Architect of Labor's crushing win flags Dutton's fatal flaw and outlines what PM must do next
The architect of Labor's election victory says Anthony Albanese's government must methodically deliver on its agenda, despite a larger than expected majority and political upheaval within the Coalition and Greens.
Paul Erickson, Labor's national secretary and campaign director, told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday the government had the communications and political skills to sell major reform ideas to voters, but should focus first on its 'ambitious' agenda endorsed at the ballot box, including on health, energy and economic growth.
Speaking on the third anniversary of Albanese's 2022 election victory, and nearly three weeks out from his landslide 3 May reelection, Erickson said the Liberals and Nationals would continue to lose unless they learned the lessons delivered by voters, including on climate change.
Labor is on track to hold more than 90 seats in the House of Representatives, despite predictions Albanese would slip into minority at the poll. The government's political stocks have also been bolstered by the split in the Coalition, and the Greens going backwards, including its former leader Adam Bandt losing his own seat.
But Erickson, the 41-year-old campaign chief credited with crafting the historic landslide, said Labor must not exceed its mandate from voters.
'I think that there was a lot of ambition in the plan for the next three years that the prime minister and the Labor team put forward in the campaign,' he said.
'The best approach is for Labor to stay focused on the agenda that we campaigned on, what we sought a mandate for, and now we need to deliver. And I think that's what will drive the government's work and the legislative agenda in the parliament over the next three years.'
Erickson said the former opposition leader Peter Dutton had been stuck in a conservative media 'echo chamber' and was too quick to fight culture wars and import Donald Trump-style political tactics.
He said Dutton and his colleagues badly misread the mood of the electorate, giving Labor the ability to successfully campaign around the Liberal leader's personality and outlook.
'His aggression and intolerance unsettled people,' Erickson said.
'Was he focused on Australians who were looking for the party with the best plan to make them better off over the next three years? Or was his priority winning over voters who were looking for an Australian variation on MAGA?'
First appointed to the role in 2019, Erickson said Labor's campaign strategy was superior because it focused close on cost-of-living pressures and essential services like Medicare and education.
He chided the Liberals for mishandling policy announcements, including on work-from-home rules for public servants and on housing affordability, singling out housing spokesman Michael Sukkar who lost his seat.
'With less than two weeks to go, on Insiders with David [Speers], Michael Sukkar said that the Coalition was saving up their policies so that they could, 'Connect with Australians when they're going to switch on.'
'I remember watching that interview and thinking — you haven't got long now, brother!'
Erickson said the opposition needed to learn the lessons of its recent losses, including on the issue of climate change.
'I think if they continue on the path they're on, of delay and denial, then they will continue getting the sorts of outcomes that we saw.'
He committed Labor to a full review of its campaign strategy and said he would decide whether to seek another term leading the party's administrative wing before the end of 2025.
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BTC-focused ETFs made their official U.S. debut in January 2024. These were soon followed by funds based on the Ethereum network's native token ETH, and countless applications have been filed for other prominent tokens. These ETFs have attracted hundreds of billions of dollars from investors disinclined to open digital asset exchange accounts to buy tokens directly, or who worry about the intricacies of crypto self-storage. Blackrock's (NASDAQ: BLK) IBIT ETF alone custodies ~661,000 BTC worth around $70 billion. Given TMTG's late arrival to this party, it's unclear why investors would be attracted to its ETF, unless MAGA types are looking for new ways to show support for their president. Earlier this week, TMTG announced that it had raised $2.44 billion from institutional investors for the purpose of following the 'BTC treasury' corporate strategy that is all the rage these days. Here again, fealty to the president appears to be the chief appeal, given that there are already well over 100 companies employing the same strategy and more firms are announcing plans seemingly every day. Back to the top ↑ Watch: Bringing the Metanet to life with Teranode title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
