Australia - Victorian State Election
This election gives all citizens, regardless of wealth, a fair shot to be heard and participate in every step of the democratic process
Labors election win
Not even the most supreme optimists in Labor dreamed of this. A thumping victory, a "bloodbath" as Labors health minister, Jill Hennessy, put it. Labor luminaries looked not just pleased, but stunned.
A swing to Labor of around 6%, around 60 seats in an 88-seat parliament, the Coalition reduced to a rump of 20, with several still in doubt. Although the counting of prepoll votes might bring back the scale of the win a little, Labor’s early worries about being forced into minority government proved laughable.
Most stunning were the wins in Melbourne’s comfortable leafy eastern suburbs, not seriously considered to be within Labor’s grasp, and not held by the party since the glory days of Steve Bracks’ landslide in 2002. Seats like Ringwood, Forest Hill, Burwood. - Posted on : 25-November-2018
Pakistani-born academic becomes Australia's first Muslim female Senator
At a time when Australia is caught up in a bitter row over racism, Pakistani-born Mehreen Faruqi became the first female Muslim member to be appointed to the Australian senate, reported BBC.
The Greens Party member of parliament for New South Wales was selected to join the Senate on Wednesday to fill a vacant seat. Following her appointment, Ms Faruqi told BBC that she would use her new role as senator to fight for a "positive future for Australia where we are stronger for our diversity".
Dr Faruqi migrated from Pakistan to Australia in 1992 with her young family. Prior to entering politics she held a distinguished career as an academic and has a doctorate in environmental engineering, the BBC reported. - Posted on : 16-August-2018
Victorian state election, 2018
The next Victorian state election will be held on Saturday 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria, including all 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 in the Legislative Council. The first-term incumbent Labor government, is led by Premier Daniel Andrews, while the current opposition is the Liberal/National Coalition, led by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.
Victoria has compulsory voting and uses preferential ballot in single-member seats for the lower house, and single transferable vote in multi-member seats for the proportionally represented upper house. The election will be conducted by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC). - Posted on : 16-July-2018
Victorian politics gets grubby as 2018 state election approaches
The 2018 state election campaign is going to get dirty.
That's the prediction from both sides of politics after Opposition Leader Matthew Guy ordered two of his most Christian MPs to break with convention and renege on a religious pair on Good Friday.
"The gloves are off, we have so much dirt on this bloke," one senior Labor figure said within hours of the Good Friday con.
A pair is a longstanding parliamentary tradition in which an MP agrees not to vote when someone from the other side of politics is unable to vote due to illness or other reasons that keep them away from parliament.
Labor had granted Liberals Bernie Finn and Craig Ondarchie a pair for religious observance during a marathon parliamentary sitting that went into Good Friday.
It was a deceitful play from Mr Guy that showed little respect for the Westminster tradition.
And to renege on a pair granted for religious reasons on Good Friday makes the decision even more galling to political traditionalists. - Posted on : 06-April-2018
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