“But for us, for the Liberal Party, we’re taking those lessons to heart very seriously and we respect the votes that have been cast, and one way that we show that respect is by waiting for the counting to be completed, or completed to the point where the decision is claimed”.
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There it is, that Malcolm Turnbull smugness is back. When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sat down for a Greek coffee with the Liberals’ victorious Julia Banks in the Melbourne seat of Chisholm, his slopped coffee was greeted with a cheer. There are 10 seats now in doubt.
Bill Shorten, who leads the center-left Labor Party, said Wednesday that if Turnbull clung to power, he would still have to deal with the most conservative lawmakers in his party who are angry that Turnbull, a moderate, had ousted his predecessor Tony Abbott in an internal leadership ballot less than a year ago.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. election analysts – considered among the most reliable – were forecasting that the coalition had 73 seats, Labor 66, with minor parties and independents leading in five seats.
Securing three of the remaining six seats would be enough to enable the ruling coalition to govern in its own right in the 150-seat lower house. It’s starting to look realistic, but still not certain.
Turnbull is seeking to shore up support within his party and from independent lawmakers after losing ground in the July 2 election.
The coalition would likely attempt to do a deal with Queensland rural MP Bob Katter, a former National Party member.
Live animal exports is an area where the five crossbench MPs hold varying views with the Greens, Mr Wilkie and Mr Xenophon both supporting a phase-out of the trade, while Mr Katter is a strong supporter.
Turnbull is being blamed for a series of missteps, beginning with triggering the double dissolution of parliament in May, and a long eight-week campaign that allowed time for Labor to hit key issues like healthcare and company tax cuts.
But that did not make the Labor campaign “any less of a lie”. We didn’t expose their record on border protection as we could have.
Australian Medical Association President Michael Gannon said he was surprised he did not see more of Ley during the campaign.
Shorten also outlined how Labor would approach the next parliament.
His reasoning at the time was that Mr Abbott could not win the election. His predicted successor Anthony Albanese has said he won’t be challenging the leader.
“These are the people who feel exposed by or vulnerable to modern economics and voted Labor in the Lower House and for the socially conservative, popular right in the Upper House”, Economou told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday. In 2013, postals flowed strongly to the LNP to give them a narrow victory.
“Everything they have on hand should be counted by Friday”. He’s 722 votes behind at the moment.
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop was more cautious about the poll count.
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The LNP also pulled ahead in Flynn, with incumbent MP Ken O’Dowd going from 7 votes behind Labor’s Zac Beers to 58 ahead. That could get him home in a very tight contest.
