Senate results
No matter what happens, we're looking at a hung Parliament. I don't think I have much to say about it yet; it's still cooking. It's very different to the Tasmanian or UK elections; those weren't unexpected the way this was and were due to the rise of a third party rather than a close TPP result and a rise in independents. Looking to that is also impossible without getting into the 'How did this happen?' navel-gazing that I don't really want to get to.
But this morning I do feel like talking about the Senate! Despite the Filter Conroy campaign, we keep Stephen Conroy, though it doesn't make a great difference to the internet filter policy since it is now impossible for it to get through the Senate. But while we've gotten rid of Stephen Fielding, which should presumably lead to Family First sliding back to irrelevance, we have traded him for John Madigan of the DLP.
THE DLP.
WHAT THE HELL.
Senate makeup is now 34 Coalition, 31 ALP, 9 Green, 1 DLP and Nick Xenophon. It amounts to a Greens balance of power, more or less, so I'm not sure how much of a role Madigan and Xenophon will play in the next three years, but I like the look of that Senate.
I'm just not sure about this hung Parliament business. It looked like so much more fun when it was somebody else's government.
But this morning I do feel like talking about the Senate! Despite the Filter Conroy campaign, we keep Stephen Conroy, though it doesn't make a great difference to the internet filter policy since it is now impossible for it to get through the Senate. But while we've gotten rid of Stephen Fielding, which should presumably lead to Family First sliding back to irrelevance, we have traded him for John Madigan of the DLP.
THE DLP.
WHAT THE HELL.
Senate makeup is now 34 Coalition, 31 ALP, 9 Green, 1 DLP and Nick Xenophon. It amounts to a Greens balance of power, more or less, so I'm not sure how much of a role Madigan and Xenophon will play in the next three years, but I like the look of that Senate.
I'm just not sure about this hung Parliament business. It looked like so much more fun when it was somebody else's government.