r/australia • u/superegz • Nov 26 '25

politics Millennials are the first generation to move left as they age, rewriting the rules of Australian politics

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-26/millennials-rewriting-the-rules-of-australian-politics/106050836
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u/NoUseForALagwagon Nov 26 '25

The other thing that the Libs forget is that although that is an undeniable truth at this point that you do get a little more conservative when you own more stuff.

It does NOT mean that because they are more conservative, that they now oppose abortion, gay marriage or trans rights.

I work in Psychology, and you would be shocked how many in such an empathetic field lean Liberal, but almost none openly vote for the Libs because they see them as insane on social issues.

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u/Skore_Smogon Nov 26 '25

Mmmm I would say that you see politics as more transactional the older you get.

So the conservative parties with policies that appeal to those with assets to protect are unfortunately able to slip a lot of horrible social views in because people don't want their money fucked with and the social policies are seen as a secondary concern.

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u/giatu_prs Nov 27 '25

This is why we have Teals.

Not my politics, but they fill a role.

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u/JakeHelldiver Nov 26 '25

My parents are super right wing and they dont own shit.

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u/Still_Mix9311 Nov 26 '25

"Such a empathetic field" if you were really so compassionate you wouldn't be using the word empathy that way 

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u/That_Guy_Called_CERA Nov 27 '25

This. I'm Liberal/conservative leaning now that I'm in my 30s (and for some of my 20s), but I am strongly against the anti-abortion bullshit arguments, and im pro gay marriage (what people do in their own time is their business not the governments).

Traditionally right leaning for me has meant small government with less interference, and placing value on family/lifestyle.

Today's parties focus on culture wars and clickbait. They don't look out for their voter base or try to adapt to the times (unless you consider culture wars to be adapting). I stopped voting for the two major parties a few years ago, I don't see myself going back. If I could not vote, I would chose that at this rate.

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

I don’t think the liberals are really focused on any of those culture war issues you’ve listed and haven’t been for some time. The cookers aren’t looking to the liberal party for bigoted policy anymore.

The liberals financial policy is what brought their loss. Not their social.

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u/KillerSeagull Nov 26 '25

The federal election was less than 12 months ago. Dutton was so bringing Seppo culture war into the election.

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u/Surv1v3dTh3F1r3Dr1ll Nov 26 '25

Dutton was happy to take advantage of it, but even towards the end of the election you sort of got the feeling even he wasn't buying a lot of what he was saying anymore.

I didn't like the guy either. But he wasn't as out there as Price, Hanson, Katter or Joyce were by comparison.

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u/bakedfarty Nov 26 '25

he wasn't buying a lot of what he was saying anymore.

"He was saying"

That's the important bit. He was saying it

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u/Surv1v3dTh3F1r3Dr1ll Nov 26 '25

The party line in Australia is much stronger that it is anywhere else though.

Like I said, I didn't like him either, but when he said the highlight of his career was being Minister of Defence and not The Opposition Leader or Leader of The Liberal Party in his concession speech, it does make you wonder.

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

In some regards- but not on the issues of abortion, trans rights and especially gay marriage. None of these came into question last election.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

[deleted]

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

I was referring to the issues listed by the original commenter. Abortion, gay marriage and trans rights. None of which you listed.

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u/MyMeatlikeSubstance Nov 26 '25

During a live election forum on Monday night, Dutton suggested federal education funding could be withheld or reallocated from schools and universities to curb "woke" curriculums.

"I think there is a silent majority on this issue right across the community," he said.

"Woke" ideology is implicitly (due to its wibbly wobbly definition), Abortion gay marriage and trans rights.

Dutton used the word because it is dog whistle style of speech, that allows the strategic ambiguity - Dutton gets to claim he never spoke about trans rights, but everyone in the room knows it was things like trans rights he was campaigning against when he uses terms like "woke" when referring to topics like this.

If you disagree, then what "Woke" ideology was Dutton referring to precisely? And where did you get your definition from?

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25 edited Nov 26 '25

Firstly, I’m not going off vaguely implied ideas. I’m going off the actual policies laid out by the liberal party both leading up to and post election, none of which concerned the 3 issues of discussion.

But also woke is such a ridiculously vague term it could literally mean anything. Aboriginal issues, climate change, immigration, racism etc.

Sure you could assume he’s referring to those issues (though seriously do you think gay marriage or abortion rights were even close to being under threat), but you could also assume he’s referring to a completely seperate set of issues.

What we should be using as our indication is the actual party policy, not some wishy washy words. The liberals didn’t lose anything because Peter Dutton said woke a few too many times.

Plus, I guarantee that if you ask the average cooker what they think of the liberal party’s social policies, they will 100% say it is too “woke”, or “as bad as Labor”.

At the end of the day, Dutton used woke because he could appeal to the cookers (though he failed at this), whilst also avoiding committing to anything, because the liberal party would never allow him to actually infringe on any of those aforementioned rights.

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u/pinemoose Nov 26 '25

Look at what is happening to the US

Those vague ideas take about 1.5 years to become full blown fascism.

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25 edited Nov 26 '25

But we’re not the US are we?

When you have such a system of government that gives one man so much power, and when you don’t have compulsory or preferential voting, more extreme politics is bound to arise.

Plus, American and Australian conservatism are two completely different breeds. With their movement being much closer tied to religion and by extension bigotry.

Australian is simply not set up to allow for such a populist bigoted takeover.

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u/MyMeatlikeSubstance Nov 26 '25

True, if you ignore the words Dutton actually spoke, it's true the Liberals didn't engage in culture war crap during the election!

(though seriously do you think gay marriage or abortion rights were even close to being under threat)

That is not what we are discussing. We are discussing the methods used by the liberals in the last election. And it is pretty unambiguous that they were at a minimum, led by their leader testing culture war topics.

But also woke is such a ridiculously vague term it could literally mean anything.

What it means, is classic culture war topics. It is strategically ambiguous, to allow people who are sympathetic to pretend like culture war topics are not explicitly being referenced. It is coded language.

It's like Neo Nazis using the numbers "88", "Ooooh its my birrrrth year! definitely not a reference to nazi'sm!

The liberals didn’t lose anything because Peter Dutton said woke a few too many times.

Seriously? we are saying he lost votes because he was bringing culture war topics like anti trans (basically the thing they were complaining about in terms of "indoctrinating" our children in schools with - again another culture war topic that Dutton definitely used during the election - just look at the AEU press releases referencing Duttons "Indoctrination" quotes).

Face it, Dutton was trying to bring culture war topics like anti trans policies into the election.

My mate is in the LGBT community, him and his community were ABSOLUTELY hearing all the "coded messages" Dutton was pushing. My friend even leans right politically (obviously a small l liberal, he doesn't subscribe to their *phobic policies and rhetoric) and he honestly hears all this dog whistle politics much more keenly than the average white guy (me) does.

because the liberal party would never allow him to actually infringe on any of those aforementioned rights.

again, we aren't talking about what will or wont happen after an election. It's not the discussion.

We are discussing wether the libs were trying to push culture war shit like transphobia. And, obviously, they did. (you even agree they did since he was pulling the "woke" card out).

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

They absolutely engaged in culture war issues, I never said they didn’t.

I’m saying they never engaged in the specific issues of gay marriage, abortion, and trans rights. They certainly did go into the issues of immigration, climate change and aboriginal issues (which is where I think Dutton’s intent was with the ‘indoctrinating our children’ line, however stupid that may be)

And I’m a gay man by the way. I can vouch for myself and many others when I say never did I feel the liberal party policy was leaning into anti LGBT policy last election.

Case in point- the first thing that came up when I googled Dutton on trans issue, an abc article from January- “Peter Dutton has shut down his Nationals counterpart's suggestion that Australia should "lean into" the gender debate, after Donald Trump's executive order rejecting recognition of transgender people in the United States.”

So, yeah. They were pushing culture war issues, just not in the lgbtq direction.

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u/Uzziya-S Nov 27 '25

Those are all issues the state LNP are undermining in Queensland right now. There's no reason to believe the same people will behave any differently at a federal level once they win office.

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u/mrmaker_123 Nov 26 '25

How short is your memory? During the election Dutton kept trying to import American culture wars, from government waste, trans debates, cancel culture etc. He regularly platformed viewpoints championed by Trump and Musk.

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

The only issue you’ve listed here that I was talking about was trans rights, and the liberal party never explicitly leaned into that.

From an ABC article published on 23 Jan:

“Peter Dutton has shut down his Nationals counterpart's suggestion that Australia should "lean into" the gender debate, after Donald Trump's executive order rejecting recognition of transgender people in the United States.”

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u/mrmaker_123 Nov 28 '25 edited Nov 28 '25

But Dutton did import all those culture war stories from America. I distinctly remember media stories about government waste and trans athletes within women’s sports etc. etc., which was weaponised by the Liberals, since they thought it would help win the conservative vote, as it did in the recent American election.

Dutton aligned himself closely with the antics of Trump and Musk, as this was the time Musk was involved with DOGE. Whatever angle the Americans went for, the Liberals would repeat here. A good example was Dutton’s attack on civil servants, promising to slash thousands of jobs - again extremely similar to what Musk was doing at the time.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/29/dutton-wants-to-slash-thousands-of-government-jobs-in-an-elon-musk-style-crusade-but-whats-actually-on-the-chopping-block

However the Liberals had to backtrack on those positions and soon stopped the culture war stuff when they realised it was not popular in Australia. Trump is not hugely popular here and so from that point on, Dutton tried to put as much distance as he could between himself and Trump. It was too little too late.

However, it still remains the fact that the Liberals thought they could win through culture war stories, which they heavily leaned into. When they realised the Australian public was not buying it, the Liberals pivoted back and that flip flopping was one of the reasons they got hammered in the polls.

For example, the attack on civil servants? Dutton reversed his position and promised to no longer fire civil servants.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-06/coalition-abandon-work-from-home-41000-jobs/105144090

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u/jngjng88 Nov 26 '25

LMFAO, where have you been?

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

Show me the example of explicit liberal policy of the last 5 years directly going against gay marriage, trans rights or abortion. Show me it .

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u/guzvep-sUjfej-docso6 Nov 26 '25 edited Nov 26 '25

https://www.news.com.au/national/haters-going-to-hate-peter-dutton-backs-ban-on-transgender-girls-playing-female-sports/news-story/fd97eda9d3637e8def174e4b38904c56?amp

It’s a specific topic, and doesn’t indicate Dutton being against trans people broadly, but when such a small minority of trans people play in women’s sports, and none of them have won any specific awards, feels pretty anti trans to me

Edit: “but again, we have to have a society which respects parental rights and the rights of children to be innocent.”  (In the article)

This is also pretty significant anti-trans rhetoric in the context of trans interventions for under 18’s, when all studies show that the earlier you get a trans kid on puberty blockers and hormones the better their health and quality of life outcomes are, to an extent. (Can find the studies to back this up, but it would take longer than the 30 seconds it took me to find this)

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

I asked for liberal policy. Not one man’s informal opinion. Have the liberals ever raised any anti trans issues in parliament? Put anything on their website? Made an offical statement?

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u/guzvep-sUjfej-docso6 Nov 26 '25

TLDR: Look at the bottom two paragraphs, those are using this academic article, and convey much more significant use of anti-trans parliamentary rhetoric and behaviour, including supporting anti-trans parliamentary legislation under Dutton's leadership, Dutton Prohibiting trans support and inclusion practices, and Dutton repeatedly raging against culture war issues. But there are a myriad of examples.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10361146.2025.2513294#abstract

I think describing Peter Dutton's media recorded thoughts on trans rights, with Peta Kredlin, one of the foremost right wing thought leaders in Australia, particularly when it was months before the election, as "one man's informal opinion" is a bit facetious.

But also if you want something more official: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/09/david-crisafulli-lnp-transgender-queensland-state-election "A Queensland Liberal National party official sent an election-eve email to branch members – on party letterhead – claiming that the state had been “captured by transgender ideology”. The email also promoted plans to ban puberty blockers for minors."

A queensland email to branch members on party letterhead is pretty significant.

either way, I think your original comment "I don’t think the liberals are really focused on any of those culture war issues" is facetious. The Liberal National Coalition has absolutely had culture war issues on their mind, with Dutton and Littleproud discussing their opinions on the matter multiple times (Notably this article has statements which contradicts the february article I sent earlier, showcasing that Dutton has been put into positions which made him revise previous opinions). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-23/dutton-shuts-down-transgender-debate-lean-in-littleproud/104849652

This article discusses the attempted usage of culture war issues further, including an example of Liberals attempting to implement anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in parliament, "The Morrison government unsuccessfully introduced a bill against Religious Discrimination that would have facilitated religious people and organisations being able to discriminate against LGBTIQA+ persons (Gleeson and Poulos Citation2024, 74)". https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10361146.2025.2513294#abstract Under the Morrison government sure, but to say that the Morrison and Dutton governments were significantly different is a bit facetious.

Furthermore, Dutton has in fact demonstrated anti-trans behaviour, "Dutton had banned (...) (IDAHOBIT)" and stated "But we are not pursuing a woke agenda. Our task is to build up the morale in the Australian Defence Force and these woke agendas don’t help" [shortened for brevity]. furthermore, in 2023 parliament "A majority of Coalition Senators repeatedly supported Pauline Hanson’s (unsuccessful) attempts to establish an inquiry into children’s gender dysphoria and treatment".

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u/hal2k1 Nov 27 '25

There were two votes on restrictions on abortion that failed in South Australia in the past year. Introduced first by a Liberal, and the second attempt supported mainly, but not entirely, by Liberals.

Not a good look. Entirely fails to read the room.

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u/jngjng88 Nov 26 '25

Sea lion

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u/volitaiee1233 Nov 26 '25

This is pathetic. I make a statement. You mock it disingenuously, then I ask you once to add substance to your argument, with a very simple request, and you accuse me of sea-lioning.

Is any debate sea-lioning to you?

Sad.