Oz election thread #3 - Rudd's Labour

Rann has edge in SA cliffhanger
By Gary Rivett
Updated 4 minutes ago

The Rann Labor government may be able to hold on and serve a third consecutive term in South Australia, as vote counting shows a big, but far from uniform, swing to the Liberals.

The Opposition seems unlikely to pick up some of the most marginal Labor-held electorates it would need for a win.

Labor is expected to lose three of the state's eight most marginal seats and is keeping close watch on two others, Bright and Hartley.

It also faces the shock loss of the central city seat of Adelaide with of a swing to the Liberals of nearly 15 per cent. ....<cont>

Tas Liberals expect to govern
Updated 6 minutes ago

Tasmania's Opposition Leader Will Hodgman says he expects to be given the opportunity to govern.

Mr Hodgman addressed a packed tally room in Hobart tonight and said his party looked like capturing most of the primary vote.

Labor has lost four seats and the swing against the Government near the end of the first round of counting is about 12 per cent.

"Tasmanians have sent a very clear message tonight and it is one for change," Mr Hodgman said.

"It is one for a brighter, positive future. I will ensure that we will work constructively, positively and with their interests at our heart."

Mr Hodgman topped the poll in Franklin and has the highest vote in the state.

Greens leader Nick McKim has also addressed the large crowd in the tally room.

He says a hung Parliament is an opportunity for a new era of co-operative politics in Tasmania.

Labor suffers in SA and Tasmania
KATHARINE MURPHY, ADELAIDE, AND ANDREW DARBY, HOBART
March 21, 2010/the AGE


VOTERS in Tasmania and South Australia swung heavily against incumbent Labor governments last night, but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is likely to be relieved the results were not worse.

In a dramatic result in Tasmania, the Labor government was left battered and its future in doubt as the Greens grabbed the balance of power.

Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgman said he expected his party to form the next state government.

In South Australia, the result was better for Labor than some polls predicted, with Premier Mike Rann likely to cling to power, despite a big swing against the government.

In Tasmania, Premier David Bartlett suffered a swing of about 12 per cent, and was left to contest minority government against the Liberals, who last night staked the first claim.

Mr Hodgman said that ''if the result turns out as it appears it will from tonight, then we expect to be given the opportunity to form the next government of Tasmania''.

He said that it looked like the result would be 10 seats to the Liberals, 10 to Labor and five to the Greens. The final make-up will depend on the distribution of preferences, which could take weeks to settle.

Mr Hodgman said if both major parties had the same number of seats it was clear the Liberals had won the most votes. During the campaign, Premier Bartlett said whoever finishes without a majority but with the most votes should be allowed to try to form a government.

Last night, Mr Bartlett gave a concession-type speech in which he congratulated Mr Hodgman and Greens leader Nick McKim, but stopped short of conceding.

Labor's loss of majority followed a fierce negative campaign against the Greens that insiders said prevented the ALP from suffering a worse drubbing.

Both Mr Hodgman and Mr Bartlett have ruled out reaching an agreement with the Greens.

Last night, a jubilant Mr McKim said it was the party's largest vote in Tasmania or in any state or territory election.

''Today Tasmanians have deliberately chosen to elect a House of Assembly with no single party in absolute power,'' Mr McKim said.

'This is a historic result for the Greens and a historic result for Tasmania,'' he said.

In South Australia, the early results showed a solid swing to the Liberal opposition led by Isobel Redmond.

But the count throughout the evening suggested the Liberals would fall short of delivering the statewide sweep required to unseat the incumbent.

The count showed big swings against the government after a campaign overshadowed by the Michelle Chantelois controversy. But the protest vote was not uniform.

The Liberals had needed to gain 10 seats in the 47-seat House of Assembly in order to claim government in their own right. Last night the likely gain was four seats.

Last night, Liberal leader Isobel Redmond was refusing to concede defeat, saying it was still possible the Liberals could form government.

However, the likely outcome is that Mr Rann will hold on in the state in his own right, with a slim majority of between one and three seats. ...<cont>

Tas Liberals more cautious on election outcome
By state political reporter Simon Frazer
Updated 1 hour 41 minutes ago

Tasmania's Opposition Leader has softened his claim to being the state's next premier, one day after voters abandoned the Labor Government.

Tasmanian voters ended 12 years of majority Labor rule yesterday but it could be weeks before it becomes clear whether the state is heading for minority Labor or Liberal rule.

Liberal Leader Will Hodgman met the media at Hobart's Royal Botanical Gardens today to outline his plans.

In the tally room last night, Mr Hodgman appeared to be claiming victory but today he was more circumspect.

"There's still some way to go before the final votes are counted and the position's clear," he said.

Not conceding

Labor Leader David Bartlett will not concede defeat despite a 12 per cent swing against his party to the Liberal Opposition and the Greens.... <cont>

"The whole Chantelois thing."

Labor told to form government in Tasmania
April 8, 2010 - 5:55PM/the AGE

Caretaker premier David Bartlett has been ordered by the state's Governor, Peter Underwood, to recall Parliament and test his support as premier on the floor of the assembly, a Government House statement says.

The state's parliament will be recalled within weeks.

The make-up of the next Tasmanian parliament will be a 10-10-5 split of Liberal, Labor and the Greens, respectively.

Labor lost its majority, suffering a 12 per cent swing, at the March 20 election.

Mr Underwood said Mr Bartlett, as the incumbent, had an obligation to form a government so that Parliament could test it on the floor of the house.

Mr Bartlett has accepted the charge.

Earlier today, Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim pledged conditional support for a minority Labor government.

AAP

Hodgman threatens no-confidence vote
By Jane Bestwick
Posted 32 minutes ago/ABC News

Tasmania's new Labor minority Government is already facing the threat of a no-confidence motion. ...

Detention centre a 'living hell hole'
April 18, 2010 - 3:46PM/the AGE

The federal government's decision to reopen the Curtin detention facility signals a change of policy and a return to the Howard-style approach of sending asylum seekers off to the desert indefinitely, the Greens say.

Greens Senator for South Australia and spokeswoman on immigration and human rights Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Rudd government's recent asylum seeker decisions were "a dog's breakfast".

The decision announced earlier on Sunday, to send Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers whose applications for refugee status had been suspended for up to six months, to the remote facility that was closed in 2002 was "simply warehousing" vulnerable people, she said.

"I'm very concerned that this is just another part of policy-on-the-run from the Australian government," Senator Hanson-Young told journalists at her office in Adelaide on Sunday.

"The immigration policy, the refugee response from the government, is a dog's breakfast - it's one announcement after another without the real follow-through of any type of practical long-term or humane approach."

She said Curtin had in the past been described as "a living hell hole"...<cont>

Dole ban is Abbott's 'Sarah Palin moment'
By Brigid Andersen and staff
Updated 8 hours 1 minute ago/ABC news online


Controversial proposal: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott (AAP: Dean Lewins)

The mining sector and unions have poured cold water on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's idea to scrap the dole for under-30s.

Mr Abbott says the Coalition is considering withdrawing the dole from some job seekers to push them into taking jobs in sectors where there are skills shortages, such as mining.

But some industry insiders say this could be a disaster.

Steven Smyth, from the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, says it is not safe to push unskilled workers into the sort of mining work carried out by his members.

"To take people and say 'right, you can go and work in an underground coal mine or an open cut coal mine' without having the proper training, the skills and the competency I think would be disastrous and is something the union is not in favour of," he said.

"We'd push the opposite, that the people be high skilled, highly trained, and competent."

Queensland Resources Council director Michael Roche told ABC Radio that Mr Abbott seems misguided in his approach to addressing the skills shortage.

"If he thinks you can translate an unemployed young man or woman from Townsville or Cairns or wherever overnight into the resources sector, then clearly we need to give Mr Abbott a good briefing on the workforce's needs and the fact that we need skilled people that have done some training," he said.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes has slammed Mr Abbott's idea as "stupid".

"This is crass politics at its worst. It's the type of thing we did hear from Pauline Hanson," he told Sky News.

"I think it's one of Tony Abbott's Sarah Palin moments....<cont>