Yesterday Australia went to the polls to elect a federal government for the next 3 years.
So far the only thing that is sure is that the Coalition will not be able to form a Government but it is not yet clear if the Labor party will be able to govern in its own right (needs 76 seats to do that)
The polls predicted a clear Labor victory but that has not happened, both major parties have lost votes and these have been picked up by minor parties or Independents.
The Coalition’s move to the right has led to the loss of their once safe seats to the so called ‘Teal’ Independents who are basically conservatives who want action on climate change and integrity. The man touted to replace Scotty from Marketing looks to have lost his safe seat so it is highly likely that the Ogre from Mordor Mr Potatohead will lead the Liberal Party.
Labor has gained seats and also lost them, it looks unlikely that Christine Kennelly (ex Labor Premier of NSW) will win the seat of Parramatta and will be beaten by an Independent one time Labor Party member .
The Greens have picked up two seats in the lower house and could win up to four
It has been such a mixed election the Electoral Commission had to stop counting preferences in a few seats. The AEC picks two candidates who they think will get the most first preference votes based on previous elections and distributes preferences on that basis but there have been at least half a dozen electorates where they have got it wrong and another candidate has got into second place so the preferences hace to be redistributed.
In some close seat it could take most of the week to complete counting and remember postal and prepoll votes have not been counted yet. One third of the population prepolled.
Interesting times, the major parties are no longer automatic picks. The cross bench is now 15 seats and growing.
in some ways I feel sorry for the libs they had to work so hard not always well during the pandemic only to lose it all at the winning post ? lessons to be learned by all including the so called winners??
It will be interesting to see if the coalition survives, there is even talk of the Liberal Party splitting. It has always been the case that the two major parties fight for the middle ground but now the moderates in the Liberal Party have been wiped out by the Independents will the party move further right and be unelectable?
Whatever happens the National Party will have a bigger say in the coalition as the numbers change.
I think people viewed the Liberals as hopeless during the Bush fires and the floods and that it was the states that saved us during the pandemic. Scotty was held captive by the right, was useless on gender issues and little understanding of what the average Australian thought. Safe Liberal seats have been taken by Independents, all of whom are women.
The Labor vote actually fell too, both parties are on the nose, you can’t parachute in a factional warrior as has been proved in Parramatta. Australians expect their MP to live in their seat.
Normally I wouldn’t care, it never has made much difference to me which party is in power, over time I have benefited from policies made by both Labor and the Coalition. As I said they tend to fight over the middle ground, when they move too far left or right they get chucked out on their ear - there are parties for the right and left because of the preferential voting system
It was definitely time for a change, the Liberals had no absolutely policies at the last election other than getting a surplus and an integrity commission they failed to do both, they had become captive to the ideologues from the right and the National Party. Scotty was particularly inept at dealing with people and problems, quick to try to shift the blame, didn’t order vaccines when they were offered, alienated the French government and didn’t support smaller nations in our region.
I hope the cross bench will have a big moderating influence on government policies as they do in the Senate.
The analysis of voting so far, BTW Labor got fewer votes than the Coalition and less than three years ago but both parties lost votes to the Greens and Independents who received record votes.
You’ll doubtless be agog with excitement waiting to know who will control the Senate. Labor won’t control the Senate but they will have a good cross bench to work with.
Two things, it is not compulsory to vote but it is compulsory to attend and get your name crossed off.
Secondly it is like jury duty - a civic duty. Would you want to be tried before a jury of volunteers? Likewise no one complains about the result of an election because everybody had the chance to vote.
With freedom comes responsibility. I am very much in favour of compulsory voting.
In my opinion the electoral system here is very good.
Looks like Mr Potatohead is certain to be the new Liberal Party leader. He is a member of the Liberal’s right faction.
I must admit I liked Katy Gallagher’s catty comment which went something like, “If the Liberal Party thinks Peter Dutton is the answer they must have misunderstood the question.” The problem for the Libs is that Dutton is a symptom of why they were decimated in the election but there is no chance of a moderate getting the job.
At the moment Labor is one seat short of being able to govern in their own right. It largely depends who comes second and third in some key seats where voting is neck and neck. If the Greens come third then second place Labor will win on preferences, if the Liberals come third again Labor will win on preferences but if Labor come third then the Greens will win on preferences. It is a very tight race in several seats with three candidates separated by a few votes.
Meanwhile billionaire Clice Palmer’s United Australia Party failed to win any seats and in Queensland received less votes than the Legalise Marijuana Party. Clive Palmer spent $100million on this election for no result at all.
They also had the most hilarious election poster ever:
That’s a picture of Craig Kelly BTW ex Liberal Party nutcase in chief
According to the ABC election computer Labor will have the 76 seats needed to govern in its own right having just secured the Melbourne seat of Macnamara with its sitting member having retained the seat after 83% of preferences counted. There are still two seats in doubt with only a handful of votes separating the candidates. Interesting discussion in this clip on how preferences are affecting the final votes.
Both major parties have had a kick in the guts this election with both the Coalition and Labor party votes down compared to the last election. The big winners are the Greens and the Teal Independents.
The latest Senate results show Labor will need the Greens, and potentially either Tasmanian Jacqui Lambie or incoming ACT senator David Pocock, to pass legislation.
Meanwhile both the Liberal party and the NAtionals have changed their leaders. The Libs apparently having learrned nothing have elevated right winger Peter Mr Potatohead Dutton to the leaders job, softening the blow somewhat by electing a female deputy.
The Nationals have removed Barnaby Joyce and replaced him with a more centralist (for the Nationals) David Littleproud. Even though their vote was down the Nationals returned all their sitting members. The new leaders said that the Nationals will support net zero by 2050 (Barnaby couldn’t even say the words “Net Zero”)
