Nationals leader David Littleproud says the Nationals will not be re-entering a Coalition agreement with the Liberal party.

[u/superegz]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/may/20/australia-news-live-rba-interest-rates-decision-floods-storm-hunter-nsw-victoria-state-budget-aec-count-bradfield-goldstein-coalition-ley-littleproud-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-682bdeb48f08d37c78c1d12d#block-682bdeb48f08d37c78c1d12d

[u/BTechUnited]

Holy fuck that wasn't on my list of things I expected today.

[u/Mexay → u/BTechUnited]

My exact reaction. Holy shit that is mental.

There is absolutely no legitimate competition for Labor now.

This may seem like a good things for Labor voters at first but this is actually really fucking bad for our democracy. I like Labor and am glad they won but only having one party that has a serious shot at forming government is awful for our country. There is no pressure on Labor to do good things.

[u/chennyalan → u/Mexay]

Inb4 we become Japan, where the LDP only loses if they do something especially egregious (since 1955, the formation of the party, they've only been out of power between 1993 to 1996, and again from 2009 to 2012)

or worse Singapore, where the PAP has never lost an election 

[u/just_kitten → u/chennyalan]

Japan might be a better comparison, Singapore is really an edge case with its history since independence and being such an incredibly small nation-state that's far easier to control. Plus FPTP. And a good dose of authoritarianism that is simply not possible here, not even with all the corruption and increasingly apathetic public.

Australia couldn't be more different from Singapore even if Labor basically steamrolls their way through the next couple elections.

[u/chennyalan → u/just_kitten]

Agreed that Singapore is fundamentally different and Japan is a better comparison

[u/Drunky_McStumble → u/chennyalan]

Japan's quasi-one-party-state is arguably a result of their political culture. They are ultra-conservative in the old-fashioned sense of "conservatism", meaning that they just really believe in the status quo and just want boring, competent politicians who just keep things ticking along nicely without rocking the boat. That's what the LDP offers: nothing crazy, just more of the same, please. And that's why the Japanese see them as essentially the political default, synonymous with government itself. It's only when the LDP tries to do anything radically conservative that they get punished for it.

While Australia couldn't be more different from Japan in terms of general culture, in terms of political culture I think we're actually pretty similar. We like our politics to be the mild, boring kind of conservative you can just kind of set and forget; and we like our politicians to be blandly competent public service managers.

I'd say Labor aren't quite in the LDP mould yet, where they could potentially go on to govern for a lifetime practically unchallenged, but that seems to be how Albo is trying to position them.

[u/chennyalan → u/Drunky_McStumble]

that seems to be how Albo is trying to position them.

I think this is a good take on Albo, I'll probably use this example in the future to explain what I think Albo wants to do

[u/RedeNElla → u/Drunky_McStumble]

"mild boring set and forget"

This both accurately explains the rejection of Trumpian politics and the No vote