Former chief of staff to Tony Abbott says many people lack ‘the fundamental building blocks’ of how democracy works, despite having more ways than ever get informed

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Peta Credlin has said that young people who make an informal vote on polling day lose their “right to moan” about the government that forms, urging young people to “get informed”.

The former chief of staff to Tony Abbott made the comments during an election panel discussion at the University of Melbourne on Wednesday night that also featured the former chief of staff to Julia Gillard, Ben Hubbard, and Insiders host, Barrie Cassidy.

Credlin said many people lacked “the fundamental building blocks” of how democracy works, adding that with the internet young people had more means at their disposal than ever to understand party policies and politics.

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“You’ve only got one woman, one vote,” she said. “You’ve really got to make sure that you are informed. If you are not informed on a particular issue, whatever that issue might be, get yourself informed.

“Because in the end, you will inherit all the good things that government has done, and you’ll get the mess as well. There was a report showing a growth in the amount of young people voting informally. That’s an abrogation of your responsibility. If you want to moan, vote and own it.

“If you don’t turn up, like in Brexit, or you put in an informal vote, or you don’t go and ask the tough questions online or in forums, then I think you lose your right to moan.” Her comments were met with applause.

She added that she believes the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, will retain the leadership following the election on 2 July, but said, “I don’t know how comfortable that return will be”. She believes it might take more than a month before the final make-up of the parliament was determined following polling day.

“I don’t think they will get the joint sitting members,” Credlin said.

“The government is coming back hard in the last couple of days so I could be wrong but my gut is they are not going to get that magic nine.”

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However, she said Shorten should not be dumped as leader of the Labor party if he lost and should be rewarded for campaigning well. There was a danger to leadership changes, she said, with people less loyal to political parties than ever before. Four-year, rather than three-year terms, could give leaders more of a chance to implement policy and achieve policy promises, she added.

“I think people want to see stability,” Credlin said. “They want to see, yes, politicians meeting their promises, but they don’t want volatility in the election cycle either.

“They want politics to fade into the background so they can get on with their lives.”

Credlin also said she had no intention of ever running for political office herself, adding that she refused to even have social media accounts because “I wouldn’t sleep well if I read half the stuff on there about me”.

Voters should be prepared to “let people fail a bit,” she said.

“We have to be prepared to not want perfection in our politicians. The more we drag down politicians as a class, the more we will get what we ask for. On both sides of politics I think people go into politics for the right reasons.”

Cassidy agreed that politicians should be allowed to fail, but while fighting for their convictions.

“That’s not what Malcolm Turnbull has done, and that’s why people are disappointed in him,” he said.

“I think what happened to Malcolm Turnbull from January through to April is that he put up issues without any real conviction, and was bound to fail.”

Meanwhile, Hubbard described the election campaign as “long laborious and lumpy,” predicting it would result in “minority government territory”.

The most successful election campaigns were “well structured, thoughtful and prepared,” he said.

“In 2007 it was the industrial relations election, it was work choices,” he said. “You need a policy agenda that’s cohesive and costed. You can’t just get out there and make stuff up.”