Truly this is a pack of morons, via the AFR:
The Turnbull government accepts it faces an uphill battle to win the next election and that its fortunes now depend heavily on warning voters of what it regards as the perils of Bill Shorten becoming prime minister.
In a strategic shift adopted in recent days, following discussions at the most senior levels of the government, it has been decided that after lagging Labor badly for the past 18 Newspolls, the government must now declare itself the underdog and “go after Shorten”.
“We need to explain why he will be bad for you,” said one source familiar with the strategy.
This must go beyond the usual tactic of labelling Mr Shorten a union stooge and to trying to drive home to voters the practical implications for them of a Labor government.
Last week, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann used a speech to The Sydney Institute to accuse Mr Shorten of using socialist-style politics to demonise successful people and warn that this would have knock-on effects including killing aspiration, retarding growth and wealth creation and leaving the country unable to fund a decent social safety net.
The government is dying of politics over policy. Tony Abbott could never shake off the opposition mindset, always crafting things in reference to Labor.
By contrast, Labor has killed the government by focusing on policy over politics. It’s consistent positions on Medicare, negative gearing reform, gay marriage and decarbonisation are benchmarks of evidence-led policy. They may not be the be-all and end-all of running the country but they are enough from opposition. And they have led the national debate, leaving the government to chase its own tail.
Malcolm arrived with great promises for policy yet has done nothing but watch on and lie as living standards have fallen. He’s fallen straight into the culture schism of his party and displayed zero gumption on anything.
And now they reckon the answer is to focus more on the opposition with more politics? These guys could not run a piss up in a brewery.
Here’s a hint fellows. The polity wants you to lead not follow. There is only one place you can take it to revive your fortunes and it is this: cut immigration in half.
This one national interest act will throw the Labor edifice – policy, narrative and media – into complete panic. It will wedge its negative gearing reform platform, it will wedge it on wages growth, it will wedge its youth vote, it will wedge it on living standards, it will wedge it on China, it will wedge it on decarbonisation, it will wedge every eastern city voter and it will win you the culture wars as Labor media snowflakes melt down.
It will play to the Coalition strengths of border security, the US alliance and economic management, as well as recapture the base fled to One Nation.
All the while pushing Labor further out into the very unfashionable open borders extremes, making that the key narrative in the election.
It will do all of this at the stroke of a pen that shows the Coalition is capable of actually doing something in the national interest.
