Australia General Discussion 4.0: It ain’t easy under Albanese

[Meclazine for Israel]

And.....gone.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-17/senator-david-van-resigns-from-liberal-party/102492092

"Senator David Van has quit the Liberal Party, in the wake of multiple allegations of inappropriate behaviour."

That was brief.

[CumbrianLefty]

I keep thinking of our own 80s pop starlet David Van Day when his name is mentioned.

[morgieb]

Vale Simon Crean.

74 no age either. He wasn't a good leader but he seemed like a decent man and was a strong Cabinet stalwart for a number of years. He will be missed.

[Meclazine for Israel]

A sad outcome for a hard working Australian Politician:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-29/key-findings-icac-report-gladys-berejiklian-daryl-maguire/102541084

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-30/gladys-berejiklian-and-the-icac-tapes/101488100

Darryl Maguire was clearly engaging in corrupt conduct.

Gladys was entangled in his web through some form of romantic delusion of having a partner.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Anybody who comments on this story ends up in Court.

There are currently two men facing prosecution over harassing Britney online. Her fiance is being sought in relation to legal proceedings as has she.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-06/brittany-higgins-legal-options-linda-reynolds/102571390

You could be next. Careful what you write.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

South Australian MHA for MacKillop, Nick McBride, has left the Liberal party to join the crossbench. Give it a few weeks and whatever factional nonsense triggered it will get to the papers. Given his seat he shouldn’t have any problems with re-election. A new problem for the SA Liberals!

[AustralianSwingVoter]

The LNP has retained the seat of Fadden on a 4% swing. An expected solid (but not outstanding result) from heartland Coalition country.

[CumbrianLefty]

Apparently the ALP had to be rather pressed into standing a candidate at all.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Apparently the ALP had to be rather pressed into standing a candidate at all.

The precedent of standing candidates in uncompetitive by-elections is long, storied and muddled. Governments more often skip them than oppositions, different state parties do it differently and local branches can swing the decision.

[JimJamUK]

The LNP has retained the seat of Fadden on a 4% swing. An expected solid (but not outstanding result) from heartland Coalition country.

Looking like only a 2-3% swing now. Still a swing is better than no swing (or one in the opposite direction), but it’s generally been a nondescript performance by most parties, with the exception of Legalise Cannabis (very good) and the Greens (very bad).

[Agonized-Statism]

Will be visiting 'Straya in December, see you guys soon 👀

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Will be visiting 'Straya in December, see you guys soon 👀

Which state(s) do you plan to visit?

[Agonized-Statism]

Will be visiting 'Straya in December, see you guys soon 👀

Which state(s) do you plan to visit?

Still figuring it out. I'd love to see it all but my purse strings (and time) are tight- correspondingly, this is something I'm kinda tagging along for, but that I had some significance in deciding as someone who's long admired and studied Australia. Would love to see some Australian Gold Rush history in Western Australia, Ayer's Rock, the Old Gum Tree, the Great Barrier Reef, etc., but like the US, most everything seems to be in the east, so I'll probably stick around Sydney.

Australia, is Canberra worth a visit? Planned cities are fun and obviously I'm the boring type who likes museums and stuff

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Will be visiting 'Straya in December, see you guys soon 👀

Which state(s) do you plan to visit?

Still figuring it out. I'd love to see it all but my purse strings (and time) are tight- correspondingly, this is something I'm kinda tagging along for, but that I had some significance in deciding as someone who's long admired and studied Australia. Would love to see some Australian Gold Rush history in Western Australia, Ayer's Rock, the Old Gum Tree, the Great Barrier Reef, etc., but like the US, most everything seems to be in the east, so I'll probably stick around Sydney.

Australia, is Canberra worth a visit? Planned cities are fun and obviously I'm the boring type who likes museums and stuff

this is worth visiting
If you have enough time.
It seems you would enjoy seeing the Parliament building in Canberra at least.
Darwin might also be interesting if you have interest in WW2 history. Though I'm not sure what's there in that front...

[Agonized-Statism]

Will be visiting 'Straya in December, see you guys soon 👀

Which state(s) do you plan to visit?

Still figuring it out. I'd love to see it all but my purse strings (and time) are tight- correspondingly, this is something I'm kinda tagging along for, but that I had some significance in deciding as someone who's long admired and studied Australia. Would love to see some Australian Gold Rush history in Western Australia, Ayer's Rock, the Old Gum Tree, the Great Barrier Reef, etc., but like the US, most everything seems to be in the east, so I'll probably stick around Sydney.

Australia, is Canberra worth a visit? Planned cities are fun and obviously I'm the boring type who likes museums and stuff

this is worth visiting
If you have enough time.
It seems you would enjoy seeing the Parliament building in Canberra at least.
Darwin might also be interesting if you have interest in WW2 history. Though I'm not sure what's there in that front...

Surprisingly I'm neither more green than red (regarding the Tree of Knowledge) nor one of the kids who'd sit in the back of class drawing tanks and guns (read: future military historians, on visiting Darwin), but noted! Parliament Building is also noted but kinda sad as someone who still hasn't seen D.C. despite literally living in two Southern states

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Will be visiting 'Straya in December, see you guys soon 👀

Which state(s) do you plan to visit?

Still figuring it out. I'd love to see it all but my purse strings (and time) are tight- correspondingly, this is something I'm kinda tagging along for, but that I had some significance in deciding as someone who's long admired and studied Australia. Would love to see some Australian Gold Rush history in Western Australia, Ayer's Rock, the Old Gum Tree, the Great Barrier Reef, etc., but like the US, most everything seems to be in the east, so I'll probably stick around Sydney.

Australia, is Canberra worth a visit? Planned cities are fun and obviously I'm the boring type who likes museums and stuff

this is worth visiting
If you have enough time.
It seems you would enjoy seeing the Parliament building in Canberra at least.
Darwin might also be interesting if you have interest in WW2 history. Though I'm not sure what's there in that front...

Surprisingly I'm neither more green than red (regarding the Tree of Knowledge) nor one of the kids who'd sit in the back of class drawing tanks and guns (read: future military historians, on visiting Darwin), but noted! Parliament Building is also noted but kinda sad as someone who still hasn't seen D.C. despite literally living in two Southern states

What are you most interested in re: Australia?

[Ebowed]

The LNP has retained the seat of Fadden on a 4% swing. An expected solid (but not outstanding result) from heartland Coalition country.

Looking like only a 2-3% swing now. Still a swing is better than no swing (or one in the opposite direction), but it’s generally been a nondescript performance by most parties, with the exception of Legalise Cannabis (very good) and the Greens (very bad).

The apparent swing from Greens to Legalise Cannabis is probably the most interesting aspect of this by-election.  Legalise Cannabis did not field a candidate in this seat last time.  Makes you wonder how many Greens voters actually support the party's agenda as opposed to just picking up votes from contrarians.  (I don't think I'm alone in finding the Greens' support for legalising cannabis to be the most attractive part of their platform!)

All the chatter the past few months has been about Greens taking votes from Labor as young people grow increasingly fed up with the rental market.  This isn't exactly the sort of seat where you would have expected that to materialise due to its demographics, so it's not enough to draw any conclusions, but this is not a good result for the Greens.

[Agonized-Statism]

What are you most interested in re: Australia?

Not to clog up the politics thread, but my aim is just to get a good feel for the country. Will unironically take pub recommendations.

[Ebowed]

What are you most interested in re: Australia?

Not to clog up the politics thread, but my aim is just to get a good feel for the country. Will unironically take pub recommendations.

Meh, you've seen one overpriced pub full of poker machines, you've seen them all.

Melbourne is overrated for tourists; it has terrible public transport beyond the inner-city and the whole place is kind of dirty and ugly.  Sydney is much more beautiful, with a substantially better train network (with connectivity to other major centres across NSW), but you'll also burn a hole in your wallet if you want to do anything whatsoever (including eating and drinking).  I actually would recommend Canberra; it is certainly a bit quiet but if you don't mind that, it's very nice, there's plenty to do, and people are generally friendlier than in Sydney or Melbourne.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Rockingham by-election results are in, Labor’s primary vote down 33%… from 82% to 49% lol. Liberals however didn’t reap the benefits, instead an ex-Labor local councillor (the usual pre-selection dispute) drew near level with the Liberals and looks to comfortably leapfrog them on preferences. It’ll be a few days till counts are realigned, but the rough estimates are Labor 59% 2pp.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Rockingham by-election results are in, Labor’s primary vote down 33%… from 82% to 49% lol. Liberals however didn’t reap the benefits, instead an ex-Labor local councillor (the usual pre-selection dispute) drew near level with the Liberals and looks to comfortably leapfrog them on preferences. It’ll be a few days till counts are realigned, but the rough estimates are Labor 59% 2pp.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-30/rockingham-by-election-analysis-politics-post-mcgowan/102644144

Mark certainly went out on a high.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Rockingham by-election results are in, Labor’s primary vote down 33%… from 82% to 49% lol. Liberals however didn’t reap the benefits, instead an ex-Labor local councillor (the usual pre-selection dispute) drew near level with the Liberals and looks to comfortably leapfrog them on preferences. It’ll be a few days till counts are realigned, but the rough estimates are Labor 59% 2pp.

Mark certainly went out on a high.

Roger Cook shouldn’t be having any problems on this result though. 67% 2pp in Rockingham leaves Labor in a very solid position statewide. And the Liberals stuck on 17% primary and likely third on preferences is pretty abysmal.

[Ebowed]

This is the second by-election where Legalise Cannabis weirdly outperforms the Greens, after federal Fadden by-election.  Intriguing!

[JimJamUK]

Pauline Hanson has sacked Mark Latham as One Nation leader in NSW. Various reasons given include electoral performance, a poor relationship with the media, and the misuse of funds (lack thereof). He’s currently facing a defamation case over homophobic comments against a fellow MP (which even Hanson felt the need to publicly condemn).

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Pauline Hanson has sacked Mark Latham as One Nation leader in NSW. Various reasons given include electoral performance, a poor relationship with the media, and the misuse of funds (lack thereof). He’s currently facing a defamation case over homophobic comments against a fellow MP (which even Hanson felt the need to publicly condemn).

Seems to be a power trip from Pauline Hanson and the federal executive. Australian minor parties can have very vicious infighting due to the requirements for seperate state parties and a national executive, which can get rather cliquey.