Australian Elections: John Howard concedes Defeat
-
Australia has a new prime minister, Kevin Rudd.
So that was exciting. -
Kevin Rudd's victor speech:-Originally posted by fymk:Australia has a new prime minister, Kevin Rudd.
So that was exciting.
(1) Acknowledged the great works of John Howard.
(2) Emphasised that he would be Prime Minister for all Australians.
(3) Attributed his success as great democracy at work.
(4) Underscored the importance of governing with fairness and flexibility.
(5) Described Labour's success as a sign of people looking for a new tomorrow and not just past success.
(6) Would immediately end the old battles between unions and employers, workers and unite all to work together for the national interest.
This is a great example of democracy at work. -
CONGRATULATIONS to Aussie new PM!!!Originally posted by fymk:Australia has a new prime minister, Kevin Rudd.
So that was exciting.
Again, he has proven that Opposition can win. Guess what? JH's party is now the Opposition!!!!!! Opposition is nothing wrong. Its just a name. Its not evil or wrong. People should not be scared to support opposition.
He has proven that JH cannot last forever.
He has proven that no one can hold on to power forever.
He has proven the People's Power can bring change. -
I was rooting for Howard, Rudd's an idiot.
-
Based on the facts available at this moment, consider the following :-
Total Population of Australia 2007 {CIA Factbook - supposedly include transient residents} - 20,434,176
Total voters enrolled {registered}: 13,645,073
Participating Votes counted {up to this moment}: 9,739,944 - which represents 71.38% of the registered electorate
or 47.66% of the total Australian population for a Parliament consisting of the Lower House with 150 seats, and a Senate consisting 76 seats.
Votes for Outgoing - Liberal/National Coalition: 4,537,511
representing: 46.59% of counted votes, or 33.25% of registered voters, or 22.20% of population.
Votes for Incoming - Australian Labor Party: 5,202,433
representing 53.41% of counted votes, or 38.12% of registered voters, or 25.46% of population.
Compared this data to the Singapore May 2006 Election:
Estimated Total Population of Singapore mid-2006: 4,484,000 consisting of:
Singapore Citizens: 3,145,800 {70.2%}
Permanent Residents: 462,700 {10.3%}
Non-Residents: 875,500 {19.5%}
Total registered electorates: 2,158,439 {68.59% of Citizens};
Total participating electorates: 1,222,884;
this number of participating voters represents 56.67% of registered electorates, or 38.87% of Singapore Citizens, or 27.27% of Total Population.
Votes to PAP - 747,860
which represent: 66.6% of counted votes, or 34.65% of registerd voters, or 16.68% of total population;
Votes to WP - 183,604:
representing: 16.34% of counted votes, or 8.51% of registered voters, or 4.095% of total population;
Votes to SDA - 145,902:
representing: 12.99% of counted votes, 6.76% of registered voters, or 3.25% of total population;
Votes to SDP - 45,634
representing: 4.07% of registered voters, or 2.11% of registered voters, or 1.02% of total population.
Singapore area of 692.7 sq km is way below 0.00009% of Australia's size of 7,686,850 sq km; and Singapore's population of 4,484,000 constitute 21.94% of Australia's 20,434,176 - yet Singapore's Parliament of 84 seats is 53% of Australia's Lower House.
The large number of Parliamentary Seats PLUS the Election Deposits for each candidate nominated is meant to deplete the resources of the Alternative Parties. As matters stand, legislations have been passed by the Ruling Political Party to inhibit any would-be financial contributions to Alternative Political Parties, as any contribution are subject to close scrutiny - and obvious pressures being exerted on known benefactors that dare generousely contribute to the Alternative Parties.
Now that John Howard has lost his seat, and his coalition parties have lost the election, the Australian institutions of government need not be dismantled - as these are independent of political parties, with no political appointees planted to look after the interest of the incumbent ruling party.
At least, we have not heard of John Howard suggesting that the Australian Armed Forces execute a coup de'tat in the event that a New Political Party is to form the next government; and there is no attempt by John Howard and his coalition government to prevent the incoming Labor Government from utilising the National Reserves.
The politics practised in Singapore is simply too personally petty, and resemble that of Third World countries.
Is Singapore a First World Country ?
Not by a long shot judging by the political maturity of local politicians - as much as they would have us believe that they are the best. -
Someone old and frail once saidOriginally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:I was rooting for Howard, Rudd's an idiot.
no one owes you a living.
no free lunch.
there is no equality.
No one owes his party a living. move on.
Their People have spoken. They have kicked the incumbent political party out of power!!! People Power Rules!! alive and well in Aussieland.
Look at Aussieland. Having a change in ruling party, does the world expect Aussieland to collapse?
Only a stewpig will think so.
Changing a ruling parties will not bring economy to crash instantly. -
In language I can understand please.Originally posted by reddressman:Someone old and frail once said
no one owes you a living.
no free lunch.
there is no equality.
No one owes his party a living. move on. -
I was rooting for Rudd, and so were my family members.
Let's hope he can bring in something fresh and keep the course steady. -
People power? Nah mate I'm liberal all the way, the labour party won't do Australia much good IMO.Originally posted by reddressman:Someone old and frail once said
no one owes you a living.
no free lunch.
there is no equality.
No one owes his party a living. move on.
Their People have spoken. They have kicked the incumbent political party out of power!!! People Power Rules!! alive and well in Aussieland.
Look at Aussieland. Having a change in ruling party, does the world expect Aussieland to collapse?
Only a stewpig will think so.
Changing a ruling parties will not bring economy to crash instantly. -
Care to share your opinions?Originally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:People power? Nah mate I'm liberal all the way, the labour party won't do Australia much good IMO.
What is it that you're concerned with? The work sector? -
Well, the people have spoken. Time to move on. Just like it is in sg_lando.Originally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:People power? Nah mate I'm liberal all the way, the labour party won't do Australia much good IMO.
Now, you know how it feels like to be in the shoe of a Opposition supporter right?
Enjoy! -
Too late and tired to write up a whole argument but very basically put, my values and concerns lie more closely with that of the liberal party's priorities.Originally posted by LazerLordz:Care to share your opinions? What is it that you're concerned with? The work sector?
Rudd doesn't have what it takes to be a good prime minister, all he had was a good campaign. Looking at it from an economic perspective, Howard is of course the better man. Howard may be a wanker but at least he's done some decent things in the last 6 years - Future Fund, no national debt, tax cuts, etc. -
The second part of the triumvirate has been dismantled.
-
I saw their policies - Labor and Liberal.Originally posted by LazerLordz:I was rooting for Rudd, and so were my family members.
Let's hope he can bring in something fresh and keep the course steady.
No difference - just reworded differently. Difference : Labor played on the workchoices, promising to dismantle it.
So it was either the devil you know or the devil you do not know.
I think that this 3 years are crucial for the new government. Either they deliver or they don't (and keep the mortgage down). If they don't. It will swing back the liberal way. -
JH might have proven records but at the same time he was being judged not on his past success or ideas and strategies as not all the old ideas and strategies which worked in previous 11 and half years might continue to work well into the future.Originally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:Too late and tired to write up a whole argument but very basically put, my values and concerns lie more closely with that of the liberal party's priorities.
Rudd doesn't have what it takes to be a good prime minister, all he had was a good campaign. Looking at it from an economic perspective, Howard is of course the better man. Howard may be a wanker but at least he's done some decent things in the last 6 years - Future Fund, no national debt, tax cuts, etc.
Singapore is the same. People are afraid to choose the wrong government which has no track record. That is why it has been so difficult to change the party.
Singapore must now be brave and look to the future. Of course it is not opposition for opposition sake but they have to start examining the kinds of candidates who possess the good solutions to the future to change to a fair and flexible approach to bring about committed leaders who would work selflessly and even make sacrifice of their lives for citizens.
Singaporeans can learn from how Australians run their democracy and still maintain the winning edge without losing out their good old ideas and strategies. -
Among countries that inherited the British electoral system, both the ALP and the Liberals-Nationals are the long-standing parties in Australia politics beginning 1907, except for very slight name/form changes.
In contrast to UK, where both Labour and Tories did not exist prior to democratisation of the country.
Regards -
If only he ran...I would vote for him
-
Kevin Rudd has said that he will withdraw troops from Iraq.
This is good. -
1. People willing to try and are given opportunity to voteOriginally posted by fymk:I saw their policies - Labor and Liberal.
No difference - just reworded differently. Difference : Labor played on the workchoices, promising to dismantle it.
So it was either the devil you know or the devil you do not know.
I think that this 3 years are crucial for the new government. Either they deliver or they don't (and keep the mortgage down). If they don't. It will swing back the liberal way.
2. People are not fearful of making new choices or fearful of "actions" by the powerful party against their well-being.
3. If the party does not perform, the can be elected out of office
Well that's progress. -
ROFL, Rove Mcmanus for PM?
-
So how's the change in govt affect the non white population and most importantly, potential immigrants like myself??
-
Singapore no need to have election, just pass the law cancel election, or change to 20 years one time
-
By and large, there's little difference between Rudd and Howard's stance. The key things that worked against Howard were Iraq, Work Choices and climate change. The Libs' campaign was not helped by the fact that Howard was running in the full knowledge that he would not complete the term.Originally posted by fymk:I saw their policies - Labor and Liberal.
No difference - just reworded differently. Difference : Labor played on the workchoices, promising to dismantle it.
So it was either the devil you know or the devil you do not know.
I think that this 3 years are crucial for the new government. Either they deliver or they don't (and keep the mortgage down). If they don't. It will swing back the liberal way.
I'm pretty ambivalent about Labor taking power. Given their track record, the economy could take a dip and the pesky unions could rear their ugly heads again. That said, Rudd doesn't seem to be a rabid Labor man, and hopefully he can keep his pets under control so that we don't have too much of a headache. If Rudd keeps his word about Iraq and climate change (but not necessarily Kyoto which is a load of BS anyway) it'll be good, but he'd be a damn fool to dismantle Work Choices because the alternative would bring us back to the sheep-shearing days.
Ultimately, the one thing that worked in Howard's favour was continuity - he was in office long enough for his policies to take effect. Love him or hate him, it's true that the country's in better shape than when he took office, and hopefully Rudd's not stupid enough to go trying to fix things that aren't broken. -
Australian voters speak to WSWS on polling day
The overwhelming sentiment among people who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site at the polling booths on Saturday was a deeply-felt hostility to the Howard government over a broad range of issues: from its support for the war in Iraq to its imposition of draconian WorkChoices industrial laws, its treatment of immigrants and Aborigines and the continuing deterioration of living standards.
Many explained that they had just voted “to get rid of Howard” or regarded Labor as the “lesser evil”. Others expressed the hope that Labor would not be as bad as the Coalition, but most had no confidence that the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would address their needs and concerns. Distrust and skepticism was widespread towards both major parties, their campaigns and their promises as well as towards the establishment media and the narrow range of issues canvassed...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/nov2007/int1-n26.shtml -
so when will our's happen