it's auspol time
May. 4th, 2025 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidewaysWell! That was certainly an election.
My greatest fear was that we'd see a repeat of 2019, when the (incumbent) conservative Coalition won over one of Labor's more centre-left offerings despite campaigning almost exclusively on "see how this guy wants to change things, arguably for the better? yeah we simply won't do any of that" - or worse, a crushing conservative victory founded entirely in nationalist scare tactics such as in 2013, supported by a Trump-inspired far right surge amidst the fringe parties like One Nation and Palmer's latest and most cringe-inducing effort yet to ride the populist wave ('Trumpets for Patriots'? gaaaaag).
My greatest hope was that we'd see the trends of 2022 continue instead, strengthening the crossbench with a slew of socially-left minorities and independents to bolster Labor as the leading party while also holding them accountable and dragging them away from their more centre-right proclivities. I've been a political donor these last three years for the first time in my life - those shock successes through Climate 200 had me paying attention.
...And we didn't get either of these things! But we did get a hell of a lot closer to the second than the first with the Coalition taking the absolute worst ass-beating of its life - so bad leader Peter Dutton lost his own seat, a viciously vindicating moment for anyone who's had a healthy loathing of the man since he spent his time in border security pissing on refugees. One Nation saw a small surge, but nothing like I was most sweating about, and Trumpets for Patriots seems to have netted little but memes about how annoying everyone found it being constantly texted by the guy.
On top of that, the Teal independents are holding strong! Reports suggest that the vast majority are holding their seats and are actually seeing a strong swing from being second to first preference, and they may even scoop up one or two new seats. Thrilling! I love it! Keep going!
The downside to all this is seeing the Greens backslide massively from their 2022 wins, which is not totally surprising when you look into the complex machinations of preferences, but still dampens the mood a bit by confirming Australia still simply is not ready to consider true reform on the social and environmental fronts. They did still see an overall increase in first preferences, I believe, and have maintained a healthy presence in the Senate, so that's something.
What are the Coalition going to do from here? Self-destruct, one almost hopes... certainly there has been an amount of denial and doubling-down spilling out from predictable quarters. Ideally, they'd shape up and take some damn cues from the Teals already.
In the meantime, I'll take some heart in Albanese prioritising words like 'kindness' in his winning speech, emphasising his commitment to indigenous issues despite the catastrophe that was the Voice, and dedicating Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again to Dutton on the radio (no way, get fucked, fuck off!).
Anyway, if you'd rather skip my rambling, here's the obligatory "emotional election journey set to Offenbach" video.
My greatest fear was that we'd see a repeat of 2019, when the (incumbent) conservative Coalition won over one of Labor's more centre-left offerings despite campaigning almost exclusively on "see how this guy wants to change things, arguably for the better? yeah we simply won't do any of that" - or worse, a crushing conservative victory founded entirely in nationalist scare tactics such as in 2013, supported by a Trump-inspired far right surge amidst the fringe parties like One Nation and Palmer's latest and most cringe-inducing effort yet to ride the populist wave ('Trumpets for Patriots'? gaaaaag).
My greatest hope was that we'd see the trends of 2022 continue instead, strengthening the crossbench with a slew of socially-left minorities and independents to bolster Labor as the leading party while also holding them accountable and dragging them away from their more centre-right proclivities. I've been a political donor these last three years for the first time in my life - those shock successes through Climate 200 had me paying attention.
...And we didn't get either of these things! But we did get a hell of a lot closer to the second than the first with the Coalition taking the absolute worst ass-beating of its life - so bad leader Peter Dutton lost his own seat, a viciously vindicating moment for anyone who's had a healthy loathing of the man since he spent his time in border security pissing on refugees. One Nation saw a small surge, but nothing like I was most sweating about, and Trumpets for Patriots seems to have netted little but memes about how annoying everyone found it being constantly texted by the guy.
On top of that, the Teal independents are holding strong! Reports suggest that the vast majority are holding their seats and are actually seeing a strong swing from being second to first preference, and they may even scoop up one or two new seats. Thrilling! I love it! Keep going!
The downside to all this is seeing the Greens backslide massively from their 2022 wins, which is not totally surprising when you look into the complex machinations of preferences, but still dampens the mood a bit by confirming Australia still simply is not ready to consider true reform on the social and environmental fronts. They did still see an overall increase in first preferences, I believe, and have maintained a healthy presence in the Senate, so that's something.
What are the Coalition going to do from here? Self-destruct, one almost hopes... certainly there has been an amount of denial and doubling-down spilling out from predictable quarters. Ideally, they'd shape up and take some damn cues from the Teals already.
In the meantime, I'll take some heart in Albanese prioritising words like 'kindness' in his winning speech, emphasising his commitment to indigenous issues despite the catastrophe that was the Voice, and dedicating Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again to Dutton on the radio (no way, get fucked, fuck off!).
Anyway, if you'd rather skip my rambling, here's the obligatory "emotional election journey set to Offenbach" video.
