Avalanche of Awesome!
But Labor and the Greens (who together held a majority in the Senate) refused to accept the will of the people, and the mandate of the election and refused to pass the bill, meaning things had to wait until after the 1st of July this year when the new Senators elected last year took over (under our Constitution, after a normal election, all Members of the House of Representatives take office immediately, but the Senate has fixed terms and so the half of the Senate that were elected last year mostly had to wait until 1st of July to take over). This change meant Labor and the Greens no longer have a majority together, but the Liberal/National coalition still doesn't either - a group of minor party and independent Senators control the balance of power. And the largest of this 'cross bench' group - the three Palmer United Party Senators, and the sole Senator from the Motoring Enthusiasts Party (elected with 0.5% of the vote in one state because our preferential voting system and about 100 candidates exchanging preferences, somehow fell in his favour), have been playing around for the last two weeks, delaying things. They finally came on board on this today.
But the Senate is still blocking almost everything else. It hasn't reached deadlock yet, but it's not a good situation - and the way opinion polls are going, if the Prime Minister decided to go back to the people, there's a good chance, the socialists would get back in.
>> if the Prime Minister decided to go back to the people, there’s a good chance, the socialists would get back in.
What happened to your country? What is it always this pathetic?
Awesome!
and the way opinion polls are going, if the Prime Minister decided to go back to the people, there's a good chance, the socialists would get back in.
Yeah, I've read the Abbot government isn't popular right now. Hopefully over time this will turn this around. I assume he has a fair amount of space before he has to call for the next election?
Avalanche of Awesome!