Joe Spagnolo: Federal Liberals believe Voice referendum result shows the Albanese Government is not unbeatable

Back in February Deputy Federal Opposition leader Sussan Ley stated the bleeding obvious. “We know we didn’t meet the expectations of Western Australians at the last election,” she told my colleague Katina Curtis. Ley, reflecting on the fact the Liberals had lost key seats at the May 2022 Federal election — Pearce, Swan, Hasluck and Tangney — said she and her Federal colleagues were now adopting a look-and-listen approach to winning back the trust of WA voters. “We have to listen, we also have to explain our agenda and why we believe that Anthony Albanese has particularly left West Australians behind with the policy settings of his Government,” Ley said. Ley and WA Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash are listed as the two key Federal Liberal representatives to speak at the WA Liberal Party State conference to be held next weekend. But in the past few days, the situation changed, with Dutton now scheduled to attend — addressing the party faithful on Saturday. Dutton’s attendance at the State conference is significant and, perhaps, a sign that Ley wasn’t paying the State lip service back in February. If we go back to Ley’s assertion the Liberals would learn from past mistakes and try to do better here in the west, then you’d think Dutton’s appearance at the conference — a year-and-a-half out from a Federal election — was important. Dutton has a lot of work to do here in WA to establish himself as a credible alternative to the wounded, but not yet fatally injured, Anthony Albanese. We haven’t seen a lot of Dutton here over the past few years, although since becoming Opposition Leader the Queenslander has made several trips to WA, including holding a shadow cabinet here in the west. Clearly, the Federal Libs now realise you can’t just turn up a few weeks out from an election, hand out a few chocolate biscuits and expect to win WA over. Albanese is here in Perth this weekend for Telethon and is on his 16th trip to WA as PM. So too is Dutton here for Telethon. The Federal Libs like to poke fun at the PM’s visits to the west by claiming they’re mostly pit stops on his way overseas. But Albanese has made a point of showing his face here whenever possible. There is no doubt that Dutton and the Federal Liberals have a spring in their step since the nation rejected the Voice to Parliament at the referendum last weekend. The majority of Australians agreed with the No position taken by Dutton, and most of his team. They won’t say this publicly, but privately there is now a belief among some ministers and senior party members that the 2025 Federal poll result is now no longer a fait accompli. It’s a bit like that movie Predator, where Arnold Schwarzenegger famously says: “If it bleeds we can kill it”. Federal Liberals now believe the referendum result shows the Albanese Government is not unbeatable. It shows that it is vulnerable, that it bleeds. Before Saturday, when all States rejected the Voice to Parliament, I asked Albanese what failure to achieve his No.1 priority this term of government would mean for him personally. He answered, perhaps predictably: “This is not about me. “This is about Indigenous Australians. “I am a Prime Minister who fulfils the promises and commitments that I make. “And I committed to having a referendum before the election.” I’m not sure Albanese is correct. I believe a rejection of the Voice has damaged him. What’s interesting now, and certainly here in WA, will be to see whether a rejection of a proposal strongly pursued by Albanese since he won the 2022 poll will now damage him politically. Expect to see a lot more of Dutton in WA from now until an election is called in 2025.