Australian federal election 2022

[David]

[David]

[Pies4shaw]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -opponents

If he were an Australian politician, you'd have to be saddened that Colin Boyce has any role in our polity. Happily, he's just a figment of Queensland's imagination.

[David]

Was thinking today how the Liberals have effectively wedged themselves on climate change. Can't take it seriously for fear of alienating their base, but can't keep bullshitting the public without alienating the majority of the population and losing votes to the Teals et al.

Happy for them to spend a good deal more time in opposition figuring that one out.

[David]

Looks like Sturt and Deakin are in the bag for the Liberals now. Labor still 2 short of a majority with 4 seats left in play: Lyons, Macnamara, Gilmore and Brisbane. First two still leaning Labor, last two too close to call.

Brisbane looks like it's going to come down to Animal Justice Party preferences. Somewhat amusingly, they gave their second preference on their how-to-vote cards to Labor (in what was undoubtedly a dodgy backroom deal), but the vast majority of their voters seem to have ignored the instructions and preferenced the Greens instead.

[stui magpie]

Was thinking today how the Liberals have effectively wedged themselves on climate change. Can't take it seriously for fear of alienating their base, but can't keep bullshitting the public without alienating the majority of the population and losing votes to the Teals et al.

Happy for them to spend a good deal more time in opposition figuring that one out.

They are definitely wedged on that, among other things. The harder right factions are in a battle with what's left of the moderates. What they need to do is read the room.

[stui magpie]

AEC appears to have called Gilmore and Deakin for Libs.

What's interesting is looking at Voter Turnout in some of the seats. It ranges from mid 60% to high 70%. That's a lot of people not voting.

[David]

[David]

Lyons is confirmed for Labor. So they're on 75 now with only three seats left in doubt. Brisbane and Gilmore remain an each-way bet; Macnamara looks like it's the one that's most likely to give them majority, but apparently Labor MP Josh Burns is unwilling to claim victory due to internal info he's getting from scrutineers. Not sure how long we're going to have to wait until that's called.

[stui magpie]

Ryan is also a knifes edge between the Nats and Greens.

[David]

The Coalition MP has already conceded there:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic ... tion-loss/

[David]

In other news, it's not easy to lose the moral high ground to Peter Dutton, but Tanya Plibersek seemingly achieved it yesterday:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -voldemort

A spokesperson for Plibersek said she had reached out to Dutton soon after the interview to “unreservedly” apologise, saying she should not have made the remark.

Dutton labelled the comments “unfortunate” but said they were “water off a duck’s back”. “I don’t think you need to be nasty and mean,” he told 2GB radio on Thursday. “I’m not the prettiest bloke on the block but I hope that I’m going to be pretty effective.”

Dutton said he was “not bald by choice” noting he had been diagnosed with a skin condition several years ago. He said people should criticise politicians for their policies and decisions “but when you are going for personal characteristics that’s a different story”.

Of course the resemblance is uncanny, and I'll be the first to admit I'm partial to the odd "potato" slur. But in the wake of the Will Smith / Chris Rock incident, one gets the impression that unkind remarks about involuntary baldness probably aren't going to go down as well as they once did.

[stui magpie]

Good response from Dutton I thought.

[Pies4shaw]

In any event, you'd think that it might be enough of a free kick to focus on the fetid output of his surprisingly small brain.

[eddiesmith]

Imagine if someone said things about Tanya's appearance...