Great news! The Parliament of Tasmania has been hung!<\/p>\n
Oh wait…<\/p>\n
*cough*<\/p>\n
That is<\/a>, “Tasmania is headed for a hung Parliament, with the latest seat predictions saying 10 Labor, 10 Liberal and five to the Greens.”<\/p>\n Further<\/a>, “The Premier, David Bartlett, has not yet conceded defeat but says the 12 per cent swing against Labor is a clear rebuke. It was his first election as leader and he says Labor’s performance still comes down to him. “[I take] responsibility for this result,” he said. “The electorate has sent Labor a message.” <\/p>\n Yeah: f*ck off.<\/p>\n Finally, “The Greens recorded a record 21 per cent of the vote and will hold the balance of power. Leader Nick McKim is celebrating the party’s strongest ever vote. “This is a historic result for the Greens,” he said. “A great weight has lifted off Tasmanians’ shoulders.”<\/p>\n Well, not quite, but it looks like interesting times for The Gunnerment<\/a>.<\/p>\n In South Australia<\/a>, meanwhile, it seems Mike Rann *yawn*<\/p>\n More importantly, with the benefit of the donkey vote, Communist Bob Briton has secured 517 votes (3.1%) in the race for a seat in Lee<\/a>, and by doing so come fifth in a field of seven, narrowly losing the popularity contest to Family First but beating two (other) Independents.<\/p>\n The Communist Party of Australia (SA) tweets:<\/p>\n 3.1 percent<\/a> vote for Communist Party in seat of Lee a top result. Thanks to all who voted for Bob and offered support and encouragement!<\/p>\n The ALP<\/a> are preferencing us last. Their opportunism & capitalist ideology is in serious conflict with working class values. They’re a joke!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But still quite a popular one, it seems.<\/p>\n Note that “In his four years in Parliament, [former member for Lee Joe] Rossi attracted more headlines than is normal for a little known backbencher, producing ideas for innovative schemes such as sterilising unmarried mothers after their third child, or introducing a modern version of poor houses for welfare recipients.”<\/p>\n Awesome!<\/p>\n Sadly, Rossi’s innovative thinking has, like Communism, again been repudiated by the voters of Lee.<\/p>\n So much for the Communist Alliance. As for the Socialist Alliance, it stood two candidates in the Tasmanian State election, and there’s good news and there’s bad news. In Denison<\/a>, Melanie Barnes got 410 votes or 0.7%, an improvement of 0.3% on the Alliance’s last tilt; in Franklin<\/a>, however, Jennie Forward received just 250 votes, or 0.4% of the total. In other words, Barnes and Forward have at this stage proven to be the least popular of the 17 candidates in each of their respective contests.<\/p>\n See also<\/em> : Another SA is Possible, Vote 1 Communist \/\/ Windisch for Altona<\/a> (February 3, 2010) | Windisch (not) for Altona<\/a> (February 17, 2010).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Great news! The Parliament of Tasmania has been hung! Oh wait… *cough* That is, “Tasmania is headed for a hung Parliament, with the latest seat predictions saying 10 Labor, 10 Liberal and five to the Greens.” Further, “The Premier, David … Continue reading The Pants Man<\/a><\/strike> is back.<\/p>\n