Election Postmortem
What an interesting five days it's been. Much to my surprise (and shock/horror?) the Labor party led by Premier Beattie romped it in as predicted by the polls. I don't understand it fully, but I did say "may the best team win" so I hope that's what happened.
I didn't post until now, because the electorate of Bundaberg was one of several where the vote was so evenly split between the conservative coalition (Liberal/National) and the Labor party that postal votes had to be counted before a winner could be declared. Even now there's some votes still to be counted, but with a lead of over 400 votes, the National candidate Jack Dempsey today claimed victory (I think that's what they called it. The Labor candidate Sonia Clearly hasn't yet conceded defeat as far as I know)
In an earlier post I pondered a scenario where the Bundaberg electorate was won by the Nationals but the overall State went to Labor. Even so, I decided to vote National so I'll have to wear it if the outcome isn't as good for the people of Bundaberg as I'd like it to be.
There's two ways of looking at it.
One is that the National partiy holding Bundaberg might give us a more forceful voice in the Parliament, as opposed to a tame Labor member who has to toe the party line. (With a big State wide victory despite the apalling state of health education water etc., will the Labor party be genuinely motivated to improve things?).
The second way of looking at it is that the Labor party could neglect Bundaberg more than ever before, because any improvements before the next election might be counted to the credit of the sitting National member, giving them an ever stronger foothold in the electorate next time around.
Other things I'll be watching out for will be the attitude and influence of the defeated Labor candidate. The last thing Jack Dempsey needs is to be whiteanted from within the ranks of the doctors and nurses.
What Jack does need, in my opinion, is a good crash course in public speaking and handling the media. His brief appearance on the ABC on election night caused me to cringe with embarrasment for him, and wonder whether I'd made a terrible mistake by giving him my vote. I'm sure he'll come good and grow into the role of State member, but he needs - and deserves - every bit of help his party can give him.
After all, over two elections he's achieved a swing of 15% or more against the Labor party which has been entrenched in Bundaberg for more than 100 years.
I didn't post until now, because the electorate of Bundaberg was one of several where the vote was so evenly split between the conservative coalition (Liberal/National) and the Labor party that postal votes had to be counted before a winner could be declared. Even now there's some votes still to be counted, but with a lead of over 400 votes, the National candidate Jack Dempsey today claimed victory (I think that's what they called it. The Labor candidate Sonia Clearly hasn't yet conceded defeat as far as I know)
In an earlier post I pondered a scenario where the Bundaberg electorate was won by the Nationals but the overall State went to Labor. Even so, I decided to vote National so I'll have to wear it if the outcome isn't as good for the people of Bundaberg as I'd like it to be.
There's two ways of looking at it.
One is that the National partiy holding Bundaberg might give us a more forceful voice in the Parliament, as opposed to a tame Labor member who has to toe the party line. (With a big State wide victory despite the apalling state of health education water etc., will the Labor party be genuinely motivated to improve things?).
The second way of looking at it is that the Labor party could neglect Bundaberg more than ever before, because any improvements before the next election might be counted to the credit of the sitting National member, giving them an ever stronger foothold in the electorate next time around.
Other things I'll be watching out for will be the attitude and influence of the defeated Labor candidate. The last thing Jack Dempsey needs is to be whiteanted from within the ranks of the doctors and nurses.
What Jack does need, in my opinion, is a good crash course in public speaking and handling the media. His brief appearance on the ABC on election night caused me to cringe with embarrasment for him, and wonder whether I'd made a terrible mistake by giving him my vote. I'm sure he'll come good and grow into the role of State member, but he needs - and deserves - every bit of help his party can give him.
After all, over two elections he's achieved a swing of 15% or more against the Labor party which has been entrenched in Bundaberg for more than 100 years.
posted by GrannyLynda at 7:46 PM
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