Federal Government
VINDICATION: Abbott boosted by strong showing in Higgins and Bradfield
New federal Liberal Leader Tony Abbott had every reason to be nervous about the results of the Higgins and Bradfield by-elections. While their campaigns were fought, his party room was tearing itself apart on the government’s proposed Emissions Trading System and then the leadership itself in one of the most unseemly and chaotic spectacles seen in Canberra since the Hawke-Keating squabbles of 1991.
Supposed expert and brave predictor of ballots, Malcolm Mackerras had called Higgins a Liberal loss and it was imagined that ‘lefty affluence’ among ‘doctors’ wives’ and their distaste for the socially conservative Abbott would be a big factor driving a surging Greens party vote.
There was no surge.
There was no Liberal loss. Indeed, at the time of publication it appears that the Liberal party – despite enduring its darkest days of division in decades – is holding up just fine in Higgins and in Bradfield, with possibly with a small swing to them in both.
READING THE TEA LEAVES
Just as a loss would have been interpreted a big gesture from voters of dissatisfaction, it’s not unreasonable to interpret these results as a tentative ‘thumbs up’ for Tony Abbott and his new combative ‘alternative not an echo’ brand of politics. Certainly it’s an encouraging start for the previously terrified and now relieved Higgins Liberals who started celebrating around 7pm in Melbourne.
It’s very early days though in the story of Abbott’s leadership. While Abbott has a lot going for him, including what we are certain will become a popular position on the ETS, he is also gaffe prone in a way we haven’t seen in a party leader since Mark Latham.
The longer he goes on, the more gaffes there will be. That’s clear. He has “cut-through” but he does not have Rudd’s discipline. He is the hare to Rudd’s tortoise.
The challenge for the Liberals, and his Abbott’s team, is to minimise the mistakes and setting a clear and credible alternative that will cut carbon emissions and avoid past policy mistakes. We believe he will ultimately devise a credible – albeit short term – alternative to avoid the ETS initially. It will be a sorely tempting option, particularly while other countries refuse to agree to binding carbon reduction targets.
We also hear that Abbott will take a much harder line on immigration and other issues that help the Libs bring back the Howard battlers they insulted and upset with WorkChoices.
IS WONG THE WRONG WOMAN FOR THE JOB?
The real question for the government now is whether Penny Wong is the right person to sell this controversial ETS scheme to the public. While impressive, imposing and imperious, Wong knows all the detail but seems utterly inept at communicating it in simple, clear terms.
Wong is a policy wonk. And we believe she is not suited to the task of talking with swinging voters – with Howard’s battlers – about why they should support a “big Green tax” as Andrew Bolt calls it.
Rudd could lose government on this issue. As a matter of urgency, Gillard should take it on, she is a much clearer communicator and enjoys quite a lot of grudging admiration, including from people like Bolt. Rudd could give Wong Gillard’s responsibilities and it would be a quick and easy change.
PASSED WITH FLYING COLOURS BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT ARGUE LABOR LOCALS
This weekend was a big test for Tony Abbott. If he’d failed it, by losing either of the two seats, it would have been severely demoralising for his party. Instead, they have put into Parliament two undoubtedly well-credentialed and reasonably experienced political operators who will form part of the future leadership of their party. Not a bad day at the office, indeed, for Tony Abbott.
There’ll be Labor people who’ll say their candidates would have done better. Probably true. In Higgins, it seems that booths in the ritziest part of the ritzy electorate delivered good results for the Greens, the middle-income Liberal areas much less so and the more Labor inclined booths swung hard to the Liberals. That suggests Labor would have done a lot better than the extremist out-of-towner selected by the Greens party in dubious circumstances. Local Labor people have argued this persuasively.
But Labor’s head strategist Karl Bitar will probably also be very relieved he opted out of two expensive and what now probably seems to him would have been futile exercises in Higgins and Bradfield.
At least Bitar – who inherited an $8 million debt from his bungling predecessor lefty Tim Gartrell – won’t have to worry about an early election. There was never much chance of that despite the barracking and hyperbole of some in the Press Gallery who might be careful to stay party-neutral but often serve as cheerleaders and boosters of causes like climate change. It clouds their analysis. There won’t be an early election for the simple reason that Rudd wants to fight the election on his terms, not centred on a complex, evolving, expensive scheme that interacts with multi-lateral international treaties and will scare the hell out of many Australians.
There’s nothing like the simple clarity that the democratic process brings. It cuts through so much of what passes for political analysis in the mainstream media like a freshly sharpened blade.
Discussion
78 comments for “VINDICATION: Abbott boosted by strong showing in Higgins and Bradfield”
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Congratulations Vexnews. You’ve successfully predicted the result again. A fine result from Australia’s greatest news site.
The Greens must be feeling “Blue”
Great effort from The Greens in Higgins. 30 plus per cent of primary vote.
So how will this be spun in the morning?
“The voters took the opportunity to send a message to Canberra about the economy”
“It wasn’t about Climate Change, because everyone believes that except a few deniers. Obviously, voters protested on local issues”
*lol*
In the face of a barrage of climate lies the Australian people exercised their common sense and voted against Rudd, Wong and their lunatic ETS.
The Greens claimed they were set to win. They have been humilated!
Abbott has done bloody well.
Legend!
O’Dwyer looks like Heath Ledger playing the Joker, Bronwyn Bishop style.
Democrats nearly doubled their vote.
Is it true that Clive Hamilton lives in Canberra?
No wonder they couldn’t win.
Bob Brown has a lot to answer for.
Zero credibility.
Love Greens party rationalising.
I thought the by-elections were a referendum on the ETS.
If it’s a vote on the ETS do you accept 60% against?
I rest my case.
LOL! Higgins and Bradfield are rolled gold Liberal seats. If they can’t comfortably win those seats they may as well disband.
You are right! This is a great result for Tony Abbott – it was a terrible few weeks for the Liberal Party (following on from some bad months)and the Lib candidates have done very well.
While the Lib candidates were well above average, the ETS must have been a significant factor.
Vex News is right – middle Australia has not been sold on the ETS. They will listen to credible arguments against it and punish the Rudd Government for this policy.
Tony is the man to do the job in discrediting this crazy tax – one that will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs for very dubious return.
Bring on the early election!!!
Imagine what would have happened if Labour contested both these by-elections!!!!
Hopefully Turnbull will resign soon just so we can see another by-election!
hilarious stuff!
Reality is you Libs were quite worried abt tonights results, such is the parlous state of your party.
Explains why two seats you would normally win without spending one campaign dollar are such a big deal to you guys. This would be like Labor winning a seat in Newcastle. In other words, so what?
Yeh magnificent win to Kelly. Must be hard for Libs to win seats that contain suburbs like Toorak.
Malcolm Mackerras should hang his head in shame.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/mackerras-predicts-boilover-in-higgins/story-e6frgczf-1225806355860
Its not the ETS which will decide the next election. It is WorkChoices which is toxic for the Liberals.
Another *star* candidate hits the deck.
When will these sleazy political carpet baggers ever ever learn?
FOOLS!
I can’t believe that this young woman is moulding herself on Bronny Bishop
The Libs must have been heartened when Mackerras gave them the low sign. Like Lou Richards picking your team to win the flag, a kiss of death.
Now Clive can stay in Canberra and practice his head tilt for the federal election.
Of course it isn’t a ‘vindication’ of the “Mad Monk”. The Liberals won two by-elections in blue-ribbon safe Liberal seats. Big deal, eh! By-elections traditionally go against the Government and these were safe Opposition seats. Not only that, but the Labor Party (the Government party) didn’t even field candidates – sensibly thinking it a totally unnecessary waste of money in safe Liberal seats in totally unnecessary by-elections which would have had no effect whatsoever on voting in the Parliament. By-elections caused solely because sulky petulant Liberal MPs refused to serve out the terms for which they had stood at the last election. Some vindication, eh!!
People (read: the media) were predicting a liberal wipe-out. Or at the very least they were salivating at that prospect. So it is a vindication because the wipe-out did not occur. It’s not rocket science to work this out.
Replace Wong with Gillard? Why? Remember Gillard at the height of her alleged powers couldn’t even manage to get her “boy”friend Timmee a job.The ETS is nothing but a massive open-ended tax which will do absolutely nothing as far as climate change is concerned but certainly will cost plenty of jobs.Rudd may have been a chance of selling his barley disguised shit sandwich while Turnbull was there but with Abbott and Joyce in charge the game has changed.Even brain-dead Labor voters will get the message.
I spent 7 hours on Bradfield booths yesterday. The Greens put an enormous amount of resources into this by election and had the ABC, the Sydney Morning Herald and the North Shore Times 100% in their pocket. Greens candidate Susie Gemmell showed up at the Iloura Street booth late yesterday morning and the press only had eyes for her, the media were like teenage boys at a Lady GaGa concert. The Greens really thought they could win here- or at the very least, force the Liberal to preferences like they did with Petro in Toorak. They failed miserably (Mackerras-style failure) and watching their spin in tomorrow’s paper will be joyous, to say the least.
I got it wrong as I thought there would be a 4% swing against the Libs when Turnbull was leader.
It appears the voters want the constitutional monarchist Tony Abbott instead of the republican (without a model) and wannabe president Malcolm Turnbull.
Perhaps the vote also reflects the voters are confused about the ETS or do not want to pay the big Rudd ETS tax.
The press say that Turnbull may start a 3rd force party (pro free enterprise, republican and pro ETS) but we had a centre progressive party like that; it was called the Democrats until the left took it over and destroyed it.
The Greens come out of this looking pretty sick with no real gains given the ALP did not stand candidates.
Now on to Copenhagen tomorrow which will achieve NOTHING. See my letter in today’s Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) about the real problem concerning the future of the planet – population control.
Some weighting must be taken into account with the poor turnout. Higgins has 88,000 enrolled but only 61% turned out while Bradfield has 95,000 enrolled voters but only 69% turned out – mainly ALP supporters and other ferals that will be fined I assume. It was nearly as bad as a Port Phillip City Council attendance voting election.
These By-Elections were not about the ETS at all. Both the Greens & Libs rejected the ETS.
They were about local issues, something that Clive Hamilton and the Greens didn’t understand, but Kelly ‘No Personality’ O’Dwyer and the Libs did.
***these By-Elections were not about the ETS at all***
Yes, they were, that’s why my mailbox was full of ETS related literature – from both sides. The Greens letterboxed an 8-page newspaper full of ETS agitprop. The snarky greenie polling booth volunteer – who managed to alienate everyone else – never shut up, with her message of doom and gloom, boiling seas, polar bears needing sunblock etc etc………
Just goes to show the predictions of a massive green swing, served up by a pro-left wing media, were false and misleading at best.
This is typical of the media trying to make a big issue out of nothing. These are blue ribbon seats and the liberals have held them confortably. End of story.
The real issue for Australian politics is not the ETS or Abbott vs Turnbull. The real issue is when will I, the Great Cmmr McPerton, will return to Victoria and save my beloved Liberal Party.
The banker thrashed the wanker!
The Greens did nothing in the Senate Climate Change debate, and then could not persuade enough voters in 2 crucial byelections to make either contest interesting.
Big failures. Are there more to come?
Chippy honey…
The lefty christian Australian Democrats did not even double their vote – 2007 1.9% 2009 2.3%…
Pathetic… seriously.
They were also beaten by the Sex Party and the DLP – how embarrassing.
Their ‘rebuild’ has failed abysmally. It’s really very sad.
Kristina Keneally is nobody’s puppet.
This we know, because she tells us so.
Did I mention I am a conservative? Dont believe me….just check out my Facebook.
Abbott has it nailed the public DO NOT understand ETS and Rudd will not debate, smart Rudd cant win this by having a debate.
Do not underestimate the monk.
Cardinal Pell please please don’t make me play leap frog with Mr Abbott again.
It’s pretty funny reading the pre-by-election media (Libs were in dire straits) with the post election commentary (Liberal win was foregone conclusion).
I’m waiting for the media attacks on Australians to start for us being so ‘uncaring’ about climate change. It can’t be long now. Heck some of the commentariat are even back to their ‘all of my friends support ETS so it’s not possible for anyone to be against it’ arguments.
What sort of bubble do these people live in?
I fail to see how these results can be trumpeted as a vindication for Abbott and the Liberals…
Before they continue their street dancing, they should reflect upon what has actually just occurred.
They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and man hours merely to retain two of their safest federal seats.
Is this what passes for a victory in the Liberal Party these days?
Lest we should ever forget… The ALP did not even bother fielding candidates.
Some vindication!
The Liberals had a swing against them in both seats when the ALP was not even standing and a heap of people failed to vote. Long may the Liberals keep having “victories” like this.
Jackson – the turnout is a running tally of the votes counted…it is misleading….it is now 70%…and will increase with pre poll and Postal votes …no option for the ALP voters appears most went Green (23% or DLP 4%) of the 31% at last election with SEx Party in 4th place with nearly 4% of the vote…..2pp impressive at nearly 60% however you want to paint it…
Booth analysis shows large swings against Liberal in the rusted on Liberal areas of Higgins – up to 24.3% on primaries – but mostly double digits 2PP.
Similarly – strong ALP booths went Liberal, again, double digit swings to Liberal, thanks to ALP voters.
The lesson here?
These swings a dangerous sign for the Liberals under Abbott.
KOD was elected in Higgins by Labor voters, pure and simple, as her own blue ribbon Liberal base deserted her in droves.
Because there was no Labor candidate, the Liberals have been lulled into a false sense of security by this (apparently status quo) result. But status quo is most definitely aint.
When both Labor and Green step up to fight the Abbott Liberals in next years general election – run for the hills as we see a mass erosion of the Liberal base vote, and seats start falling like nine pins.
We’ve just had the false war in Higgins and Bradfield – and seen the Liberal base vote crumble badly… and a lot of strategic voting from Labor supporters who will withdraw when they have their own candidates next time around.
Disaster is just around the corner for the Party who’s core base has just deserted it.
There I was at the celebration party for Higgins – plenty of cheap red flowing.
Speaking of red, Red Ted the ultimate wet strides in, looking very unloved.
However, you can not accuse him of being a total coward. Soon he was seen talking with some of the Kroger Admin people – no doubt mutual admiration. Gives Kelly a kiss. Long talk with right winger Julian Glynn – no doubt the latter told him a few truths about funding his campaign.
But for most of time he was shunned by almost everyone – has Ted learnt anything from recent federal events? Time will tell.
***they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and man hours merely to retain two of their safest federal seats****
Whaaat? Listen, silly- Bradfield is the second wettest blue ribbon in Australia, chockablock with doctor’s wives. If there was gonna be a backlash against the Liberals’ rejection of Turnbull and the ETS it would have shown up here, with a big swing to the Greens or the Climate Change Coalition. That didn’t happen, matter of fact there’s still a lonely carton of CCC HTVs sitting outside Wahroonga Public School. You can spin like a top but the facts are Saturday’s Bradfield result was very good news for Abbott, and a huge disappointment for the greenies.
Yawn.
Really Andrew this is complete bollocks. The Libs hold two of their safest seats against a pair of feral Greens and this is some kind of victory? The “swing” was entirely due to low-income Labor voters who didn’t want to vote for the Greens – that’s why the DLP got 10% at Hughesdale.
Age of Reason is quite right to point out that Higgins was also a famous victory for the DLP, which trounced the Australian Sex, Pornography and Human Trafficking Party, whose polling-station volunteers were wearing t-shirts in a shade very close to DLP Yellow – though in fairness they did differentiate themselves by bearing the slogan “Vote 1 Sex”. The two sighted outside the South Yarra Library polling station on toorak road looked respectively like a poll-dancer and a pimp. They did not dare show themselves down the road at the Toorak Uniting Church polling station, however!
Reality Check – those are interesting booth figures if true, but it’s simply way too early for anyone confidently to call the result of the next full election, as we simply have no idea yet of what Abbott is going to do or how well he will do it. He is charming, and may be capable of winning many voters over or back. He gets some very unsympathetic media coverage from the Fairfax and the Australian Betwetting Collective but a good opposition leader can cut through that. I rate his political skills very highly and I think that some people concentrate too much on his conservative political beliefs and not enough on those skills. Apart from that, as lefties always tell us, Australia is a very conservative country (almost as bad as apartheid South Africa apparently) – so it should not seem odd for it to embrace a conservative leader, as it did Howard.
‘Age of reason’ makes a good argument.
But still a strong result for Abbott, regardless of why.
And he’s right that it’s interesting that many Labor voters prefer the Liberals to the Greens party, that’s been our view for a long time.
We doubt it has much to do with the Greens party’s choice of ‘feral’ candidates. Most of them are these days.
” ..alot of strategic voting from labor supporters..”
Reality Check, are you serious? What is their strategy.I know what Labor’s, as a party, will be. They will be determined to cut Abbott down as quickly as possible so that he doesn’t build momentum.
Does this result ( a two party preferred swing to Liberal ) undermine Abbo. No way!
What will concern Labor, and they will be going into overdrive to devise a strategy to thwart this, is Abbotts clear intention to begin to target their base, especially those seats full of coal miners in the Hunter, WA and QLD. Abbott is speaking a language already very different to the Left of the Liberal party, and already it is resonating with those hard working, socially conservative trade unionists who want to send their kids to good schools, are very self sufficient and love their country.
Be very afraid Ruddsters you could well be a one term government….don’t leap ahead of the electorate on things such ETS’s….most people care more about their jobs than anything else…and those seem to be disappearing at a rate of knots…listen, listen. listen
Madam Lash we have determined what you are – a right winged slut.
Madam Lash is nobody’s puppet, she is nobody’s protoge, she is nobody’s GURL…
Why can’t I get a safe seat? I spend all my time sucking up to people, surely a safe seat is coming my way? Woe is me.
Anon you win the hairy palms award for being a persistent jerk
At least my left wing candidate won. He slipped in by using Johnson and Johnson baby oil, didn’t he Nick.
Alex I’ve asked you before not to use my name, they are starting to watch this site at Johnson and Johnson and they are taking note of the Blogs that mention me. The Alan Jones segment has been picked up in the US. I think someone on the left has sent it to them. Alex you said everything would be OK but I am not so sure now. People are ringing up work saying they will not buy anymore Johnson and Johnson products anymore. You know I am feeling the heat, keep quite.
Nick I didn’t send anything to your head office – honest.
I just wonder how it would sound President Phartios.
Paul, I hope you remember me, after all it was really me who helped you win the pre-selection for the seat, it wasn’t Alex. You know I might need a job if Johnson and Johnson get rid of me, after Alan Jones finishes me off. I can be your chief staffer and I can stuff you up like I have stuffed everything else up.
Just while people are talking about puppets and all the rest of it in the Labor Party without much validity this stuff also continues in the Liberal Party.
The correspondence I receive about this fellow Alex Hawke, the Federal Member for Mitchell, is endless, you cant jump over it. And, this must surely be the most despised person in the Liberal Party.
One letter yesterday, or this morning, no matter how much you say about Alex Hawke unless you expose Nick Campbell the president of the Liberal Party who provides Alex Hawke with cover, Alex Hawke will have protection.
The letter goes on – not much is know about this Nick Campbell because he makes it a point to stay in the shadows, but he is a backroom operator known as the silent assassin because he knifes people who don’t agree with him behind the scenes.
This is the Liberal Party of NSW. They are aiming to form government. It says in 2007 this Nick Campbell and this is common knowledge, everyone knows this, it is fact he lodged his nomination form for preselection for the seat of Mitchell as a smokescreen for Alex Hawke. Alan Cadman the man who had been there for years had been knifed Campbell withdrew his nomination so Hawke could win.
It says this wet behind the ears marshmallow Alex Hawke couldn’t win or do anything for that matter without Nick Campbell. It’s the very reason they call Alex Hawke bib and Nick Campbell bub.
It says in the Bradfield preselection Nick Campbell did a deal to make sure Tom Switzer didn’t get the seat. Nick has apparently boasted that “no one has screwed over more conservatives than me!”.
People are angry about this sort of stuff and they are writing. They cant speak publicly because if you speak publicly about the Liberal Party they will ban you and run you out of the party.
This is the bloke who is the president of the state Liberal Party. And, we are worried about Tripodi and Obied? This is the next government of New South Wales and in light of everything that is written and said about Alex Hawke how is this bloke still on the loose?
Did Campbell help Hawke with the redistribution in Mitchell?
Is it true because of the redistribution Hawke won preselection?
Has Campbell shown, as is being said, a willingness to change the rules to ensure he gets the outcome he wants. Did he change the rules to change the entitlements to who gets to vote in preselections?
These things are being said to me and this bloke is being fully employed by Johnson & Johnson Australia, Campbell, and he is the president of the Liberal Party in New South Wales.
How much is he being paid by Johnson & Johnson?
How much work does he do for Johnson & Johnson and how much work does he do for the Liberal Party.
Did he employ people at Johnson & Johnson to work for him and are they former Liberal Party staffers?
And, also, his name has been linked with the demise of John Brogden. What do Johnson & Johnson get out of the arrangements?
The correspondence I get on this is monumental and people are worried about Triopdi and Obeid! Barry O’Farrell cant be happy with this.
Who is covering for Alex Hawke and why? The Party was promised decisive disciplinary action against those responsible for a video which exposes the bikie gang tactics of Alex Hawke. But, no action has been taken against Alex Hawke or his staffers when that appalling behaviour when a meeting was called for the Federal Electoral Conference some weeks ago. But when a video comes out damaging to Hawke it is though everything is put aside and the perpetrators are hunted down. Well, who is hunting down Hawke and his staffers for their behaviour?
It seems as though Campbell should step down from Johnson & Johnson or from the Liberal Party. If this continues to go on I will continue to talk about it.
Tony Abbott is now the federal leader, Barry O’Farrell is the state leader, both of them are from New South Wales and this stuff cannot be allowed to go on under their watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB5nhn9ajag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nm5bTGqRzI&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vLypfLwOXM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSXPHm2dtO8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNtwR-_Yh1Y&feature=related
LOL. When you can’t win the argument, fight the man eh? Typical lefties.
“…….Jones is unique in Australian radio. Lured to 2GB from rival 2UE in 2002, he has taken the station from the rating pits to the top. He has a complex ownership deal with majority owner John Singleton which, through a mix of salary and profit-sharing, makes him the nation’s highest-paid radio personality, commanding more than $4 million a year.
He has won the breakfast ratings in every survey bar one for the past decade and a half and his popularity and ratings performance allows 2GB to charge top dollar for live reads as well as spots across all time slots. He is pivotal to the station’s success”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/alan-jones-2gb-uncertainty/story-0-1225700222104
Indeed I am unique in Australian radio…..I am only Announcer to be arrested loitering outside an English Male Lavatory intent on ‘Dogging’.
Has anyone seen my dog — here girl here girl.
It’s time for your PAL and worm tablet.
Michael and I enjoy regular dogging in the toilets at Telopea Railway Station. I pay top dollar for Michael’s service and entry.
Michael, why do you keep referring to Andrew’s wife as a dog? What do you have against her personally? What is it that she has ever done to you? Do you have a problem with females? Maybe it’s because you are so useless and fat, you could never actually score a woman for yourself?
Michael, we all know that you have no purpose to your life. You really need to stop writing on VEX and do something constructive for a change and No, I don’t mean that arrangement you had with Cr Andrew Wilson, that doesn’t count as real work.
Michael, What are you going to do with your life after the next State Election when all your new heroes are turfed out of a job or failed to get a gig? Are you just going to spend the rest of your life as a cave dweller who slags out women and bends over to David Clarke?
Michael, you need help and a new direction. I seriously wish you the best of luck in the future, you’re certainly going to need it.
Here’s the evidence that this whole thread is based on a false premise: there was no swing to the Liberals in Higgins.
Hawksburn Central (Labor booth)
2007 formal 1342 / 2009 formal 981 (down 27%)
2007 informal 60 (4.3) / 2009 informal 76 (7.2) (up 2.9%)
2007 total 1402 / 2009 total 1057 (down 24%)
Toorak (Liberal booth)
2007 formal 2577 / 2009 formal 2309 (down 10%)
2007 informal 67 (2.5) / 2009 informal 93 (3.7) (up 0.8%)
2007 total 2642 / 2009 total 2492 (down 6%)
Thus we see that the turnout dropped much more sharply in the Labor booth, and that the informal vote was both higher and rose more. On top of that the DLP vote at Hawksburn Central was 13.8%, while at Toorak it was 1.4%. So that’s where the missing Labor vote went – abstention, informality, DLP as ALP substitute. This shows that there was no “swing to the Liberals”, just low-income Labor people refusing to vote for the Greens.
If he wasn’t one of your mates he would be copping a hiding on here. He should be sacked or stand down aimple as that!
where is the story on Adem Kubilay Somyurek???
Listening intently to the Federal Opposition Liberals:
1. No market based mechanism to tackle climate change…
2. A more flexible Labor Market…
3. Re-regulation of retail banks…
4. Slash immigration from 190,000 to 35,000 annually… and
5. Citizens Electoral Council predictions of worldwide economic collapse.
Hmmmm…
Question: Are the Abbott Liberals going to give me a litre of milk with the packet of fruit loops just delivered????
Fair call.
We Greens are now going to have to ramp up our nutbag economics department to outdo these Abbott Libs.
At the moment we are looking economically responsible by comparison – and we are not happy!
Higgins by election is a test of nothing…. Kooyong will be lost to the liberals, without significant gains in the polls between now and the election.
I have one only one thing to say GET JOYCE OUT OF FINANCE. The coalition has no hope with him bradishing his loopy economic theories about. What he has said in the last week is absolute madness. LaRouche eat your heart out you have nothing on our Barney.