#ausvotes19 election date 18th May 2019

[verbatim9]

.@ScottMorrisonMP is expected to announce the election date tomorrow after releasing his official campaign video. The PM's office have confirmed to 7NEWS that he is on his return journey to Canberra. @telester #TheLatest #7NEWS

https://twitter.com/7NewsBrisbane/status/1115951715893661698

[ozbob]

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/federal-election-2019-live-prime-minister-scott-morrison-calls-election-for-may-18-20190404-p51ayx.html

Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls election for May 18

... Scott Morrison has made his pitch to voters but the betting markets provide a reality check about the dire situation the Coalition is facing.

Sportsbet has Labor at $1.16 and the Coalition at $4.85 to win the election. Labor is favourite in 94 of 151 seats.  ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/political_alert/status/1116121721579327488

[verbatim9]

The debate was good on 7 last night. I particularly found the subject on penalty rates very informative and agree with the Liberals on this one. Wages should be set by an Independent body (Fair Work Commission). No Government left or right should have the power to legislate or subsidise wages (e.g. potentially Childcare workers if Labor are elected).
The retail and hospitality industry are very competitive and small business do not have an advantage to negotiate an EBA like Coles Woolies Myer etc....No where in the world that I know of do retail workers receive up to 40 bucks an hour. We live in a 7 day economy and wages and the IR Act should be reviewed to reflect that 7 day economy. Pushing wages up unnecessarily will only push up prices hurting business and consumers in the end. Plus limiting the potential of extra hours for casuals and new positions if need be. The Fair work commission should remain autonomous and have the power to make these decisions without Government interference. Wages are also flat world wide and not isolated to Australia. This is due to a slow down in worldwide trade and demand.

[techblitz]

the socialist vs the capitalist......gag material..

[verbatim9]

I voted today. Can't do it on election day. It was quick and easy.

In reference to climate change, if anything, a move to less local vehicle pollution in our cities would be welcomed from either left or right. If the seas rise, they will rise. I doubt that carbon credits will cool the earth or save the polar bears or sea lions in the artic. But I would like cleaner transport options.

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> David Speers: How marginal will this federal election be?

It's perhaps unfair to compare, but both Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten looked just that little bit smaller as the news came through of Bob Hawke's death.

Both offered fine tributes on Thursday night, but the memories of Hawkie flooding the airwaves only offered a reminder of a leader with genuine charisma and policy vision.

Giants of history cast long shadows. Hawke was a prime minister Australians genuinely loved, like none that have followed since. They elected him four times.

Hawke floated the dollar and brought down tariff barriers. He gave us Medicare and compulsory superannuation. He led the charge to stop drilling in Antarctica.

This was big stuff. It required passion, conviction and leadership.

Today's contenders are scrapping over franking credit cash refunds and whether to cut emissions by 26 per cent or 45 per cent.

Important issues, but nowhere near the scale of those earlier reforms.

Where Morrison talks about preserving the "fair go for those who have a go", Hawke looked to completely transform the nation's economy for the future.

Where Shorten talks about "following the science" on the Adani coal mine and restoring some penalty rates, Hawke bluntly declared "there shall be no dam on the Franklin River" and reshaped the entire industrial landscape.

Shorten is certainly taking big risks at this election, but his policy agenda looks positively cautious compared to the Hawke legacy.

Hawke didn't make it to see the outcome of today's election, but both sides agree that in crude political terms, the timing of his death was a final gift to his beloved Labor Party.

It overshadowed the final day of campaigning, reminding voters of a popular, reformist Labor government and crowding out the Coalition's closing argument.

That argument from Scott Morrison was tinged with note of realism about what is most likely to happen tonight.

The Prime Minister flew all the way to far north Queensland to defend the seat of Leichhardt on the final day.

While certainly not conceding defeat, he seemed to be preparing the ground for a narrow Labor win.

He said a minority Labor government would show Bill Shorten had failed to convince Australia of his tax-and-spend agenda and therefore had no mandate.

His lines are ready.

Labor, though, is now confident it will win more than a minority. In his final campaign news conference yesterday, Bill Shorten wasn't afraid to show this confidence.

According to Labor's internal polling, the campaign didn't start well. Economic management was listed as the most important issue for voters, followed by health, with climate change a distant third.

By the end of the campaign, climate change was on equal footing with economic management as the most important voter issue, at least in the two big states, NSW and Victoria.

In Queensland, health and cost of living remained the biggest concern at the end, while in Western Australia it was jobs and economic management.

The Coalition picked up a similar shift on climate change. After belting Labor over the "economic cost" of its climate policies at the start of the campaign, it dropped the issue in the final week.

In his closing speech at the National Press Club, the Prime Minister didn't even mention the word climate or emissions. In the Q&A that followed, he would only defend his government's "real climate action". There was no criticism of Labor for promising to do more.

Labor is now confident of gaining as many as five seats in Victoria tonight, two in NSW and two in WA.

It reckons it will hold its seats in Tasmania and the Northern Territory and is a chance of picking up one in South Australia.

In Queensland there are four seats on a knife-edge, but only one of them is Labor-held, so it's confident it will come out even or ahead in the Sunshine State.

As Bill Shorten said yesterday, he's aiming for a majority government and is confident he'll get it.

Not surprisingly, the Liberal research doesn't suggest things are quite so rosy for Labor.

However, it doesn't exactly point to a majority win for the Coalition ­either.

Many seats are on a knife-edge and difficult to predict, but the Liberal Party is expecting to lose only two seats in Victoria and one in WA.

It reckons it can pick up one in NSW and at least one in Queensland to make up for those losses.

In Sydney, both sides privately agree independent Zali Steggall is likely to end Tony Abbott's parliamentary career tonight, but Dave Sharma will return the seat of Wentworth to the Liberal fold.

It seems a hung parliament is the best the Coalition can hope for, while Labor is confident it will be toasting a majority win by the end of the night.

If that turns out to be the case, Bill Shorten will no doubt be toasting his mentor Bob Hawke as well.

[ozbob]

Federal Election 2019 Results

>> https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/results

[ozbob]

Live media feed for latest last-minute election results where you can see National, State, and even individual polling place results.

https://results.glitch.me

[ozbob]

Analysis from Antony Green

9:03pm: It is hard to see how Labor can reach government on the numbers we are seeing. We have 27.5 per cent of the national vote counted. At the moment, the Labor Party can't reach majority government. The Coalition can.

[techblitz]

chris bowen in the lions den on channel 7 lol...
up against alan jones, jeff kennet, Michaela cash.....handling himself well though.....
I think he will be one of the front canididates to lead red team after tonight.

[verbatim9]

Election Result Yay! Regional electric fast rail on the cards for Se Qld. Bne - Gold Coast, Bne - Sunshine Coast, Bne - Toowoomba

[Old Northern Road]

Election Result Yay! Regional electric fast rail on the cards for Se Qld. Bne - Gold Coast, Bne - Sunshine Coast, Bne - Toowoomba

[verbatim9]

I think it didn't work for Bill as his intentions in campaigning were aimed at a class war. He hadn't united the people together. Especially with his "Top end of town" comments and favouring one employment industry over another. These things just don't unite the community. His ill-fated campaign attacking the independence of the Fair work commission was appalling. No one wants a Government to set wages and the independence of the Fair Work commission taken away. It sets a dangerous unworkable precedent for effective wage goals.

The Liberals now have some new blood and a new direction. Tony Abbot has finally gone so hopefully some great new ideas and policies will come out of the Liberals to take Australia forward.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Why Queensland turned its back on Labor and helped deliver a Coalition win

Queensland essentially gifted Scott Morrison the election, overwhelmingly rejecting a Bill Shorten-led Labor government.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton - who was tipped to potentially be one of the biggest Coalition scalps of the election - praised Mr Morrison's "amazing leadership" as he claimed victory in his marginal seat of Dickson last night.

The Sunshine state swung behind the Coalition last night, with no LNP members losing their seats.

But Labor suffered swings of more than 10 per cent against them in some seats.

A number of "safe" ALP seats in Queensland have now turned marginal, including former Treasurer Wayne Swan's seat of Lilley and Graham Perrett's seat of Moreton.

The LNP picked up at least two seats from Labor in Queensland, Longman and Herbert.

It looks set to hold its marginal seats of Brisbane, Flynn, Bonner, Petrie, Forde, Dawson, and Capricornia.

Capricornia Liberal MP Michelle Landry said the massive swing towards her was "beyond belief".

She said she owed her success to a convoy of anti-Adani protesters, which descended on central Queensland last month.

"Thank you Bob Brown is all I can say," she said.

And Labor frontbencher Shayne Neumann could potentially lose his seat of Blair, despite going in to the election with an 8.1 per cent margin.

Herbert, the most marginal seat in the country, was one of a number of Labor seats to fall to the Coalition across the country.

One Nation preference flows helped the LNP's Phillip Thompson snatch the Townsville-centric seat from Labor's Cathy O'Toole, with Pauline Hanson's party claiming about 11 per cent of the primary vote by 9.30pm.

Claiming victory before 10pm last night, Mr Dutton attributed the LNP's strong vote in Queensland to Mr Morrison's "amazing leadership".

"He's distilled our message down to one which the Australian people understand," Mr Dutton said.

"He's been able to campaign in marginal seats, he's been able to put pressure on Bill Shorten, which is what Bill Shorten deserved.

"And to Scott Morrison's great credit right across this great country, he's been able to spread a message of our vision for the future of this country, and people have overwhelmingly accepted that."

Concern about jobs, Labor's plan to axe tax refunds for franking credits and the ALP's uncertain position on the Adani coalmine impacted the party's vote in Queensland.

Penny Wong said the state had been tough for Labor.

"It's been tough in Queensland for a fair while for Labor federally," she said.

"We've had state Labor governments but that hasn't, other than in '07, translated into a strong federal vote."

Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos said the coalition's jobs message cut through in Queensland.

"I think the story's in two parts. I think north Queensland and central Queensland ... Adani became about jobs," he said.

"The Bob Brown caravan which went up there to talk about stopping Adani, had the effect of making a lot of locals say 'hang on, you are not going to tell us how to live'.

Labor's primary vote plunged 4.29 per cent in Queensland - one of its worst results across the country.

On two-party terms, the LNP's vote jumped 3.64 per cent in Queensland.

Concern about jobs, Labor's plan to axe tax refunds for franking credits and the ALP's uncertain position on the Adani coalmine all contributed to the party's vote crashing in the state.

The key marginal seats in play were Petrie, Bonner, Capricornia, Dawson, Flynn, Forde, Herbert and Dickson.

The LNP's primary vote remained steady or jumped in each of the seats, while One Nation was a clear kingmaker in a number of the electorates.

[ozbob]

Election Result Yay! Regional electric fast rail on the cards for Se Qld. Bne - Gold Coast, Bne - Sunshine Coast, Bne - Toowoomba

Yes, certainly Regional Rapid Rail has a greater chance now. 

I also think Queensland Labor is a bit on the nose too. 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1129771387059605504

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/7NewsSC/status/1129730996180574208

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/1129742413042462721

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1129744280036233218

[ozbob]

ABC News --> Bill Shorten concedes defeat, says he will step down as Labor leader

What was predicted to be a win for Labor turned into a humiliating defeat, with Scott Morrison leading the Coalition to an unlikely victory and Bill Shorten saying he will stand down as Labor leader. ....

[ozbob]

Unexpected result if you are a poll watcher.  The days of accurate polls seem long gone, I am surprised the media still fork out moolah for inaccurate material.

I can live with the present mob carrying on.  Some of the Labor policy proposals were are bit daft, two stand out - east coast high speed rail and unrestricted parent visas.  Both would break the economy.  The blue mob have correctly worked out the regional rapid rail is the way forward and I have long agreed with that. I think capital to capital high speed rail is effectively dead. 

The bigger issue for Queensland is the continuing petulant political spats between the Palaszczuk Govt and the Feds.  They are really hopeless, other states are getting a lot of moolah for example WA $200 M for LX removal and big funding for Metro Net.  That is a Labor Govt in WA, they are just a lot smarter than the QLD clowns.  With no federal labor politicians north of Brisbane, you really do have wonder why there is the constant cold shoulder - it is the Palaszczuk Govt self adsorbed spite that is really costing this state.  Qld Labor's non transparency when compared to the other states is also a huge concern.

The policy and action paralysis with SEQ public transport is long past the point of a joke.  2020 state election will be interesting.  The Qld LNP will get a lot of momentum from this federal outcome I am sure ..

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1129832258087600128

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1129831085272027137

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/InsidersABC/status/1129904239164051457

[techblitz]

Unexpected result if you are a poll watcher.  The days of accurate polls seem long gone, I am surprised the media still fork out moolah for inaccurate material.

a trumpesque result
Labor also managed to lose the election in a period when unemployment and gdp growth worsened when the majority of other g20 countries improved.

Media making clive palmer out to be the biggest loser when in actual fact....clive....along with every other right of center party/candidate....actually achieved their MAIN GOAL.......which was to pinpoint the scare campaign solely and squarely on bill shorten and make sure he did not get in...

Fraser Anning,PHON and UAP all hammered shorten......they will more than happily wear the poor showing in exchange for the virtue signalling gender binary greens in disguise red team not running the country...

Almost every right wing facebook page moved hell and highwater as well...meming like crazy to put the spotlight on shorten....if you were to weigh up the commenters on those pages on which party they were going to ditch....labor was an absolute mile in front...

This was an election on which major party could p%ss off the most swinging voters......labor easily won on that front and need to take a long hard look at themselves on why they cant win 'winnable' elections and get the keys to the lodge.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/7NewsSC/status/1129931846630776832

[Stillwater]

Maybe the LNP in Canberra will be able to sit down a devise a 'state deal' on the back of solid support from Queensland voters ... come up with a strategy to deliver major projects in the regions (outside Brisbane), including financial support from a state LNP Government, if elected.  That would win votes for the LNP in state electorates.  The contrast needs to be between a State Labor Party that constantly bickers and snipes and wants to play politics over the infrastructure spend versus a cooperative model of LNP in government at a federal level getting on with the job in conjunction with what could be a Queensland LNP Government in waiting.  Meanwhile Jacki Trad will continue to push CRR in Brisbane, further alienating herself and her party from the rest of Queensland that gets very little from an inner-Brisbane trendy Labor set.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk denies Adani link to federal election loss

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk and her Deputy Jackie Trad have refused to concede the handling of the Adani coal mine had a role in Labor's drubbing at the polls.

They fronted the media today to discuss the results, admitting jobs were a factor.

But neither would say if the ongoing saga involving the Galilee Basin mine was at play.

"I am quite sure that there is going go be a huge detailed analysis of what when wrong but I think at the end of the day Labor had a very complex message and it needed to be a very simple message.

"At the end of the day it's about jobs."

When asked if the Palaszczuk Government accepted any responsibility for the result Ms Palaszczuk responded: "At the end of the day there were swings against Labor nationally and there were states in which Labor thought they were going to pick up extra seats and they didn't either.

"Very clearly we need to focus on jobs.

"We had a state election. There was a federal election. Queenslanders are smart enough to know the difference between the two."

Ms Trad said Caucus would be discussing the result and any lessons.

[verbatim9]

Maybe the LNP in Canberra will be able to sit down a devise a 'state deal' on the back of solid support from Queensland voters ... come up with a strategy to deliver major projects in the regions (outside Brisbane), including financial support from a state LNP Government, if elected.  That would win votes for the LNP in state electorates.  The contrast needs to be between a State Labor Party that constantly bickers and snipes and wants to play politics over the infrastructure spend versus a cooperative model of LNP in government at a federal level getting on with the job in conjunction with what could be a Queensland LNP Government in waiting.  Meanwhile Jacki Trad will continue to push CRR in Brisbane, further alienating herself and her party from the rest of Queensland that gets very little from an inner-Brisbane trendy Labor set.

^^That would a sensible idea. Really is there need for some Assets to remain in Qld State hands? Can we run the trains more efficiently by going out to tender? Can the residual Harper Review recommendations be put into action in Qld?  I am still aware that there is a financial payment from the Federal Government for doing so.

The Public Transport projects that I can see approved with help of the Feds will be Metro, Sunshine Coast LRT, extension GC LRT, Rail extension to OOL upgrade of the Gold Coast Line between Dutton Park and Beenleigh. Duplication of the Sunshine Coast Line, Electrification to Helidon with 160kph grade. These projects should be under construction with most completed by 2028.

The State will go it alone on CRR and the extension of the Springfield line.

If the Olympic bid is successful? I guess the State will be lucky to be gifted a few more dollars from the Feds for infrastructure.

[Stillwater]

^^ Yep, Olympic bid represents best chance for (LNP) federal dollars.  Meanwhile Jacki Trad is going to have to do a substantial revision of her CRR finances - she was banking on Mr Shorten and his party to deliver more than a billion dollars to the project.  That is money that will have to come from state coffers now, which means we will have to delay a swag of high schools, or a major hospital.

[Stillwater]

Maybe time for RailBOT to work with Qld federal MPs to mount a representation to the new Transport Minister, in Canberra.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Palaszczuk Government slammed by former ministers over Adani

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk is under pressure to overhaul her Government and its message on Adani, coal and jobs or party elders warn Labor is on track to be turfed from office at next year's State Election.

Queensland Labor was yesterday reeling from a brutal drubbing in the state that saw its primary vote drop to 27.3 per cent — less than a percentage point higher than it was when the former Bligh government was booted from office in 2012 and the party reduced to just seven MPs in the House.

Regional MPs and the federal arm of the party are laying the blame directly at the feet of the Palaszczuk Government and its mishandling of Adani's Carmichael coal mine for the poor result in Queensland.

It has galvanised fears of a regional rout at the looming State Election in October next year — less than 18 months away.

The drubbing has moved two party elders — former Goss government minister and party president Bob Gibbs and fellow Labor stalwart and former Bligh government minister Robert Schwarten — to take the extraordinary step of breaking ranks to publicly rebuke Ms Palaszczuk and her team in the hope their words will encourage change.

"The Adani issue has become a disgraceful example of incompetence by Government," Mr Gibbs told The Courier-Mail.

"When you lead your chin you are going to get punched.

"You can't have a situation where you see your State Premier on television, shaking hands with people from Adani, a done deal, and then suddenly here we are, years down the track it has become a bleeding wound in the Labor movement and it is going to continue that way.

"For God's sake bite the bullet. Stop listening to the Green movement on this issue — the Greens aren't our friends, they are the opportunists — and start to make some decisions on this and get it off the bloody political sphere."

Both he and Mr Schwarten urged the Government to get out of the tower of power at One William Street and start mixing with real people to find out what the issues are and to reconnect to the working class who are meant to be Labor's base.

"It is a clarion call from the people that we represent for us to do better," Mr Schwarten — who was one of many to witness the backlash at the polling booths first-hand — said of the result.

"I would be dishonest if I said there wasn't ramifications for the State Government because I have been on the pre-polls and I have heard what people have said.

"After 50 years in the Labor Party this is the first time I have ever spoken out publicly but somebody has to say something on behalf of the people out there who want to vote Labor, desperately want a Labor Government and want it to turn to what they understand of a Labor Government.

"We are not selling our message properly to the people who care about us and they think we don't care about them."

Ms Palaszczuk yesterday dismissed questions about whether a reshuffle is on the cards, insisting she believed the people of Queensland wanted stability.

Both she and her Deputy Jackie Trad refused to buy into accusations their handling of the Adani project was a factor in Labor's loss.

"I am quite sure that there is going to be a huge detailed analysis of what when wrong but I think at the end of the day Labor had a very complex message and it needed to be a very simple message," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"At the end of the day it's about jobs."

She said the State Government would be redoubling its efforts in the wake of the federal loss.

" ... Queensland Labor was yesterday reeling from a brutal drubbing in the state that saw its primary vote drop to 27.3 per cent — less than a percentage point higher than it was when the former Bligh government was booted from office in 2012 and the party reduced to just seven MPs in the House. ... "

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/DebFrecklington/status/1130042344122675200

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1130249917555924992

[Old Northern Road]

LOL the LNP aren't going to spend any money in QLD. They don't need to.
If they are to spend money anywhere it will be in Victoria.

CRR will probably have to be cancelled

[ozbob]

^ the QLD budget is due in 22 days ... stand by ...

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Labor stalwart's advice to State Government after federal election

AS the Palaszczuk Government Cabinet meets today in the wash-up of Federal Labor's shock election result, another party stalwart has weighed in, urging Labor not to let the Greens continue to use Adani to hijack its message on resources.

Former Labor Minister and Speaker John Mickel told The Courier-Mail the Palaszczuk Government had a good story to tell on mining.

"Why in heaven's name the Greens have been allowed to, in their great simplistic way, to focus on one mine as being the whole of the Queensland industry is beyond me," he said.

"It's a credit to the Greens.

"Don't let the Greens paint one mine as the whole of the Government's attitude to mining in Queensland.

"We should be pro mining because we have got a good story to tell.

"It is mining that provides the royalties that pay for the school teachers and the cops and the doctors and the nurses and that cannot be immediately replaced and nor should it be when the coal you are providing is for steelmaking."

Mr Mickel pointed to the recent announcement of the approval of the billion-dollar Olive Downs coal mine.

"It is a metallurgical mine, that is coal used in steel making," he said.

"As I understand it the majority of the coal mined in Queensland is metallurgical coal and that's a proud story to tell because steelmaking cannot be done by solar or anything else.

"It needs to be done by the coal that's mined in Queensland and processed elsewhere and there's a proud story to tell on that and the approvals should go ahead and the job opportunities should be lionised for that because there are entire regional centres that depend on mining services and equipment, drive-in, drive-out from places like Rockhampton and probably all up the provincial cities."

Mr Mickel said the decision of previous Labor Governments to foster the coal-seam gas industry had made Queensland the envy of the nation.

"NSW under the Liberal Government has got a moratorium on gas processing. Victoria is not going to go there. We did. Thank God we did.

"It is now producing export dollars for the nation, payroll tax for the state and royalties for the state. "

He said the investment in two coal gasification trains in Gladstone was the equivalent of the entire Adani investment.

"Let's see it in context."

Mr Mickel said the Government should push the Coalition to reward Queensland voters for their decision to give the Morrison Government another term.

"The wheel turns very, very quickly. The Queensland people have been, and I accept, completely generous politically with Mr Morrison's Government," he said.

"What I say to the Premier is this, because they have been so generous, we want to see action up here and our generosity to them voting wise rewarded by giving back to the Queensland people in the form of infrastructure, training and job opportunities."

[Stillwater]

The state government has stalled projects such as the Sunshine Coast Line duplication so as to deny local federal members the opportunity to spruik about the Morrison Government's injection of grant funding to kick-start dual tracks to Landsborough.  No opportunity for a media conference involving shovels (although one was held a while back), and there were some political kicks to the head by Trad/Bailey.  Labor should swallow the bitter pill of defeat and get on with the job of staging work on this project, to the extend that committed funds allow.

[verbatim9]

Maybe time for RailBOT to work with Qld federal MPs to mount a representation to the new Transport Minister, in Canberra.

That would be great to push for a Federal PTA instead of a State based one. Public transport needs to be Federally controlled in the future to ensure Public Transport is well funded Australia wide.

[verbatim9]

Just an observation - It's funny how throughout the campaign the Greens and Labor ridiculed media outlets stating that News Corp is worthless rubbish, yet the other publications get their tick of approval. The other parties don't dictate which media outlets are the most appropriate news source. It's such a socialist thing to dictate which media is appropriate for news. If Labor and Greens are heading in that direction as per above? Australia will turn into a socialist totalitarian regime. People should be able to choose their media outlet without Political interference.