So here we are. It’s taken me this long to get through the firewall here and start blogging, but here we go…
You’ll have seen the exit polls by now, I imagine. And the numbers are starting to go up on the big board. Not that that matters, anymore, of course, in our online world.
I’ve been told that we’re over 20% in Sydney, Melbourne, Richmond and many more.
Christine will be live on Sky any minute now. Back soon.
Hearing great things from regional candidates about young women, in particular, swinging from the Nats to the Greens. That’s a significant part of the future for us! Interesting if it’s happening now. We shall see when the numbers come up. Look for Calare, Eden-Monaro, Gippsland, etc…
In terms of inner metro seats, we’re looking at a swing of 5% to the Greens in Grayndler, I’m told.
So far, there is a solid swing to the Greens in every single seat. Great news!
Interesting news from North Sydney - the Liberals were handing out how-to-votes telling people to vote 1 Grn 2 Lib! There’s a hearty admission of our power if ever I’ve heard it.
ALP in the room here are calling Bennelong for Maxine. Primary swing to ALP of 17%?!?!Unbelievable. And the feeling here is Labor will win easily, without QLD results even coming in.
Sorry not to post more. Am also taking Christine around to the mainstream media…
Tasmania is looking extraordinary for us, with big swings and very big numbers. 18.9% in Denison, Franklin 14.1%, Bass 15%, Lyons 11%.
ACT numbers are huge. Most importantly the Libs are polling 31% primary on 30% of the vote counted. If those numbers translate to the Senate, or even better, we can start to feel reasonably confident about seeing Senator Kerrie Tucker in the ACT. That would be truly historic.
Sorry for long absence. Most recent great news is essentially that Bob looks like he’s easily won on quota - the first time we’ve ever won on quota, and only the second time any minor party has done so, I believe.
ACT count is very very close indeed. Hold your hats ladies and gentlemen.
Jenny Leong in Sydney looking at 22%! Well done Jenny!
Adam Bandt in Melbourne at 24% and trouncing the Libs at 19%. Hip hip hooray for Adam!
Our national Senate vote has hit 10%. It should still rise. This is a big result for us. Let’s see about how it translates to Senators themselves, of course.
We’re starting to get slightly confident of Richard Di Natale being the next Greens Senator - Greens Senate vote in VIC is close to 10%, and the preference flows are looking strong.
**Switching your coverage to Western Australia**
Tim Norton from the WA party room here, thought I should jump in and update while Tim H is obviously busy…
The atmosphere is definitely one of elation towards an ALP win.
Maxine’s speech is receiving great applause.
Latest numbers for SA look like a good result for the Greens
Bob’s speech on TV has naturally caused silence in the room here, with everyone exhalted at his results!
ABC are now also predicting a win for Richard Dinatale in VIC in the Senate
Initial figures are showing the following wins for the Greens:
Sarah Hanson-Young in SA, Richard Dinatale in Vic, Bob Brown in Tas
We’re also very hopeful for Scott Ludlam in WA, but the numbers are too early to call in that one.
Greens currently polling at 9.38% nationally in the Senate count
ABC election online is predicting the election of 3 new Greens Senators here.
Greens polling 7.7% nationally in lower house
Howard is ADMITTING DEFEAT! LIVE ON TV!
This is an historic moment for Australia, and nowhere (besides perhaps Maxine’s party) will you hear people soooooo happy to hear Howard’s acceptance of LOSING!
It’s clear, clean and dusted - we have a landslide win to K-Rudd and his ALP team.
Naturally, in WA we’re eagerly awaiting the results from the WA senate race, but with only 7.75% of the vote counted, it’s a bit too early to call.
Its sad to see that Andrew Bartlett is likely to lose his seat, being knocked out ahead of Pauline’s United Australia Party…
ABC’s election calculator has dropped Richard Dinatale out of the senate race.
Scott is now preparing to speak to the crowd here in WA about his predicted win
Great response here from Scott in WA - the crowd love the guy
Of course, it’s too early to call, but at the moment sources such as the ABC are calling Scott in WA, Sarah in SA and Bob (of course) in Tas. Richard in Vic and Larissa in QLD are still possibilities… we shall have to await final results, which in some cases can take weeks…
That’s it from us - thanks to all who volunteered, helped, listened, voted and otherwise cared. You’ll hear from us once we have more figures in the race for the Senate.
Good reception for the Greens at booths in Kooyong, with many people seeking out the Greens HTV. No numbers in from scrutineering yet.
Good luck! I put Greens first on my ballot paper (well my family did).
Fingers will be crossed, all through my gig tonight. I don’t care if my cello playing is a little bit dodgy for it ;)
Sitting in my hotel room at the moment, feeling nervous but not as jittery as I was earlier… Gawd!
Bennelong looks like it might be won by Labor! Minchin is now saying “well, the demographics have shifted”.
been voting green since i was 18, GO THE GREENS
I realised a goal today….to man a polling booth for the Greens. I am usually bedbound and housebound from serious illness and I set a goal that I WOULD man that booth despite whatever pain or issues I had and spent 3 months preparing, firstly working on being able to stand and then to walk - it was not easy, but I worked up too it so I could do this. And this disabled woman did it, standing each time to greet a new voter. I put in 6 hours alone, handing out HTV cards in an area where many forestry workers are living. I had not one nasty or negative comment or reaction. I found it a very pleasant experience and being in such a small place - it was like a social event with people all knowing everyone. It felt so good to be there for the Greens and when people who I would not have picked as Green voters came out and said they voted Green, it was such a great feeling.
love and light
Susan in Tasmania
At Lutwyche, all the booth workers knew what was happening in the nation and the Libs had pretty much given up.
At the polling booth where I was, the only other handing out HTV cards was Labor and they went at around 2 pm leaving me as the only person handing out HTV cards with my table and Bob’s poster on the front. So in the end, it was just me greeting them all for the rest of the afternoon and I stayed on as long as I could.
love and light
Susan in Tasmania
Tim reporting from the Greens party room in WA here.
The atmosphere is definetely one of elation towards an ALP win.
Maxine’s speech is receiving great applause.
Heartiest congratulations Bob and Team.
Best regards
Alex Johnson
Organic Guide
It’ll be great if we pick up South Australia, Qld and Victoria Senate seats. With below the line votes being largely beneficial for Democrats and Greens, we could see up to 7 seats. I really hope Kerrie Tucker gets up in the ACT, that would allow the ALP to get down to business straight away.
What about Kerry Nettle?
Hi Tim, I’m at the SA election party. We’re following the senate count closely!
Also, I hope that Peter will stop by after his gig.
3 Senators so far! :D
Absolutely fantastic! :D
Go the Greens!!! :D
What an incredible job you did today Susan Macauley! :D
You should be very proud!
And doesn’t it feel good to stand up for what you believe in, despite the obstacles! :D
Rudd should say something of substance in this speech.
Congratulations guys
YIHARRRRRRR SENATOR SCOTT!!!! GREENIES IN LONDON JOYOUSLY AND INSANELY AND LOUDLY HAPPY :- D : - > :)
Beppie - Looks like Kerry Nettle didn’t get up.
As I am based in London, I was so happy to wake this morning and read about the election results - yay!
Although I was a little disappointed with the media coverage of the election in the UK, I was happy to find a large amount of online news streaming & blogs available for us ex-pats this year.
Thanks for your blog updates - it really helps those of us who are far from the homeland.
I won’t miss ol’ Stinging Nettle but yes the failure of the Greens to do better is a disappointment.
My big hope is that Rudd will pass a Human Rights Act like the UK has.
Bob was killer - straight into stop-the-pulp-mill-mandate mode. Really hoping that something pulls out of the bag in Sydney for Kerry Nettle. She’s a great Senator and the idea that she might have to take three years off before she again gets to be a great Senator for all Australians really bites. It will be interesting to see how the whack preference distributions may be to blame - Climate Change Coalition in NSW gave almost as many preferences to Fred Nile’s CDParty of Intolerance as they did to The Greens. Blecch!!
Good luck on picking up the balance of power - i hope Family First doesn’t get a look in… maybe team up with Barnaby Joyce. He’s a free agent… kind of.
congratulations! i’m so happy for u & for us all..
things can only get better
but what about NSW? (i was working all night & couldn’t catch the
televised reports)
I’m sad that Kerry Nettle and Andrew Bartlett didn’t keep their seats.
The ABC is now calling the likely numbers in the the next Senate as
37 seats for the Coalition (18 new)
32 for Labor (18 new)
5 for the Greens (3 new)
1 for Family First,
1 Independent (Nick Xenophon) (1 new)
That’s not totally final due to below the line counts that may determine the 6th seat in some states, but that’s the prediction.
This means that Labor can only get their legislation through if they persuade the Greens, Xenophon and Fielding all to vote for it (unless they can get Barnaby Joyce to cross the floor once in a while) - if just one of either Xenophon or Fielding votes with the Coalition, the vote will be deadlocked (and of course Labor shouldn’t take the Greens in Senate for granted as supporters of any old bill).
This is going to make for some interesting times in the Senate. Possible double dissolution territory?
We’re still quietly hopeful that Kerrie Tucker could come home in the ACT, taking another seat from the Coalition and getting Steve Fielding out of the equation.
Wait and see, folks. Remember that at the last VIC election, we were said to be out on election night, but came home with 3, last TAS election people said we’d lost seats and we returned all 4, and last FED election people doubted Christine would get up. It’s due to our large pre-poll votes and our strong below-the-line votes. Don’t count us out in VIC, ACT or even QLD.
Sorry to say the Kerry Nettle is almost impossible because the votes fell almost perfectly for 3 quotas each for ALP and LIB. No room for any minors. It’s a sad loss for us.
Very sad that Kerry’s gone. Still, she’s young and has many elections ahead of her. It won’t need to be Lazarus with a triple bypass for her to get back up if the Greens continue to poll well. I think this election saw a lot of people voting Labor in the Senate for the same reason they voted Liberal in the Senate in 2004; people don’t understand the Senate.
I’d like to see reform of our electoral system so that we have above the line preferential voting, fixed, three year terms for the House of Representatives and a comprehensive AEC education campaign for the months leading up to the election so that people can understand preferential voting in both houses.
[...] Live from the Tally Room So here we are. It’s taken me this long to get through the firewall here and start blogging, but here we […] [...]
I agree Sam!!!!
Hi Greens,
I thought I saw a cardboard image of Kerrie Tucker waving in the Tally room last night. Kerri did you win? I have checked out your web site Kerrie. Go Kerrie.
Love to all at home. Louise. Purtell.
yo TigTog - thanks for the likely numbers & Tim - props for maintaing the blage…. (?!)
If Labor does have at least 32 seats, and Greens have no less than 5 seats . . . . . PERFECT!!! Previously stated sadness aside for a sec and also hoping that more Greens do get up, this is huge. It puts a progressive, coherent, clued up and passionate bunch of people in control of the much-needed votes for picking up a Senate majority. This guarantees a conscionable way of avoiding the dreaded Senate deadlock and leaves Nick Minchin’s comments last night in the dust where they belong.
Watching the ABC coverage, it was clear that even as defeat was being delivered, the right-wing engine room of the Liberal Party wasn’t getting the message - that smug, controlling politicking with no respect for public accountability isn’t going to wash any more. Over it!!
oh no wait…. is too early for maths…. Ouch!! 76 Senate seats… make the least extremist Coalition or non-major-party person the non-voting speaker…. leaves a need for 38 not 37…. AAAGH!! Which way does Xenophon break on issues like the pulp mill? I have to admit he makes me nervous. His name is too close to ‘xenophobia’ to feel otherwise. I reckon if my last name was Racialhatron I’d have done something about it… (??)
Hugh
Unfortunately the numbers in the Senate don’t mean the Greens hold the balance.
37 seats for the Coalition (18 new)
32 for Labor (18 new)
5 for the Greens (3 new)
1 for Family First,
1 Independent (Nick Xenophon) (1 new)
There is no guarantee that the Greens will side with Labor, but let’s for arguments sake say we agree with them.
32+5=37
So now we’re even. 37 Coalition, 37 Labor+Green
Now it comes down to Xenophon + Fielding.
If Fielding goes with the coalition (which he often has), it means Xenophon either goes with us (meaning a deadlock) or with the Coalition, passing the bill.
In order for Labor to pass legislation through the Senate, they will have to convince the Greens, Xenophon AND Family First.
Even just to block legislation, the ALP will have to get the Greens and ONE of Xenophon or Fielding.
As Tim pointed out, keep your eyes on the numbers coming in for VIC, QLD and ACT for another Greens Senator. We won’t know for sure until the last votes have been counted.
Sorry for repeated posting - I’ll shut up after this. Just checked out Xenophon’s FAQs and it seems that if the Senate doesn’t just become a piece of nasty teamwork between Labor and the Coalition, then it will indeed be Greens and Xenophon holding the balance of power and voting with respect for the public’s wishes. Xenophon states [at http://www.xen.net.au/html/faq.html that he does not support the pulp mill decision and that he supports ratification of Kyoto. It’s odd that he talks so much about water without alluding to the relevance of climate change, but this response is a bit reassuring:
“If Labor wins the election but you hold the balance of power, would you ever vote with the Liberals to block supply?
“No. I believe what happened in 1975 when supply was last blocked damaged the fabric of our democracy and I wouldn’t want to be part of a repeat of that. “
I’m still bleary eyed and half asleep (so please correct me, but I did some simple adding) and I think that Tim Norton is right in that we will see potentional ‘deadlock’
do we see a chance of this NOT being a potential issue in the future? What are our best chances still yet to be decided?
replying to Tim Norton (then shutting up)
I know that we’re simplifying here and that the Greens wouldn’t automatically vote along ALP lines (relief!) but as a bloc of at least 5 votes they can exert decent leverage, either having bills amended or horse-trading (especially re pulp mill - e.g. “we’ll support you on Z, X, and Q if you abandon the nonsensical Turnbull position that depends on ignoring the Wielangta decision in order to be able to treat forestry as a solely State concern”.
Why the need for 39 votes rather than 38 to pass? (assuming that ALP hold on to all their floor votes by sticking a non-ALP/ non-Green in the speaker’s chair?
Thanks for that Hugh, I feel more optimistic. And there is a lot to celebrate!
[...] are out of the picture. My dear brother Tim was blogging (sporadically, between other commitments) live from the tally room last night, where you can read a bit more about the current situation for the Greens. GreensBlog, [...]
Some ALP voters congratulated me today for promoting the Greens, told me that the Senate is theirs now!
Seems they weren’t following the balance of power question as closely as commenters here.
This election’s really reminded me that many people don’t get how the Senate works, or how parties like the Greens work with the ALP.
Anyway sorry to see Kettle go and the Dems losses, but very, very encouraged by swings to the Greens! Hanging on those final figures.
Don’t forget the fearless few Liberal senators like Marise Payne, and Petro Georgiou who have stood up to their own party on human rights issues. Barnaby Joyce too has shown willingness to be an occasional wildcard on matters of conscience.
True, Hugh - somebody has to be Speaker! Put the FF senator in the speaker’s chair ;)
But this is very interesting… With such a tight position, they couldn’t put an ALP member there, or they’d immediately have a hostile senate wouldn’t they? Effectively.
In the Senate, you need 39 votes because, under the constitution, a 38/38 vote is decided in the negative.
By the way, the President of the Senate (Senate’s equiv of the speaker) holds a casting vote.
Hi Guys,
I heard it can take a couple of weeks before below the line ballots are counted. I really hope the Greens get at lease 1 more seat (bumping out FF and keeping the X Factor sounds OK).
I really do hope the Bob Brown (Greens) vision of stopping coal mining and supplementing jobs and exports with Aussie renewable technology comes true!
I find it amazing that our government spends $400M per year subsidizing Diesel for the Coal industry, plus throwing money at “clean-coal”. That’s just ridiculous.
Sarah, that’s right, although Petro is in the House. But don’t ever forget about Barnaby Joyce, either. Nothing to say he won’t cross the floor a few times.
Labor will need to negotiate either with the Libs OR with Grns and Xenophon, or Grns and FF, or Grns and Barnaby or some other individual member of the Coalition.
Hugh
No need to shuttup - it’s all about healthy debate here :)
The Greens do not operate on a trading mechanism - ie “You do what we want on this issue and we’ll submit to your view on another issue.”
With that mentality, there is the danger of making an incorrect judgement and/or failing to live up to values/ethics just to achieve another aim.
We aim to treat each issue individually, so the best possible outcome can be reached.
But quite right - Xenophon’s aims and objectives are similar to the Greens in many ways.
We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m hopeful he will be a positive influence in the Senate.
Susan, your effort is exemplary. I hope the ill effects of your exertion are partly offset by such a good result.
The Democrats horse traded and compromised what they believed in during the time that they held the balance of power in the senate. Labor’s Gareth Evans may have screwed the leader of the Democrats, but this is nothing compared to the Democrats cosying up to the Liberals in the senate, their compromises on principles screwed the entire party.
The coalition have effectively destroyed the democrats and one nation over recent years, don’t let the greens become a labor scalp.
Thanks both Tims for clearing that up. And ‘damn’ about the casting vote. It’ll be a lot cleaner and more productive if Greens do hold that cleaner balance. And it would just be fair. Not to mention that the best parliaments within Australia over the last 20-odd years had Green balances of power.
I’m less freaked by Xen having checked out his FAQs, but it’s quite frustrating to see the level of vote for Greens in the Lower House which would, as a uniform portion of seats, translate to around 15, which doesn’t happen because of the system used to assess first-past-the-post in each seat. Still, if with a handful of seats Greens hold the balance in the Senate, it sort of balances out. Let’s hope that comes about.
The first indications of whether the ALP knows that Green preferences have been a tactically significant part of their mandate should come in the early days of Bali.
Just a note for (hugh?) who expressed some concern about the soundalike of Xenophon/Xenophobia, just be aware that the important part of xenophobia is the phobia part, as “xeno” just means “stranger/foreigner” in Greek.
“Xenophon” translates as “foreign voice”. The first famous Xenophon was a Greek soldier and historian, a contemporary and admirer of Socrates.
I agree with tigtog - it’s good to have a Greek-Australian in the parliament who isn’t a sad reactionary (Hello Sophie Panopolous/Mirabella…).
America has the worst xenophobia - under their constitution no immigrant can ever be President (the so-called ‘natural-born’ clause).
Susan, thank you so much for your superhuman effort. So many volunteers around the country putting in the hard yrads, but you are an inspiration.
Rest up and let’s hope the future is even Greener!
All, the news from Victoria is that Richard is very much in the race against the 3rd Lib. If he wins, that changes everything! Fielding will be irrelevant!
bleary eyed but still bloggin’ !
“All, the news from Victoria is that Richard is very much in the race against the 3rd Lib. If he wins, that changes everything! Fielding will be irrelevant!”
BRING IT ON!!
I’ll just nap on the pc desk and await the good news!!!
and cheers for all the nice comments! All of the volunteers I am sure put in a mighty effort! Not just on the day but on many days, leading up.
I think that Xenophon will agree with the Greens on many issues, and is likely to have a good working relationship with the Greens senators. His key issues were gamblling & the Murray and his positions on both seem to be largely in agreement with the Greens. On the other hand we are now stuck with two MLC’s in SA that got in with his vote, and one at least, Ann Bressington, does not have the same views as Xenophon, in fact she has been very vocal in criticising him lately, including in Parliament. It remains to be seen what his replacement will be like.
On the democrats - many of their policies are very close to the Greens, but they cling to the idea of being a balance between the major parties, which, as the ALP moves to the right, is not consistent with their policies. This contradiction between their basic values which informed their policy, and their desired position in the Australian political spectrum was at the heart of many of their troubles.
Just a reminder to everyone that, really, we *do* hold the balance of power, in the bigger picture. That is, without Greens support, no Labor bill will get up (unless the Coalition supports it). Or, to put it more accurately, we will share the balance of power with FF and Mr X.
Anyone think Rudd might court Barnaby Joyce with a ministry, a la South Australia? I really doubt it, but it would be a masterstroke politically if they could pull it off.
Traditionally Xenaphon has not used his balance of power position in SA to get his “No Pokies” legislation up. When he was asked why he did not do this on ABC local radio today he explained that by doing so would compromise his beliefs and erode his credibility in Parliament.
FYI about 8-10 years ago he blocked the sale of ETSA when he had the deciding vote, when he could easily have tried to trade some ‘No Pokie’ legislation with the then Premier John Olsen to let it through but he didn’t
So hopefully his values stay in tact in the Senate.
I’m glad for the election of Hanson-Young - it fights ageism-”adultism” - there should be an affirmative action policy to promote candidates under 30 - the stereotype is that they are “inexperienced” - but how can they get experience with all the age discrimination?