1) Wilkie is not home in Denison yet. If Jonathan Jackson squeaks home then Labor needs to look hard to what it has done in the electorate to suffer such a huge swing.
2) The Libs' national broadband plan was a loser (I wrote a whole column about it). It cost them terribly in Tasmania, losing one senator and turning two marginal seats in safe Labor seats. Now it looms as the issue they need to resolve to win the independents' support. Abbott would do well to change his broadband plan based on that (and also because his original plan was crap). Unfortunately, the Coalition had banked on saving the NBN money and using it to return the budget to surplus.
3) The result should NEVER have been this close. Labor should have got home, with a reduced majority. That is how politics works in Australia. This result says a few things. Labor have been embarrassingly poor. The Libs have not escaped from the shadows of their past just yet. And the majority of Australians have not yet figured out that voting for the Greens is not a protest vote.
4) The Greens have said they would work with any party to form government. This is clearly untrue. I asked Christine Milne about it yesterday - could you actually form government with Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz? - and she said it was still unclear who would win the election. Picture this: Abbott and Milne shaking hands while Bob Brown and Eric Abetz high five in the background. Not happening.
Still lots of fun to go! Here are some links!
- That feeling you're getting isn't an illness. It's the possibility of a Collingwood flag.
The fear is a reflex. It pierces directly into the soul. It's not a learned reaction. It's innate to the human condition. The odd part is it strikes on both sides of the divide. Collingwood is shaping to win the AFL premiership for the first time in two decades. The prospect unnerves those born to believe equally as those programmed to despise.
- Peter Costello in The Age raises some interesting quotes that highlight a lack of judgment.
"Mark Latham has made a real connection with Australians" and "Mark's the one who is putting forward a vision for Australia". "He's got the capacity to govern".Who said that in 2004? Julia Gillard MHR. He may be a tool, but he's Labor's tool, and he was the tool they wanted to rule the country in 2004.
- A long but fascinating piece about Jessica Rudd's novel about politics, in which a PM gets knifed by his female deputy. The comments about the Howard family are interesting too.
- Americans don't get New Zealand humour apparently. I can't wait to see Boy.
- Natalie Tran (aka communitychannel) apparently brings in US$100k a year thanks to her YouTube videos. It's big money, but understandably on Facebook the other day she was pretty upset about an invasion of her privacy.
- Don't piss off television writers - because they can get revenge in front of millions of people.
- Back on politics, I loved this article. It's something I've been thinking about for some time. There's a column in it.
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