First up, I should note that elections will be held for two seats in Tasmania’s state upper house today (UPDATE: Make that three), as part of the 15-seat chamber’s cycle of annual periodical elections. Read Kevin Bonham’s rolling posts on the subject, for the electorate of Montgomery here and Pembroke here (UPDATE: and Nelson here), and you’ll be a lot better informed about it than I am. Nonetheless, I will make a probably half-hearted effort to live blog the results from 6pm this evening. Second up, a good word for the latest episode of the Seat du Jour series, which today covers the famous outer Sydney seat of Lindsay.
Now to business. The misadventures of sundry candidates are making it a constant challenge for me to keep my federal election guide up to date. The tally of candidates who will remain on the ballot paper despite having “withdrawn” to head off embarrassment for their parties now sits at six – although there is nothing to stop any candidate on the ballot paper winning election and taking their seat. Indeed, the two Senate candidates could theoretically win on recounts if the lead candidates end up being disqualified under some or other provision of Section 44 (or, in the case of One Nation candidate Malcolm Roberts in Queensland, re-disqualified). In turn:
• The second candidate on Labor’s Northern Territory Senate ticket, Wayne Kurnorth, was found to have shared anti-Semitic videos on Facebook in 2015, one of which featured popular British conspiracy theorist David Icke’s thesis that the world is run by shape-shifting Jewish lizards. Shorten overreached in distancing himself from Kurnorth, asserting he had never met him, a claim belied by a photo of the two that shortly emerged.
• Another “zombie” Senate candidate is Steve Dickson, who is placed second on One Nation’s ticket in Queensland. Dickson held the state seat of Buderim for One Nation for most of 2017, having previously been a Liberal National Party member since 2012. His troubles arose earlier this week when footage emerged of him offering poetic musings on the art of love while in a strip club, specifically relating to the deficiencies in that field of “Asian chicks”. This revelation for some reason reduced Pauline Hanson to tears during one of her daily appearances on commercial network television on Wednesday.
• Labor’s candidate for Melbourne, Luke Creasey, withdrew yesterday, two days after a report appeared in The Australian regarding his social media activity in 2012, at which time he was a 22-year-old university student. The most publicisied of Creasey’s infractions was to click “like” on what those who know their way around social media would recognise as a “psycho girlfriend meme”, in this case involving a joke about false rape allegations. He at first offered only an apology for what he acknowledged was “stupid, immature” behaviour, but a divide reportedly opened within the party between Creasey’s own Left faction, which wanted him to tough it out, and some on the Right, who insisted he be dumped. Importantly, The Australian reports the latter included Noah Carroll and Sam Rae, respectively the party’s national and state secretaries.
• Isaacs candidate Jeremy Hearn was one of two Liberals to announce his withdrawal on Wednesday, after it emerged he had written a number of comments on Facebook to the effect that the Muslim community wished to overthrow the Australian government and institute sharia law.
• Also pulling the plug on Wednesday was the Liberal candidate for Wills, Peter Killin, who wrote on a Christian conservative forum in 2016 that its readers should have participated in the Liberal preselection in Goldstein, as their doing so would have ensured the defeat of a “homosexual MP”, Tim Wilson.
• Jessica Whelan withdrew as the Liberal candidate for Lyons yesterday over anti-Muslim posts on Facebook, although she says she will continue to campaign as an independent. Whelan’s problems began on Wednesday when The Mercury reported she had posted that Muslims should not be allowed to live in Australia, and that Donald Trump should deal with Muslim-sympathetic feminists by giving them clitoridectomies and selling them to Muslim countries. She initially responded that the screen shots were fabricated, and referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police. Scott Morrison’s position on Thursday was that this was good enough for him, although he appeared to go to some lengths to avoid getting too close to Whelan when the two appeared together at a pre-arranged promotional opportunity at an agricultural show. However, Whelan appeared to change her mind about both the views expressed and their having been fabricated when she announced her withdrawal yesterday, prompting Morrison to complain he had been lied to. The Liberals will now encourage supporters to vote for the Nationals candidate, Deanna Hutchinson.
Horse race latest:
• In his column in the News Corp tabloids today, David Speers relates that “hard heads” in the Liberal Party doubt they can win. As one such reportedly puts it: “If we had another three months, who knows”.
• Steven Wardill of the Courier-Mail reported on Thursday that Labor sources said the party was “losing its grip” in Coalition-held marginals in regional Queensland where it led early in the campaign.
• Jennifer Hewett of the Financial Review reported on Monday that Liberals were “increasingly optimistic about internal polling” in Flinders, where Greg Hunt was “no longer at real risk”. Elsewhere in Victoria, Deakin was “considered solid”, although Corangamite was “much less certain”. The only seats in Victoria the Liberals were giving away were Dunkley and Chisholm.
• Andrew Clark of the Financial Review reports Liberal polling in Wentworth shows them “in a winning position, though the numbers are extremely close”, while in Warringah, Zali Steggall’s campaign is spruiking a poll that has her leading on the primary vote, with Tony Abbott said to be stuck on around 40%.
• For the second time in the campaign, the Liberals have provided the media – in this case Matthew Denholm of The Australian – with polling conducted by TeleReach that shows Bill Shorten with poor personal ratings in northern Tasmania. The poll gives Shorten a 29% approval and 63% disapproval rating in Braddon (compared with 55% and 37% for Scott Morrison), 37% approval and 56% disapproval in Bass, and 37% approval and 50% disapproval in Lyons. However, as was the case last time, no voting intention numbers appear to have been provided.
Self-promotion corner:
If you’re interested in my take on the state of play in my home state of Western Australia, you can hear a shorter version of it on Monday’s edition of the ABC’s AM program, or a much longer one on The Conversation’s Politics with Michelle Grattan podcast. Then there are my two paywalled articles for Crikey this week, lest anyone be worried that I haven’t been keeping myself busy lately.
From yesterday, an account of the importance of the Chinese community at the election:
Labor won enduring loyalty among many Chinese voters after the Hawke government allowed students to stay in Australia after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and John Howard did lasting damage with his suggestion that Asian immigration should be curtailed during his first stint as leader in 1988. When Howard himself suffered his historic defeat in Bennelong in 2007, the result was widely attributed to the transformative effect of Chinese immigration on the once white middle-class electorate. Increasingly though, the rise of China’s middle class is bringing affluent new arrivals with economic priorities to match, together with a measure of cultural resistance to the broader community’s progressive turn on sex and gender issues.
And from Monday, on Clive Palmer’s preference deal with the Coalition:
If Palmer can get ahead of the third candidate on the Coalition’s ticket, who will have what remains after the first 28.6% is spent electing its top two candidates, a quarter of their vote will then flow to Palmer, if Coalition voters’ rate of adherence to the how-to-vote card in 2016 offers any guide. That could give him a decisive edge over Malcolm Roberts of One Nation, his main competition for a third seat likely to be won by parties of the right. But so far as the Liberals are concerned, the significance of the deal is in showing up what a dim view they must be taking of their prospects, and their readiness to grasp at any straw that happens to come within reach.
“That’s something to Shorten’s credit, he took it and has been prepared to do the hard yards.”
I’m pretty sure that Bill Shorten is the only Leader of the Opposition in post war history to serve a full period of opposition as leader (assuming Labor win the current election).
Guy
Usually the job no-one wants! I remember reading an article here in Victoria about exactly that discussion when talking about Daniel Andrews in 2011 – saying why would any politician want the job that inevitably ended in disappointment.
Zoidlord says:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 11:37 am
@Scott
Mathias tried to rant on twitter today about it.
—————————————————-
It won’t matter , Morrison did enough damage to destroy the credibility of the Libs/nats
AR….might have a wager
Im in Tas, was out last night at a board meeting for a sporting club a lot people where righteously stating that they thought freedom of speech was becoming limited and minorities getting too much attention. I had to bite my tongue, believe the new political correctness is when white middle class ( usually blokes ) get offended and righteous about their need to have a go at others and their belief minorities are ‘getting to much over them!’
Rex and meher baba :priorities – childcare over giving handouts to those not paying tax. These are the decsions that are part of politics, personally i am overthe no risk approach of parties. I vote according to policy and i agree with this one.
Zoidlord says:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 11:33 am
How has Folau been silenced?
He has faced a reaction and consequences as a result of making them, but I haven’t seen any suggestion that he can not continue to make such comments.
meher baba @ #192 Saturday, May 4th, 2019 – 11:33 am
I welcome pay rises for childcare workers.
I think just relying on the ACCC to police any rorting of fees by childcare centres is a mistake. Legislation to protect from any rorting should be included in the policy.
Zoidlord @ #192 Saturday, May 4th, 2019 – 11:33 am
Yeah nah get fucked. I’m an atheist and he wants me to burn in hell. Fuck him.
Rex Douglas says:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 11:01 am
shiftaling @ #156 Saturday, May 4th, 2019 – 10:54 am
Shorten portrayed confidence… for the most part … but he still got wobbly trying to navigate through the franking credit issue.
Labor have done a terrible job trying to sell it
They should have had short, sharp lines that cut straight to the heart of the issue ready to roll when they announced the policy.
——————————-
I spent 2 to 3 hours on prepoll every day this week. Only one voter raised franking credits as an issue.
zoidlord: “Silencing Folau with queer fascism betrays our gay marriage victory https://www.smh.com.au/national/silencing-folau-with-queer-fascism-betrays-our-gay-marriage-victory-20190503-p51jsk.html … via @smh”
Fabulous, inspiring article. While I’m not sure that Folau’s case is the best possible place to draw a line in the sand, there is definitely a line that needs to be drawn here against the new global trend among the Millenial left to try to win debates by forcibly silencing everyone who disagrees with them, and it’s great to see someone standing up.
The author of the article rightly criticised the global witch hunt against Navratilova (which I discussed earlier) and the dreadful decision to rename the Humphries Award. I don’t find Folau’s case is quite as compelling as these in that I consider that it is quite reasonable for an employer to put some limitations on the public comments made by employees – including on social media – in order to protect that employer’s public reputation. The Rugby Union did not ask Folau to stop believing that homosexuals should go to hell, it simply asked him to stop saying so in public. It warned him the first time, and then sacked him when he went ahead and did it again.
But I’m happy to see any signs of a push back by the more libertarian part of the left against the growing global silencing movement. More strength to this lady’s arm.
‘“Under the Pensioner Guarantee:
* Every recipient of an Australian Government pension or allowance with individual shareholdings will still be able to benefit from cash refunds. This includes individuals receiving the Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, Parenting Payment, Newstart and Sickness Allowance.
* Self-managed Superannuation Funds with at least one recipient of an Australian Government pension or allowance as at 28 March 2018 will be exempt from the changes.”’
It’s not too late for Labor to run ads in big writing which say exactly this.
On the screen in black and white for 15 seconds minimum. Day and night for two weeks….minus the last few days….
****
Subsidies for $170k income households is bribery.
****
It’s much more like a tax credit for working parents than a subsidy, buddy. And $170k is the cutoff point, ie. $170,001 gets nothing.
Andy Murray @ #212 Saturday, May 4th, 2019 – 11:46 am
I’d have the cutoff point at $120k
Lenore Taylor
Verified account @lenoretaylor
11m11 minutes ago
‘Quite frightening’: the far-right fringe of the election campaign is mobilising
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/04/quite-frightening-the-far-right-fringe-of-the-election-campaign-is-mobilising?CMP=share_btn_tw
Rex: “Subsidies for $170k income households is bribery.”
I must reiterate that I can’t get my mind entirely around Labor’s policy, but I believe that households on this income and above aren’t going to get much more from Shorten in the way of child care subsidies although they will benefit from the extension of pre-school to cover 3yos, if (as isn’t always easy to do) they are able to arrange to combine child care for their child with attendance at preschool.
Campaign launch tomorrow. The final policy announcements to complete the set and from tomorrow night the ads will be up and running making it clear what labor will offer.
Morrison ranting on about costings will be blunted when labor releases its financials next week.
This is what we are offering, this is how we are going to pay for them and this is how we will manage the economy.
Murdoch’s mouthpiece telling the future Opposition what to do:
Peter Stanton,
In a lot of Clubs myself with ppl my age( middle 60s) and older. Have only found two ppl who protested the proposed changes to the franking credits issue.
One who was just plain greedy and stuff everyone else, and, the other a poor pensioner who thought they were affected by the issue.
The others are not affected and know it.
Having worked in the APS with cabinet in confidence clearance and involved with policy changes I can tel you that if people don’t have a tax or social security change then they will grumble.
But once they get the change, even though they may not have wanted it before, then they will scream blue murder if they lose $1 of pension or pay $1 more tax.
e.g. the coalition government loosened the assets test and many were already qualified to receive a small pension but didn’t bother until then. When the coalition government reversed that the same group were screaming at the government through ministerial letters etc.
mundo: “It’s not too late for Labor to run ads in big writing which say exactly this.
On the screen in black and white for 15 seconds minimum. Day and night for two weeks….minus the last few days….”
Won’t do anything for the beneficiaries of franking credits who aren’t pensioners, which is the largest and, seemingly, the angriest group.
Senator Murray Watt
Verified account @MurrayWatt
2h2 hours ago
Senator Murray Watt Retweeted Elida Faith for Leichhardt
Warren Entsch says penalty rates are “no good” for young people. Is that why he voted 8 times against restoring them? Vote for penalty rates, vote for @ElidaFaith.
‘Quite frightening’: the far-right fringe of the election campaign is mobilising
_____
Zoidlord
And don’t forget the stacking of the WA and Victorian Liberal Party with Christians of the extreme variety.
Onya Rex, definition of need is intriguing . A lot of households now have both working either part or full time due to necessity …….therefore paying more tax etc etc
I am in a two income household with two kids who had to pay childcare. ……..it hurt us, and i believe childcare workers (along with aged care workers etc) were underpaid and undervalued.
This is a policy that the Coalition’s is totally oppoosed but there are a lot who only critique the structure not the substance
Lenore Taylor on the threat posed by the far right in this election and beyond:
Kroger has turned the most moderate division of the Liberal Party into a monstrosity.
Re: “the economy is strong with this one” LNP campaign add.
The only economy that is `strong with Morrison’ is economy with the truth…
Reezy Miller
@Trixie_Boo
3h3 hours ago
Twitter Question …
You’re a voter who’ll be impacted financially by Labor’s tax reforms. Are you still prepared to vote Labor, and if so, why? #ausvote19
Interesting the commentary around the “space invader” exchange last night. Some have referred back to the Howard-Latham incident many years ago. Howard said that he knew Latham would act this way and was prepared for it. And,thanks to the sycophantic press, much was made of (in my words) Latham monstering Howard. Any resemblance between Latham and Frankenstein was purely coincidental….
That indicates the Libs had done homework on Latham’s body language approach. Some here say that Labor had done the same with Morrison’s body language and tactics and last night used that research to Shorten’s advantage. Morrison’s style is certainly well known by now.
I tend to agree that is most likely to be the case. However, it does take some nous to know how and when to use that research, and regardless of whether Morrison telegraphed his intention to do “a Trump” (as has already been mentioned today), or it just fell into place for Shorten to react the way he did, it was a successful tactic. Not only was the physicality of the move noted by all and sundry, but Shorten’s clever riposte about “space invaders” worked on several levels as well, humour not withstanding.
Importantly, for Morrison, it revealed a debate tactic that was not only defused on the night, but in all likelihood, blown away as a future weapon. Whether there will be another debate is debatable; Morrison’s team would be weighing up whether another one could inflict yet another loss. One win out of three,unlikely as it could be, is not going to change the hearts and minds of “undecided” voters. And the question is often asked- how effective are debates,anyway?
These results, while narrow from the one paricular Sky news perspective, show two things clearly- Shortens much heralded poor PPM standings are worthless after two debate wins, both formats being held under conditions favourable to the Coalition ,namely, one Sky News debate with its presenters and negative pre-debate reviews preceding it, and the first, under Ch 7 and the West Australian newspaper banner. The latters political preferences were only too obvious.
Secondly, Shorten’s obvious, if not perfect, skills in handling debates and questions from the floor,via many, many town-hall meetings, has stood him in good stead. Morrison’s bluster, blame and attack tactics may appear to be effective in the cut and thrust of Parliamentary argument, and to a certain extent in press briefings, but certainly not in the debate context. To bluster his way through Question Time doesn’t work in the open debate situation.
I don’t expect a third debate. I believe Labor has taken that strategy away from the Coalition. Anyway, I would think both Parties will prefer to be out on the hustings rather than tied to another place and time 3rd debate.
The next major events, barring some serious “black swan”event, are the two campaign launches.
One would now have to seriously consider how effective they will be considering the rush to pre-poll voting. Maybe the rush will decline, or maybe, apres le debate, it will continue. A continuing, albeit steadying pre-polling trend doesn’t bode well for any late swings towards or away from the two major Parties.
At this stage, I think the zeitgeist in this campaign, is with Labor. We shall see, for what its worth, how the next set of polls read the times. I can’t concieve of a tied-polling result, so a steady-as -she – goes result would be of little comfort to the Coalition. A swing back towards Labor would be psychologically damaging to the Coalition. Interesting too will be the details of how the UAP are polling.
One final question. With Labors launch next weekend, will the pollsters hang off till after then?
On childcare it would come down to what you want to achieve and simplicity of implementation.
On achievement, you want to help and encourage women/men to return to the workforce after childbirth, so the payment means that less of their pay is eaten up in childcare costs.
As such you should base it on that person’s salary, but most people in this situation are in a relationship and so their tax returns are assessed to reflect this, so basing the payment on this figure helps simplify it. 🙂
William Bowe: “Labor’s candidate for Melbourne, Luke Creasey, withdrew yesterday, two days after a report appeared in The Australian regarding his social media activity in 2012, at which time he was a 22-year-old university student. The most publicised of Creasey’s infractions was to click “like” on what those who know their way around social media would recognise as a “psycho girlfriend meme”, in this case involving a joke about false rape allegations. He at first offered only an apology for what he acknowledged was “stupid, immature” behaviour”
How hypocritical of LNP, MSM & Greens to go after Creasey.
Jeremy Buckingham, an alleged sexual offender’ was defended by Greens until he quit Greens party. That erstwhile Victorian Greens parliamentary party leader, Who was related to Di Natali, treated women in his own party badly. He quit only when it came to light.
I distinctly remember Rex & Nicholas defending Jeremy Buckingham
Or take LNP. During hi Uni days, Abbott, according to his Uni colleague, has threatened his female opponent after she became Student body President defeating him and continued to heckle and harass her during Student body meetings. The same Abbott went on to become PM of this country
”
Barbara Ramjan
Sept 8, 2012
“[Tony Abbott] came up to within an inch of my nose and punched the wall on either side of my head. It was done to intimidate.”
– Ms Ramjan tells journalist David Marr how Mr Abbott reacted after she defeated him in the vote for president of the University of Sydney Students Representative Council in 1977.
”
”
David Marr
Sept 10, 2012
“I’ve no doubt that that happened back then and that it was an ugly incident – and it was at a time of really wild university politics. University politics in those days were wild, and the wildest of the people taking part were the DLPers… and Tony Abbott was a leader of the DLPers.”
– David Marr tells Lateline he is certain the incident happened.
”
Tony Abbott defended George Christensen for his anti-jew, anti-gay & anti-women comments
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has defended a Liberal National Party (LNP) candidate who once published a university newspaper containing material critical of Jews, gays and women.
Mackay City Councillor George Christensen only needs a swing of 2.6 per cent to win the marginal Labor-held seat of Dawson.
But today questionable material published by Cr Christensen in his university days in the 1990s has emerged.
In the publication, called The Student Advocate and published by the Conservative Students Alliance in 1998, Cr Christensen reportedly made jokes about AIDS, linked Jews to the crucifixion of Christ and described women as “stupid”.
Questioned about the revelations this morning, Mr Abbott said there was “colourful material” from most people’s university days.
“There’s colourful stuff from my uni days. There’s colourful stuff from Julia Gillard’s uni days,” he said.
“If there’s colourful stuff from George Christensen’s uni days, I think we just have to accept that uni is a colourful place and move on.
“He’s a good bloke and I stand by him,” Mr Abbott added.
”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-08-10/abbott-defends-candidate-critical-of-jews-gays/938726
But George Christensen is now 3 time LNP MP.
“space invader” getting a good run today, and official launch tomorrow, likely some serious policy/financial discussions on the agenda Monday on, so hopefully we have seen the last of the social media purges.
Many believed Trump had nothing to do with our body politic.
I have always believed otherwise.
Until Trump is totally dispensed with, and by that I mean totally found out to be a bona fide treasonous toad, we will not escape
Its impact.
I maintain there is a karmic energy at play, and this time in our history will be blown away. It is going to be a rough ride over the foreseeable future, but this shitshow will end spectacularly. Of this I am confident.
Meher Baba
I have noticed too the anger coming out of some of those retirees about Labor’s Franking Dividend reforms.
ltep: “The Holly Hughes decision was pretty ludicrous though. What a mess.” and mehe babar 10.35am
I’m not a constitutional lawyer but my read on Hollie Hughes was that on her appointment to the AAT, she became ineligible to fill the position vacated by Nash and the relevant time for the purposes of section 44(3) of the constitution was Hughes’ ‘nomination’ at the time of the recount (which occurred when the position became vacant, at which time, Hughes was ineligible due to her accepting the appointment to the AAT).
Nat Hickey’s blog is worth reading for a digestible summary of the first round of s44 disqualifications.
https://sociallitigator.com/2017/10/28/how-to-survive-a-political-dinner-party-by-pretending-youve-read-citizenship7-judgment/
Ann Twomey is another expert whose opinions are expressed free from unnecessary legalese.
nath @ #225 Saturday, May 4th, 2019 – 11:58 am
This is where it’s crucial for centrists and left wing voters to vote below the line in the senate and give the far right absolutely nothing.
Anyone affected by the changes for franking credits has known about this for yonks and already factored it into their vote. Changing the policy now would be all pain and no gain.
”
nath says:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 11:58 am
Kroger has turned the most moderate division of the Liberal Party into a monstrosity.
”
Thank you. Why am i agreeing with nath so many times?
Has anyone else that uses Firefox had most of their add on’s killed off including the paywall avoider’s etc? and for those that use Chrome has there been a similar happening?
”
zoomster says:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 12:14 pm
Anyone affected by the changes for franking credits has known about this for yonks and already factored it into their vote. Changing the policy now would be all pain and no gain.
”
True
casey briggs
Verified account @CaseyBriggs
25m25 minutes ago
Pre-polling update: 4% of the electorate has voted already (660,580 votes)
That’s more than the combined enrolment of Tasmania and the NT #ausvotes #ausvoting
casey briggs
Verified account @CaseyBriggs
here are the top 10 seats for early voting so far. Victorians just love to vote!
Note these numbers count where a vote was cast, and *not* what electorate they are for #ausvotes
”
Confessions says:
Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 10:21 am
Peter Andren was a genuine independent candidate.
”
Ted Mack was another genuine independent
Labor partisans should be reasonably confident in Flinders I reckon.
Yes. Because being a selfish jerkass is not obligatory. Simples.
Lee Lin Chin would make a good GG!
Does the Guardian read PB?
A question often asked here.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/04/whither-the-greens-how-a-reckoning-looms-for-a-party-fighting-to-hang-on
https://www.theage.com.au/federal-election-2019/focus-groups-of-undecided-voters-signal-dangers-for-scott-morrison-and-bill-shorten-20190503-p51jx3.html
Bert @ #233 Saturday, May 4th, 2019 – 12:15 pm
Many addons have been removed from direct downloads and should you have to reinstall Firefox or Chrome then these addons will not be installed.
Anti-paywall has been removed from both Firefox and Chrome.
However – if you have saved the installation file then Anti-paywall can be reinstalled.
Bypass Paywalls can still be downloaded and installed from sites I have often mentioned.
Please advise if you need assistance. 😎
zoomster: “Anyone affected by the changes for franking credits has known about this for yonks and already factored it into their vote. Changing the policy now would be all pain and no gain.”
Yes, no doubt about it.
The time to have dropped it – along with the other proposed tax changes (except perhaps the CGT discount reduction and the increase in the top marginal tax, which I think were both relatively free of risk) – was in the first few weeks after ScoMo replaced Turnbull. FWIW I suggested this on PB at the time.
Now, for good or bad, Labor is stuck with these policies.
Which is it meher baba good or bad?
Barney in Phan Thiet: “It’s a climate change election but the political party with the utmost ambition on climate – yes, the Greens – is somehow on the outer. Flagging in the polls, cold-shouldered by Labor, the Greens have spent the campaign jostling elbows with a bunch of high-profile independents in the inner cities and battling the alt-right in the Senate.”
It’s what happens when you abandon your core brand and adopt the brand of one of your competitors: in this case the Socialist Alliance. It’s taken a while for the punters to pick up on this, but the internal party brawls have brought it into the spotlight.
@Barney in Phan Thiet
I believe that an Australian version of Jeremy Corbyn could come from the Australian Greens, so long as their Socialist left-wing wins out over the moderates in the party.