Progressive Boink

[DGMacphee]

Greens, then distributed my prefs based on who I thought had the best social justice record. Pretty sure I put Libs then Family First last. I voted in Dickson, which is a marginal seat.

Also...

The Greens have about 12-15 per cent support of the whole country (which is actually the best they've done), which isn't much to win a seat in the House of Reps.

Boy, was I wrong about that because they scored a seat. Good on 'em!

Also, Wilson Tuckey lost his seat! That's fantastic! For people in the US, it's kind of like when Rick Santorium lost his seat, only imagine Santorium is 20 or 30 years older and way crankier.

Oh yeah, and we currently have no idea who our Prime Minister is now.

[Captain Hot Stuff]

Steve Fielding lost his Senate seat too, which is lovely.

The prospect of Prime Minister Tony Abbott is grim - there is no politician in a major party I have less respect for, except Joe Hockey - but I'm pretty chipper about the swing to the Greens. It suggests that Australians would like a left-wing party and a right-wing party in this country, rather than two right-wing parties. Fancy that.

Also, yes we do, the Tilda Swinton turncoat remains legally PM until there is a clear result.

[Captain Hot Stuff]

Is this the first time the greens have ever held a seat in the house of reps?

[DGMacphee]

Yes.

Other milestones that happened this election:
- First Indigenous member elected to the house of reps
- First Islamic MP elected to the house of reps
- Youngest MP elected to house of reps (He's 20 years old!)

[Captain Hot Stuff]

Hahaha, I saw that guy, he looks like his balls haven't dropped yet.

So a hung parliament it is. Hopefully we'll see the Greens and Independents form government with Labor, dragging them back to the left where they belong. Hopefully.

[DGMacphee]

Hahaha, I saw that guy, he looks like his balls haven't dropped yet.

Best quote for me was someone on Twitter calling him "Doogie Howser MP".

So a hung parliament it is. Hopefully we'll see the Greens and Independents form government with Labor, dragging them back to the left where they belong. Hopefully.

I doubt it. Most of the indies are ex-National. They'd most likely form with Lib/Nat.

Also, check what I said about the first Green being elected. Turns out the Greens won a House of Reps seat in 2002 in the the Cunningham by-election.

[DGMacphee]

I could be wrong about the indies forming government with Libs/Nats. Just saw a press conference with Tony Abbott and he looked pissed. And after three minutes of questioning, he just walked away from a pack of bemused journalists.

[Captain Hot Stuff]

i heard at least 3 of the independents hate the liberal party. what's your take on them?

this is way more interesting than a typical election

[DGMacphee]

Three of the indies not so much hate the Libs; it's that they hate the Nats and how they're standing less and less country/rural values. There are other reasons, but they're pretty much bitter about the Nats.

One of the indies is an ex-intelligence officer who quit during the broo-hah-hah over the Iraq War. He hates the Libs bigtime.

The question is whether the three ex-Nats are happier to negotiate with Labor or Libs.

I have to agree, this is pretty interesting and wasn't the result I was expecting.

In a way, I guess I got what I wanted.

[DGMacphee]

Turns out that fourth indie who was the ex-intelligence officer might not get his seat and it'll go to Labor, making it an even 73 seats each for the major parties, 1 green, and 3 indies.

[Captain Hot Stuff]

What exactly happens if we have another election? I mean... I can't imagine anyone changing their minds about their votes in the space of a few weeks. Or not enough, anyway.