At the crux of it the Libs believe in looking after yourself. And they believe that if you are good at looking after yourself, you should receive the benefit. That benefit includes access to better schools and hospitals. There are other schools and hospitals, the ones you and your children won't go to, but that are nonetheless funded by your taxes. And that isn't fair. In this hypercompetitive world, giving away your tax dollars could be the difference between your child getting into medicine and failing. It could be the difference between you sailing in the Sydney to Hobart, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, and watching it on TV. It could be the difference between your wife loving you because of the nice new house, or nagging you because she's embarrassed to have people round.
Look at this logically. There are some in Australia who are of limited ability and poor disposition. They will never be well off. They'll use government schools and public hospitals. They'll get discounted fares on public transport, cheap prescriptions at the chemist, live in shitty rental housing with bad neighbours (maybe they are bad neighbours themselves), and work intermittently. If they reach old age, it will be uncomfortable and with bad food and cranky nursing home staff. These people probably vote Labor, although the more stupid will vote One Nation.
There are other Australians who are talented, hard working, attractive, who have a lot of good connections they made at their private school and who are lovely people and make a shitload of money. They go to private hospitals when they need to, send their kids to private schools, work for charities. Actually, these people need not have come from privileged backgrounds, just got lucky when talent and work ethic were handed out. But it wouldn't hurt if they come from money either. These people probably vote Liberal, but not necessarily, as they can afford to be generous and think of those less fortunate than themselves.
These are the extremes. But elections aren't fought at the extremes, they are fought in the middle. Those who are near the top, say in the top 10 - 25%, they are highly likely to vote Liberal. But somewhere in the middle are the crew who aren't sure. And these people win elections.
So we need to paint a picture for these people. A picture of how bad it will be for them if they don't quite get a foothold on the ladder of success and end up having to rely on public transport, public hospitals and government schools. And I'm thinking we should tell them the truth. The total wealth of Australia is rapidly increasing, but the fraction of the population getting a "fair share" of it is falling. They risk being part of the "have nots". But let's not only sell on fear, but on generosity and "bigness".
Paint two pictures, and in both of these pictures our voter has "made it". In one picture he/she has a nice house and are comfortably off. They live in a nice suburb. The schools, private and government, are nice. The hospitals, private and government are nice. Of course the private are better than the government, but you get the feeling that no one is seriously disadvantaged by the government option.
In the other picture, the house is bigger. The car is more expensive. There is a jet ski. The schools (private) are lovely. The hospitals (private) are lovely. The parks are lovely. But the suburb is walled, and on the other side of the wall is poverty and despondency, shared both by those who nearly made it, and by the total no-hopers. The hospitals are third world. The schools are run down, as are the teachers. The parks are dry, dusty and unloved.
Now you might wonder where you'll be able to shoot the "third world" hospitals. Well, you'll find them in every capital city. RPH in Perth, for example. And you may wonder about the rundown schools, and if it hadn't been for the "building the education revolution" funding during the gfc, they'd be everywhere. You'll still find them.
And these pictures are pitched to the people in the middle. The ones who have the fear of not "making it" and ending up on the scrap heap. The ones who think they will make it, but don't want the huge chasm between the rich and the poor. Let's sell the generous version of Australia. It must be a higher taxing version of Australia. That is why the people at the margins must be generous to vote for it. It may well be against their immediate financial interests. And these people need to feel generous and embiggened. Not, as the Murdoch media will tell them, angry at the "tax heist". We need to sell them a picture of the better selves. Not all of them have to be convinced. Just enough so that Labor can win an election without promising irresponsible tax cuts.
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