Wong slams Greens’ tactics as Bandt fights for seat
Foreign minister Penny Wong has made a brutal comparison of the political tactics of Greens leader Adam Bandt and ousted Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
Bandt is fighting to retain the Melbourne seat he has held since 2010. On Tuesday, the ALP’s Sarah Witty was ahead but Bandt was expected to pull through after preferences, according to the ABC.
Two Teals in Victoria also looked to be in trouble, with Monique Ryan’s lead dwindling in Kooyong and Zoe Daniel falling behind Liberal Tim Wilson in Goldstein.
Wong seized on Bandt’s electoral struggle and accused him of becoming too embroiled in the “culture wars” and leading a party that was focused on “grievances”.
“Australians rejected the politics of conflict and the politics of grievance and unfortunately, Adam Bandt in some ways is quite like Peter Dutton,” she said on Tuesday.
Both the Greens and Liberals employed the same aggressive politics, “and I think Australians have comprehensively rejected that”, she said.
Wong, who doubles as the government’s Senate leader, issued a warning to the Greens to heed the results of the election after the minor party pledged to use its balance of power to force more progressive reforms.
She said Bandt should consider the message Australians had sent to all parliamentarians, arguing that people had rejected “culture-war politics”.
“People were concerned about Medicare. People were concerned about cost of living. People were concerned about tax cuts. People were concerned about schools and hospitals and bulk-billing and fee-free TAFE,” she said.
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“That’s what Australians wanted to see.
“They weren’t interested in the Peter Dutton Liberal Party culture wars.”
Wong said the Coalition’s decision to ramp up culture wars during the election “was a demonstration of why the Liberal Party has done so badly in Australia, cities and suburbs”.
“Overwhelmingly, Australians who live in cities and suburbs looked at the Liberal Party and said, ‘you don’t represent my aspirations, you don’t reflect the things I’m worried about’.”
Wong pledged to serve the full term in the new government, adding: “I’m looking forward to being part of a third-term Labor government as well”.
Albanese is now mulling a refreshed cabinet with factional leaders set to meet in the coming days to present their picks.
However, the leadership team of Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Defence Minister Richard Marles, and Trade Minister Don Farrell will remain.
The foreign minister also confirmed Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek would hold a “senior” cabinet position amid speculation she could be stripped of her portfolio.
Following the electoral wipeout, the Liberal leadership contest is coming down to three contenders after Dutton became the first opposition leader to lose his seat.
The frontrunners are shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor and deputy leader Sussan Ley.
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The Nationals will also spill their leadership roles, as is customary after every election, win or lose.
Leader David Littleproud is expected to keep his job, assuming there are no challengers, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said.
But the deputy role is up for grabs with incumbent Perin Davey likely to lose her spot after a Coalition drubbing in NSW after she was placed third on a joint Senate ticket.
McKenzie didn’t rule out a tilt at deputy but said she enjoyed her current role as the party’s Senate leader as she called for “a deep, honest and brutal examination of what happened” for both coalition parties.
The Nationals retained all but one of their lower house seats but remain a chance at picking up Bendigo.
Labor has won at least 85 seats and the Coalition 39 with 16 seats too close to call as of Tuesday morning.
Teals in trouble
Two Teal candidates are fighting to hang on as vote counting continues in two Victorian seats.
Independents Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel are clinging on in their election races after strong postal returns for the Liberals.
Ryan’s margin over Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer in the high-profile seat in Melbourne’s leafy inner east shrunk to 1001 votes on Tuesday.
Ryan suffered a 1.6 per cent swing against her, but prematurely declared victory on Saturday night, with her husband holding up a “Kooyong we did it!” sign.
“Things were looking good on the night, in (election analyst) Antony Green we trusted,” she said on Monday morning.
“But postal votes have been very much pro the conservative side so I think at this point Kooyong is very much in the air. It’s possible (I could lose).”
Daniel lost her lead over Liberal candidate Tim Wilson, with the former Liberal MP she ousted in 2022 now ahead by 334 votes on Tuesday.
Postal ballots were favouring Wilson, who benefited from a 3.4 per cent swing to the Liberals.
Daniel said on Sunday that it would take days for the result to be confirmed.
If Wilson or Hamer can turn the tables on the Teals, they’re likely to be the Liberals’ only federal representatives in metropolitan Melbourne.
