The Lesser Of Two Weevils
November 24, 2007 12:45 AM   Subscribe

Australia Votes. Polls have been predicting a Labor win for the past few weeks, and it's beginning to look like it just might happen. But that's not the real sport.

The real sport is watching the seat of Bennelong, where our current Prime Minister, John Winston Howard stands the chance of losing his seat. This would make him only the second Australian Prime Minister to suffer such ignominy.
posted by Neale (78 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
...and now ABC has called Bennelong for Maxine McKew.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 12:56 AM on November 24, 2007


I guess John Howard is being told "wrongwaygoback"...
(Hi Neale!!)
posted by wendell at 1:11 AM on November 24, 2007


I'm not willing to call Bennelong until I see the removalists parked outside Kirribilli.

Eden-Monaro has gone ALP if you believe its predictive power.
posted by blender at 1:21 AM on November 24, 2007


Double?
posted by dangerousdan at 1:41 AM on November 24, 2007


It has happened.
posted by gomichild at 1:51 AM on November 24, 2007


Blender: point to you for making me Google a word I'd never heard before. Makes perfect sense in retrospect, though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:39 AM on November 24, 2007


Well, Howard has called Rudd and conceded the election. As Ambrose Bierce would say, time to remove the glutted tick and attach a lean one.

I hope he loses his seat too, though. I fact, I hope he's pelted with garbage whenever he shows his face for the next couple of years.
posted by Ritchie at 3:14 AM on November 24, 2007


The rodent has gone.

No dangerousdan, not a double. Australia has voted. The other post discusses the campaign.
posted by mattoxic at 3:25 AM on November 24, 2007


Let me be the first to congratulate Paul Rudd on becoming Prime Minister of Australia.
posted by Reggie Digest at 3:52 AM on November 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


it's Kevin. Kevin Rudd
posted by de at 4:02 AM on November 24, 2007


Was joke, de.
posted by Reggie Digest at 4:08 AM on November 24, 2007


was excitement, reggie
posted by de at 4:15 AM on November 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


Neale!
posted by cgc373 at 4:36 AM on November 24, 2007


But now for the important question: How will this affect America's War on Terror(tm)?
posted by oddman at 4:47 AM on November 24, 2007


Looks like Australian wine is back on menu. Congrats!
posted by Free word order! at 4:50 AM on November 24, 2007


How will this affect America's War on Terror(tm)?

If Rudd follows through on his campaign promises we'll be pulling out of Iraq.
posted by Silentgoldfish at 5:31 AM on November 24, 2007


I want to congratulate Australia on having a non-violent regime change through free and fair elections. Being a US ally, that's better than we've expected of late.
posted by dw at 6:31 AM on November 24, 2007 [4 favorites]


I'm a kiwi living in the US and listened to John Howard's concession speech early this morning on my bedside internet radio. I don't really know much about him or his government but I have to admit it was a good speech and kind of big of him to say "Australia's best days are still to come".

I'm not sure what this means for Helen Clark's Labour government in New Zealand. They're on the same side of the political fence as Australia's Labor which might be good for her but I think "time for a change" is kind of an ominous feeling in NZ too.

Cheers
Ross
posted by tetranz at 6:31 AM on November 24, 2007


We won't be completely pulling out of Iraq. 550 combat troops will be taken out of southern Iraq. We will still have troops in Baghdad to protect diplomats and a navy frigate in the gulf to protect oil platforms.
posted by CaveFrog at 6:38 AM on November 24, 2007


This is quite fun. Though somewhat disturbingly, it's coloured Bennelong blue.

Check out how big the seat of Kalgoorlie is. It's the size of Western Europe!

Happy new goverment everybody.
posted by kjs4 at 6:48 AM on November 24, 2007


The Iraq War leaders are falling one by one, until only one remains..
posted by stbalbach at 7:51 AM on November 24, 2007


The Iraq War leaders are falling one by one, until only one remains.
yup--that whole Coalition of the Willing is way way way smaller now, no? (and don't forget Poland--they're pulling out now too)

and the one left is no leader at all.

yay Rudd!
posted by amberglow at 8:09 AM on November 24, 2007


Suck it, Howard, you cocksucker.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:33 AM on November 24, 2007


Also, you suck
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:40 AM on November 24, 2007


Let me be the first to congratulate Alan Ruck on becoming Prime Minister of Australia.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 8:49 AM on November 24, 2007


(also speaking of our "allies" and buried during the holidays--more proof that it's not Al Qaeda or Iranians: Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks, according to senior American military officials.... )
posted by amberglow at 9:13 AM on November 24, 2007


BBC Profile of Rudd

He's younger than i thought, and it's great he knows China. Did people really like him or just want anyone but Howard?
posted by amberglow at 9:56 AM on November 24, 2007


Meanwhile, Russia continues to drift away from democracy: Russian Police Detain Kasparov at Rally
posted by homunculus at 9:57 AM on November 24, 2007


hah! ... Scores gentlemen's club in Manhattan. ... (where foreign leaders go to get off) ; >
posted by amberglow at 9:58 AM on November 24, 2007


Congratulations, Australian cousins!
posted by athenian at 10:42 AM on November 24, 2007


Just to clarify matters: In addition to conceding the election as a whole, Howard has conceded his own seat. Sic semper muris falsidicus.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 11:19 AM on November 24, 2007


Their very own Portillo moment.

Bravo.

So, that's the last member of Bush's dimwit posse to be ejected from office, right?
posted by genghis at 11:19 AM on November 24, 2007


> Did people really like him or just want anyone but Howard?

truth be known: people didn't dislike him. he was the first real alternative to howard in some years. rudd remained preferred prime minister throughout the election campaign.

howard could easily have been returned to office (for the want of contest and with much chagrin) had rudd and his deputy gillard not stepped into the labor party's leadership positions late last year.

it sure feels like a weight has been lifted.

you possibly don't appreciate just how close australia came to being led by costello & abbott. merci.
posted by de at 11:49 AM on November 24, 2007


ahh...thanks, de--he seems cool and definitely better than Howard who came off as a loud dumbass like Bush, to many of us.

Glenn Greenwald-- Good riddance to John Howard --...it is still satisfying to witness such a well-deserved ejection from power of one of the last political leaders slavishly loyal to the disastrous Bush/Cheney/neoconservative war agenda.... (youtube "highlights" too)
posted by amberglow at 1:23 PM on November 24, 2007


Looks like Australian wine is back on menu.

Hip, hip, shiraz! I does loves me some Aussie shiraz.

Let me be the first ...

No, no, let me be the first to congratulate Philip Seymour Hoffman on his successful move into politics.
posted by dhartung at 1:25 PM on November 24, 2007


Did people really like him or just want anyone but Howard?

People don't really know him, and his strategy has been one of denying Howard a wedge (something Howard is a master of) and not submitting himself to serious media scrutiny.

Having said that, people who know him say he's a very intelligent control freak with a great intellect. Like Howard.

Howard's days were numbered. His own backbenchers wanted him gone.

Howard was an ideologue- and Australians don't like ideologues- see Jeff Kennet- another champion economic fundamentalism.
posted by mattoxic at 1:55 PM on November 24, 2007


Christmas is early this year.
posted by Coaticass at 2:56 PM on November 24, 2007


Howard was an ideologue- and Australians don't like ideologues
I'd say they do, since he was Prime Minister for a long time and won big in the past, no? You guys are like us in many ways (both good and bad and gullible, etc), i think.
posted by amberglow at 3:04 PM on November 24, 2007


what's the punishment for not voting? is there one?
posted by amberglow at 4:05 PM on November 24, 2007


Long-haul MPs face nightmare commute-- ...As sole federal MP for a constituency representing 80,000 voters but covering 2.3m sq km - almost a third of Australia's landmass - Mr Haase...

It's all desert or something? only 80,000?
posted by amberglow at 4:09 PM on November 24, 2007


Hooray and well done, Australians.

Now that you've got rid of Howard, can we have John Clarke back? I don't think you need him any more and things are getting weird over here.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:23 PM on November 24, 2007


dangerousdan: "Double?"

Double, Triple... maybe even quadruple, if you like.

But it dosen't matter. Howard is gone, sanity is about to return to Australian politics, and for the first time in 11.5 years, the future looks rosy once more.

It's a great, great day. Except for this frickin' hangover...
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:39 PM on November 24, 2007


what's the punishment for not voting? is there one?

Having stupidly missed Local Government Elections, The Australian Electoral Commission is fining me $55 + $19 costs.

I ask all MiFi members to contribute to a fund I will be setting up.

Does New Zealand have compulsory voting? If not Australia must be unique in this. Everyone takes part- something that the whole nation shares.

I'd say they do, since he was Prime Minister for a long time and won big in the past, no? You guys are like us in many ways (both good and bad and gullible, etc), i think.

I say they don't Howard was softly softly until he won control of the senate. Then Workchoices/Medicare safety net/changes to the electoral laws/pastors in schools/...
posted by mattoxic at 4:40 PM on November 24, 2007


what's the punishment for not voting? is there one?

You can be fined AU$20. To put that into context, it's about a tenth of the fine you would have to pay for travelling on public transport without a ticket in Melbourne. However, it does seem to keep the participation rate high.
posted by elephantday at 4:45 PM on November 24, 2007


ahh. Weird--but we could use something here to get more people voting.

I say they don't Howard was softly softly until he won control of the senate. Then Workchoices/Medicare safety net/changes to the electoral laws/pastors in schools/.. [!
It sounds like Bush and when he had a compliant GOP Congress (not that anything's really changed since).
posted by amberglow at 5:03 PM on November 24, 2007


I'd say they do, since he was Prime Minister for a long time and won big in the past, no? You guys are like us in many ways (both good and bad and gullible, etc), i think.

Aside from his original election, his "big win" was 2001. He was actually well behind in the polls until the Tampa incident and his wonderful "We will decide who comes to this country, and the circumstances in which they come" speech (coupled with the opposition's spineless capitulation). The wonders of racism and the Australian electorate.
posted by blender at 5:31 PM on November 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


*is probably still drubk*
posted by Wolof at 5:41 PM on November 24, 2007


blender: "The wonders of racism and the Australian electorate."

And yet when the Libs got caught handing out a racist flyer (and blaming it on Labor), the electorate turned against them.

Why? My theory is different times, different reactions. While you won't get any argument from me about the effects of Tampa on the election in 2001, this happened mere months after September 11 when the media and our 'leaders' were whipping the public up into a frenzy about foreigners and terrorists. Since then, while there is (and always will be) an element of society that still buys into that racist claptrap, I believe that we've come a long way towards accepting Muslims into our community. There is still a long way to go, no doubt, but the increased acceptance (for want of a better word) is due largely to the fact that the Muslim community has engaged with the wider community in many positive ways and this, in turn, has led many people to realise that the vast majority of Muslims are ordinary people who are not to be feared anymore than you would anyone else.

For proof of this, compare Howard's 2001 rhetoric of "we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come" with his out and out public disgust of the anti-Muslim flyer in 2007.

Put another way, the racist bullshit that worked in 2001 is exactly the poison that would kill Howard in 2007.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:43 PM on November 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


President Bush has congratulated Kevin Rudd on his election victory, and praised the leadership of John Howard, his staunch personal and political ally.

"The United States and Australia have long been strong partners and allies and the President looks forward to working with this new government to continue our historic relationship," the White House said in a statement.

Fellow Labo(u)r politicians, Gordon Brown and Helen Clarke, have also offered Rudd their congrats.

Nice.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:52 PM on November 24, 2007


OH MY GOD!

Peter Costello has said he's not gonna run for the Opposition Leaders job!!!

So I guess this means Turnbull will be Opposition leader.

Wow. Just wow.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:56 PM on November 24, 2007


Why would Turnbull want that job?
posted by wilful at 6:10 PM on November 24, 2007


Why would Turnbull want that job?

There are two Liberal parties.

There is the old Mensian party that people like Russell Broadbent, Judith Troath, Petro Georgiou and other small L's represent. (Ted Baillieu is also one) These people have been cowered by the right of the party. But it's quite interesting, of all the seats to have swings against them, the only libs to have picked up votes were Petro and Russell.

Turnbull will lead these people and be a good leader I believe.

The part of Downer/Abbot and Costello/Howard has gone.
posted by mattoxic at 6:18 PM on November 24, 2007


wilful: "Why would Turnbull want that job?"

As I've said in the other election threads, I know several die-hard Liberal voters who actually said that they would vote Rudd to get rid of Howard so that they could vote for Turnbull in 2010.

But I agree with your comment in the sense that Turnbull wouldn't want the job since it's virtually impossible for a new Opposition to win Government after just one term. Better off giving it to someone else, let them lose in 2010, challenge for the leadership and then try again in 2013.
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:25 PM on November 24, 2007


I remember Howard saying after the '96 win "Jackie Kelly, we love you"

I bet he wasn't thinking that last night.

George Megalogenis said this morning that Bennelong was lost partly because of the pamphlet.
posted by mattoxic at 6:30 PM on November 24, 2007


WOO-HOO!
posted by Neale at 9:06 PM on November 24, 2007


I am again happy to be Australian (it's taken 11 years).
posted by strawberryviagra at 1:27 AM on November 25, 2007


Around our house we were calling it a Ruddslide.
posted by bystander at 1:33 AM on November 25, 2007


That little prick Howard thought he was so smart ramming all of his pet far-right legislation through parliament while he had control of both houses.

LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, BITCH!
posted by Talez at 2:04 AM on November 25, 2007


First international act for Mr Rudd: ratifying the Kyoto protocol at next month's climate change summit. Hurray.
posted by baggymp at 6:13 AM on November 25, 2007


As a Greens voter I was rapt to see Howard lose Bennelong.

The can be no more dramatic repudiation of everything he stood for (and to think I once thought he stood for nothing but the pursuit of power).

But looking forward I'm not sure I wouldn't rather have a progressive Turnbull Liberal Government than the timid, conservative Rudd Labor Government that the past twelve months suggests we're going to get.
posted by puffmoike at 7:23 AM on November 25, 2007


Put another way, the racist bullshit that worked in 2001 is exactly the poison that would kill Howard in 2007.
Good. I wish it would work here, but there's absolutely no sign of that, tragically.

First international act for Mr Rudd: ratifying the Kyoto protocol at next month's climate change summit.
Does the Midnight Oil guy really know his stuff? or is he playing at politics?
posted by amberglow at 8:16 AM on November 25, 2007


Peter Garrett - aka the Midnight Oil guy - certainly knows the politics of the environment. He ran for the Senate in 1984 as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party, was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation for close to ten years, and has most recently been Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment & Heritage, Arts.

But whether he can tow the line and play the politics of modern-day politics is another matter.

In any event I'd suggest he's no sure thing to be Environment Minister (Labor ministries are traditionally selected by the caucus, but Rudd has made clear that he is going to break with tradition and select his own team - more Me-Too politics!).

Garrett famously said during the campaign that despite Labor's basic Me-Too pitch for power - essentially copying large chunks of the Liberal Party platform, to avoid major policy differences on all but a few key areas (industrial relations, troops in Iraq and ratifying Kyoto) - they'd abandon that position once elected.

Whilst said as a joke in a private conversation, Rudd and the Labor heavyweights would not have been impressed by the media it generated, and Garrett's apparent inability to tow the party line will be of great concern.
posted by puffmoike at 9:01 AM on November 25, 2007


Rudd and the Labor heavyweights would not have been impressed by the media it generated, and Garrett's apparent inability to tow the party line will be of great concern

Yes, I suspect he's about to get a spanking when the ministerial appointments are announced.
posted by Coaticass at 6:33 PM on November 25, 2007


Yup, I certainly hope Rudd warms up, and stops asking himself questions all the time.

And you know why? I'll tell you why.

Because it's fucking annoying.

Also, that silly thumb over the shoulder thing he does whenever he says he's going to get rid of something has to go too.

And you know why? I'll tell you why.

Because it's fucking annoying.
posted by mattoxic at 6:57 PM on November 25, 2007


*yay*! another election thread!

(um, why didn't anybody link to this one in any of the other existing threads? we were all covering election night over at the other one...)

also, i thought i'd repost this, for everybody's benefit. it was from the campaign...

also:

Anyone else suspect he's feeling the heat there?

Well, a couple of polls have put Maxine McKew ahead of Howard in his own seat, and voters are rarely fond of by-elections.

Howard being the power-greedy rodent that he is, if he's returned in Bennelong & subsequently hands power over to Costello, does anybody realistically think he would return to the front (or even the back) bench? Not on your life - the second he relinquishes the prime ministership, he retires from Parliament, and the people of Bennelong have to put up with a new smarmy bastard trying to handle their babies in Macquarie Mall again.

But that's all hypothetical, anyway, since Maxine will trounce him, and the coalition in general will be decimated at the polls.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:00 AM on October 23 [+] [!] Other [69/149]: «≡»

posted by UbuRoivas at 12:34 AM on November 26, 2007


But that's all hypothetical, anyway, since Maxine will trounce him, and the coalition in general will be decimated at the polls.

... and it came to pass. confident early call ubu.
loved st maxine's dance, too. good times.
posted by de at 6:51 AM on November 26, 2007


thanks---Rudd won't name him to it then? why pick someone that made you look bad? (there have to be tons of good people for that job, and unless they need whatever cool credibility he'd bring...)

Rudd seems like quite a mix--cerebral, cool, yet strippers and drunkenness, and opportunistic if they really copied the opposition's party positions--that never works here and we hate it when the Dems do it.
posted by amberglow at 10:18 AM on November 26, 2007


Heh, the pictures in this NYT article are classic.
posted by delmoi at 11:19 AM on November 26, 2007


what do you guys there think of this?

CommentisFree: A decade of John Howard has left a country of timidity, fear and shame
posted by amberglow at 11:44 AM on November 26, 2007


That's a reasonable nutshell summary, amberglow. One very important thing missing: the Howard government presided over the Australian Wheat Board paying millions of dollars in bribes to Saddam's regime, in the UN oil-for-food programme, at the same time as Bush, Howard & co were rattling their sabers for war.

He also decimated the concept of Ministerial responsibility. No matter how bad the scandal, no Howard Minister ever fell on their sword over anything. In the Westminster system, that used to be the done thing. The buck never stopped anywhere in his government. There was always some empty legalistic excuse, or a smokescreen of "I can't remember if anybody ever told me that".

Finally, a correction: Every mainland capital city now has a water supply crisis so severe that people have been murdered by neighbours for watering gardens. That only ever happened once, and was more like a road rage murder than anything else. A disturbed guy on a cocktail of prescription painkillers got into an argument & punched a guy to the ground, killing him in the process. It's not as if there's a plague of water-related murders.
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:35 PM on November 26, 2007


I am no fan of Adams, but this piece lays it out in pretty damning fashion.
posted by Wolof at 1:42 PM on November 26, 2007


For a decade Howard's power had resided in his ability to speak directly and powerfully to the great negativity at the core of the Australian soul - its timidity, its conformity, its fear of other people and new ideas, its colonial desire to ape rather than lead, its shame that sometimes seems close to a terror of the uniqueness of its land and people.

I'd say that's only true in the sense that he was a master politician, and wedge politics were his specialty. If that term isn't common overseas, it means driving a wedge through your opposition's support base over some issue or other (that at the end of the day, isn't even all that important).

For example, he was dead in the water in the Tampa/Children Overboard election, but the arrival of muslim refugees in the waters north of the country not long after September 11 allowed him to play the anti-muslim, xenophobe card.

This demanded a response from the opposition, who were caught by the wedge: should they denounce the racism & risk losing any voters who might be fearful of muslims? Or should they support the racist attacks & lose their non-xenophobic supporters? Either way, they stood to lose voters, and elections here are determined by around 1 in 20 people - a mere 5% of the voters - crossing the floor from one major party to the other.

In that situation, Howard stood to lose very few of his own voters over the racism, because his supporters were already big on "national security" & more interested in his economic credentials than "softer" issues like racism, honesty, or integrity.
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:47 PM on November 26, 2007


Ubu is still beating his wife.
posted by Wolof at 1:57 PM on November 26, 2007


I knew I shouldn't have told your mum that last night.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:15 PM on November 26, 2007


My mum's 72.
posted by Wolof at 3:29 PM on November 26, 2007


Yes, and she's very lonely in the nursing home. Why do you never visit her?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:50 PM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]


LOL : >


our GOP invented wedge politics, i think--to the world's detriment.
posted by amberglow at 5:17 PM on November 26, 2007


Why do you never visit her?

Look, I sent the kero for her bath and a "vote Bronwyn Bishop" hat. What more can a son be expected to do?
posted by Wolof at 5:45 PM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]


« Older Defying Demographics   |   Is Denial A Social Necessity? Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments