12.01pm. Actually really close in Brisbane – LNP only 0.2 per cent ahead.
11.35pm. Talk is of the DLP winning the final Victorian Senate seat, but it seems to me Steve Fielding isn’t out of the hunt. The DLP currently has its nose just in front of Fielding at the fourth final count. But if Fielding gets ahead, he’ll take their place. It’s also possible neither will win, and the last seat will go Labor or Liberal. What we’re sure of is two Labor, two Liberal and one Greens.
10.50pm. It’s been put to me that Labor seriously think they can cut a deal with the conservative independents in which Bob Katter becomes Speaker, because a) they wouldn’t want the double dissolution that would inevitably occur before too long under a Coalition minority government, and b) because Labor could argue they are better placed to deal with a Labor-Greens Senate.
10.23pm. When I compared those SA Senate results with the House figures, I recognised Bob Day probably wouldn’t stay ahead of the third Liberal at the second last count – and indeed, he’s already fallen behind. Likely final result: Liberal 3, Labor 2, Greens 1.
10.18pm. Looking grim for Wilson Tuckey – Nationals well clear of Labor in second place, only a 4.5 per cent gap to close over Tuckey on Labor preferences which I presume they’ll get.
10.12pm. Current SA Senate projection from ABC has Bob Day of Family First winning a seat: 2 Labor, 2 Liberal, 1 Greens, 1 Family First. Like the 2007 result, except with Family First in place of Xenophon. However, I should stress that early Senate projections can be wonky.
10.10pm. Alexander Downer and Bruce Hawker seem to know things the ABC computer doesn’t – the latter has Labor swing in Canning at 1.5 per cent, 2.8 per cent short of what they need.
10.03pm. Corangamite souring for Labor: now 50.0-50.0. Boothby now back as undecided with Liberal lead of 0.5 per cent.
9.57pm. None of the Perth marginal seats coming home for Labor.
9.53pm. And if you happened to see me on Sky News this evening, I do realise Neville Bonner was a Lib rather than a Nat.
9.52pm. Soon as I’d finished telling News Radio Wilkie would win Denison, Mark Arbib came on saying he thought different.
9.24pm. ABC computer calls Canning for Liberal.
9.23pm. ABC says Liberals have pulled ahead in Hasluck.
9.18pm. Antony hints Labor’s 0.5 per cent lead in Hasluck will widen as the next booths report two-party counts. However, it’s looking like a win there would be against a metropolitan trend. Don’t put any stock in ABC Stirling figures – obviously a gremlin.
9.14pm. 13.6 per cent swing to Labor in Stirling? I confidently predict that one will iron out.
9.12pm. Labor 0.4 per cent ahead in Hasluck after 6.1 per cent counted.
8.57pm. ABC computer calls Robertson for Labor.
8.55pm. Not looking good for Labor in Boothby.
8.53pm. ABC computer calls La Trobe for Labor.
8.50pm. I’m wondering if the Liberals ran some sort of awareness raising campaign in Denison explaining the virtues of voting for somebody else.
8.49pm. Stephen Smith sounding vaguely encouraged about Canning.
8.30pm. As you’ve all no doubt just learned, Andrew Wilkie might pull off an extraordinary win in Denison.
8.25pm. Christopher Pyne retains Sturt with swing of over 2 per cent.
8.23pm. ABC computer calls Corangamite and Deakin for Labor.
8.21pm. ABC calls Brisbane, Dawson and Longman for LNP.
8.16pm. Warren Entsch no doubt correct to talk of heartening swings to him in remote communities. These booths swung against the Liberals by up to 30 per cent when he retired in 2007.
8.12pm. Aston firming for Liberals. Huge swing in Wentworth to Turnbull, now the proud owner of a double-digit margin.
8.10pm. Last Senate seat in SA likely to be close race between Labor and the Greens; Liberals probably good for three seats.
8.08pm. Labor vote in Victoria right on three quotas, so Greens unlikely for Senate despite high statewide vote: probably 3 Labor, 3 Coalition.
8.07pm. Drop in Labor vote in NSW leaves Lee Rhiannon a big chance for the Senate.
7.58pm. Liberal swing in Lindsay has come in from 7.4 per cent to 6.9 per cent; Labor needs it to come down to 6.3 per cent.
7.53pm. ABC computer calls Bonner for LNP.
7.52pm. Bad sign for Labor that Stephen Smith is hanging hope on Hasluck and Swan.
7.51pm. Robertson has stayed lineball.
7.47pm. A very sharp PB commenter projects 75-76 seats for the Coalition.
7.42pm. Small swing to Liberals in Sturt.
7.41pm. 2.4 per cent counted in Boothby, 1.5 per cent swing to Labor, slightly short of 2.4 per cent required.
7.39pm. Labor ahead in Longman too – situation looking slightly less appalling for them in Queensland.
7.38pm. Moreton called for Labor too – some of Labor’s worst losses are subsiding.
7.37. Petrie called for Labor.
7.35pm. Scare apparently passing in Banks also, but ABC TV tells us Labor are behind in Lindsay. Antony says Labor ahead in Aston.
7.32pm. Scares for Labor in Blair and Capricornia seem to be passing. ABC computer not yet giving away quite a few Liberal seats in Victoria, but Labor only ahead in La Trobe and winning in McEwen.
7.29pm. ABC computer calls Bennelong for Liberal.
7.27pm. Banks would be a bolter – Stephen Smith sounding almost defeated in his call for WA voters to get their act together with half an hour to go.
7.25pm. Labor ahead in Petrie.
7.25pm. Page called for Labor.
7.25pm. Labor back in front in Moreton.
7.24pm. Lower than expected swing in Macarthur – Libs only just in front.
7.23pm. ABC computer calls Forde for LNP.
7.22pm. Labor only “ahead” in Capricornia – 9.0 per cent swing with 10 per cent counted.
7.21pm. Little doubt it seems about Eden-Monaro and Melbourne.
7.20pm. Stephen Smith encouraged by 1 per cent swing to Labor in Robertson.
7.18pm. Coalition “ahead” in too many Queensland seats for Labor’s comfort: Bonner, Brisbane, Dawson, Moreton.
7.18pm. Flynn and Leichhardt first gains called for Coalition.
7.17pm. ABC computer calls Dobell for Labor.
7.17pm. Liberals slightly ahead in Corangamite; Stephen Smith sounding a bit less confident than before, but still confident.
7.16pm. ABC computer says LNP “ahead” in Bonner and Brisbane.
7.14pm. ABC computer results lagging far behind television. From the latter, 10.7 per cent counted, Labor 0.6 per cent ahead.
7.11pm. Antony reckons Labor “ahead” in La Trobe.
7.09pm. Take it to the bank that Graham Richardson knows what’s going on: he says Labor are a “reasonable chance of delivering a very small victory”.
7.05pm. Big count in Blair: Labor hanging on.
7.03pm. Nick Minchin was sounding confident about Brisbane, but the swing on the ABC computer is only 2.8 per cent.
7.01pm. Labor looking good in McEwen.
7.01pm. Mounting trouble for Labor in Queensland.
7.00pm. Consistent swing to Labor in Tasmania – worth nothing to them.
6.53pm. Big swing in Blair – lineball.
6.53pm. Braddon called for Labor.
6.52pm. ABC computer has “LNP ahead” in Brisbane.
6.50pm. Solid swing to Labor holding in Braddon.
6.49pm. George Brandis expects current 6 per cent swing in Queensland “will come back a bit”.
6.48pm. 6 per cent swing in Queensland, but mostly from country areas.
6.25pm. Stephen Smith confident Labor will hold Corangamite.
6.05pm. Polling booths have closed. Live blogging of the type site regulars are familiar with on state election night will be conducted, and a CoverIt Live chat room facility featuring myself and other Crikey types will be added at 6.30pm.
Cuppa @ 1835
Give it away. Or just keep spinning.
If you need to go back go back to John Howard being treasurer you are clutching at straws – it was almost 30 years ago – I was still at school – it was a different world. Cuppa come clean – where were you in 1982?
Wilkie if elected won’t support the coalition. The Green won’t. Windsor and Oakeshott both mentioned the NBN and Katter criticised the coalition.
Rudd was on 35% primaries, not all the usual amount of Green preferences came back to labor. Any move in the polls would have been all based on the 2007 preference flows, not reality.
If Julia forms minority government she could find places for Windsor and/or Oakeshott in her Ministry, even cabinet perhaps—Mike Rann could tell her about that.
If this happens and the NBN goes forward then I don’t care if Tone wins the next election, the economy would have received such a boost from the NBN he couldn’t do any great harm.
Politics as we knew it just ended folks. I think this election will “change the country” more than any in recent memory.
Rural independents will find it hard to say no to National Broadband Network; and we all know which way Bandt and Wilkie will go. Gillard may yet emerge as minority PM here – depends on final seat count.
But more importantly: there’s also been a clear element of no-confidence in the two party system – and the electoral system as a whole. The public have given us a PR -style outcome.
Frankly, I’d be pushing for PR if I was any of the 5 independents. And if I was the ALP – id be strongly considering agreeing with them.
Greens have Senate BOP. No Tuckey, and no Fielding.
This is a major system shake-up. Verging on regime change.
[This is all very exciting.]
Agree, to the point of distraction. I have to get some work done, tidy the house and garden, speak to the kids occasionally, etc. I was counting on starting all this tomorrow. This election madness has to stop!
History is going to judge Rudd harshly. His complete backdown on climate change lost the swinging voters who left the Libs to support climate action. Yes, I know he could not get it through the Senate. But he should have kept up appearances. Defeated 3, 4, or 5 times. I doesn’t matter. He would have kept the mandate as a climate change advocate and would have kept the indicisive Greens and wet Libs.
Well, my Mum said that Labor made a mistake in dumping Rudd and that they would lose the election because of it, so that makes her better predictor than all of us.
The ETS was not the reason they may lose tonight. Changing Leaders mistake, the insulation policy mistake should have helped the insulation installers out of their mess instead of hanging them out to dry, Anna Bligh and her privatsation policies and finally underestimating Tony Abbott and the Liberals.
Gillard’ campaign was a complete disaster, and this line about the real Julia well who devised this concept, it was just stupid.
cud chewer
I’m not sure whose idea it was, but the public self flagellation was an utterly stupid thing to do.
It was a tactic that should never have been employed under the circumstances.
I know Peter Beattie used it, but that was in a completely different context.
Politically inept.
OK my thoughts about all this.
* The result is bad for Labor. There is no round way about it. And it is particularly galling considering that while it did make mistakes it also had some considerable achievements. But it damaged itself, which can happens in Labor governments.
* There is some sort of belief amongst Liberal supporters that the Coalition are the de facto winners of this election. I would like to refer you to a very pertinent post by Mark Bahnisch Which states: “Let’s be clear about one thing: just as Labor very clearly did not win this election, neither did the Coalition. There’s no basis for claiming that the Australian people voted to “stop the boats, end the waste” and all the rest – given that had the Liberals and Nationals been able to persuade a sufficient majority of electors of their case, that would have been reflected in the result. Nor is it certain that the Coalition won a majority of the two party preferred vote nationally. And it is not clear that the Coalition have won more seats than Labor.”
* Mark also comments about who the three ‘conservative’ independents may support, “We should also not underestimate the importance of broadband, access to health and food and water security in particular to their electorates. And it’s worth observing, as I predicted earlier in the campaign, that The Greens performed impressively in regional and rural areas.”
* Labor State Governments in Victoria and South Australia governed with the majority of conservative rural independents, and these got plenty of resources for their areas.
* I am very pleased about the win for the Greens in Melbourne and the probable wins in the Senate. As the major parties pandered to the prejudices of certain voters in certain seats it is good to see that there are areas in Australia that have shown with their votes that they are thinking in a completely opposite way.
Also the mining tax which us in Queensland, the ETS did not hurt us in Queensland. Should have been put on ice until after the electiion.
Sorry mining tax hurt us in Queensland.
[Abbott may not be popular at present but with the help the right wing press and some policies which the electorate may like this could soon change.
Some of us must learn never underestimate your opponent, doing so means you will likely lose.]
Wait till the clangers start, and he starts spraying offence at all and sundry. Which he will, inevitably. And no, that’s not underestimating him: it’s a straight-out analysis. He’s a whirlwind of gauche offensiveness in a bottle shuttered with a flimsy cork. When the pressure mounts, and mounts, and mounts – stand back and watch the entertainment…
Great result for the DLP to be provisionally elected in the Senate in Victoria.
I predicted they would win seats in Vic and Queensland. Im happy with just one.
This will be a great boost to the DLP nation wide, and greatly help them in the coming Vic Upper House elections where they r like ly to win at least 3 seats.
The DLP is back in business in a big way.
Cuppa @1835, I agree that Labor needs more professional communicators.. and it needs to be selling its message all of the time, not jsut before an election.. but.
The media are a bunch of nasty destructive mongrels who are either hell bent on the anti-democratic act of promoting the conservatives no matter how much they hurt the truth or a bunch of small minded incompetents more interested in personality than journalism.
lets not underestimate just how much the media contributed to this abhorence.
Time to hit the sack, must say i am bit gutted about this result.
Does anyone know what the hell the DLP is, or stands for?
I actually think if Rudd had of stayed, Labor would be under 65.
Cuppa, i will wait and see, plenty of pressure in this campaign and he withstood it.
Given the results so far, Green lack of support for the watered down ETS has served them well.
labor, at present, can’t support an ets that the greens want because the greens don’t have the sorts of things that labor stand to lose; namely, votes in electorates.
it’s all well and good to bang-on about saving the country and planet, but the greens don’t have to fear the consequences that labor must. think of the effectiveness of the mining company ads against the resources tax; and that was just the mining industry. with an ets the whole carbon polluting industry will come out with an ad campaign that will dwarf the resources tax scare campaign. so, whilst the labor party is destroyed by probably the mother of scare campaigns, the greens can feel confident in the knowledge that they’re doing their bit for the environment. therefore, one constituency can feel good about itself whereas the larger one gets torn to pieces.
Good night all
*wakes up in morning feeling absolutely shocking.
clock radio alarm says “Saturday 21 AUG 07:00”
says to (non-labor) spouse “I just had an awful dream”
[Wait till the clangers start, and he starts spraying offence at all and sundry. Which he will, inevitably. And no, that’s not underestimating him: it’s a straight-out analysis.]
I can’t believe after this campaign people are still relying on this. Labor will never win relying solely on the incompetence of its opponent. The Howard Government was incompetent for 10 years ffs.
@1869 the Greens win if Labor can cobble together a minority government. If the independents go for Tony then the Greens can only blame themselves for their role in bringing down Labor.
Patrick Bateman. I agree.
getluv @1867 it remains the case that the polls had bottomed out and were starting to rise a week before Rudd was sacked.
Gweeds
The win for the Green’s in Melbourne is just a big own goal.
It robbed Labor of an additional seat which makes it a lot harder for Labor to claim minority Government on the basis the Independents may be swayed to support the party that has the majority of the seats in its own right.
Now if the Green’s won a seat off the Coalition, that would have been very handy tonight. But we all know that will never happen.
Cuppa @ 1862
[Wait till the clangers start, and he starts spraying offence at all and sundry. Which he will, inevitably. And no, that’s not underestimating him: it’s a straight-out analysis. He’s a whirlwind of gauche offensiveness in a bottle shuttered with a flimsy cork. When the pressure mounts, and mounts, and mounts – stand back and watch the entertainment…]
“Abbott unelectable,” tick.
“Abbott bombshell waiting in the wings,” tick.
“Conservatives to die out soon,” tick.
“Abbott will implode,” tick.
What happens next ….
By convention Gillard goes first to form a minority government
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67K1JO20100821
@ty – if Labor had good leadership, it would have overcame those issues with the Greens. Rudd chose to ignore the Greens. If the Greens were really the villain, then a DD would of killed the Greens and Labor will be sipping champagne right now.
their ETS was a “waste” of time and money.
Can anyone tell me why the greens ran opponents against Labor in marginal seats? How does helping put Abbott get in power help the environment or asylum seekers? No-one has explained this to me yet!
ty 1870
I could quote gough about “pure” but I’ll leave it alone – we will all have to get on.
There are bigger fish to fry (literally)
the greens and the labor will never be able to see eye-to-eye. though they may share some similarities, their differences mean that they will inevitably have different priorities and responsibilities.
cud chewer @ 1866
[Does anyone know what the hell the DLP is, or stands for?]
Catholicism. And they won’t be to pleased about how the ALP has been slagging off their religion.
@cud – After all the problems Labor has had over the past 6 months, are you really attributing Labor’s downfall to the Greens. Sadness. Anger. Denial. You’re quick.
and I doubt Rudd would have survived the barrage of attacks from the mining companies with his poor leadership skills.
[Give it away. Or just keep spinning.
If you need to go back go back to John Howard being treasurer you are clutching at straws – it was almost 30 years ago – I was still at school – it was a different world. Cuppa come clean – where were you in 1982?]
It’s not “spin”, and you’re seeking to deny history. It is a matter of historical fact that John Howard, Treasurer, presided over Australia’s worst recession since the Great Depression. He also engineered:
double-digit unemployment
double-digit interest rates
and double-digit inflation … all at the same time! He left high government debt and deficit, and an economy in drastic need of modernisation – which Labor commenced in 1983.
Not “spin” – just facts which Liberals hate hearing.
I think that we should remember every government makes a bunch of mistakes in every term and especially first terms. It is not an issue that Rudd made some choices based on the advice of colleagues that in hindsight he should have ignored. It must be expected that Rudd would make some mistakes.But it is not Rudd’s mistakes that lost the Labor majority.
There have been many PMs in a worse poll position than Rudd’s 52/48 and they won. Historically, as it was said at the time, Rudd was unlikely to lose from such a position and especially with the valuable advantage of incumbency, no late swings away from the Govt, but rather some movement to the Govt.
This defeat is nothing to do with Rudd, Rudd in all probability would have won. They should have let him go through his full term. He was undergoing the exact same things as all PMs before him.
People seem to assume that Polls like 55/45 or 54/46 like Rudd got a lot of the time are normal. They are not. Rudd also suffered from setting the standard to high in terms of polling. If Rudd’s polls had always been in the 52/48 range then nobody would have had a second thought, or be running the meme he had to be changed. Ridiculous.
This loss is absolutely nothing to do with Rudd. The loss that wasn’t going to happen came because of what they did to Rudd and from thereafter. It is wrong to go back to Rudd’s rule and say this or that is why we lost.
The loss is 100% on Gillard’s shoulders.
Why don’t people accept that. Why do they point to the back room boys but not point to the elephant in the room, as though she was some naive innocent party.
Forgetting Rudd’s incumbency advantage and his 52/48 and trending up polls at the time.
Does anybody think Rudd would have run such an abysmal campaign, not flogged Abbott in any forum, would not have got his message out in campaigning, would not have had strategies to derail Abbott as he did Howard? Would not have used his GFC credentials to Labor’s benefit. Remember the short moment we got from Rudd where he nailed the message that Gillard should be using in 30 seconds?
This was an election that was on a path to a 2nd Rudd Labor term, high probability.
Rudd is the totally innocent party in this, he has no involvement in this ‘loss’.
The focus should fall first and foremost on Gillard and then those others.
Puff,
I think the Greens, well meaning though they may be, will become the accidental DLP of the future, helping to keep Labor out of office rather than the other way around.
getluv @1879, that’s entirely wrong.
Had labor negotiated with the greens they’d end up with a Bill that wouldn’t pass the Senate. Its as simple as that.
The only way out would have been if the Greens had been willing to go to Labor with a deal. The deal is that they offer a very much weaker ETS.. one that had a chance of having a Liberal cross the floor.
And THEN sit tight and wait on the next government and new senate and then improve the ETS.
Doing what htey did.. self righteously sticking to principle invited disaster. Its only the independents now that decide if the Greens get a Labor minority government and can have anohter go at it or if they find their plans go up in smoke.
@thomas – if Labor didn’t do what it did. Labor still would have lost these seats tonight in QLD and NSW and then a few more in TAS, VIC and SA. It was the people behind Gillard you should be blaming.
As I said, and I’ll continue to repeat.. with hindsight the only way out would have been fo the Greens to take the initiative, go to Labor with a weak ETS proposal (one that would require political courage from Bob) .. try to get it passed.. and then work with that.
[lets not underestimate just how much the media contributed to this abhorence.]
Spot on, Cud.
[I think the Greens, well meaning though they may be, will become the accidental DLP of the future, helping to keep Labor out of office rather than the other way around.]
If they preference each other, what’s the problem exactly?
Or if it’s an issue for Labor maybe the party could try having some actual progressive policies every now and then to make the left flank slightly more protected.
tv @1870.. what the Greens DID have to lose.. is by killing Labor they kill their own chances at further reform. They also end up with Abbott and that sets back the Greens other agendas for social reforms and better health care and so on..
clever!
Rudd’s polls were strengthening because of his fight with the mining companies. The polling at the time was more behind Rudd on this.
I hope the 3 independents Bandt and Wilkie do us all a favour and demand an MMP referendum.
Shake this joint up, and initiate a whole new politics.
This one’s just about buggered anyway. As far as i can see, the public dont want any major party in charge anymore. Both are clearly considered too rubbish to govern alone.
There is a lot of sadness here, to be sure.
Everything else aside, I think there is one thing that needs to be addressed, and that is the status of “our” ABC. In my 30 years I have never seen our beloved broadcaster act in such a partisan fashion.
There have traditionally been two powerful media interests in this country which set the agenda each day – News Limited, and the ABC. The ABC is a media behemoth, with a radio, tv, and online presence. It has completely and utterly failed to inform the public, as was once its role. I am certain that the ABC, in its heyday, would have spent great time pulling apart all of the intricacies of policy on both sides of the house in an objective manner.
Instead, we saw Murdoch talking points repeated ad-lib day after day after day.
The greatest tragedy about Gillard’s loss is that she will not get to make the new board appointments that are due next year. Thus we will find ourselves in an extremely difficult situation electorally.
This spells great trouble for our democracy.
I’m ridiculously tired, but I believe that we need to build an online “progressive army”, which can collectively act in the lead-up to election campaigns to influence the media narrative. I’m talking about an online organisation which can act at a local grassroots level as well as collectively online through new media to reach large numbers of people. Talkback radio, letter-writing, documenting systemic bias at our public broadcaster, documenting systemic bias elsewhere in the mainstream media.
One project which I think could be extremely powerful would be a documentary like Out-foxed (which covers News Limited’s influence in the USA)
I feel that there is a wonderful story to be told about what has happened in this country. A sad story to be sure, but framed the right way, with appropriate supporting evidence, it could truly show people what many of us already know to be true; that big business interests have successfully destroyed a Prime Minister, and corrupted our democracy.
That is not to say the Labor party is blameless. It certainly is not. They are prone to panic, however. And perhaps with good reason. I’m sure they haven’t forgotten their time in the electoral wilderness for 11 years thanks to Howard. The thought of a repeat of that was probably unfathomable to some. So they did what they felt was right according to the predominant narrative. They executed their leader and installed the popular deputy. The powerful forces of industry set a trap, and they fell for it. Arbib and Bitar and Shorten and whoever else was involved are not evil men, or even power-hungry men. They were scared. They panicked. Many of us were also scared. Don’t forget the extensive hit-job the media relentlessly pursued against Rudd’s character. We started to doubt the man that he was. The focus on his temper. The stories about his insane workload, the silent treatment he would give his staffers.
I have no doubt, no doubt at all, that Murdoch has become a master manipulator in political affairs around the world. I think he sees Australia as his test bed for new ideas. His plaything, if you will. The media is so concentrated here that public opinion is much easier to sway. The USA is a different beast. I’m certain that he has an entire division dedicated to fine-tuning public opinion, shifting views, indeed manufacturing consent. He is the modern day Machiavelli and thus one of the most powerful men in the world.
The progressive left, all of us, need to recognise this. We need to work together to overcome the incredible odds that we are fighting against. Indeed, I find it amazing that despite the immense level of one-sided reporting throughout this campaign that Labor still managed to poll above 50% on a TPP basis and may yet still form minority government (although doubtful). This tells me that all is not lost for our great country. We are a well-educated nation; far more so than the bulk of our unfortunate friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
My friends, I propose we form this progressive army. I feel that Abbott can be a unifying force for those of us who oppose him. He is an extremely polarising character, and a very dangerous at that. The facebook group “friends don’t let friends vote for tony abbott” is a testament to this at over 100,000 users. That, in itself, is an asset. Facebook is one example of the sort of media we can use to organise collectively and influence public opinion.
I put together an article “10 reasons not to vote for tony abbott” the day before the election. Simply through Facebook, Twitter, and sending around a few emails I was able to get over 8,000 people to read the damn thing. Now imagine if I was a little more organised. Imagine if there were a thousand of us or even ten thousand of us. How many people could we reach? How much media tripe could we cut through?
I’m extremely tired, angry, upset, and rather ranty. But my point stands. We must stand up and fight for our intellectual freedom and for our country. This is a cultural war for the hearts and minds of our fellow countrymen and women. We cannot surrender to small-minded bigotry and greed. Let us fight the good fight.
I run the on-again off-again blog The Daily Bludge – http://www.dailybludge.com.au – and while it’s not the most hard-hitting or serious platform, it has allowed me to flesh out ideas and reach people. May I invite you all to join me in trying to make this country a better place. Please join the facebook group, invite others to join, and let’s build something together!
@cud – if Rudd was so committed to climate change he would have gone to the Greens first, and who would of come up with a more “effective” solution. Considering just how low the Libs were polling last year, it was a no brainer. Rudd was all talk.
[Doing what htey did.. self righteously sticking to principle invited disaster.]
THEY WEREN’T EVEN INVOLVED IN THE NEGOTIATIONS.
The arrogance of Labor hacks on this point is just mind blowing. Labor thought it had pulled a swifty by doing a deal with Turnbull. When that blew up in their faces they somehow twisted everything around so that it was the Greens fault. It’s… just… wrong. Rewriting the history now will not make it right. LABOR stuffed this up.
i’m not sure the labor party could have afforded to go into this election trying to defend both the resources tax and the ets. given the effectiveness of throwing money at a scare campaign, you can expect the campaign mounted against an ets by the carbon polluting industries will be monstrous.
and even if an ets is passed, there’s no guarantee that the government will survive the the fall-out from its passing.
@1896.. of course.. if Abbott gets in you can guess what then happens to the ABC and its board..
I wonder if the independents care enough about this issue to not side with Abbott?