NSW State Election 2023

[willedoo]

Queensland has gone to fixed four year terms and is the best thing ever. It cuts out all the game playing associated with early elections. The state election in October 2024 will be the first election after completion of a four year term.

 

Sidetracking a bit, but I was looking up historic state election results and it's interesting to see how demographic change has influenced politics. In the 1920 election, most of the rural seats and almost all of the far western seats were all Labor. All due to the high number of rural workers and shearers. Also the country towns were bigger, so more people working in shops and town businesses. These days, those seats are about the only ones the LNP can win, and it's rare for Labor to hold one of those seats. I guess machinery put a lot of people out of work and the workforce drifted to the cities.

[spacesailor]

" long time with a bad government ".

You mean like the Whitlam governments ' full term ' .

Or is it only for the coalition to shorten , an elected government. 

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Didn't know whether to put this one in the Examples of Corruption in Australia or this thread; given the lack of quality MSM coverage of the NSW election, figured it would be better here:

 

 

Yes, the last Labor Premier was found to be corrupt; but it seems to be one rotten apple (at least identified - there will no doubt be more) in a barrel compated to almost the whole barrel corrupt. And we still vote for them.

 

Yes, we are luicky in thyat we get to have our say on who leads us without fear of reprisals. But sometimes, spoiling the ballot to say we want quality people and not the current crop can be a good use of that right, which for many would be a privilege.

 

For the first  time, I am thinking parliamentary privilage should be qualified and not absolute.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Finally, some coverage on the NSW election:

 

[old man emu]

https://fb.watch/jm0eyCf3dT/

[spacesailor]

WHO?  ?

Is the candidate for OLD TOONGABBIE 2146 NSW .

I keep getting M Taylor !.

But he is Liberal candidate. 

So what's the twist !, that I , we can't find a certain candidate .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

Good candidates have always been hard to find...   Nev

[willedoo]

That's it. Tasmania has the only Liberal government left in Australia. The Libs should be getting the hint by now.

[old man emu]

I'm happy. The sitting Independent in my electorate was returned with a very solid swing his way.

 

It appears that the traditional Country Party seats have not changed. Makes you wonder at the level of political awareness in those areas. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I was happy that Helen Dalton held Murray, too. Ex. SFF party, she seems to have seen the light and became independent.. Had a 12% swing to her.

 

I am belatedly watching the ABC coverage of the count; very early in, the Lib (then) Treasurer had to be cautioned against lying very early in the program. They still don't seem to have learned.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[old man emu]

Yes,  all the three former Shooters & Fishers Party members who left the Party have been elected with significant swings towards them. Oddly, in comparison to the traditional National Party electorates, the voters in those three seats have abandoned both the Conservative and Labor sides in a big way. Perhaps voters are now looking at the people actually seeking to represent them locally, rather than the parliamentary head of a party.

 

 

[old man emu]

I wonder if the support of the Non-Conservative politicians for the Federal anti-corruption commission will cause politicians to change the age-old custom of feathering their own nests at the expense before doing good for those who put them in those positions. Has the electorate finally said, "Enough" to clandestine deals between politicians and the Private Sector? To quote the great philosopher Rachel Hunter, former ambassador for Pantene: "It won't happen overnight but it will happen."  Right now we may have the declaration of Nellie Forbush, ""I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" as a starting point.

[Old Koreelah]

The NSW Liberals’ brave stance against the gambling lobby almost got my vote, but they are carrying too much baggage: the Nationals. Is it my imagination, or are the Nat’s responsible for a disproportionate share of corruption and dirty tricks?

Their traditional heartland is at last waking up to how much the Nats have sold them out; on Saturday quite a few well-known farmers were supporting Independent Mark Rodda, who is committed to preventing gas fracking from invading our farmland.

[willedoo]

10 hours ago, old man emu said:

It appears that the traditional Country Party seats have not changed.

Except for Monaro which the Nationals lost to Labor.

[old man emu]

The rural parts of the Seat of Tamworth were all for the Mats. Rodda flogged them in the City of Tamworth, but that's more likely due to his popularity on Council.

 

It seems odd to me that the Party which supports all-out gas mining through cracking has received the support of those who are most likely to suffer the greatest losses in productivity from it - if the environmentalists are to be believed.

  

 

[old man emu]

13 minutes ago, willedoo said:

Except for Monaro which the Nationals lost to Labor.

That seat changes sides in nearly every election. 

[willedoo]

7 minutes ago, old man emu said:

It seems odd to me that the Party which supports all-out gas mining through cracking has received the support of those who are most likely to suffer the greatest losses in productivity from it - if the environmentalists are to be believed.

Maybe it needs independents to stand up against fracking. Queensland has a Labor state government and federal Labor environment minster Tanya Plibersek recently approved 116 new gas wells for Santos in Queensland.

[Old Koreelah]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

It seems odd to me that the Party which supports all-out gas mining through cracking has received the support of those who are most likely to suffer the greatest losses in productivity from it - if the environmentalists are to be believed.

Too much like the dumb trumpists in America, who regularly vote against their own interests- then blame their misfortunes on “liberals” who haven’t been in power for yonks!

 

Local farmers who actual realise what will happen have dumped the Nats big time.

Gas has been sold as a less damaging interim fuel while we transition to renewables. Trouble is, Howard signed over most of Australia’s gas to foreigners, so Santos has to bugger up the land to frack gas for the local market.

 

[facthunter]

When Sco Mo went to Glasgow, the entire OZ thing was a pro mo for Santos and everyone knew it. .  Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

I reckon Howard's sale of gas ( 5 cents per litre ) was more stupidity than nastiness. I honestly think that he thought that Australia had unlimited gas, given the right policies.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I agree that "the dumb Trumpists" vote against their own interests. The rednecks here were too smart to vote for Palmer though. ( In some ways similar, a fat billionaire looking for redneck support )

The psychology of worker support for Trump is real interesting.

I like the theory that they were ready to suffer themselves  via low wages as long as some others ( liberals) suffered more.

[Old Koreelah]

[willedoo]

Politics is cyclic and the day will likely come when Labor is on the nose and most governments in the country are conservative. To get to that point it looks like the Liberal/National coalition (and it's Queensland counterpart, the LNP) have a lot of work to do. They virtually can't win an election on their own, so have to form a coalition to compete, or in Queensland's case, amalgamate. The way I see it, the electorate and demographics in Australia are changing, but the Libs and Nats are not changing with it. Their politicians always say they are a broad church, but Labor with it's multiple factions from left to right, union movement and policy reach is much broader. The conservatives are jammed in the middle right. Step to the left, they lose their traditional base, step to the right and they lose potential voters that they need to win government. The problem for them is that their traditional voter base is shrinking, but they need to keep them plus gain new voters from the centre.

 

Just how they do that I wouldn't have a clue. How do parties like that broaden their base? Whenever a party cops a flogging and gets booted from government, they always say things like they need to have a good look at themselves, listen more to the electorate, blah, blah, blah. It's just lip service; when the dust settles they go back to trying to win government not because they have anything to offer, but because the sitting government has stuffed up. In the case of the Libs and Nats, maybe a good start would be to cleanse the party of drongos, then work on some policy that's relevant to the times and that a majority of voters would want. I'm not saying Labor is all that great either, but when the conservatives no longer hold a mainland government and are reduced to representing Tasmania, isn't it time to change something. Or do they just wait for the other side to blow it.

[Marty_d]

I do take exception to "reduced to representing Tasmania" - what higher calling could there be??

[willedoo]

7 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

I do take exception to "reduced to representing Tasmania" - what higher calling could there be??

Apologies Marty, I should have written "reduced to representing Tasmania only". I have the deepest respect for ............ what was that place called where you live?