I am loath to call our conservative party by its proper name as it can cause confusion. Our conservative party is called the Liberal Party. In spite of the anti vaxxer tossers and freedom protestors, very vocal but a tiny minority, our Labor Party has been soundly returned to office in the State of Victoria.
Interstate people have asked my opinion of Dictator Dan, Premier Daniel Andrews. Perhaps they are readers or viewers of Murdoch media. The tabloid Herald Sun vociferously campaigned against the re-election of the Andrew's government but it was seemingly ignored, as was the nightly tirade from Fox News shock jocks.
Our lockdowns were extreme and life changing for some people. R says he has never recovered from the lockdowns, now as he constantly complains about how many social things we have happening.
It is my view that the Andrew's state government heavy restrictions saved thousands of lives and even more illnesses. Some are now saying back when we had Covid...wrong. We still have Covid and people are still dying.
I am pleased the oh so very tainted leader of conservative opposition Matthew Guy has resigned, for the second time. I have a little faith that a progressive member of the conservative party will be elected leader, rather than the old style right wing leader.
Anyway, here is map from The Age of how Melbourne voted. Red is Labor, blue is Liberal conservative and green is Green. I am in Prahran, firmly Green. The local Prahran third time elected Green Sam Hibbins is a great local member.
The conservative party blue areas are wealthy beachside suburbs, extending into the leafy green eastern suburbs. The first blue blob below is long time aspirational immigrants. To the far right the other blue area has farm land and some very comfortable people, many rich retirees.
To note though, the Labor Party's vote fell a lot in what is the large western voting areas. They are our workers and lockdowns affected them badly and many of those hands on workers in those areas had no chance of working from home.
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Liberal they are not. Unless you are one of their own. I do hope that our conservatives are NOT returned to power unless they change their ways. Dramatically. I will watch NSW's elections with very real interest.
ReplyDeleteEC extremism by either of our major parties simply won't work, with the Liberal Party becoming increasingly beholden to the religious right, not what we want to see in our rather irreligious country.
DeleteYeah, I did not know there were so much propaganda about Dan until I saw a news article about it. I guess I am one of the silent voters hehe. Mainstream media are all Murdocracy. I do not read or watch them anymore. Labour is alright as infrastructure is happening and incentives in the times of crisis do come out in time. Healthcare is an irreversible disaster that no one will reverse its decline so let be it.
ReplyDeleteRoentare, public healthcare will always be difficult but having experienced it more than once, I received the best of care. I've also 'gone private' at times and in spite of health insurance, it cost so much and I don't think the treatment was any better.
DeleteI kinda' skimmed your text today. The only reason being I have so much angst with my own country's news each day that I think I will go mad if I begin to worry about another country! (just joking, of course!) But, yes! Covid is still with us and many people are still dying. And, now, here, children are perishing with another virus. But we have decided that at the end of this winter we will open up a little and venture to places that we miss....like grocery and library and inside dining.
ReplyDeletePT, yes we have that virus affecting children here too. RTS. Something like that. I am not aware of deaths, but maybe I don't know. Our newest family members, twin boys now six months old contracted the virus and both ended up in hospital. They soon recovered. You should get out and about. Be careful, take precautions and you should be fine.
DeleteMost people I know are towards the centre of the political spectrum, and are not rusted-on extremists at all. So I had never heard of Dictator Dan either, and fully expected Labour to win, albeit with a loss of a seat or two.
ReplyDeleteSo the moral is: never read/watch nasty right wing newspapers/TV shows.
Hels, in the spirit of know thine enemy I have tasted such media and I was shocked at the bias and just how dishonest was the reporting and opinions. That it has any kind of audience at all distresses me.
DeleteMy pet peeve is those who complain about whoever gets voted in. You might not like them but a lot more did so shut up and get on with it. It's called democracy (and we still have a more or less working version of it - unlike the orange people over there)
ReplyDeleteCaro, no. I will complain long and hard about who is elected if I don't like what they are doing. I recognise that the people have voted, but that won't stop me trying to correct what I see as wrong.
DeleteComplain loudly to keep them honest especially if they aren't doing a good job and are breaking promises but don't complain they won. I didn't explain myself well.
DeleteCan I assume that your Liberal Party was once indeed liberal in the distant past and just gradually changed during time? After all, here in the U.S., the Republican Party started out as the party of civil rights (Lincoln freeing the slaves), and now they're for anything but civil rights, whereas the Democratic Party has gone from the party of the Confederacy to the party that calls for the removal of Confederate statues. And of course, the present-day descendants of slaves are much more likely to vote Democratic than for the party that freed their ancestors in the first place. Times change.
ReplyDeleteKirk, I advise you to check yourself but as I remember, the Liberal Party was formed in the 1940s, rising from the ashes of the United Australia Party. It has always been conservative, but until recent years quite electable. It has moved to the far right, toying with religion and now suffers losses everywhere. The next domino to fall will be New South Wales at its state election next year.
DeleteI'm trying to wrap my head around the Conservative Liberal. What an oxymoron! At least it would be over here. I sure would like to know how the conservatives became the liberal party.
ReplyDeleteDebby, the Liberal Party has always been conservative, but not as much as now is. I understand the confusion and that's why I don't just write Liberal Party without qualifying the name.
DeleteA sea of red. Interesting post Andrew, found it interesting to see the map.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I too thought the map was interesting enough to show. While the didn't win any seats, the Socialist Party did quite well, and I find that very interesting.
DeleteI know it's wrong of me, but I don't much care as long as the governments work for the people not just fight amongst themselves over who didn't do what.
ReplyDeleteRiver, with much politeness I say to you, 'You're dreaming'.
DeleteI love that movie.
DeleteInteresting to see the changes, or Covid backlash. I feel like R -- the lockdowns have deprived me of any interest in social gatherings!
ReplyDeleteSteve, for me it is hard to sort what effect Covid had and what is just about becoming older.
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