Australian political changes and US political foolishness

[tcpip]

It seems that the West Australian Labor government has been re-elected by the skin of its teeth. A very cogent explanation of why the election was so close by crankynick basically blames a poor Labor campaign, although the Liberals were helped by astoundingly biased reporting from the West Australian newspaper. In a very sensible effort to shore up what has become a particularly unpopular government, the Labor Party in New South Wales has finally rid itself of the pro-privitisation treasurer and Premier; the former was sacked by the latter and then the latter was sacked by his parliamentary colleagues. I have hopes that Nathan Rees and Carmel Tebbutt will be able to 'do the right thing' and regain the trust of the NSW public.

Far to the north and east, the U.S. political landscape received a shockwave of sorts when Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain appointed Sarah Palin as the Vice-President nominee. This self-described "bulldog with lipstick" has come with a lot of attention, with her viewpoints on banning books, teaching Creationism in schools (but not comprehensive sex eduation), and opposing abortion in nearly all instances. What is remarkable about the choice is that (a) it shows how much the Republican Party is still under the influence of the fundamentalist religious lobby which seeks to impose their narrow worldview on the American public and (b) how irresponsible, divisive this choice is which, yet another sign of how completely unfit McCain is for the office of President.

In my own life everything is going very well. Ran a good game of RuneQuest on Sunday (Borderlands, Jezra's Rescue for those who know such things), and have received some excellent endorsements for RPG Review. Have been dealing productively with a number of work issues relating from everything from a particular Drupal module, HR and motivation issues for administrative staff (I've decided that our new administrative staff should at least do our Introduction to VPAC Computing course to give them a better sense of what we're on about), to dealing with some unprofessional behaviour from a software vendor.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, but when I made the post it was Labor 26, Liberal 21, National 4 :)

Unless you expect the Nationals will suddenly overthrow decades of tradition I make that Labor 25, Coalition 27 and Independent 1.

Oh, I think the WA Nationals are a little more independently minded than you give them credit for..

That the Greens got a vote TWICE that of the Nationals and no seats is a tragedy.

The Green's vote is split across a large number of electorates which gives them an advantage in the Legislative Council. The Nationals poll very strongly in geographically specific areas, which gives them an advantage in the Legislative Assembly. Besides, it's not as if the Green's vote is wasted.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think the WA Nationals are a little more independently minded than you give them credit for..

Yeah, by holding the entire state over a barrel for a $700 million bribe.
Right now they're the highest-priced hookers in the land.

If the do go into coalition with Labor I can easily see a short-lived Government. I assume at any moment they have the right to turn around and form a new Government with the Libs if they don't get their way. I would hope Dr Ken would have the guts to dissolve parliament in that case - but I don't think he has the ticker.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Yeah, by holding the entire state over a barrel for a $700 million bribe.

*nods* Yep, that's them "working for their constitiuents". Especially now that sheep can't vote :)

IIRC there was a Labor-Country coalition in Victoria for a while as well.