Australia to the polls, 24 November

[Dobson73]

On a slightly different tack, seeing Rudd on the news tonight and reading this weekends papers, he's too cocky. I can just imagne the horror of next Sunday morning; waking up to find the little cunt is still in power because everyone was convinced Rudd would win so no one bothered to vote for him. And as such the cuntster gets back in.

I'm not sure which would be worse: Sunday 25 November facing 3 more years of anger and frustration, or September 12, 2001, facing the unknown.

I will seriously contemplate moving to NZ if he gets back in. Perhaps my loathing of the little cunt is a bit out of the normal but I am unable to look at, read about or listen to howard without snearing and swearing at whever medium it is that I happen to using at that time.

 

[Homoaffectional]

I don't think he can. Zero. because he didn't have the balls to challange Howard back in September, this is partialy of his making. When Howard canvassed the party and word was that he should go, he stared them down and dared them to know him off. The time would then have been ripe for Costello to challage and either win (narrowily probably) or loose (also narrowily I suspect), go to the backbench and do a Keating. With such distabilasation in the party, he would have been PM within weeks.

Instead, he wimped out, stayed loyal and now will be given the dregs of a party after the 24th. But to blame Howard now will be churlish after he kept Liberal in power for 11 years, albeit by playing on our fears and lying to us. So I think when Costello gets to lead the party, he won't be doing too much sniping. Also, if he starts with the blame game the Party will just turn on themselves. On second thoughts.......

It's just funny how the lack of backbone among the "Liberals" in Australia and failure to stand up to failed leadership policy when it matters leads to it being pretty impossible for them to distance themselves from the bad leader they should have pushed out much sooner, resulting in the party falling apart, is so similar to what's now happening to the Republicans in America...

I will seriously contemplate moving to NZ if he gets back in. Perhaps my loathing of the little cunt is a bit out of the normal but I am unable to look at, read about or listen to howard without snearing and swearing at whever medium it is that I happen to using at that time.

Once again, substitute "Canada" for "New Zealand", "Bush" for "Howard", and "Republicans" for "'Liberal's", and the parallels are starkly eerie...

 

[ZeroPoint84]

From GetUp.com -

At the time [of the Coalition gaining majority in the Senate], John Howard promised to use his Senate majority 'wisely, soberly, and sensibly'. But in the last two years, the Senate has become nothing but a rubber stamp for the Government -- in 2006 our Senate passed 100% of Government-sponsored amendments, while rejecting 98% of amendments proposed by other parties.

No matter how you vote in the lower house, don't vote for the coalition in the Senate. This abuse of the Senate, which is supposed to act as "a house of review" on legislation, has got to stop. It is highly unlikely Labor will reach a majority, but if you're worried about that vote for the Greens or the Democrats.

Also, if you want to know which candidate (in the lower house) has your priorities in mind, and the order to place the candidates on your ballot, check out howshouldIvote.com. This will allow you to find out who is really acting in your best interest.

 

[Homoaffectional]

No matter how you vote in the lower house, don't vote for the coalition in the Senate. This abuse of the Senate, which is supposed to act as "a house of review" on legislation, has got to stop.

It is highly unlikely Labor will reach a majority

That's too bad... guess the Australian electorate hasn't reached the amount of backlash against Howard that the US did against Bush in last year's mid-terms. Maybe it's because of the proportional representation system you guys have down under?

, but if you're worried about that vote for the Greens or the Democrats.

Good idea.

 

[Ramindra]

Not that I am a misogynist but... the thought of having to listen to that Julia woman for the next three years is enough for me to tick the coalition boxes. And that great stick insect who has sold his soul to the devil is enough to make me puke. (I wonder when his minders will ever let him go to a function on his own. Or is he going to spend the rest of his political life standing behind the little grey man? Even insiders in Labor have let it be known that they consider him a loose cannon and a liability.)

Strange but if "Work Choices" so bad, why has everyone in Australia who wants a job got one. And if the pay is so bad, why have new houses, new cars etc hit record levels over the past 2 years. Australians are buying more gas-guzzling 4WDs than ever before, usually to take the kids to school in. Why has personal spending increased to the current levels. Why are huge flat screen TVs being sold at a rate quicker that Gerry Norman can replace his stock?

Interest rates have gone up because people in Oz are still spending like there is no tomorrow. The Reserve Bank has issued warning after warning, by means of interest rate rises, telling people to stop spending beyond their means. But no, the people have not listened. They blame Howard for the rate rises when it is their own lavish spending habits which have resulted in the interest rate rises.

The irony of this is that both Howard and Rudd know who has caused the inflationary pressures. Neither, of course, can point the finger at those responsible. Now that would be one way to lose an election!

I must give Rudd some credit for thoroughly confusing issues. Here in Cairns he has promised to fix the Cairns Base Hospital and the regional medical service. What he has not said is that it is the state Labor government which has got Queensland's hospital service in the sorry state that it is in. In the last state election, Premier Beattie accepted responsibilty for the calamitous state of Queensland's hospital and promised to fix them up. He did not. Little Kev is going to shower Cairns with nurses, doctors, new wards, new equipment, or so he says. I wonder why he thinks he can do better than his bosom buddy, ex-premier Beattie?

Rudd has consistently focussed on what really are state issues and promised to fix them all. The irony here is of course is that wall to wall state Labour governments have been the cause of the problems. It is all very well that Queensland and other state governments run budget surpluses in the billions but cannot afford an MRI for Cairns, a city of 140,000 people. This same city does not have a neurologist, xrays are sent to Mt Isa for assessment, and heart patients have to go to Brisbane for treatment as this city does not have a cardiologist. Never mind! Little Kev has a plan. We have not been told what the plan is but he has a plan.

Julia, the Midnight Oil man, grey going on beige Kev.........

Na! I think I will stick with the devil I know.

 

[rottenj10]

Interest rates have gone up because people in Oz are still spending like there is no tomorrow. The Reserve Bank has issued warning after warning, by means of interest rate rises, telling people to stop spending beyond their means. But no, the people have not listened. They blame Howard for the rate rises when it is their own lavish spending habits which have resulted in the interest rate rises.

The irony of this is that both Howard and Rudd know who has caused the inflationary pressures. Neither, of course, can point the finger at those responsible. Now that would be one way to lose an election!

Heaven forbid if a politician tells people to actually take responsibility for their own lives. Instead, groups will vote for Howard or Rudd depending on how much money they are promised - ie. how much of other people's money they can get.
I certainly hope Howard wins.

 

[Homoaffectional]

Heaven forbid if a politician tells people to actually take responsibility for their own lives.
I certainly hope Howard wins.

So I guess the definition of "taking responsbility for one's own lives" includes helping the bully countries invade other countries instead of taking responsiblity for solving their own country's problems rather than trying to steal another country's oil to keep their own country from sliding down into hell...

 

[sparky95]

I just voted. For Labor in the Reps and Democrat in the Senate. So now the Earth will spin off its axis, there will be a rain of fire and we will be over run by Nazis riding dinosaurs.... oh, and interest rates will go up .5 percent!

 

[ZeroPoint84]

I voted on Wednesday at the embassy in Tokyo - Labor in lower house and Greens/Dems in Senate (numbered all 65 preferences - exhausting!)

 

[aussierob]

You numbered all 65 preferences? God, you must be mad.

Anyone online now- http://vtr.aec.gov.au is a good sight to follow the election on.

Pray that I don't suffer from a massive heart attack induced by stress tonight.

 

[TriBi]

Well - on the Senate form I filled in - it was 1-79.

Well over a third of the vote counted and the ABC are now making a call of a Labor majority in the order of 14 seats.

The results show them having a likely gain of 16 seats (which was the gain they needed to win government). This however is still early days...it does NOT include any real information from Queensland, where the polls closed an hour later, and where the Labor Party is expected to see significant gains. It also does not take into account pre poll and postal votes (which are significantly higher then in previous years) and always tend to heavily favour the coalition.

The other interesting thing is that John Howards own seat still appears on a knife edge. He is actually behind at the moment - but my feeling is that he will likely just scrape in (tho' I would let out a few hearty chuckles if he fell short!).

It does however seem extremely likely (at this fairly early stage) that Kevin Rudd will be the next Prime Minister.

 

[TriBi]

Update - over 50% of the vote counted in John Howard's seat - and it is looking increasingly likely that he 'could' lose.

I still think this is too early - but Maxine McKew is showing a swing of over 5%.

This is going to be interesting.

 

[TriBi]

Well - it could yet come back a little...but the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) is now calling a likely 22 seat majority for Kevin Rudd (that, coming from 16 seats behind - a stunning result).

It is also now looking increasingly likely John Howard WILL lose his seat. Latest figures, with over 60% of his vote counted shows a swing of 5.3% - which is now in the territory that he is unlikely to be able to retrieve from any advantage in Postal/pre poll votes.

 

[ZeroPoint84]

Yup, looks like Howard will lose his seat.
Couldn't think of a nicer person for it to happen to

 

[beermate]

What's wrong with you people? I voted Liberal, of course, in the house of reps (Liberal easily won my seat). I'm not easily swayed by slogans or populism - I vote for substance.

I numbered all the boxes in the senate, making sure I put far-right coalition members, Family First, Fred Nile, Citizens Electoral Council and Socialist Alliance down the bottom of the pile. I may be right-wing, but I'm not conservative.

 

[ZeroPoint84]

I voted Liberal, of course, in the house of reps (Liberal easily won my seat). I'm not easily swayed by slogans

such as "We promise to keep interest rates low"?
This year the coalition thought "hell, this year we don't even need a slogan ("Go for Growth" wasn't really going to work for them after the Reserve Bank had its say), scare campaigns worked so well for us last time, let's just stick with them!".

After all the nastiness of the last 11 years, there was no way I could ever vote Howard back in. And now he's gone Notice how fast the political commentators (I'm looking at you, The Australian) are turning on him now that he's not in power, finally seeing him for the selfish, egotistical opportunist he is.

 

[Homoaffectional]

What's wrong with you people? I voted Liberal, of course, in the house of reps (Liberal easily won my seat). I'm not easily swayed by slogans or populism - I vote for substance.

I numbered all the boxes in the senate, making sure I put far-right coalition members, Family First, Fred Nile, Citizens Electoral Council and Socialist Alliance down the bottom of the pile. I may be right-wing, but I'm not conservative.

Um... you admit all of this on a site with gay porn all over it, and you ask what's wrong with everyone else?


WTF???

 

[TomahawkEagle]

When the next Liberal PM comes around whenever that may be, hope they learn the lesson and not play around with industrial relations. This sort of thing affects everyone from white collar professionals to blue collar manual workers.

Johnny can now go down in history as the second PM to lose his own seat. Of course the first PM to get barred from parliament was Stanley Bruce back in 1929 (not sure why that PM was made a Viscount).

 

[Homoaffectional]

I must be the only gay to be gunning for Howard and the Coalition.

Yeah, you are/were. Sucks for you... heh

Kevin Rudd is just as much anti-gay as John Howard and many people in the ALP and the union movement are highly homophobic, witness the recent scandal when the ALP's dirt department accused an un-named cabinet minister of frequenting bath houses, having a relationship with a young male staffer behind his wife's back and sexually harassing other parliamentarians.

{snip}

The only chance we have is for the Libs to win again

What were you saying about gays being better off with a "Liberal" government again?

Australia PM Won't Block Gay Union Bills
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: December 6, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Sydney, Australia) Australia's new Prime Minister said Thursday that his government will not stand in the way of legislation in the state of Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory to recognize same-sex unions - marked departure from the position of his predecessor.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his Labor government would not interfere with state and territory legislation.
"On these matters, state and territories are answerable to their own jurisdictions," Rudd told reporters in Brisbane.
"State and territory governments are elected to govern, they are accountable to their constituents."

On Tuesday the state government in Victoria introduced a bill to create a domestic partner registry. (story) The legislation will be put top a vote in March and is expected to pass with little difficulty.

To register, a couple would need to certify the partners are in an exclusive relationship, They must be 18 years of age or older, live in Victoria and be unmarried..

Last week the Australian Capital Territory said it would revive plans to enact civil union legislation. (story)

Twice before the territorial government passed civil unions legislation only to see the laws voided by the federal government of then Prime Minister John Howard. (story) Howard said the legislation violated a ban on gay marriage in Australia that was enacted by the federal Parliament in 2004.

Howard's Liberals suffered a crushing defeat at the polls last month to the Labor Party led by Rudd. (story)

During the campaign Rudd had indicated he did not support either same-sex marriage or civil unions on a national level. He did say though that a Labor government would be supportive of a national domestic partner registry.

At his Brisbane press conference Rudd said he would like to see the ACT civil union bill contain a provision limiting it to residents of the territory. The ACT Attorney General, Simon Corbell said he would consider amending the bill before it goes to a vote.

Link.


Oh, and I proudly have an Obama avatar to specifically spite John Howard, who took several swipes against him.