ANALYSIS
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jay Weatherill and Craig Emerson have described the problem Labor faces in detail that is useful, no doubt painful and largely without gloss - except, perhaps, for throwing in some compensatory sentences about Bill Shorten's hard work, discipline and competent debate performance, which will do little to patch the horrid wound created by their blunt assessment of his popularity.
The decision to name Shorten, pretty much the only Labor figure singled out, and the highlighting of his unpopularity, complete with graphs, has created enemies that could be dangerous for Labor's internal unity.
But the party's big problem is clear and, in reality, was already known in broad brush. It's the same as the problem that has occupied column inches of opinion pages and corridors of political science departments since Trump stood at the end of Washington's national mall to survey the crowd.
Blue-collar workers continue to abandon the party, while inner-city progressives and people with university degrees swing towards it - though the Greens steal some of that city patch, the review found.
Coal miners, Chinese Australians, Christians and people aged 25 to 34 outside the cities moved against Labor in big numbers, and the party was left with just six of 30 Queensland seats.
READ MORE:
As reviewer Jay Weatherill put it, "Paradoxically [we] frightened the very people we were trying to support".
Or as his review summarised, "Labor's failure to persuade disengaged Australians to vote for it explains the election result."
That much we knew already, and now we have the data. But the solution remains elusive.
Weatherill and Emerson say don't blame franking credits or negative gearing, nor climate change, saying taking a backward step on climate change would create huge internal ructions.
They do take aim at the campaign, pointing out that Labor failed to change its pre-prepared message when Scott Morrison became leader, had no overarching strategy, failed to heed warnings from the ground, and took too many policies to the election, confusing the voters. It also boxed itself into a corner with its big spending plans, having to find cuts or more taxes to pay.
Those problems are about how to run a campaign and they're fixable. But they don't address the key issue that Mr Weatherill and Mr Emerson identify as the biggest of all, but leave hanging.
Labor needs to find a way to appeal to Queensland and improve its standing among economically insecure, low-income working families and people outside the cities, while not turning its back on progressive policies.
Well indeed. Suggestions, anyone?