The 2019 Australian Federal Election is the latest example of Tele-Town Hall’s ability to shape the outcome of an election. Prior to Election Day, every major pollster predicted that the Australian Labor Party (ALP) would prevail handedly. However, on election night, the Liberal Party of Australia (LPA), led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, stunned the world by securing a majority for the Liberal-National Coalition in Parliament. How did the Liberals pull off such an upset? The LPA’s voter outreach strategy was significantly aided through conducting Tele-Town Hall Events into targeted marginal districts to talk to voters directly about the issues that mattered to them, and persuade them to support the LPA.
Based on their research, and assisted by Tele-Town Hall’s various products, the Coalition made the economy the centerpiece of its campaign and effectively criticized the Labor Party’s high-tax policies.
In the final two weeks leading up to the election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and local candidates conducted nine Tele-Town Hall Events to persuade voters in these targeted marginal districts to support the Coalition on Election Day. Through these Tele-Town Halls, Morrison and the LPA called out to over 300,000 voter households and interacted with tens of thousands of voters through live Q&A and real-time polling questions. According to Joe Kelly, a political reporter with The Australian, “the conference calls were likened by the party to ‘talkback radio’ because it allowed people to ask questions of the Prime Minister while giving thousands of others the chance to listen to his responses. In the campaign’s last seven days, teleconference events were held with the Prime Minister in four different territories, allowing him to promote his economic message and a flagship $500 million scheme to boost home ownership for young people.” [Key marginal tele-conferencing help open up a path to victory, The Australian, Joe Kelly, May 20, 2019.]
In the end, this carefully-crafted voter outreach strategy proved to be the game-changer that propelled the Liberal-National Coalition to victory and left many shaking their heads in disbelief. A spokesperson for the Liberal Party said: “Tele-Town Hall’s platform enabled us to communicate our message to hundreds of thousands of voters – it was an important element in the Party’s success. The ability to facilitate direct voter contact with the Prime Minister through Tele-Town Hall events in particular was extremely effective in the final weeks of the campaign.”
