I think they’ll lose, but I don’t think it’s as dire as you think. I think the result would have been worse under Anastasia actually, but we’ll never know.
The problem with all of this is that people should be careful for what they wish for. They went down this path before and got a Campbell Newman government that would facists to shame. He was an abject disaster and Wld voted labor back quick smart.
Campbell Newman is and was many things, but suggesting he “would [put] facists (sic) to shame” is a level of hyperbole that exceeds even the usual tripe you share.
Did you nominate her?
A lot of people outside of WA like to pile on McGowan for the way he handled things during the pandemic but just remember what he did was extremely popular within WA. The election result backed that up with the Libs being effectively wiped off the map. A result like that doesn’t happen often.
Of course his Government wasn’t perfect and had its issues, but McGowan is mainly remembered for keeping WA almost COVID-free while the rest of the world was suffering. Everyone I know wishes he was still Premier now.
There is no denying the pain some families went through by not being able to travel, which was very unfortunate, but the border closure was, overall, an overwhelming success. It did what it was designed to do and it was what the people of WA wanted.
I can’t speak for Andrews because I didn’t follow him closely enough (and don’t care to be honest), but in McGowan’s case this is a well deserved award.
It’s the same in Vic. Dan Andrews critics were vocal minorities from the right wing, libertarians and Murdoch/ Sydney based media circles. His landslide election win after 8 years in power speaks for itself, he has strong support from the Victorian people.
Its the pandemic-era foes that have all fallen from grace, either from scandal or turfed out at elections; Tim Smith, Gladys berejiklyan, Josh Frydenberg, Scott Morrison, Matthew Guy ect.
She only just left the job. The King is saving that one for next year.
I think part of the issue some people outside of WA had with him was not so much the decisions he made, but his attitude in doing so. At a time when a lot of people were really hurting and going through hell it did come across at times that he was ‘gloating’ about WA’s favourable situation. To be fair, that probably wasn’t his intent but that’s how it was received.
Compare and contrast with say Marshall in SA and Gutwein in Tassie. They had pretty strict border policies too and were just as successful as WA in the end but came across as a lot more compassionate in how they spoke about things.
Thankfully those horrid days are over now though.
Hoping politics would have matured by the time there is a next pandemic.
We will likely have other disease outbreaks this century. Some will be here to witness, some won’t.
I just know the next disease outbreak it will be the same same. International border restrictions. And the rest of the circus continues after that. Not the Australia I once knew, but it’s just a how we will operate in a future outbreak.
Not the Australia you once knew?
I suggest you do some research on our response to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1919. Remarkably similar to Covid in that State borders were closed to control the spread, notably into Queensland and WA.
In an uncanny similarity, Victoria came under fire for letting it get away. There was also disagreement among state and federal governments on restrictions imposed, but sensible restrictions on public gatherings and movements were the norm. The Spanish Flu subsided a little more quickly than Covid, but not before an estimated 15,000 deaths. So one could argue the Covid response was far more successful, especially given Australia’s much smaller population at the time of the Spanish Flu.
So no need to be dramatic. The next pandemic will likely be similar.
Just days after speculation about Kean potentially challenging Paul Fletcher for preselection in Bradfield…
As for the by-election, nothing to see as it’s a safe Liberal retain for sure.
The Norther Tablelands by-election was held yesterday, with the Nationals’ Brendan Moylan easily elected. 5 candidates contested the seat (Nats, Shooters Fishers and Farmers, the Greens, and 2 independents). At the end of counting yesterday, Moylan held a 2PP vote of 85.4% against the Green candidate Dorothy Robinson, a swing of 3.9% to the Greens. The SFF candidate, Ben Smith, is currently second on first preferences, however, so this could change depending on preference distribution
This is still up from the 83.8% 2PP Adam Marshall received against Labor last year, so if the results hold it will still be the safest seat in NSW.
Was the Green candidate picked for 2CP because they were the highest ranked running non-Nat party in the previous election?
I’m surprised Labor didn’t run a candidate
The Greens were third on primary vote last time behind Labor, so that would likely be why. SFF currently have 12.3% primary compared to 9.1% with the Greens, with around 10% with the two independents.
I’m not. The question going into the election was not who would win, but how big would Moylan’s margin be. There was really nothing for them to gain by making a by-election in the safest seat in NSW (and one of the safest in the country) their first litmus test.
If Labor wants to make any kind of in-roads in the regions, they have to be in these races - you can’t build a following by not being visible in the community
I think they’ve pretty much outlined their position. They’re not interested in areas which are Nationals heartland where the Nationals candidate could be a literal cow or sheep and still win on primaries.
Their focus is east of the Divide, everywhere else west of the Blue Mountains is a mountain too high to climb in their books.
Ultimately I fear this will be to their detriment. As the inner city in Melbourne, Sydney and to an extent Brisbane gets ever more radicalised and swings more and more towards the Greens they really need to make inroads somewhere else to compensate.
A lot of the larger regional cities even in Coalition heartland areas are becoming more and more cosmopolitan especially with the increase in migration from the major metro areas from people in search of a more affordable and relaxed lifestyle. These people are arguably more likely to be open to voting Labor and they will only become a bigger and bigger demographic in these regions going forward.
They might not win many seats any time in the near future, but if they can start to bring about a shift in people’s perceptions and demonstrate themselves as showing a genuine interest in regional issues they can start to build a base of support to grow upon and perhaps have a fighting chance in elections a decade or two from now.
Not even showing up on election day is a really bad look and only gives the Coalition ammo on the oft-cited argument that Labor doesn’t care about the country.
This has got to be the biggest F you to the NSW and Federal Liberals in a while. I’m sure Dutton would be spewing, Speakman probably not so much given his party’s been more sensible on climate action than his federal colleagues.
EDIT: And it’s started. Barnabus going off at Kean for ‘treachery’. Talk about pot meeting kettle black.