cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29061644
We’ve done it, we got rid of another soulless right wing politician!
Peter Dutton first made his party lose this election and now also lost his own seat much like Pierre Pullover
We’ve still got a government that green-lit new coal power plants in it’s last term, screwed over the Aboriginal community with a poorly run referendum, and still doesn’t give a shit about climate change, but baby steps hey.
It’s important to point out that they didn’t just “lose” an election, and it wasn’t only because of Trump.
They’ve been gutted. So many senior party members lost their seats they can’t figure out who’s the next party leader.
Yup, this will be what triggers them to go all in on nazism, same thing happened to America’s Republicans.
I was just listening to something that said the liberal seat losses were predominantly the moderates. The hard-line conservatives fared better, so you might be right.
I’m not steeped in Australian politics like I am in US politics, please correct me if I am wrong, but there are some things I’ve heard (though they may be out of date) that work in the left/center’s favor more than the right, particularly that young Australian men do not seem to be pulling hard right like their US counterparts. Also, it is my understanding that “minor” political parties are more popular and feasible than in the US. Probably the biggest thing working against radicalization is ranked choice voting, it probably splits right more than the left. However, your right wing parties risk losing their identity if they move left and will have to be very competitive as moderates, where they could probably secure a much more ideologically “pure,” resilient, and loyal base by going further right.
I think this is true. Of course there are some who are, but there are fewer than in the US. There is much less “machismo” in Australian culture, there’s still masculinity but it’s focused on sport, cars, outdoor stuff like fishing and camping. It’s much less concerned with power, control, or force.
Yes, and yes it’s because of ranked choice voting. In the recent election there were a lot of seats where Labor (center left) and Liberal (center right) received similar numbers of votes, but then a third candidate from the greens (further left) had an almost equal number of the primary vote. When those voters second preferences are counted enough of them voted center left to push them over the line.
This happens with independent candidates also, who have put on a very impressive show in the most recent election. I’m a bit vague on this part but candidates who won a significant number of votes this time round will receive financial support from the Australian Electoral Commission for their campaign next time.
Yeah so our Liberal (center right) party has been whingeing a lot about this. They’re saying they have the further right parties stealing votes from them, and Labor on the center right.
This is exactly the same for Labor (center left) because they have Liberal on their right and the Greens on their left.
That’s politics.
A phrase that’s been coming up a lot in the last 24 hours is that the Liberal party should return to their roots of being “fiscally dry”. That is their identity. Lower taxes, fewer services, small government. They got lost in the weeds trying to get elected on a Trump platform which thankfully the Australian people have rejected.
Thank you so much for your time! Being an American there is a real dearth of information about the politics of other countries, at least in terms of what is “fed” to me via social media and legacy news.
I really wish my country could have learned some lessons from your guys’ election system, it seems much better tuned in terms of producing democratic results and avoiding polarization.