{news} Fw: USGP-INT Australian elections--good news

[Justine McCabe]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Julia Willebrand 
To: usgp-int at gp-us.org 
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:59 PM
Subject: USGP-INT Australian elections






Begin forwarded message:


  From: Miriam Solomon <miriams at iinet.net.au>
  Date: August 22, 2010 8:43:34 PM EDT
  To: GGN <network at globalgreens.org>
  Subject: [GGNetwork] FW: [GGCoord] Australian elections



  ------ Forwarded Message

    From: Margaret Blakers <margaret.blakers at bigpond.com>
    Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:31:03 +1000
    To: <coord at lists.globalgreens.org>
    Subject: [GGCoord] Australian elections




    Hi all -- what a great weekend for the Greens in Australia.  We're calling it a 'greenslide'.  It will still be a couple of weeks until all the votes are counted and we know exactly what the results are. But what's clear is this is a HUGE win for the Greens.  Climate change was a key issue but it was much more than that.

    Here's what it looks like at the moment.

    Overall vote:  in the House of Reps 11.4% and in the Senate 12.96%.  These will go up a bit as the postal and absentee votes come in where we generally do better which means we're on 12--13% overall.  This is the best result ever for a minor party in Australia.

    House of Representatives (lower house).  The Greens have won their first ever seat in the House of Reps in a general election.  Adam Bandt in the seat of Melbourne got 36% of the primary vote;  the Liberals (conservatives) got 20% and Labor 39%.  With preferences, Adam wins the seat by 56% to 44%.  

    Senate (upper house).  We will definitely have 8 Senators and probably 9.  That will be two each in Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia and one in Victoria, Queensland, and probably NSW.

    There are still a couple of outside chances for additional seats but we won't know for up to two weeks.  During that time postal and absentee votes come in and we won't get the final result until they are all counted.

    We will have a 'hung' parliament where neither of the major parties has a majority meaning that they will have to negotiate with independents and the Greens to determine who will form the government.  That process will take days to weeks.  

    In the Senate the Greens will hold the balance of power, whoever forms government in the House of Reps -- but not until July 2011!  The Senate has fixed terms so existing Senators stay put for another 9 months.

    The voting system makes this a very unusual result, the first time since 1940 that we've had a hung parliament.  It's going to be fascinating to see how it plays out and whether the old parties can bring themselves to share power.  

    Margaret





    Margaret Blakers

    Green New Deal:  Ecology, Economy, Democracy
    From ideas to action, help shape our green future
    http://greeninstitute.org.au/gnd/

     <http://greeninstitute.org.au/gnd/> Green Institute
    GPO Box 557     
    Canberra  ACT  2601
    Australia
    Ph. +(61) 0419 877 325
    www.greeninstitute.org.au
     <http://www.greeninstitute.org.au/> margaret.blakers at bigpond.com



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Julia Willebrand, Ed.D
Corporate Accountability Task Force
julia.willebrand at verizon.net








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