Naturalman, are you in Australia, or an ex-pat?
Isn’t the ruling government a coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party? Do you anticipate a split between the two over this?
I watched the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company for those in Rio Linda) “The Killing Season” that documented the overthrow of Rudd by Gillard (both on the Labor side) and the resulting voter revolt at the next election.
Do you see a similar voter revolt against the coalition, handing a win to Labor?
I live in Australia - Australian born, but I also have dual British citizenship and have spent a fair bit of time there over the years as well.
Isn’t the ruling government a coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party? Do you anticipate a split between the two over this?
No - they've already made a new coalition agreement. The Nationals are not happy about what has happened, but they've used that to get Malcolm Turnbull to agree to give them some things they wanted (including, thankfully, an agreement on no immediate action on 'climate change'). 'The Coalition' is more or less a permanent feature in Australian politics - it's not just a one off thing as, for example, was recently seen in the UK - the major conservative parties have been mostly operating in a near continuous coalition since before the Second World War - they are almost one party in many ways, and only remain separate because the rural based Nationals feel that if they merged, their issues would be swamped by urban issues.
I watched the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company for those in Rio Linda) “The Killing Season” that documented the overthrow of Rudd by Gillard (both on the Labor side) and the resulting voter revolt at the next election.
Do you see a similar voter revolt against the coalition, handing a win to Labor?
Not at the moment, not with Bill Shorten as Labor leader. If Labor replaces him, there might be an effect. But, electorally, I think we are better off with Turnbull than we were with Abbott. I don't like Turnbull's policies much - but I can't deny he's more likely to win the next election at the moment.