Despite some satisfaction in Victorian ALP Left circles, Saturday’s result has refocused the right’s attention on its divided status, with one peacemaker reporting that the “language change had been extraordinary” and that the state branch was now bracing for a “monumental sh-tfight”.
ALP
Essential: 51-49 to Coalition
The latest Essential poll has the Coalition maintaining its 51-49 lead for a third week running, down a point on the primary vote to 44 per cent with Labor steady on 38 and the Greens up one to 11, writes William Bowe.
Vic Labor confronts the post-Brumby
world
The Victorian Labor Party is preparing for a smooth and uncontroversial leadership transition, with the party’s Socialist Left faction now in a commanding position to install health minister Daniel Andrews after it lost just one MP on Saturday night.
Victorians heed the NSW and Qld experience, reject a fourth-term govt
Rather than let the rot set in as it did in NSW and Queensland, Victorian voters have opted for a continuation of the same sort of government under new leadership.
Baillieu set to seize power in Victoria: poll
The Liberal Party is set to deny John Brumby his first election victory and seize power in Victoria, according to a Morgan Poll conducted exclusively for Crikey.
Farr: Gillard’s got grit
The fact that Julia Gillard managed to knock off her old deputy, negotiate power after a hung parliament and still remain popular in her party is testament to her fighting skills this year, declares Malcolm Farr
Herald Sun caught trying to entrap Victorian MPs
The Herald Sun has been caught red-handed trying to entrap Victorian MPs in an unethical and possibly illegal sting operation just days before the state election.
The continuing culture war on marriage
If gay marriage can’t be allowed because of cultural and religious grounds, then why exactly did the Howard government legislate against it back in 2004? asks The Piping Shrike.
hung parliament How Australia made a hung parliament work
There isn’t a whole lot of historical precedence for Australian federal governments coping with a hung parliament, but there certainly is amongst the states. Anne Twomey takes a fascinating look back at the 1910 NSW Labor government.
Shanahan: Labor’s popularity rise just a blip
The latest Newspoll does have Labor slightly ahead at 52-48, but the result is due to a dip in Coalition support and increased Greens voters. Don’t get excited about a honeymoon period, claims Dennis Shanahan.
Newspoll: Labor creeps ahead
After a fairly lengthy period where the phone pollsters marched in lock-step, Newspoll has broken away from the pack with a 52-48 two-party preferred lead for Labor, reports William Bowe.
Grog: Could the real Paul Howes please stand up?
So-called “faceless” union man Paul Howes has bold visions for the future of the ALP, but sadly you won’t find them in his new book, writes Greg Jericho at Grog’s Gamut.
Rundle: Planet Janet accidentally gets to the heart of political change
This week’s contribution from Janet Albrechtsen is a way into the heart of political change in Australia, albeit in ways she couldn’t possibly understand.
Ill Omen for Liberal party boy over homophobic video
The Liberal Party’s beleaguered 21-year-old candidate for Melton, Braidy Kean, is embroiled in another controversy surrounding his membership of progressive metal band Ill Omen, after a YouTube video arose featuring his bandmates engaging in an homophobic rant referencing n-crophilia.
Country Alliance and Labor strike up an unlikely friendship
Hunting and fishing aficionados the Country Alliance will preference the Labor Party in 10 lower house seats in exchange for Labor preferences in the upper house regions of Northern and Eastern Victoria.
Steve Fielding coming to a town near you
The Victorian ALP repeatedly offered the Greens an across-the-board second preference deal in every upper and lower house state seat in exchange for support in the 25 most marginal lower house seats, Crikey can reveal.
The Greens are here to stay
For thirty years our politics has focused on economic management and reform. But voters appear to want something more, and they’re not getting it from the major parties.
graph pr0n How the ALP went from a political juggernaut to a complete fiasco
One of the astonishing things about the federal election result is how the ALP managed to destroy such an enormous amount of public goodwill over such a relatively small time frame, writes Possum Comitatus.
Richardson: Gillard has a lot of work to do
Labor bombed on climate change, rushed to the federal election with barely developed policies and then looked surprised when it blew up in its face. Gillard should take a leaf from the Bob Brown book of politics, declares Labor stalwart Graham Richardson.
Media heat map: the papers that brought down the ALP in Qld
So why did the ALP draw a blank in the four tropical seats in Queensland after holding three (Leichhardt, Dawson and notionally Herbert) before August 21st? Part of an answer might come from seeing what the papers in the major centres in those electorates were reporting on during the campaign, writes Jason Wilson, lecturer in journalism at the University of Canberra.
Benson: Hockey is arguing like Labor a decade ago
Joe Hockey might not have perfectly articulated his attack on the banks last week, but Labor has no reason not to agree with him. Nearly ten years ago Stephen Conroy and Wayne Swan were arguing for the same thing - but more so, writes Simon Bensen.
McGorry: doesn’t the Left care about mental health?
The ALP and Greens created barriers where there were none and as a result found themselves this week voting against providing services that they genuinely believe are vital to our young people., writes Professor Patrick McGorry, the Australian of the Year.
Does the left care about mental health?
Th opposition of the Greens and the ALP to the senate’s passing of a motion calling for a comprehensive network of mental health services including new headspace centres might herald a most unwelcome partisan divide on mental health reform, writes Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry.
Bligh looking to remove optional preferential voting
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has reportedly asked the Attorney-General to look into whether optional preferential voting is leading to an increase in the informal vote in Queensland. Maybe, just maybe, boosting ALP electoral prospects has something to do with it, writes Possum Comitatus.
Self flagellation in the ALP Left; deckchair shuffle on the Right
The National Left of the ALP will move beyond Doug Cameron’s pronouncements on caucus democracy and gay marriage and strive to implement a wide ranging program of party reform, according to key resolutions of the faction’s weekend talkfest seen by Crikey.
