Posted on 10/09/2004 12:47:55 AM PDT by naturalman1975
I'm moving off to other threads and scare up some breakfast. Thanks for your coverage of Howard's victory and welcome to Free Republic!
Prediction is Liberal have 75 in their own right - would need 76 to form government by themselves.
It won't happen anyway - even if the Liberal Party could form government alone, it won't dump the Nationals. You don't use another party in that way - Nationals ran with us, they will govern with us.
Bacon and eggs thanks..
This is great news. I woke up this morning worried about it and knowing this just kind of feels good knowing that Australia IS NOT Europe.
"Poor Bobby Brown...His boyfriend will be able to comfort him tonight I'm sure."
Different "strokes" for....:-0)
What's Gary Coleman got to do with this thread ? (Joke)
Oh, OK. I didn't realise that they kind of ran as a team. I though that if one party had that clear majority,it was just "the rules" that they form the government. I have to say,that makes Australian politics seem very ethical,that they would stick by what I think is a "gentleman's agreement".
"Thank you for your support through the course of today and the long campaign in which we've been engaged,"
"A short time ago I spoke to Mr Howard and I congratulated him, his family and the coalition parties on their election victory this evening."
"I'm glad we did that because I know for a fact that so many Labor supporters, Labor voters today felt good about supporting our cause because of the choices and alternatives we put forward,"
"We ran on principle, we ran on our positive beliefs about opportunity in this country and I want to thank the many, many people who voted Labor today ... supporting our policies and supporting us into the future."
"I also want to thank my family, Janine and the boys ... I couldn't do it without their support in the home,"
"I'm a lucky man to be married to Janine and have two beautiful boys.
"My family counts the world to me and I thank them for all their support."
"I've had a lot of people say that we've made the opposition strong and when there is a strong opposition Australian democracy is so much stronger,"
"We'll continue to do that in the coming parliamentary term.
"We'll make sure the government is held to account.''
Mr Latham thanked the nation for engaging in the campaign.
"I thank you ladies and gentleman, I thank the Australian people for the privilege I've had, particularly over the last six weeks,''
"Our democracy is strong because the people were engaged.
"Tonight is not our night, it was not the night that we were hoping for.
"But I've certainly found that the democratic experience is something we all should be grateful for in this country.''
"I'll thank you very much and I'll see you again,''
Latham concedes defeat
Opposition leader Mark Latham has conceded defeat in the federal election.
Addressing the party faithful in Sydney, he congratulated John Howard on his election victory.
Mr Howard has won a fourth term as Prime Minister and he will return to government with an increased majority in the Parliament.
"We honour and respect the decision of the Australian people," Mr Latham said.
"We wanted to run a positive campaign."
Mr Latham says his party ran on principle and on beliefs.
He harked back to his working class roots saying he had "always remained true to a place called Green Valley".
He thanked all the Labor candidates and party workers, parliamentary colleagues, national campaign team, staff, family and the Australian people.
"They've done the cause of Labor proud in advancing our policies," he said.
"We made a decision to run a positive campaign. We wanted to put forward hope and opportunity for the Australian people and we'll continue to advance our beliefs and our policies in the Parliament in the coming three years.
"We put forward clear choices to the Australian people. Choices about the future of Medicare, about fair funding for our schools, about opportunity in our TAFE and university systems and in saving the Australian environment and playing a role in the international arena," he said.
He also thanked former prime minister and mentor Gough Whitlam.
"Gough has been a great friend of my family and is loved by Labor supporters all around the country," Mr Latham said.
"We'll continue to advance our policies and our beliefs in the coming Parliament," he said.
"We ran on principle.
"Tonight is not our night, it's not the night we were hoping for. We'll make sure the Government is held to account. Thank you very much and I'll see you again," he said.
Ballot results
The Coalition's primary vote is up to nearly 47 per cent, which is nine points ahead of the ALP.
The Liberals have benefited from the collapse of One Nation, while Labor has attracted the same support it did in the last election.
The Greens are polling more than 7 per cent, giving them close to the one million votes they predicted they would receive.
After preferences, the Coalition is ahead by 5 per cent.
The ABC computer is predicting the Coalition will get 52.5 per cent of the vote and a 20 seat majority.
That would give the Liberals 73 seats and the Nationals 12, Labor would hold 63 seats, with three going to independent candidates and one to the Greens.
With 70 per cent of the vote counted, Labor appears to have lost five seats - Bass and Braddon in Tasmania, the Sydney seat of Greenway, the new Queensland seat of Bonner and the South Australian seat of Wakefield.
Labor is ahead in Adelaide and Cunningham in New South Wales and looks like picking up the Sydney-seat of Parramatta.
A string of seats also remain in doubt.
In South Australia, that includes the Labor electorate of Kingston and the Liberal seats of Adelaide and Hindmarsh.
The Victorian seat of Holt and the National Party seat of Richmond in northern new South Wales also remain close.
In Queensland, there has been a swing to the Coalition of 3.6 per cent, but it appears Labor will hold all of its seats there.
In the Senate, the Liberals appear to have won an extra seat in Tasmania, with the Greens also picking up another seat there.
...;-)
Best case, Coalition wins 92.
Worst case, Coalitions wins 78.
Approximately 85 is likely.
76 needed to govern.
Good speech by Mark Latham. Now we wait for John Howard's speech...
Quite a gracious speech,Algore could've used a hint.
And face it. It is precisely because of Iraq that Australians vote for the Coalition rather than Labor. The way I see it, it was the foreign, defence, and terrorism stances that proved to be the great undoing for Mark Latham. Of course this is apostasy to the first degree to the leftist establishment media and they will NEVER report this out.
You would think that common sense would tell people that the WOT had to play a big part in the election. It's too big an issue not to matter at least as much as,say,interest rates.
Still waiting for the Prime Minister. I want to go to bed.
Is there any website where we can hear Howard's speech?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.