The win for Australia's Morrison Coalition Government over Shorten's Labor Party on May 18, 2019 means continuity for Australia's future Attack class submarine project with Naval Group remaining main contractor.
The Coalition retained all of its electoral districts/seats in the key submarine building state of South Australia meaning most of the build will stay in South Australia.
A Liberal Party candidate within the Coalition even won an additional seat (Boothby) in Adelaide, South Australia. This makes it even more important to the Coalition of having most of the submarine build continue in South Australia.
Before the Election there was a general expectation that a Shorten Labor Government would win. Such a win might have caused a broad review of Naval Group winning the major contractor position in the submarine build. The so-called "leaking", in mid May 2019, of compensation payment details if the deal with Naval Group broke down can in retrospect be seen as a quietly authorised warning to Labor not to break the deal with Naval Group.
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The Coalition retained all of its electoral districts/seats in the key submarine building state of South Australia meaning most of the build will stay in South Australia.
A Liberal Party candidate within the Coalition even won an additional seat (Boothby) in Adelaide, South Australia. This makes it even more important to the Coalition of having most of the submarine build continue in South Australia.
Before the Election there was a general expectation that a Shorten Labor Government would win. Such a win might have caused a broad review of Naval Group winning the major contractor position in the submarine build. The so-called "leaking", in mid May 2019, of compensation payment details if the deal with Naval Group broke down can in retrospect be seen as a quietly authorised warning to Labor not to break the deal with Naval Group.
REASONS WHY THE COALITION WON
After suffering 5 Prime Ministers in 9 years Australians were not ready for a new won. Retaining the incumbent, Scott Morrison, while not perfect, satisfies the need for continuity. In the election campaign Morrison preached JOBS, LOWER TAXES and ECONOMIC STABILITY rather than Labor's call for HIGHER TAXES and idealistic measures to reduce CLIMATE CHANGE.
Labor carried a false assumption that most Australians rate CLIMATE CHANGE as a near main or main concern. That assumption seems to be a minority, usually leftwing view, of those wealthy enough not to worry about their jobs. The Election results point to more Australians feeling that manmade climate change, if it exists, being a very longterm (100+ year) change with the small Australian economy responsible for only 1.28% of world greenhouse gas emissions.
The Australian media are making a big thing of the "unexpected" defeat of Shorten's Labor Party. But Shorten was ONLY AHEAD of the Liberal/National Party (L/NP) Coalition by 1 to 2% in the pre-Election SURVEYS.
Some call Morrison a "Conservative". But he is a CENTRIST appealing to a broad group of voters. He could easily be a Democrat on the American scale.
Labor was particularly hurt in the northeastern state of QUEENSLAND when Labor and Greens from the southeastern states of Victoria and New South Wales wanted to cancel, for Climate Change and rare species reasons, the future, massive, Adani-Carmichael coal project. Queenslanders resented these southerners and rated more highly the Coalition's push for Adani's future jobs and its positive impact on Queensland's economy .
Also Labor did poorly in WESTERN AUSTRALIA where mining, oil and gas are job creaters even if this impacts Labor's concern for the environment.
Finally SHORTEN lacks charisma and hence is UNPOPULAR with the electorate compared to Morrison.
Bill Shorten concedes defeat on May 18, 2019 Election night and, at the same time, he resigned from the leadership of the Labor Party (Photo courtesy The Canberra Times).
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Pete