We see the old ‘wedge politics’ baton is out.

Wedge politics is the term used to describe when political parties, usually the one in government, does something in an attempt to ‘wedge’ their opponent into a corner. So they basically throw something up and then the opponent has to support it or not support it and then everyone goes on about the decision that was made.

In this case, it’s the tax cuts – rushing those through in order to ‘wedge’ the Coalition over tax cuts. Take that a step further and then the whole $17bn spend was just to ‘wedge’ the Coalition on tax cuts, which seems a very expensive way just to own the Libs.

The thing is, all this 4D chess bullsh*t plays out outside of people’s actual lives. The vast majority of Australians do not spend their time following politics this closely. So it only really works on the press gallery and political tragics who then run around about ‘wedge’ politics while ignoring that this is actual policy and decisions that impact people’s lives we are talking about, which has just been created to own an opposing political party. It doesn’t make for good government. And sure, there will be those who just say this is just a bonus outcome – that governments can do good policy and wedge their opponents at the same time. And sure, whatever. Believe what you want.

Ultimately though, ‘wedge politics’ does nothing to improve people’s lives, or the national conversation. Most undecided Australians do not even tune in to the political messaging until very late in the election campaign and those who have made up their mind did so based over a political party’s actions or non-actions.