Australian Federal Election 2019 - More of the Same?

Scott Morrison. Victory Speech. Photo @ScottMorrisonMP

Incumbent Liberal Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, wins an election that for him was supposed to be unwinnable. That seems to have been a surprise to election commentators, and even went against many of the most respected polling organisation stats.

I must admit I don't follow Aussie politics as much since they installed a revolving door on the PM's office not long after 2007. Arguments over which person is likely to win at the next election are as shallow as the people who concern themselves with such things.

What gets me interested in politics is a leader who has a vision, can articulate it, and does the work to make it happen. Along the way they'll make sure you see the benefits of their work, so that maybe, just maybe, you'll vote them back in, so they can continue to do the work they believe in.

Based on Scott Morrison's acceptance speech, I got a sense of why he may have defied the odds. He's a very likeable, down to earth type of man. The kind of guy you could have a conversation with and you would feel he was listening.

If that's what he brought to the campaign trail I could imagine a lot of people, who vote for the person not the party, would easily lean his way.

Which is not the only reason why he did better than expected but is a likely factor at some level.

His main opposition, Bill Shorten, managed to lose the 'unlosable election'. Not by a lot but enough to know there was a swing away from him and the Labor party that's going to work against them in the next three years.

As someone who used to put Labor first on my ballot paper Bill is one of the reasons I stopped voting Labor. His biggest achievement seems to have been not getting replaced as leader for the last six years, even after he lost the previous election.

Maybe he did more but every time I heard him speak, he just wasn't interesting. He never seemed to lead the conversation. I'm thankful he resigned as leader after this election. I just hope the Labor party choses someone with an actual vision that they can speak to with authority.

Anyway... Scott Morrison. More of the same? Most likely. That's usually what happens when the sitting government remains in power. He does have a bigger majority though, so maybe he'll have a slightly easier time putting through policies that may not have gone through previously.

I don't know. I don't find 'ScoMo' particularly interesting either. The first time he did anything remotely unique, that caught my attention, was #shoegate where he responded to a botched Photoshop job on his shoes with some good humor. Fun, but is it what you want to be remembered for?

Message to my Department (PM&C): I didn’t ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet! 😀
Here they are in all their glory - my footwear of choice whenever I can get out of a suit. pic.twitter.com/hKKUstnArq

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) January 8, 2019