Current results from the Australian Election Commission:
Party Seats Change
Labor [b]71[/b] (-12)
Coalition [b]71[/b] (+6)
(Liberals, Liberal National Party of Queensland, National Party, Country Liberals)
Green Party [b]1[/b] +1
Independents [b]4[/b] +1
Undecided [b]4[/b]
First Party Preference
Labor 38.5% (-4.9%)
Coalition 43.5% (+1.4%)
Greens 11.4% (+3.6%)
Two Party Preferred
Labor 50.7% (-2%)
Coalition 49.3% (+2%)
Comments?
Sorry, results above should read Independents [b]3[/b] (+1).
According to the article below, of the four remaining undecided seats, Labor currently leads two and the Liberals lead the other two. It could take up to two weeks for final results because of advance and mail-in ballots still to be counted.
[url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/labor-coalition-wait-on-un..."Labor, coalition wait on uncounted votes," Sydney Morning Herald, August 22, 2010.[/url]
Seems a negative campaign by the Liberals (including whipping up fears about boat people) and unease at the way Labour deposed Kevin Rudd have taken their toll. I'm sure Mr Harper is watching.
I read somewhere that despite the fact that both leading Candidates for the job of PM were not born in Australia, they were positively FALLING OVER EACH OTHER with their Xenephobic anti-immigrant crap. Australia = Arizona = Conservative Party of Canada.
I read somewhere that despite the fact that both leading Candidates for the job of PM were not born in Australia, they were positively FALLING OVER EACH OTHER with their Xenephobic anti-immigrant crap. Australia = Arizona = Conservative Party of Canada.
Discouraging, yes. But the substantial rise in Green Party support at least shows not all voters bought into the negative xenophobic crap. The Greens in Australia are apparently really a left-wing party. And they will almost certainly hold the balance of power now in the upper house, which is elected on a proportional representation basis by state.
Updated
Party Seats Change
Labor [b]70[/b] (-13)
Coalition [b]71[/b] (+6)
(Liberals, Liberal National Party of Queensland, National Party, Country Liberals)
Greens [b]1[/b] (+1)
Independents [b]2[/b] (0)
Undecided [b]6[/b]
Two of the six current, undecided seats are between Labor and the Green Party, one between Labor and a left-leaning (former Green) independent, One between the Liberals and a right-leaning (former National) independent, and the other two apparently between Labor and the Coalition. A lot is riding on those results!
Countries like Australia, are built on criminality, it does not matter who sits in parliament, or whether there is a majotiy government or not. It has the apparatus to continue its colonial policies, it does not matter who climbs through the cesspool to "lead". Bit like Canada.
I see that the arrival of Europeans in Australia is referred to as an invasion by some Aboriginal commentators in that country. There doesn't seem to be any history of treaty making, for instance, which could indicate a more direct and calculated ethnic cleansing of the Aboriginal population by Europeans rather than the more drawn out process of attempted cultural genocide played out here in Canada.
If you mean by criminality to refer to the history of penal colonies in Oz, then you're just re-gurgitating the colonial British claims about their victims of transportation, aren't you? Or is it ONLY the criminality of colonialism that you meant to refer to?
In reference to post #7, you made me laugh. I have never heard this argument from the English about the criminality of the penal colonies. I assume the argument is about how could so many people be sent to Australia. There, the criminality lies with the society that creates conditions for its people that need to steal a loaf of bread to survive.
Anyway, NO NO NO! I am refering to the criminality of terrorist acts like shooting at civil society when James Cook landed at Botany Bay. I am referring to criminal acts when Capatain Phillip landed at Bennelong and expected the people that were there for forty thousand years to bow to him!
No, I am refering to the genocidal killing of Tasmanians in the 1840's. Just in case you do not get it, I am referring to the Aboriginals of Tasmanians and not the criminal English. After organised shootings for about five years, the Tasmanians no longer existed!
No I am talking about the criminal acts of taking someone's children away from them, which began in the late 1800's and finished in the 1970's.
No I am tallking about giving the vote to the owners of the land of Australia by the marauding Anglos in 1967 and beginning to discuss land rights in 1975. How criminal can a culture be! No I am talking about the Australian High court case of Mabo in 1991. It was the first case in Anglo history that admitted that the Aboroginals did exist when the Anglo arrived. Up till 1991, Australia was terra nullius(empty from humans)! This is the criminality I was refferring to!!!!
No, I am talking about the hippocracy of the Anglo and all the other immigrants in solidarity with the Anglo, that "apologised" but continue to keep the army in aboriginal communities! www.stoptheintervention.org
I can go on, however, I hope you now understand what i mean by criminality, that is why both thee counties are very good cousins. They have similar pasts and similar futures, I assume that is why they are both in Afghanistan and that is why they both can sanction countries like Iran, however, both are the biggest producers in uranium and both have political systems, whereby the citizen can vote whatever he or she wants, in the end, the Crown is not accountable to the people!
This is some of the criminality I was referring to in post #6!
Some discussion of the three independents who appear to hold the balance of power:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/2010/08/the_three_kin...
The future will show that all this politiking has no significance. The policies that have been in place for the previous two hundred and twenty two years!
How can the leaders of both main parties, who were born overseas, have the hippocracy to advocate refusal of refugees coming to Australia?!
As for the Greens, we have seen how their politicians have changed their ideas and even swapped political parties, to name one, Peter Garrett!
The game is lost! The evidence is the country's curriculum vitae!
My apologies for misunderstanding your point upthread. You're a relative newbie and we get all kinds here. Carry on.
For me, it is not a matter whether I am new or not, whether I am left or right on the political spectrum. For me it is about simply applying the same standards that I would like to have in life, to all people around me!
Now, most people think it is mostly through their intelligence and great planning in life that brings them success. It does help, however, I personally think it is a very small part of the equation. Most of our success in life has to do with chance! Privilege comes through chance. Just start from the beginning. We do not choose were we are born. Therefore, someone born in Canada, Australia,Sweden, etc as opposed to someone born in Mozambique, Mauritania, Iraq, atc, will have certain advantages. These advantages and privileges have not come from "just" means!
Therefore, what I am saying is that someone like myself, that has been very fortunate to have the privileges bestowed on me by fate, should endeavour continually to devote his life on ensuring that others share what I have. We do not need to debate, articulate certain theories or collect statistics to prove justice. Justice is as plain as the light that shines everyday. It does not matter what people say or do, wrongs are blatantly obvious. Hippocracy defends the indefensible!
Finally, once again, places like Australia need to be sanctioned. The issue with places like Australia, is not whether it has a hung parliament or not. Nations like Australia do not need a government. The system consisting of education,bureaucracy,corporations and lower levels of government will happily go on functioning. The indoctrination of its population has been very successful. I say this, because many of the facts I posted at #7, never enter the everyday psyche of most of its citizens! Most of its citizens will happily go through their lives not really caring that its taxation is been used to kill villagers in far away places. Well, most of its citizens did not care that its army together with its family of nations, destroyed the most advanced medical system in the Middle East, killed one million people and created four million refugees.
Once again, it does not matter who is in charge in countries like Australia, the imperialistic policies that brought the English to that place continue and will continue. It is unfortunate, history has shown that us humans only understand when the actions we display come back to effect us!
What I find really fascinating about the Australian election is that it shows what a difference AV (alternative voting) makes. If Australia used simple first past the post, the rightwing "coalition" (notice that "coalition is not a dirty word in Australia - anytime the right takes power it is based on a "coalition" of the Liberal and National parties) would have won in a landslide with their 44% of the vote compared to Labor's 38% - but the 12% who voted Green overwhelmingly gave their second preferences to ALP candidates and so you have a virtual tie in seats. Its worth noting that the Green party in Australia is more of a leftwing alternative to the ALP is more like the NDP than like the kooky Greens in Canada.
Some interesting ridings - in Melbourne riding - which is the inner city of Melbourne - the Greens elected their first ever MP to the lower House of Representatives because the 3rd place Liberals instructed their supporters to preference the Green ahead of the ALP candidate - so even though the Green party is to the left of the ALP - they won Melbourne as a result of preferences from people who voted for the rightwing Liberal party. This would be the equivalent of the Tories telling their supporters in Trinity-Spadina to preference Olivia Chow over whoever is the latest Liberal doo-hicky so that the seat goes NDP and not Liberal.
In Denison riding which is basically Hobart - the capital of Tasmania - and which is normally thought to be a super-safe ALP seat, it was an intriguing 4-way race. The ALP guy took 36%, the Liberal took 21% and independent who was once a Green and was a big peace activist took 21% and the Green took 18%. The Greens tended to preference the Independent so on the second count he knowcked the Liberal out of second place, then the Liberal preferences skewed to the Independent and he won on the final count over the ALP 51-49%. It was clear that whoever won Denison - be they ALP, Green or the Indy guy was going to be a vote to keep the ALP in power in a minority situation - the Liberals can never win that seat because all the people voting for other parties invariably preference them dead last.
No one in Australia seems particularly concerned about whether the party with the most seats ends up forming the government - it seems to be well understood that its really irrelevant whether the coalition has 73 seats and the ALP 72 or vice-versa - its all about who can attract the support of the 4 independent MPs and the Green.
Lots of lessons for canada!
Updated as of 21:45 Australian Time, Aug 24, 2010
Party Seats Change
Labor 70 (-13)
Coalition 72 (+7)
(Liberals, Liberal National Party of Queensland, National Party, Country Liberals)
Greens 1 (+1)
Independents 4 (+2)
Undecided 3
One of the three seats marked undecided is a Labor/Green tossup that appears almost certain to go to Labor. The other two are Liberal/Labor seats. The Liberals lead one and Labor leads the other, but both are so close that postal ballots will decide it. Counting of the postal ballots starts in a few hours.
Stockholm wrote:
No one in Australia seems particularly concerned about whether the party with the most seats ends up forming the government - it seems to be well understood that its really irrelevant whether the coalition has 73 seats and the ALP 72 or vice-versa - its all about who can attract the support of the 4 independent MPs and the Green.
Caissa points out that Eugene Forsey used many examples from Australia of the exercise of the royal power of dissolution because it had so many minority and coalition governments in its early years.
Mr Wyatt said he was disappointed by the hate mail sent to him by people who said they would not have voted for him if they had known he was indigenous.
Retroactive bigotry?
Nah Blind bigotry. Until its pointed out that you are supposed to be discriminated against, we dont see it.
Well, the Liberal Party in Australia has made itself into the "white settler" party-these are the people who OPPOSED any apology to aboriginal peoples for the way they've been treated. It's quite likely that a lot of Liberal voters in this man's constituency WOULDN'T have voted for him if they'd known he wasn't white.
BTW, does anybody there know what kind of record the Labor Party has had of nominating aboriginal candidates? You'd have thought, as the party that's presented itself since the Sixties as the antiracist party, that they'd have had a reasonable number of aboriginal candidates by now. You'd also have thought the Greens and the Australian Democrats would have done so as well. If those parties didn't, something is really wrong in their internal political cultures.
