"It took a while to notice: how strange it was, suddenly, to be listening to a different type of language. On screen, Anthony Albanese was telling the country what he believed mattered, in words only a Labor leader was likely to choose. “No one left behind because we should always look after the disadvantaged and the vulnerable,” he said in his victory speech. Liberal language was gone: there was no dividing the country into lifters and leaners, into quiet Australians and those who won’t behave, into those who gave a go and those who apparently deserved whatever misfortune came their way. ...
... Not all of this is about the words themselves. Language acquires force from how firmly it is connected to the world. When Albanese spoke of a government that “will respect every one of you every day”, his phrase gained power from the recent illustration of its opposite. The hateful way in which Scott Morrison attempted to transform some imagined fear of transgender people into a political weapon should remain a stain on his career, and become an enduring symbol of how nasty and devalued politics can become. ...
... Because there is no doubt that Morrison devalued our politics, not just through his willingness to divide. He did so by using words as though they had no meaning. He did so by using crisp and crafted images as though they could displace reality. There are many reasons Morrison fell, but the clearest explanation is that reality became so sharp and urgent it could not be denied. ..."
