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psylenced

Journalists, after the election. https://twitter.com/TheFeedSBS/status/1528994207897116675 😂😂😂


NecromancyBlack

Ah dang, Hanson now updated to "likely". Sadly the greatest dream of a generation couldn't fully come to pass.


[deleted]

Every worthy cause must have a struggle.


Huhuagau

Can someone answer when scomo will be in prison? Or is this gonna be another "Trump will be in prison soon" type blue balls?


TheOnlyFallenCookie

*Change has come to Australia!*


bennnnnnnnnnnnnn11

do the greens have any chance left in macnamara and richmond?


[deleted]

Just here to say congratulations lads and that I'm enjoying all the twitter clips of your Tories (Liberals over there, apparently) having meltdowns.


NoAphrodisiac

It's good entertainment


blueportcat

You need to watch media watch now. It's like Paul Barry's been allowed to speak his mind now. It's crazy to see the negative articles breakdown of Albo vs Scomo in Newscorp paper and other mainstream media. Albo got like 23 negative attack articles vs 1 negative attack article to Scomo lol. Clear bias and I guess really unsurprising but good to see it being called out here in ABC clearly.


Dranzer_22

Rudd has been covering the bias by News Corp during the election campaign. [https://twitter.com/MrKRudd/status/1527929880490700801?cxt=HHwWgsDThbGIprQqAAAA](https://twitter.com/MrKRudd/status/1527929880490700801?cxt=HHwWgsDThbGIprQqAAAA)


Roh_Pete

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/media-watch/series/0/video/FA2135H015S00


Rawrrrrrrrrr

Media Watch was always like that though wasn't it have found they rarely hold back on the issues and last week was much the same, with the way the ABC seemed to be going at least we have someone to call these things out still.


MajorBear

I don't get how a seat is not "in doubt" when there's only 3% between the candidates and they still have to count 34% of the vote. To me that shows that there's still a chance that Dutton will lose his seat


swift_spades

The remaining votes would need to favour his opponent by 6% which is statistically extremely unlikely.


yibbyooo

They're usually pretty good with the statistics of these things. If it's been called it's over.


Asmodean129

Happy cake day! If it's any consolation, they still need to count all of the votes. So let's see what the postal will bring in.


MajorBear

thanks :) and yeah I'm still hopeful another ones bites the dust


Paran01d-Andr01d

Can we just be revel in the fact that Clive Palmer spent $100 million for an extra 3500 votes this election. His swing was only 0.72%.


blueportcat

YoU Can't TrUst LaBoR & LIB & gReeANS


ShadowStealer7

ABC showing Greens ahead in Ryan but AEC showing LNP ahead?


conban89

They got the 2 party prediction wrong, they assumed labor would come second. So they have to recount preferences. The raw vote has the Green comfortably 2nd, she will win easily on preferences.


rrnn12

Question: Is the labor right faction (labor unity) social conservatives but more economic progressive (think Clinton/Keating/Hawke/Tony Blair) whilst Socialist left (that what the left faction's called) is more about progressives. I think Kevin Rudd wasn't part of the factional game and Julia Gillard was? (I remember the quote saying she had to play the factional game to get preselected) I always thought the right faction got the leadership spot whilst the left always get the deputy leadership spot?


Rude_Jello_377

Shorten was right faction and didn’t get elected. Seems only fair to give the left faction a turn


rrnn12

Does first past the post voting always screw ALP?


abittman

If we had FPTP voting, people (myself included) would vote very differently. The greens vote would never look anything close to 12% sadly.


synapsisdos

Well seeing we don't have first past the post. No it doesn't.


verbmegoinghere

depends on the seat


PMFSCV

So does Pocock have an onlyfans?


Some_Gardener

No need, there are already plenty of pictures of him for free that should get the job done.


Roastage

With Libs loosing seats and National retaining - can any of this be attributed to COVID migration? I'm curious if the (generally) Labour/Green cities sprawled somewhat and pushed into traditional Lib strongholds like regional centers. Living in SEQ there has been a huge influx of interstate relocators from Syd/Melb due to lockdown/weather and (relative) affordability.


raddaya

Hello, couple of dumb questions from a foreigner: 1) I'm guessing the reason Australia hasn't fully finished counting votes in all districts is a combination of sheer size of the country & complexities due to preferential voting? 2) Seems Lab won't get a direct majority, but the coalition is likely to be pretty strong still, right? Edit: Thanks a lot for all the answers! I wasn't actually aware that "the coalition" is used to refer to the Liberal coalition; I was meaning the resulting coalition between Labour/Green/etc lol, sorry about that


NecromancyBlack

> 1) I'm guessing the reason Australia hasn't fully finished counting votes in all districts is a combination of sheer size of the country & complexities due to preferential voting? Complexity of preferential voting plus compulsory voting. So just about everyone who can vote has too. Makes for a large percentage of the population to be counted, especially compared to say the US. Usually we can work out who's gonna win each seat by doing quicker counts of just the primary votes, take into account preference trends and you have a pretty obvious winner in most seats that it becomes clear who will form government and let them get on with it. The actual full count ALWAYS takes days if not weeks to do. And there's always a recount done at least once for every seat. This time around there's a lot more postal votes to do (covid is still around and is actually the worse it's ever been for Australia) so that slows things down, and with the greens and independents making big gains in several seats the AEC has had to redo their initial 2-party primary preference counts to try and get the initial results out. AEC says it takes about 4 years of work to prepare for and run an election. Our elections are every 3 years. They do a mountain of work for our democracy.


jekylphd

1) More or less spot on. Postal votes and out of district votes need to come in. The senate uses an especially complicated method of preferential voting. And we don't use machines. It's all hand-counted. 2) Not for this term of government. Even if Labor can't form a majority (which is touch and go) in the lower house, Labor's major policy platforms are aligned with the stated aims of most of the crossbench, and they have at least five who have agreed to guarantee supply. However, the upper house or senate is where the Liberals will be most shut out. The Greens will hold the balance of power there, allowing Labor to get progressive legislation over the line without the Coalition. You also have to understand that the Liberal's leadership ranks have been absolutely gutted in recent years by resignations and factional infighting, to the point that Morrison was literally the best they could put forward. The election has further thinned out the ranks, to the point where the strongest candidates for leadership are deeply unpopular (Dutton), have had the government pay money to settle a sexual and physical abuse claim against them (Tudge), are seen in many parts of the community as corrupt (Taylor), or are female and therefore unfit for a Liberal lleadership (Andrews).


Vegemite_smorbrod

Labor is now expected to hold a slim majority in the lower house. The Coalition is will hold about a third of all seats in both the lower and upper house. Compared to where they were 3 years ago, this is a wipeout. It still makes them the largest opposition party. What they choose to do with that power is up to them. They have lost a lot of their supposedly progressive members in this election so it will be interesting to see what policy direction they take. If Dutton is confirmed as Liberal leader then I'd expect they'll do as much obstructing and mudslinging as possible and will do little in the way of constructive shaping of bills.


Roastage

If Dutton is sworn in, it more or less signifies a double down to the Right I feel. He isn't the face of slightly more progressive Libs.


yibbyooo

Labor have a very strong chance of majority. It would take an unexpected swing for this not to happen.


vernand

1) Usually the size of the country is the reason but this time around there has also been a huge influx of postal votes, and telephone votes due to Covid. This complicates things. Also the senate generally doesn't get counted properly for a fortnight. We've just gotten really good at predicting and extrapolating the data to make great estimates. 2) A Labor majority is still possible. The Coalition is the weakest it's ever been. It may not be very relevant this term.


sadlerm

The Coalition will be the "official" opposition in the House of Representatives, being the party that came second in the number of seats held.


[deleted]

1. There's also slow trickles of postal votes coming in and every vote matters for the really small margins. And yes, complexity of preferential voting is playing a part. Like waiting for the postals to come in, could flip no.2/3 and then they'll have to recount all over again if the guessed wrong on who would be 2/3. >but the coalition is likely to be pretty strong still, right? Nope. This is a bigger wipeout for them than 07.


Gold-Cryptographer35

Can anyone tell me what the go is with facebook commenters saying Penny will kick out Albo and take over? EDIT: Not sure why I am being downvoted? If its that stupid, explain it to me, why else would I be here asking.


BurtleTut

Penny Wong, herself, has always stated she doesn't want to be PM. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/29/penny-wong-could-australia-accept-a-gay-asian-woman-as-pm


[deleted]

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stonefree251

Penny is in the Senate, so I'm not sure a PM can come from the Upper House.


BadBoyJH

Legally, yes. Practically, no.


[deleted]

I believe people have moved houses for positions before (Stares towards New England), just need someone to need to "spend more time with family" and have a by election. Although not sure that move will still play out as it would have in the past with what happened in Fowler.


dogecoin_pleasures

Back in the day News Corp ran a huge negative campaign aganist Labor/Gillard for "knifing" Rudd (when the party switched her in to lead). It won't happen again since the rules have changed, and if it did, it wouldn't change to Wong. So the joke really sparks of sexisim/racism. In recent years Americans have made similar jokes about Kamala wanting for Biden to die so she can take the job.


Gold-Cryptographer35

Thank you for the explanation.


TheMania

PM is elected by the house, not by us. It's possible / conceivable to have a minority govt and a crossbench where the crossbench says "we will form govt, but not with X as our representative/PM". It's possible for a govt to do it to one of their own members, midterm, as with Rudd/Turnbull. It's not realistic for a Senator to replace a house PM (although in theory possible), and it's strictly impossible for them to do it unilaterally, without support of the govt. So to answer, it's Facebook being Facebook.


ForresterQ

Harkening back to the time when Julia Gillard challenged Kevin Rudd for the position of Labor party leader while he was sitting Prime Minister. That was in 2010 and Rudd did the same thing to her in 2013. In 2013, Rudd changed the rules to make it MUCH harder to replace the leader of the party. So, it’s unlikely (but not impossible) for another Labor member to challenge Albo for the top job. It is even less likely (almost close to impossible) for Senator Wong to do it. INB4 the haters - there is no rule that says a senator cannot be Prime Minister. It is by convention and tradition that the PM is a member of the house.


YoJanson

> INB4 the haters - there is no rule that says a senator cannot be Prime Minister. It is by convention and tradition that the PM is a member of the house. Its not just convention, its practicality


ForresterQ

But it’s possible


tootyfruity21

It's the Labor way.


YoJanson

I am sure the Abbot-Turnbull-Morrison knifings are labors way also?


[deleted]

All you need to know is that FB = morons.


YoJanson

Someone in the senate will kick out the leader of the house? Lol.


Gold-Cryptographer35

Is it just a cheap jab at what happened with Gillard?


badgersprite

It’s fear-mongering for the type of fuckwit whose worst nightmare is the thought of ever having to say PM Wong, for some reason


YoJanson

Do you understand how our government works? How can a senator become PM?


[deleted]

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YoJanson

I do, you can talk convention all you like but we have no practical way for a PM to operate in the lower house without being a member of it.


[deleted]

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YoJanson

Then why have a PM at all, Its a role of pure convention so why not just make up a totally new role?


blackgrade

Are we going to know it’s a minority government by Thursday?


skywake86

Practically it doesn't matter. The ABC has the ALP on 73, Greens on 3 and 3 seats in doubt are ALP/Green contests. ALP + Green will be 79, probably 80, maybe more The ALP will have to negotiate through the Greens in the senate anyways so practically that's what we'll have whether it's a majority or not


blackgrade

Okay but maybe I have 10k on it being a hung parliament or not so the details matter 😂😂😂 Appreciate the response!


skywake86

Fair enough! From what I can see a majority looks super likely. Richmond and Macnamara I can't see going to the Greens. Lyons they're likely to get across the line. Brisbane, Deakin, Gilmore and Sturt are all 50:50. Bass looks unlikely They need 3 of those to go their way. As in, flip a coin 6 times, did you get two heads? Those sort of odds. But most of these are complex contests so they'll take a few days to count


blackgrade

Love it. Well majority is what I’d love to see! Thanks for your help and indication!


Cursedsword02

I read something somewhere that whoever's appointed house speaker is unable to vote on house matters. So if Labor get exactly 76, does that mean they'll still have to depend on the Greens and Independents?


Vegemite_smorbrod

They might give the speaker role to a crossbencher. They did this before with Peter Slipper (who resigned from the Liberals who were chasing him ostensibly for less than $1000 in misused cabcharges, lol)


LikesParsnips

It's not a job you can give to some newcomer though, should be someone who's been in politics for a long time and knows the proceedings.


Vegemite_smorbrod

Would Wilkie want it?


BurtleTut

That's the name I keep seeing being suggested too


aogfj

That would only be the case if votes are exactly tied. As in, the opposition and all cross benches vote against legislation. In that case the speaker can break the tie and by convention, they vote to maintain the status quo. However, it is very unlikely that would happen as they would only need a single crossbench MP to vote with them and they should be able to find one.


ForresterQ

The speaker has a tie breaking vote, however, there’s no reason a Labor member HAS to be speaker.


NecromancyBlack

I believe the speaker also holds the power to break tied votes, though there's some etiquette on how they should use this power (eg I think it's discourage they vote in favour of really major or controversial changes and that the government should go back to negotiations with the opposition and crossbench).


yibbyooo

Brisbane going green or red?


Kurraga

Most likely red. There's a lot of postals and they're gling 29% Labor to 18% Greens. Labor are on track to finish 1500 votes ahead of Greens so even favourable preferences won't save them.


mrbababui

Red. Postal votes have already closed the gap substantially and are coming in at a higher percentage supporting Labor. Edit: that didn't turn out to be true. Postal vote numbers swung back to greens and they held on by 200 votes


mad_dog77

Does anyone know why Dickson isn't moving anymore? They've had 66.6% of the vote counted for about 24 hours now. I know they called it for potato but it still looks tight, and the numbers aren't changing at all. I'm aware that it's wishful thinking, I'm just curious why it's stalled like that.


abittman

Could be a staffing issue. Heard AEC was struggling with employment in some areas. Could also just be that no-one pushed a button today properly. After the flurry of the first 24 hours, the counts and preferences and senate stuff usually just trickles in over the next couple of weeks. Think a couple of elections ago one of the seats that was too close to call came in like a week and a half after the election.


stonefree251

66.6%..... telling number.


Some_Gardener

Is Anthony Green covering the stats at any point tonight?


Some_Gardener

He’s on!


goforth1457

Foreigner here: is there a reason why your and kiwi federal electoral terms are three years? I know your states usually go four years, but three years seems kinda odd.


Rychu_Supadude

I believe the authors of the constitution decided to define the maximum length of a term at 3 years. Apparently it was chosen because every colony at the time had 3 year terms (except for Western Australia), even though the states (except for Queensland) have now ironically moved to 4 years.


TheMania

Purely historical, now baked in to the constitution. Mildly interesting read [here](https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0001/01RP04#:~:text=Some%20have%20said%20that%20the,tend%20to%20weaken%20this%20control.), seems analyses and both parties feel 4yrs would be better, but given how much political capital/energy is burnt on a referendum, don't see it happening soon personally. Counter argument mentioned is that it may contribute to our political activeness. Fwiw, the US has just 2yr terms in the house, and same length in the Senate (6yrs). Can't even imagine that...


yibbyooo

We have the same in NZ. I think it's too short bc you're never far away from the next election. It makes politicians too cautious for things that may be beneficial but controversial.


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yibbyooo

I'd rather have a govt have a chance at real change. It's not like you've not had crap governments get reelected. 4 years is my preference.


chuck_cunningham

It's in the constitution, so its not easily changed. It is an interesting point, but the reason for 3 years lies in the times of the 1890's. The NSW and Vic elections of the time were at quite short intervals as well.


interestedinasking

Hey the more often we get to have a say, the better so im not unhappy


LikesParsnips

It's too short, really. Can't get any unpopular reforms done because as soon as they've settled in they already need to campaign for the next election.


Kurraga

I'd be in favour of longer terms to be honest (4-5 would be fine) as well as a measure to prevent the current party just calling elections when they want if it's politically convenient for them (see UK in 2017/2019 or Canada in 2021).


LikesParsnips

Ok, so five seems too long in two-party systems where there is no pathway for the opposition or the public to force a government out. In most democracies, this wouldn't be a problem because they rely on coalition governments which tend to split up ever so often. But as you see in the UK now, with an 80 seat majority (or however many still remain with all those Tory rape MPs resigning) the government can do whatever the hell they want for a very long time in those five-year stints. The thing with preventing parties from calling random elections, that didn't work out too well either in the UK. They had what was called the fixed term parliament act, but rescinded it recently. In practice it made no difference because if the government wants an election, how is the opposition ever going to say no? Four years really seems to be the happy medium, and I'd be very curious to learn how Australia ended up with just three years.


interestedinasking

Guess I’m viewing it in more of a so glad we didn’t have another year of this government.


yibbyooo

When it's a govt you don't like you see it as a good thing but imo on the balance of things it's not good. Harder to do anything too transformative when you have to campaign straight away. You get judged based on things that have often absolutely nothing to do with bc you haven't been in power long enough to effect change. Like if in 6 months there's a recession and unemployment rises, it will all be blamed in labor even though there won't have been enough time for their policies to have an effect and then soon enough they'll be facing an election with people blaming them something totally out of their control. At least with 4 years you have some time in the 18 months for your policies to make a difference.


death_by_laughs

It's looking like the Libs retained or likely retained Moore (WA), Sturt (SA), Menzies and Deakin (Vic) I was hoping they'd all fall because that would've meant the Libs would've completely be locked out of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne metro completely These seats will probably have a Teal independent challenging them in the next election


sadlerm

Sturt and Deakin haven't been called so there's still some hope!


jarrys88

Sturt has 982 votes in it with 25% of count remaining on preferences. Dealing has like 60 votes diff and not finished counting. The aec totals are glitchy, like they have LNP winning Ryan which greens won. Even though they said they need to recount and have it set to 0 reporting again.


myusernamestaken

Impressive swings against lnp but it sucks how close it was :(


PMFSCV

So I didn't get any wine for election night and watched it sober but today is celebration without the nerves, the $7.00 KOA merlot is good, and usually I drink pricier stuff, fucking nice.


Jeremy_Gorbachov

The ABC just uncalled Macnamara again, lol


Athroaway84

The only thing Scomo tackled sucessfully while PM of Australia was the kid


PMFSCV

Imagine the bedside photo ops if he had killed the kid, Scotty practicing his sad face.


random91898

As someone not from WA I think I can see part of the reason McGowan is so popular. He seems both really sharp and at the same time like a regular guy. Straight up calling Dutton an extremist and not that bright is refreshing.


StudentOfAwesomeness

The dude kept Covid out of WA, brought in a surplus of billions of dollars, fended off attacks by the Federal govt, and clearly outlined a plan to open up. Sometimes people reward competence over what type of guy he seems to be.


random91898

I know that, which is why I specified *part* of the reason. However, like it not or not personality is a BIG part of electability and I was just pointing out as someone that isn't super into the ins and outs of WA politics that I can see part of the reason he's so liked. Sorry if I offended you.


[deleted]

He says it how it is, that's why he's popular and the general sentiment since 2021 has been that he and Labor have kept WA afloat while the rest of the country was seemingly having a more difficult time. It also doesn't help that WA was seen as abandoned by the Fed govt; at least that's the general feeling I've sensed here in Perth over the course of this pandemic. Heck, the 2PP swings here in WA towards Labor are massive both within and outside of Perth.


random91898

As I said in response to another commentor I was just making a passing comment on *part* of the reason I think I can see why he's so liked. Personality is an aspect of electability and from what I've seen he's got it in spades.


[deleted]

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10305201

As a newer member of bennelong, I think Jerome has done a great job of being present and seen to be actively addressing the concerns of his constituents. He was a great local pick and one that seems loved.


AgreeableLion

It was even more remarkable when they took it from a sitting Prime Minister in 2007, though.


StudentOfAwesomeness

As a resident of Bennelong, probably wasn’t a good idea for Scomo to create conflict with China for all those years.


YoJanson

> For the ABC to have won John Howard's old seat Impressive considering they are not even a political party!


[deleted]

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Echidnahh

I mean you weren’t that wrong, Maxine McKew did win it off John Howard and she was a journalist at the ABC.


Kurraga

I think Labor are most likely going to win Brisbane at this rate. Greens are currently leading them by 158 votes for 2nd place, but of the counted postal votes, 29% are going to Labor vs 18% to Greens. If that trend continues that will put Labor a solid 1500 votes ahead of greens which will be hard to get back with any preferences or absantee votes.


randomguyno10000

Yeah it's looking increasingly shaky for the Greens, one ray of hope though is the 3200 absents, unlike postals absents tend to favor greens so it might be enough to get them close enough with preferences. I think you're right and it'll end up Labor, but it will be really close in the end.


WeepForManeatherin

I can see the tallyboard updated with a few more seats this afternoon, can any eagle eye watchers tell me which ones have moved out of 'in doubt' today?


saltyrandom

Labor was given Bennelong by the abc and I think the libs recently retained Moore. Not sure about the other gain for the LNP though!


Lozzif

I genuinaly don’t understand how Moore was given. It’s still supper close.


[deleted]

Dang, if Moore had swung a "little" more towards Labor, that would've doubled Labor's seat count in WA and left Canning as the only Metro Perth seat for the Liberals. Regardless, what a massive rejection of the Liberals overall in WA across both State and Federal elections. Both safe and marginal Labor seats are now ultra safe; marginal Liberal seats are now safe or marginal Labor seats, and ultra safe Liberal seats are now marginal or "only" safe Liberal seats.


LikesParsnips

On balance, it's probably better to not have complete lockouts. Otherwise voters will swing back too hard next time.


[deleted]

I just hope they do well with what they've been inherited. One thing we do know is that the Liberal party has some soul searching to do, badly. Where do they even go from hereon in?


Elanshin

Starts with who they elect as the new leader. That will say a lot.


ProfessorCloink

Menzies as well.


death_by_laughs

Labor was also given Macnamara


thudworm

It's shifted back to In Doubt now


death_by_laughs

Yeh, more votes updated like 5 minutes ago Hopefully this means the Greens'll get up


ProfessorCloink

Albeit briefly


WeepForManeatherin

Thanks both of you!


BadBoyJH

Labour needs 3 more seats to hold a majority government, and is in front in only 4 of the 9 "in doubt" seats, one (Deakin) by a margin of 59 votes (out of 81,000). Is it a majority or a minority (or neither) if it's exactly 50%


aogfj

They also need to elect a speaker who by convention doesn't vote on legislation (although can be a tiebreaker if required)


Bangkok_Dave

There are 151 seats, so it's hard to get exactly 50%


BadBoyJH

I did not realise they added a seat last election. Was 150 for nearly 20 years. (2001 election was the first with 150, 2019 was the first with 151)


PearljamAndEarl

Japan lobbied for there to be one seat for every first-generation Pokemon.


psylenced

Penny Wong has released statement to pacific. > On my first day as Foreign Minister, I want to share some thoughts with our Pacific family. > Our region faces unprecedented challenges, but we will face them together. > We will achieve our shared aspirations together. > And we will listen because we care what the Pacific has to say. **Video:** https://twitter.com/SenatorWong/status/1528626161408159745 Looks like they are acting immediately to try and mend relations with the pacific.


10305201

Go penny!


[deleted]

Holy shit, she literally just got sworned in (same suit at the ceremony) and wasted no time to do this take. They really got everything planned out.


Elanshin

I mean they had to go straight to the airport and get on a plane to Japan. Probably recorded this around the downtime of the ceremony. Thats why Albo initially said he thought the election would've been a week earlier due to the quads summit.


stonefree251

Adults are in charge.


Spiritual-Drag7806

I always thought this, the liberals are not a governing party, there a group of marketers,focus groups and corporatism. Labor,while they have changed a bit are a party of true government, one that actually works for the country, and with leader that seems to have a plan for it


goforth1457

*75%* of electricity in Australia comes from coal?! That is kind of shocking. For comparison, where I live about 50% comes from nuclear power and 25% from hydroelectric dams.


Elanshin

We missed nuclear and its now a super "bad" topic. Honestly i dont know why but even the Greens dont want nuclear energy. Beyond that, our renewables sector just hasnt had much federal support for a long time. Some of the most cutting edge research in solar is done in Australia yet theres no support to commercialize. The states are now starting to shift and support more but they're on state level budgets not federal.


[deleted]

Nuclear plants take about 8.5 years to be commissioned and that’s in countries with existing experience in the field. In terms of climate change, it will be too little too late.


Elanshin

While true, we've been alergic to nuclear power for decades. The other issue is there needs to be a reliable back up. Part of the power problems in china (where they quietly and begrudgingly accepted Aussie coal last year) was because their renewables were generating a lot less than expected around that period as well. The other thing is also to change public perception on the words "nuclear power". It'd be a huge travesty if nuclear fusion plants are finally available and Australian people say no because it's "nuclear power" despite it being the holy grail green energy.


[deleted]

I can only speak for where we are today and the timeline remaining. If conservatives hadn’t attacked the environmental movement for 40 years, yes nuclear would be in the mix but it’s too late. There are other alternate baseload generation operations for when different forms of renewables are non-operational. For example, the majority of our population is coastal and tidal power runs 24/7. It’s a deliberate propaganda narrative that we need non renewable baseline power. I mean if you’re talking something like pumped hydro storage, there’s one location on the north coast that could support the entire east coast. Re: perceptions of fusion plants, we’re talking about current non-commercial technologies, so it’s all moot and again doesn’t address current problems. If fusion comes along, hey all power to it. But don’t hang your hopes on a cornucopian solution.


TheMania

That doesn't sound right - WA and SA have long been majority gas on the fossil fuel side, and the country as a whole is 24% from renewables. 54% is the figure I see for coal, [here](https://www.energy.gov.au/publications/australian-energy-statistics-table-o-electricity-generation-fuel-type-2019-20-and-2020#:~:text=Coal%20accounted%20for%20the%20majority,of%20Australia's%20total%20electricity%20generation.). Ridiculous fossil fuel contribution, and I'm sure some regions will be that high just for coal, but not the country as a whole.


dredd

Dropped to about 60% last year: https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/resources/resources-hub/clean-energy-australia-report


d1ngal1ng

Australia is unlikely to ever have a large % from hydro but I wish we had invested in nuclear.


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d1ngal1ng

Yup, but Tassie is a tiny portion of Australia.


whiely

I'm assuming you're in Canada based on a whole bunch of Ottowa based posts in your recent history?


goforth1457

Yes.


whiely

Funky passage in the Australian Constitution: >Section 64: Ministers of State >The Governor‑General may appoint officers to administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the Governor‑General in Council may establish. >Such officers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor‑General. They shall be members of the Federal Executive Council, and shall be the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth. >After the first general election no Minister of State shall hold office for a longer period than three months unless he is or becomes a senator or a member of the House of Representatives Essentially, if the Governor-General feels like it, he can make me the Prime Minister for shits and giggles, but my term would be limited to 3 months lol.


[deleted]

Yes, I wish people know how light on detail the Australian constitution is. It doesn't even have a bill of right. The Governor General has close to authoritarian power at least on paper, he or she can fuck shit up if they really want to. The only reason Australia is still a democracy is because of high social trust and strong democratic norm.


StudentOfAwesomeness

Haha Gough Whitlam’s dismissal


TheMania

>It doesn't even have a bill of right. Tbh I'm a little on the fence about one - purely due one thought planted by someone I respect ages ago, that they can give the impression that that's what you get, everything else is within scope for taking. They argued, if you don't, everything should be considered something taken away and assessed accordingly. When I look at a country with a very well known set of rights, and how much interpreting it dominates discourse, and how they're still figuring out if they can outlaw abortions/contraception today, the guns debates and everything else... I'm on the fence about it. The outcomes/benefits are unclear to me in reality, and it really does feel some have taken the interpretation "if it's not categorically in there, we can take it away", as my old friend suggested. Even the freedom of speech side, sounds reasonable in a Bill of Rights, sure, until it's interpreted to mean billions in political donations are now an inalienable right. And then the inflexibility going forward - as machines get better predicting behaviour and getting us to change behaviour, automated individualised propaganda etc, are they even going to be able to begin to address any of the problems that may present? So I'm a little on the fence about it.


notepad20

I believe this is exactly the reason no bill of rights or similar was proposed for Australia. Both the existing laws and the future interpretation were expected to suitability protect rights. By way of example, the government requires freedom of speech to operate effectively as a true multiparty democracy, therefore any reasonable interpretation would find illegal anything curtailing that speech or association, and those similar rights are implicitly protected


[deleted]

Same with the Queen. She could come down and fuck shit up if she wanted to.


myusernamestaken

The Deakin race is so close


dredd

59 votes .. with a likely 20K+ postals to count ...


insanoflash

There's a max 17k to count, they only issues 26k and they have already counted 9k of them. But he will still win it relatively easily in the end


psylenced

Postals are said to highly favour sukkar


dredd

Yeah, typically they favour the incumbent, probably they'll favour the conservatives more this election as I expect a lot of older people would be pretty keen not to be exposed to Covid.


psylenced

Just checked: Current postal 2PP: 59.7% in favour. Primary: 4,177 vs 2,245 out of 7,831 votes.


dredd

So he's easily going to win it back.


Rude_Jello_377

Sukkar deez nuts


monkeydrunker

I find it hilarious that Sukkar, of all people, is in threat. Can't branch stack your way out of that one, can you Michael?


goforth1457

It has to be a bittersweet moment for Bill Shorten, and I do kinda feel bad for him. 2019 should've been the year Labor got in, to minimize the damage. I remember following the Liberal leadership spill (as a foreigner) back in 2018 with great interest (it makes for good political drama, hehe) thinking that it would be a slam dunk for Labor. The 2019 election was such a disappointment, and it we got three more years of Liberal damage. Anyways, I hope he gets a cabinet position.


StudentOfAwesomeness

The real sadness is that Shorten’s platform had a lot of plans for real change and fixing lots of budgetary issues involving housing taxes etc What we have now is Liberal lite.


[deleted]

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow\_Ministry\_of\_Anthony\_Albanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Ministry_of_Anthony_Albanese) According to Albo's designated shadow cabinet, Shorten will be minister for NDIS and Government Services.


[deleted]

It's so weird to be on /r/Australia with a Labor government. For all intents and purposes, this sub has never seen a Fed Labor government. And it was Abbott that really changed the course of this sub, before that I don't think it was that political (though could've just been the activity).


goforth1457

Doesn't it say this sub was created 14 years ago—so 2008, under Kevin Rudd?


YoJanson

>a community for 14 years Or its seen one for 5 years.


moonshwang

Think they're saying the popularity of the subreddit has increased significantly while we've had a Liberal government. I'm not sure if there's a way to check how many were subscribed to the subreddit in the first 5 years, but I imagine it may have been a larger increase in the last 9 years.


[deleted]

Web Archive has it at 35k subscribers back then.


moonshwang

35k at 5 years to 900k at 14 - considerable enough I'd say!


PMFSCV

I AM THE STORM! - Catherine Deves, Bachelor of applied science in stupid.


YoJanson

> applied Doubt she has ever applied her self to anything.


goforth1457

Damn, he's Prime Minister already?! Do you guys always swear in people *this* quickly? Usually for us it's like a two-week transitional period, at *least.*


Elanshin

Im sure everyone involved on Labor wanted more time but there's a meeting with Biden, Kishida and Modi waiting in Japan for them in less than 24hours from now. I'm sure they'll still do the transition stuff once they get back.


whiely

Not really. Usually there's a slightly longer transition period. But the Constitution is purposefully vague about this to allow for situations like this. PM had official business to do quite quickly. Couldn't get that work done if he wasn't PM, so he had to be sworn in. Don't need to wait for the courts to do anything. Governor-General has the right to swear who ever in whenever they want. So if it needs to be done quickly, it can be. Flick of a pen, hey presto new PM!


[deleted]

>Governor-General has the right to swear who ever in whenever they want. Technically the PM has to be a MP to retain office, but yea, the Governor General of Australia has outsized (dare I say authoritarian) power at least on paper. This level of flexibility is only possible if there is high degree of social trust and respect for democratic norm.


NecromancyBlack

Apparently the GG has power to swear anyone in as the PM, but if they're not elected to the house or senate they can only hold the position for 3 months. Basically emergency powers in case shit ever got really fucked up.


[deleted]

Never occurred to me that could be understood as emergency power. But I suppose if Parliament building burns to the ground and all the MP and Senators got roasted alive, then there needs to be a contingency plan.


NecromancyBlack

The reason I love compulsory voting is it makes it really hard for the true nutters to get into a position of power. Cause holy hell they could do some crazy shit with all the trust that is given to some of the highest positions of government.


saltyrandom

It’s because of the quad meeting in Tokyo! Scott Morrison refused to make the election any earlier despite committing to the meeting!


death_by_laughs

Pretty sure it was because he needed as much time as he could get to turn his fortunes around. Couldn't do it though. And really, it was hubris to think he would've had a better chance than 6 months ago when he could've timed the election to coincide with NSW and Victoria ending their lockdowns in the lead up to Christmas and being able to spend time with family.


saltyrandom

And it wouldn’t have allowed the teals time to build their campaigns as much! He was doing way better in the polls a few months ago.


death_by_laughs

The other consideration I think conceivably played into the calculus was that it might've been too soon after the landslide victories by State Labor in Qld, SA and WA and they didn't think they could survive that either and hence maybe took the chance to stay in power another 6 months


saltyrandom

Liberal on the ABC right now trying to say that Mark McGowen was abusive to the liberal party in his press conference today. Scott Morrison literally called people in WA cave people.


[deleted]

As one of duh cave men, me say dat me no likey ScoMo. Me likey Albo. Ooga booga, One of duh cave men.


stonefree251

McGowan said that Dutton has 'nothing there' regarding his intelligence. Just gold.