Labor to retain power in South Australia

Date
    March 23, 2014 


South Australia has avoided a constitutional crisis and the potential of a fresh election with independent MP Geoff Brock delivering Labor the numbers to form a minority government.      :)

Labor will be returned for a fourth term thanks to Mr Brock’s support which ends a week of uncertainty after the March 15 poll returned a hung parliament.      

Premier Jay Weatherill says the regional MP’s decision offers the state security and stability for the next four years.      :)

But Opposition Leader Steven Marshall says Labor cannot argue that it has a mandate to govern.


In return for his backing, Mr Brock will serve as regional affairs and local government minister in the next parliament.

He said the decision to back Labor was a difficult one but the right one to ensure government stability.

‘‘I know that it’s not a decision that will please everybody,’’ he said.

‘‘But my sole motivation has been to arrive at a decision that is right for South Australia and the stability of this state.’’

Mr Brock said he was also moved to make a quick decision after it emerged that fellow independent MP Bob Such, who was to share the balance of power, was in hospital awaiting surgery and was expected to be on sick leave for at least two months.

As counting in the election was completed on Sunday, Labor held 23 seats, the Liberals 22 with two going to the independents.If Dr Such remained unable to support either party, then Mr Brock’s decision was crucial.

Had he opted to back the Liberals, both major parties would have been left with 23 votes on the floor of the parliament.

The likely ensuing chaos could have forced another election, something Mr Brock said was not in the state’s best interests.

In his decision, Mr Brock has pledged to support the government on issues of confidence and supply but will remain free to vote against Labor on other issues.

Mr Weatherill said Mr Brock’s decision offered South Australia secure and stable government and his inclusion in the cabinet would provide a strong voice for regional South Australia.

‘‘Mr Brock and I share one crucial thing in common and that is our love of South Australia,’’ the premier said.

‘‘I’m very confident that Mr Brock being part of our team will add an extra dimension to our capacity to represent every South Australian.’’

Mr Marshall said that while he accepted Mr Brock’s decision he did not believe Labor had a mandate for its policies.

‘‘Labor has no mandate whatsoever,’’ he told reporters.

‘‘They dropped their vote, they dropped three seats and lost three ministers at this election.’’

Mr Marshall said he did not expect any move against him from within the Liberal Party following the election outcome.

South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters in Canberra a new tourism slogan based on being the only state with a non-Liberal government should be created.

‘‘Visit South Australia the Libs aren’t here,’’ she said.

She claims the ‘‘extreme agenda’’ of Prime Minister Tony Abbott fed into the SA poll result.

‘‘Progressive South Australians have had a win today,’’ Senator Hanson-Young said.      :)

There would have been election fatigue if the state had been forced to go back to the polls, she said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-to-retain-power-in-south-australia-20140323-35b58.html#ixzz2woZMwWCK

So it's only the entire rest of the country they've lost?

There is another state election this year.  Where the good people of Victoria, will boot the Napthine liberal government out.      :) 

wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:25am:

There is another state election this year.  Where the good people of Victoria, will boot the Napthine liberal government out.      :)

Tasmania had sense eh?

How about QLD and NSW?
Do you think the ALP will get enough in to hold a golf game this time??

;D
   

I'll post for longweakend ...



It's an illegitimate government !

____ wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:49am:

I'll post for longweakend ... It's an illegitimate government !

It's not but to be fair to LW I do hate minority Governments.
It lengthens processes and legislation needing to satisfy varying parties and it ends up teetering to fall with any bi election.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:29am:

How about QLD and NSW? Do you think the ALP will get enough in to hold a golf game this time?? ;D

Nazi Newman will be gone by this time next year. He is well detested, probably at the same level as Thatcher, enormously hated.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:52am:

____ wrote on Mar 24th, 2014 at 5:49am: I'll post for longweakend ... It's an illegitimate government ! It's not but to be fair to LW I do hate minority Governments. It lengthens processes and legislation needing to satisfy varying parties and it ends up teetering to fall with any bi election.

A hung parliament is closer to the vision of democracy ... compromise and negotiation.

This thread duplicates an older one. You’d think a Mod would move the OP from here to the existing thread.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:19am:

So it's only the entire rest of the country they've lost?

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:19am:

So it's only the entire rest of the country they've lost?

I predict next states to turn labor will be

Vic
Wa
Qld
NSW

I don't think qld will get it this time round, but with the stupidity witnessed in the lnp, securing three elections in a row should not occur.

NSW will also stay lib for the next election at least.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:19am:

So it's only the entire rest of the country they've lost?

'Temporarily relinquished' would be a far more accurate term.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 5:26am:

wrote on Mar 24th, 2014 at 5:25am: There is another state election this year.  Where the good people of Victoria, will boot the Napthine liberal government out.      :)  Tasmania had sense eh?

No, Tasmania was asleep at the wheel.

As was the rest of the electorate last September.

But it IS slowly waking up.

Worthy of a REPOST ...





The SA result, regardless, was VITAL for any future for renewable energy in this country



http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/3627068-3x2-940x627.jpg





buzzanddidj wrote on Mar 16^th, 2014 at 9:53am:

ANYONE with the slightest concern for the environment would epitomise "HYPOCRITE" - were they not praying for another Labor Government return to control and power South Australia and the ACT - under Labor - are the country's last enclaves and hopes for a chance and future for SUSTAINABLE, RENEWABLE ENERGY Wind farms churn out more than half SA's electricity during wild weather 27 Aug 2013 A record amount of wind energy generated in southern Australia last week demonstrates the need for more investment in renewable technology. In recent wild weather, wind turbines produced almost half of South Australia's electricity, while 10 per cent of Victoria's energy was delivered by wind farms. The Clean Energy Council says wind farms powered the equivalent of 2.3 million homes nationwide. Conservation council chief executive Tim Kelly says South Australia is on track to achieve its 2020 renewable energy target of 33 per cent. Mr Kelly says wind farms are a proven power source and the recent result should prompt more ambitious renewable energy targets. "South Australia can make electricity when the wind blows. We can also make electricity when the sun shines and we can also expand in hot rocks and other renewable supplies but we've got so much wind electricity established now that during these periods at this time of the year in particular we're generating lots of wind power," he said. "Where will the next 30 per cent of renewable electricity come from in South Australia by say 2030? "That's going to take a different thinking where we connect to the great wind resources on Eyre Peninsula and we've also got these great solar resources and projects like the Repower Port Augusta large-scale concentrated solar thermal power plant." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-27/wind-energy-generation-record/4914266

..and some shocking news just in to the KRUD News Room...

Christopher Pyne says the new South Australian government is not legitimate!...Our South Australian Bureau Chief Wella Neva has sent us on this breaking item....

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22133406/pyne-says-sa-labor-govt-illegitimate/

Meanwhile, on a brighter note, the government's anti-work and pro dole bludging campaign is bearing fruit in Tasmania...

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22132595/charity-warns-new-government-of-social-disaster-as-tasmanias-youth-jobless-rate-spirals/

It seems that all is not lost and soon the visionary and often derided plan for massive leisure time in a Utopian modern society, as mooted some years ago, is looking set to become a reality for many!

More updates as they come in... to KRUD - YOUR News Network!"

SA who cares...  sa...  that leaves me out.

sir prince duke alevine wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 7:35am:

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24th, 2014 at 5:19am: So it's only the entire rest of the country they've lost? I predict next states to turn labor will be Vic Wa Qld NSW I don't think qld will get it this time round, but with the stupidity witnessed in the lnp, securing three elections in a row should not occur. NSW will also stay lib for the next election at least.

Due dates for next State and Territory elections:
Victoria: 29 November 2014 (4 years)
NSW: 28 March 2015 (4 years)
Queensland: no later than 20 June 2015 (3 years)
NT: 27 August 2016 (4 years)
ACT: 15 October 2016 (4 years)
WA: 11 March 2017 (4 years)
SA: 17 March 2018 (4 years)
Tasmania: 2018 (4 years)

If your list was interpreted in order, it would imply changes of government as follows:

Victoria: 2014
WA: 2017
Queensland: 2018
NSW: 2019

Not an unreasonable prediction. All four states are very likely to swing to Labor at their next elections. This will bring change to Victoria, the possibility of change to WA, and much-reduced Coalition margins in Queensland and NSW.

Victoria is very likely to ditch the Coalition in November. Labor has been ahead in the polls for two years and that is not likely to change any time soon.  In the space of three years, the Coalition government has been embroiled in scandal and replaced a Premier mid-term. The government holds a one-seat majority with the support of a former Liberal who has become an independent and this has made the government quite unstable. This Coalition government has the stench of death about it and in November it will be given the coup de grâce.

In WA, Barnett has jumped the shark with his unpopular and unjustified shark cull. It's too early to predict the result of the next WA election (which would be little more than an educated guess at this stage), but if the Liberals do win it will probably be their last term.

Newman in Queensland will make history, becoming a rare Premier to lose his own seat of Ashgrove at an election (assuming he does not switch to a safer seat in the meantime). The seat he holds has only been won by a Coalition party twice in thirty years, and numerous opinion polls all indicate that his chances of retaining the seat are low. Queensland are likely to return a decapitated LNP at the next election with a much-reduced majority. The following election will be close and any prediction on a winner at this stage is still a guess.

The Coalition in NSW may get some bad news out of ICAC that brings undone a Liberal or two. Political corruption is a problem in NSW and there's every indication that the troubles that have bedevilled Labor of late may also involve some Liberal party figures. Politics in NSW needs a good clean out to remove the taint. NSW Labor may yet have one or two more serving politicians involved as well. Until this matter is resolved it's too difficult to make predictions about the length of Parliamentary terms in NSW. The Liberals are in office for the time being and have the advantage of incumbency. They will give up a fair bit of that large margin at the next election but should be re-elected.

On the other side of the ledger, South Australia will probably become a Liberal state at the next SA election.

At the time of the next Federal election, my prediction is that the Labor states and territories will most likely be SA, Victoria and the ACT.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 8:37am:

Christopher Pyne says the new South Australian government is not legitimate!...Our South Australian Bureau Chief Wella Neva has sent us on this breaking item.... http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22133406/pyne-says-sa-labor-govt-illegitimate/

Predictable rubbish from the Federal Coalition. They would have us believe that any minority Labor government is illegitimate. It's a shame that the Australian general public know so little about politics to spot this nonsense.

If the election result survives a challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns, it is a legitimate result. If Pyne thinks otherwise, he should state the legal grounds on which a challenge can be made to the SA election result.

Did Pyne say the 1998 Howard govt was illegitimate? The mouth from the south—wish he would move to Vic or somewhere, typical brainless pratt with not one policy idea in 20 years in Parliament. Howard couldn’t stand him.

Minority government seems to be a bit of a poisoned chalice.
There are just too many compromises that need to be made.
Minority Federal Government was voted out
Minority Tasmanian Government was voted out
Minority Victorian Government is really struggling

I am taking note of the endless swinging of the electorate from 'right' to 'left' in an ever-increasing electoral pendulum.

What this means is that the common herd - hereinafter to be known as 'the electorate' or 'the great unwashed' - are DEMANDING a genuine government that will do something for all - and not just continue to do things for their chosen few.

If this continues, then the time will surely come when that electorate of great unwashed ... who apparently know so little yet find it so easy to kick out one government after another of either side in a close fought election... will get sick of the whole thing and will demand a new deal and a new party.

I keep telling you all - we need to get a new party going now with some solid policies for all Australians.... not just the selected groups again and again.

The_Barnacle wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 9:55am:

Minority government seems to be a bit of a poisoned chalice. There are just too many compromises that need to be made. Minority Federal Government was voted out Minority Tasmanian Government was voted out Minority Victorian Government is really struggling

Minority Fed govt—undermined by traitor Rudd, attacked by whole MSM
Tassie—16yo govt, the “It’s Time” factor
Vic—hopeless.

A minority govt steered us through WWII for a year before it won a majority (can’t remember if in both Houses) and also set the path for our post–War prosperity and growth.

A minority government - by virtue of its insecurity and instability - must perforce be more responsive to the requirements of the people it represents and can afford to spend far less effort racing off into the wide fields of fantasy to suit its chosen ideology.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 10:11am:

A minority government - by virtue of its insecurity and instability - must perforce be more responsive to the requirements of the people it represents and can afford to spend far less effort racing off into the wide fields of fantasy to suit its chosen ideology.

Yup!

Maybe we should start accepting hung Parliaments and welcoming them. The Newman govt in Qld is a warning about making one side too dominant, esp in a unicameral parliament!

St George of the Garden wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 10:16am:

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Mar 24th, 2014 at 10:11am: A minority government - by virtue of its insecurity and instability - must perforce be more responsive to the requirements of the people it represents and can afford to spend far less effort racing off into the wide fields of fantasy to suit its chosen ideology. Yup! Maybe we should start accepting hung Parliaments and welcoming them. The Newman govt in Qld is a warning about making one side too dominant, esp in a unicameral parliament!

Didn't seem to upset the gravy train much for the Gillard government to be propped up by Independents, or for some pretty rabid ideology concepts to be pursued - feminism, misogyny, women as CEOs on demand etc, all that guff...

I fear that all governments here are so removed from the needs of the people that they may as well be on another planet. 

Regardless they still manage to retire with riches for life while the country continues to spiral downwards.

I remain perpetually amazed that successive politicians of either 'side' can look at themselves in the mirror in the morning and not pause and think:-

"Wow!  My favourite and most cherished policy idea - one I trumpeted so loudly at the time and which I pointed to as the Bright Shining Light of my reign and a monument to my own initiative, integrity, sense, and courage - has been dumped like a piece of sloppy dog turd, since it was obviously not worth the paper it was written on.

Damn - I'm a failure and a fraud!"

Never happen!  They all love to wallow - in their fat retirement - in the 'glory days' when they pushed Australia ahead and made it so great a place to live in for all.... while riding on the benefits of a few lovely board jobs and a sweet lecture circuit for the fools who have no concept of the reality, and who lap up the bullshit about:-

>  'First Woman PM Heroine of the Feminists and shining light for all uni student girls who know nothing of real life',

> 'Neo-Thatcherite Hero of the Right and Basher of Unions who never felt the lack of a silver spoon'..

> and so forth... E'en Unto the End Of Days....

The_Barnacle wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 9:55am:

Minority government seems to be a bit of a poisoned chalice. There are just too many compromises that need to be made. Minority Federal Government was voted out Minority Tasmanian Government was voted out Minority Victorian Government is really struggling

In general this is true, but it's not hard to find counterexamples. Some minority governments do quite well. It seems to depend where the government is in the electoral cycle. First term minority governments tend to do better than minority governments that have been in office longer.

The current South Australian government started as a minority government in 2002 with the support of one independent who was made Speaker.

The Victorian government that won office from opposition in 1999 needed the support of all three independents to form office (42+3 vs 36+7 Coalition seats). That minority government proved to be very popular, and that government was re-elected in 2002 in a massive landslide win that reduced the Liberals from 36 seats to 17.

In both cases, the minority government won office from opposition and earned themselves a second term.

There are also examples of a first-term minority government that have not earned a second term. The Borbidge government of Queensland is an interesting example where government changed on the floor of Parliament. The current Victorian government were not elected as a minority government, but have become one due to poor governance within the Liberal party. They haven't lost office yet, but the polls suggest they will.

Bam wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 9:30am:

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on Mar 24th, 2014 at 8:37am: Christopher Pyne says the new South Australian government is not legitimate!...Our South Australian Bureau Chief Wella Neva has sent us on this breaking item.... http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22133406/pyne-says-sa-labor-govt-illegitimate/ Predictable rubbish from the Federal Coalition. They would have us believe that any minority Labor government is illegitimate. It's a shame that the Australian general public know so little about politics to spot this nonsense. If the election result survives a challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns, it is a legitimate result. If Pyne thinks otherwise, he should state the legal grounds on which a challenge can be made to the SA election result.

But it wasn't from the Federal Coalition it was from Christopher Pyne.
SA....  who cares they're dumb enough to vote in and return Sarah Hanson-Dumb.

SA is dumb enough to keep voting in that pratt Pyne! Not a single policy idea in 20 years in Parliament!

St George of the Garden wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 2:08pm:

SA is dumb enough to keep voting in that pratt Pyne! Not a single policy idea in 20 years in Parliament!

You keep the empty biased boneheaded rhetoric up, hubris knows no bound with you, you have no credibility.

No, it is well known Pratt Pyne is an empty vessel. Howard couldn’t stand him and did not appoint him to a Ministry, the junior Ministry of Justice, until just a few months before the 2007 election.

You really need to post some solid posts not just stupid denial defending your fellow RWs in the Liberal Party, roach. You are trolling again.

I see the usual sooks are out in force, what do you want? Labor won't one seat more than the Liberals, so if the independent went with the Libs it was a hung parliament, babies.s ::) we live in a country where governments are formed by seat majority, if you don't like that leave ::)

I drove to South Australia once.

I remember a Blue Lagoon and a 112 km/hr speeding ticket.

I am not sure them electing anyone will impact the vast majority of people.

Now Queensland, VIC and NSW - that is a big deal.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 7:24pm:

I drove to South Australia once. I remember a Blue Lagoon and a 112 km/hr speeding ticket. I am not sure them electing anyone will impact the vast majority of people. Now Queensland, VIC and NSW - that is a big deal.

Too kind to Qld there,Andrei.

St George of the Garden wrote on Mar 24^th, 2014 at 4:58pm:

No, it is well known Pratt Pyne is an empty vessel. Howard couldn’t stand him and did not appoint him to a Ministry, the junior Ministry of Justice, until just a few months before the 2007 election. You really need to post some solid posts not just stupid denial defending your fellow RWs in the Liberal Party, roach. You are trolling again.

No Geoooorge...  you need to start posting more than vacuous rubbish, then people can do more than call it what it is.
BTW your continual lies about me and my politics even in the face of posts I have made that support you on certain topics is childish and tiresome.
You're not hurting me just your credibility.