mine and that really hurt us.”
Arrogance is another thing that Mr Sidhu believes hurt the Labor party.
Jasvinder Sidhu Source: SBS Punjabi
“In the final days before the elections, there is no doubt that Labor party came across as arrogant, behaving like it had already won the elections.”
“On the morning of the elections, Bill Shorten shared a meme saying ‘it’s time for change’. Personally, I didn’t like it because unless the voters decide, you can’t say it’s time.”
He also agreed that Labor strategists made grave miscalculations.
“People have voted for immediate and current issues like jobs, having a roof over their head, paying rent, negative gearing, franking credits etc, rather than long term issues like climate change."
"The Labor Party announced many policies in the hope of winning over various sections of voters, but we actually lost support from business owners, property investors, blue collar workers in Queensland and retirees.”
Mr Sidhu said, Labor’s policy on negative gearing was particularly unpopular.
“On election day, I went to many polling booths in the constituency of Lalor, where 20 percent of voters are of Indian origin, and at least in three or four booths people told me they won’t vote for Labor due to our policy on negative gearing. So that definitely cost us dearly.”
He accepted that Scott Morrison now has a clear mandate during his next term as Prime Minister.
“He beat all the odds – everything was against him and he has won with a clear majority. It will be impossible for members of his party to challenge him on anything now.”
Speaking about the introspection that’s now gripping the Labor party, Mr Sidhu said, “My advice to the party would be simply to be humble, and to listen to the real issues affecting people.”
Jasvinder Sidhu with former Prime Minister Julia Gillard Source: Supplied
“We can’t sit in our offices and create policies without going out to regional Australia and especially to Queensland, and identifying the real issues.”
“Instead of creating policies and taking them to the people, we must genuinely listen to the people and create our policies around that.”
As for the leadership position that’s opened up within the Labor Party, Mr Sidhu put Jim Chalmers among the front-runners because of his Queensland connection.
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