The final seat in the NSW Legislative Council has fallen to Mark Pearson of the Animal Justice Party. Because of his strong affinity with the pro-environment platform, his election will strengthen the Greens in the upper house.
The final went down to the wire between Animal Justice, No Land Tax and the Coalition claiming a 10th seat. However, Greens preferences for Animal Justice carried the day.
The final declaration in the 21 seats up for grabs was: nine Coalition seats, seven Labor, two Greens, Fred Nile for the Christian Democrats Party, one from the Shooters and Fishers Party and Animal Justice activist Pearson.
With Nile’s vote, the Coalition will be able to pass into law highly controversial legislation to lease 49% of the state’s electricity distribution network. Nile has already been criticised for proposing a toothless upper house inquiry to review the power legislation and report by the end of May.
The final result will brings sighs of relief in the Coalition’s party room as well as the Labor caucus, which was dreading a divisive debate over whether to support Baird’s mandate or not.
The final result in the Legislative Assembly also contained some interesting curiosities: while the Liberals lost 14 seats, the Nationals just one (Ballina). Labor won 14 seats, the Greens three and independents two. The swing to Labor was 9.89%, and not in the double figures confidently predicted by media polls and ALP boosters.
In an attempt to break out of its metropolitan comfort zone, the ALP nominated 26 candidates as Country Labor. This was a marked shift from 2011 when Sussex Street fielded only five Country Labor candidates and concentrated all its effort on rescuing the urban areas of Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong, aka “NSW”.
Since the election, the ALP has been claiming a two-party preferred vote of 45.7%. While strictly accurate, it does not disclose the Greens’ contribution to that total was 10%.
The more interesting figure is Labor’s primary vote which was 34.08%, comprising Labor Party 25.91% and Country Labor 8.16%. In other words, Country Labor votes boosted the ALP’s overall primary vote. Without the contrived support from rural and regional centres, the party’s primary vote would have remained at a disastrous level in the high 20.
And another thing, three of Labor’s victories — Strathfield, Gosford and The Entrance — came by courtesy of Green preferences. Labor was trailing behind the Liberals in all three seats until the arrival of the life-saving Greens preferences, which catapulted its candidate onto the winner’s platform.
The axing of John Robertson as party leader in late December last year, plus the ascension of Luke Foley, improved the ALP vote, although the latter had only three months to campaign. But clearly the increase was marginal and demonstrates the sum total of Labor’s woes in NSW are greater than the personality of its leader.
The final result suggests that thanks to the numerous Nutter Parties now flourishing in Australia the Upper House will be come not a Latter Day Animal Farm, but rather an Animal Funny Farm.
Good for journalists of course, but not so for rational Government.
Since when did the state of Sydney aka “NSW” include Newcastle and Wollongong?
Norm, in my first year at High School I had the good fortune to be one of only two students who asked to do Geography so I’m aware your odd notion of what constitutes NSW isn’t the norm. There have been enthusiasts in NSW wanting to create new States, but insufficient public support because for them to be viable, such New States would require the inclusion of larger metropolitan urban areas such as Newcastle or Armidale.
Excellent books which are readily [or even Wikipedia articles?] should help you sort out your confusion.
The Country Party, ie, The Nationals, have been a “nutter party” for many years now. And without their voter support in the creation of the “Coalition”, The Liberals would just be another minor party.
Itsarort, I’ve attended only one Country Party Convention when I took four of my Ballarat Uni classes to their 1974 Victorian State Conference. The students weren’t especially taken by their policies, but the general consensus in how the delegates discussed policies was positive.
Fortunately my students, mostly Labor supporters, had a far better grasp of politics works than seems to be the case with you. I probably shan’t have my post cleared by the Crikey Censor anywhere as promptly as yours was, so you’ll have the comfort of knowing they value your opinions.