Ah, the internet. The home to a plethora of cat videos, too many Shrek fanfics, and some folks viciously fighting about whether or not a hotdog is a sandwich. It’s also the place where people congregate to express their feelings about how an election has gone. Australia’s 2022 Liberal bloodbath is no exception to this rule.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that places like Twitter and Facebook don’t contain every single hot take that every Aussie has muttered about yesterday’s results. But these sites are still useful for gauging how the political junkies among us are feeling. Without any further adieu, here are some online reactions to our latest federal election.
The Stoked Folks
Obviously, when you want someone to win, you’re happy when they win. This can be demonstrated in tweets like that of Jannette Armstrong’s, who celebrated Labor’s victory by writing, “My kids have never known an Australian Labor government. I really want them to experience — in their still formative years — that society, our country can be about the common good and not just capitalist individualism.”
Other people were delighted that Labor was triumphant and equally pleased that a lot of crossbenchers were also elected. As Brydie Lee-Kennedy tweeted out, “I for one welcome our coalition of Labor, The Greens and Fancy Ladies In Expensive Suits Who Don’t Hate Trans People.” The fancy ladies referenced in this tweet are the teal independents.
However, some citizens, although content with the change in government, are still worried about the future. “Labor’s win is a historic victory but let’s hope they won’t be Liberal-lite when it comes to refugees,” wrote Behrouz Boochani. “They should end this sick industry of detaining refugees and have a royal comm’ to investigate what Liberal have done over the past decade.”
The Unhappy Jans
In news that isn’t going to surprise everyone, The Daily Telegraph has been very critical of Labor’s win. This can be demonstrated by the fact that in the last 24 hours, their website has published two pieces bemoaning the political path that we’re now heading down. One is titled Albo the Worst Possible Choice to Lead Australia, while the other is called Our Future Looks Messy and Very Ugly. The two different authors of these articles both believe that the Labor party cannot take care of our economy.
Still, some Liberal supporters aren’t surprised that Scott Morrison’s party lost the election. This sentiment was expressed in Liberal pollster Tony Barry’s chat with the ABC last night. He expressed that the Liberal Party has lost its way. As Barry said, “You can’t create conservatives if they have got nothing to conserve. If you don’t own a house, you can’t conserve. That’s our natural constituents, and we need to get back to that.”
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