“Mr Rudd maintained his usual restraint but beamed widely and embraced and kissed family, friends and supporters as he took the short walk to the stage.” The new Prime Minister – Ruddbot – is incredibly restrained in his behaviour, not a good sign of things to come from a new government. Or perhaps half the bottle of Chivas Regal (held in the pic by Robin) is having its effects.
I’m furiously going through the numbers now to confirm my slightly inebriated belief that the Greens will save us from an abundance of hubris. The morning news is:
It seemed there was a strong swing to Greens across the lower house count, and I was hoping that would translate to the Senate, the only place it really counts. Now I shall find an ice pack and simply enjoy the moment. A very personal moment for me seeing Howard dumped.
The picture is of the almost candidate Robin and my good friend and neighbour Mr Singh. I hadn't really touched up the bottle at that stage.Morning after reflections – the tsunami effect
After a bit of the hair of the dog (that bit me) I’m more able to look back at a weird and wonderful night. I was expecting a fairly early result, one way or the other.
We still (fortunately) record our vote on pieces of paper which must then be counted. The fly in the ointment last night was that the early count was coming from small outlying booths, and didn’t really reflect the final result.
In fact it was around 10 pm before the real numbers started flowing in, the big polling stations which must have been triple counting primaries and preference distribution. It was an anus clenching night and the Australian Electoral Commission deserves congratulations for the way it was done.
But it was like a tsunami, the silent killer. No one was conceding or bragging most of the evening, and then we were swamped by a Labor wave. I predicted a 30 seat gain and might have egg on my face. At this stage it is looking closer to 28.
But the great news is that neither major party will own the Senate.
4 comments:
A Green party that actually wins seats. Damn, I wish we had one of those in the US.
abi, I've spent years suffering the fact I was know too Greens people. Bloody hell! Our first really good one was Bob Brown (now party leader) when he was my doctor.
But given half a chance I would be in Bob's ear organising a tour of the US. Now they have broadened fro pure tree hugging to environment as an economic issue I'm sold.
I'm late to the party, so congrats first of all.
Secondly, in CZ the Greens actually team up with the conservatives to form the coalition. Strange bedfellows indeed, but it does help to temper things. Not such a bad deal. However, if the greens are as novice at politics in Australia as they are here, it is small consolation.
Another Con bites the dust! Yes!
PT, the Greens are well established here and becoming a serious third force. I intend to do a background on them later in the week.
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