This wouldn't have happened with Gainsborough or one of those proper painters.

Saturday, August 28

World

Australian Election Update, Saturday August 28th

Zzzzzzzsnrkzzzzzzzzz....

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Thursday, August 26

World

There's A Site For That

doesaustraliahaveagovernmentyet.com

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Wednesday, August 25

World

Australian Election Update, Wednesday August 25th

<crickets>...</crickets>

Update: Steven notes in the comments that all the major Westminster model countries - UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India - now have hung parliaments. 

This is particularly interesting in that three different voting systems - First Past the Post, Alternative Vote, and Single Transferable Vote - have all produced hung parliaments.  The numbers suggest that Proportional Voting would have produced the a hung parliament in Australia as well.

Why has this happened?  In Australia, it's easy to blame two tragically inept major parties, both of them fresh from stabbing their own leaders in the back.  But when it happens in five countries at the same time, the indication is that it's systemic.

What the solution is, whether there is a solution, and whether we should even be looking for a solution, are all questions I leave for another day.  At the moment, though, I'd throw my support behind a Budgie/Ranga coalition just to deflate the Fruitbats and Noneoftheaboves, who are getting more insufferable by the minute.

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Tuesday, August 24

World

Still No Government

Pretty interesting, in an extremely boring sort of way.  No court battles, no riots, no nothing, just the ongoing vote-counting and horse-trading.  Lots of whining lefties, but when is there not a lot of whining lefties?

Still, at the end of the day, we're going to be stuck with Team Budgie or Team Ranga.  I'm nominally in favour of Team Budgie because they finally scraped up the courage to oppose Senator Palpatine's Secret Thought Police Act of 2010, but jeeze, it took them long enough, and both major parties are otherwise about as inspiring as last night's potato salad.  (Of course, Team Fruitbat is as inspiring as last week's potato salad...  That someone forgot to put back in the fridge.)

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World

Yes We Have No Government

We have no government today!

Since we have a parliamentary system of government in Australia, the party (or coalition) controlling the majority of seats in the lower house gets to appoint the Prime Minister and form the government.  (Of course, if they don't also control the upper house, the upper house can "block supply" and cause all sorts of mishief.)

Currently, the two major parties appear to be precisely tied.  That means that a small number of independents and fruitbats are busy working to extort everything they can in exchange for their support in forming the new government.

Which all means that right now, no-one is in charge.  So I'm off to the beach.

...

Wait, it's 10° outside.  Also, pitch black.  I'm off to bed.

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Saturday, August 21

World

And So Australia Goes To The Polls

Don't blame me, I voted "None of the above."

Update:  As of a few minutes ago (thanks ABC)

66.5% counted.
Updated Sat Aug 21 09:20PM
Party % Vote Swing Won Predict
Ranga
38.1 -5.3

68
Budgie 43.7 +1.5

68
Fruitbat 11.6 +3.8

1
Others 6.6 -0.1

4

And about half a million informal votes.

Unfortunately, there's no way for both the major parties to lose.

Update: Latest predictions are Team Budgie 74, Team Ranga 71, Team Fruitbat 1, and Team Noneoftheabove 4.

Since 76 seats in the House are needed to form government, that would mean that Team Budgie would require the assent of two of the independents, or Team Ranga all of the independents and the Fruitbat.  And that's before we even start thinking about the Senate.

Confused?  I'll let Taiwan explain:


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Friday, August 06

World

Go Team Budgie!

Oz politics update:
Asked on Triple J’s Hack program this afternoon if the Coalition would vote for the [internet filter] policy if Labor won the election, Hockey’s response was short and to the point.

“No,” he said.

Finally.  Someone I can vote for.

Screw you, Team Ranga.  Shoulda dumped Conroy when you had the chance.  And Team Watermelon - green on the outside, red on the inside - while consistently against the Great Firewall, are equally consistently the party of economic suicide.

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