Australians are upside down. The bad guys are called the Liberal Party, which can be a bit confusing. The good guys are the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and they’ve been out of power for eleven years. But, no more. The Australians went to the polls yesterday, and the ALP needed 16 seats to take control of the government. They gained at least 24. Most projections had them picking up about 20 seats, so the victory was larger than expected. I watched the returns come in in the middle of the night. It was immensely enjoyable to watch the SkyNews lackeys report on the total destruction of their reactionary ruling majority. They became more and more despondent as the night wore on.
The results are a huge blow to the Bush administration. Losing Tony Blair was bad enough, but John Howard didn’t just lose the prime ministership, he lost his own seat to an up and coming woman, named Maxine McKew (results).
The new prime minister will be Kevin Rudd. You can see him in action here, defending the honor of the American Democratic Party and Barack Obama.
It looks like the Australian Senate is deadlocked at 38-38, but that is a much better result than expected.
We shouldn’t think that these election results are primarily about Iraq. But there is no question that John Howard suffered from his decision to be Bush’s lapdog. When we swear in a Democratic president in 2009, they will have a friendly government down under ready to work with us.
It’s great news. The coalition of the defeated continues to grow.
New York Times.
Associated Press.
US and AP links are fine, but …
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age (Melbourne)
The Australian (Murdoch)
Tim Dunlop for a good political preview
Ross Gittins for appropriate economic comment
The Aussies have been faced with severe droughts over the last decade which has convinced many of them that the conservative position on global warming was absurd. I think this had a lot to do with Howard’s defeat, frankly, as much or more than his government;s support for America’s Iraq policy. Still, regardless of the reasons this is good news, but only if America’s leaders post-Bush take the necessary steps to change our government’s pro-big corporation, pro-corporate consolidation, pro-Big Oil and Big Pharma and Big health Insurance positions. If we have a Democratic President who merely triangulates around the edges, we will accomplish nothing. If, god forbid, a nutjob fascist like Guliani takes over, all hell will break lose regardless of who controls Congress.
yes, it looks like environmental issues were foremost in the mind of the electorate. But Rudd has promised to get the troops out of Iraq. And Howard losing his seat is a separate issue from the overall results. I believe he lost because of Iraq.
I should have been more specific — when i said Howard’s defeat I meant his party. His defeat? I bow to your superior knowledge. 😉
I agree with you. I like Rudd’s combativeness.
that’s the best news of the whole weekend as far as i am concerned.
great!!!!!
and what an extra bonus that howard got kicked out of his own seat. hahahaha
at least the aussies have some sense. and you know rudd is going to follow through…
About time, pretty soon all of them will be gone, and good riddance. It is time to put the adults in charge and get the bed wetters our stop trying to make everyone else scared.