Lessons from Australia's failed 'yes' Voice to Parliament referendum campaign

There are clear lessons for the Albanese government, and others including the ACT which being the only jurisdiction to vote "yes" is as out of sync with the rest of Australia as it was in the 1999 republic referendum.

Politically, the referendum's failure shatters any notion of the Albanese government's invincibility. It is a defeat of mammoth proportions and a monumental political blunder on Albanese's part. His strategy of rejecting logical debate, providing as little detail as possible and relying on empty emotional appeals proved to be too clever by half.

The referendum was driven by short-term political expediency on Labor's part. It set out to deliberately create division and rancour, to wedge the Coalition and embarrass Dutton, outdo the Greens, and satisfy the ideological demands of Labor's left faction.

The referendum process was poorly executed from start to finish, lacking a clear and honest rationale, any semblance of bipartisanship, and any commitment to democratic processes that have characterised earlier referendums.

The Albanese government did not even want to follow long accepted practices of informing citizens of the arguments for and against a proposal.

That funding was so lopsidedly for the 'yes' campaign was the antithesis of what should happen in a democracy, where the dollar should not speak louder than the voter and where both sides have a right to be heard.

The referendum showed the Albanese government is woefully out of touch, pursuing 'recreational politics' while the country yearns for leadership to tackle its growing economic, energy and social problems.

The referendum highlighted other problems too.

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Besmirching themselves in the worse form of partisan politicisation were some of our key public and private institutions - universities, some religious bodies, and big business. They displayed little regard to the propriety of their actions, the integrity of their prescribed functions, or the views of their shareholders, members, employees and customers - they crossed the line into outright political campaigning for the 'yes' side.

Is this what we can come to expect at the next election - institutions taking sides, endorsing candidates and parties like so many interest groups as they line up at the trough of government largesse?

Has our society become so politicised that this is the now the accepted expectation?

And we wonder why trust in our institutions is declining.

While a declining influence in our society, sections of the media hardly showed any semblance of balanced reporting. Too easily they "catastrophised" the possible adverse impacts of referendum failure and were too willing was it to stick the racist tag on advocates of a "no" vote.

The failed referendum also raises doubts about the value of political advertising. Political parties take heed. Spend less on advertising and more on proper research so voters have some decent policy choices for a change.

Given how out of whack the ACT is once again with the rest of Australia, perhaps, as the robodebt royal commission recommended that senior public servants should do some frontline work to understand exactly what they are managing, the same should apply to aspiring and senior federal public servants. They need to do more time out of Canberraland in the outer suburbs and regions of the nation.

Similarly, just as the inner city cliques do not reflect the national mood, political parties have to stop taking their policy cues from so narrow a base as they have in past.

One thing for sure - the referendum and its rejection will have lasting but unexpected impacts.

The Albanese government has not just been weakened, but exposed for what it really is: an old, out-of-date Labor Party controlled by declining and militant trade unions and not a patch on the Whitlam government which offered a more genuine reform agenda.

It is now up to the opposition to provide a real alternative.