- TNP Nation
- McMasterdonia
We had our federal general elections yesterday, with some interesting results.
Unsurprisingly, the Labor Government has been resoundingly defeated. With Julia Gillard removed from the position, the popularity of the ALP in South Australia and Victoria plummeted, but with Kevin Rudd in the position the ALP was able to secure all of its seats in the state of Queensland and Western Australia.
The conservative Liberal Party secured 45.7% of the primary vote and is expected to win 89 seats of the 150 seat legislature which is a comfortable majority although not as big as the Murdoch media was expecting. Tony Abbott will be Australia's 28th Prime Minister after the 7th change of government since the second world war.
Tony Abbott is not a particularly popular leader of the liberal party. The elections saw a slight swing to the Liberal Party and a reasonable swing away from the Australian Labor Party to the minor parties that have sprung up over the past three years. The Australian Greens also suffered a swing against them of around 3 percent.
Prominent Liberal Party front bencher Sophie Mirabella is expected to lose her formerly safe liberal seat of Indi to an independent candidate. This is largely due to Mirabella's extreme conservative views and the high profile of the independent candidate - but still a surprising loss for the Liberal party faithful.
The Palmer United Party founded by eccentric mining tycoon Clive Palmer is expected to win the lower house seat of Fairfax and a possible two Senate seats putting the party in the powerful balance of power position in the Senate. In Western Australia the Sports party has won one Senate seat despite only receiving 0.2% of the primary vote due to preferences flowing from the other minor parties. The Australian Motoring Enthusiasts party has also won a seat in the Senate for the state of Victoria for similar reasons.
The key issue for the defeat of the Australian Labor Party has been disunity with the leadership. Following Kevin Rudd's resignation as Prime Minister, he and his supporters were constantly destabilising the Gillard Labor government and had been photographed in meetings with News Limited to assist them in that goal. Gillard faced 3 leadership challenges before losing to Kevin Rudd after some time. The clear verdict for the ALP is that disunity is death, and the 3 years of constant undermining of the ALP leader has done serious damage to the credibility of the ALP in the electorate. Unsurprisingly, it appears that now there is too much unity with potential leaders of the ALP all saying that they love the other candidate and that he/she would make a great leader - its quite hilarious to watch.
Several names have been suggested, Tanya Plibersek the former Health minister (my preferred option), Bill Shorten (Fmr Education Minister) is another option - however his credibility has been damaged due to his role in the various leadership changes. Antony Albanese, Chris Bowen and Wayne Swan are also all under consideration for the leadership.
The Governor General is expected to swear the Prime Minister and new cabinet in sometime next week once the seats still in contention have been finalised by the Australian electoral commission.
Unsurprisingly, the Labor Government has been resoundingly defeated. With Julia Gillard removed from the position, the popularity of the ALP in South Australia and Victoria plummeted, but with Kevin Rudd in the position the ALP was able to secure all of its seats in the state of Queensland and Western Australia.
The conservative Liberal Party secured 45.7% of the primary vote and is expected to win 89 seats of the 150 seat legislature which is a comfortable majority although not as big as the Murdoch media was expecting. Tony Abbott will be Australia's 28th Prime Minister after the 7th change of government since the second world war.
Tony Abbott is not a particularly popular leader of the liberal party. The elections saw a slight swing to the Liberal Party and a reasonable swing away from the Australian Labor Party to the minor parties that have sprung up over the past three years. The Australian Greens also suffered a swing against them of around 3 percent.
Prominent Liberal Party front bencher Sophie Mirabella is expected to lose her formerly safe liberal seat of Indi to an independent candidate. This is largely due to Mirabella's extreme conservative views and the high profile of the independent candidate - but still a surprising loss for the Liberal party faithful.
The Palmer United Party founded by eccentric mining tycoon Clive Palmer is expected to win the lower house seat of Fairfax and a possible two Senate seats putting the party in the powerful balance of power position in the Senate. In Western Australia the Sports party has won one Senate seat despite only receiving 0.2% of the primary vote due to preferences flowing from the other minor parties. The Australian Motoring Enthusiasts party has also won a seat in the Senate for the state of Victoria for similar reasons.
The key issue for the defeat of the Australian Labor Party has been disunity with the leadership. Following Kevin Rudd's resignation as Prime Minister, he and his supporters were constantly destabilising the Gillard Labor government and had been photographed in meetings with News Limited to assist them in that goal. Gillard faced 3 leadership challenges before losing to Kevin Rudd after some time. The clear verdict for the ALP is that disunity is death, and the 3 years of constant undermining of the ALP leader has done serious damage to the credibility of the ALP in the electorate. Unsurprisingly, it appears that now there is too much unity with potential leaders of the ALP all saying that they love the other candidate and that he/she would make a great leader - its quite hilarious to watch.
Several names have been suggested, Tanya Plibersek the former Health minister (my preferred option), Bill Shorten (Fmr Education Minister) is another option - however his credibility has been damaged due to his role in the various leadership changes. Antony Albanese, Chris Bowen and Wayne Swan are also all under consideration for the leadership.
The Governor General is expected to swear the Prime Minister and new cabinet in sometime next week once the seats still in contention have been finalised by the Australian electoral commission.
