Thank sod for wonderful women - Teal independents punish Liberal moderates for inaction on climate crisis and integrity commission
"Thanks...and G/L to the good people in Australia. When Scott Morrison came under frenzied, sustained attack last week of the food emergency, there was one person who did not come out swinging, Anthony Albanese. - A classy guy."
He is. A genuine guy. this result, i'm guessing, is as well as a credit to the Australian electorate, a credit to our preferential voting system. Many felt comfortable in voting for Independents or Greens as a first preference, while placing Labor as their 2nd pick. It's a system which allows more voting freedoms. Heh, so your so-called freedom lovers should be all in favor of it. Of course, they aren't because for so many their freedom call is a phony cover for a more conservative ideology. ;-)
Climate 200 convenor says ‘people who called themselves moderates didn’t deliver’ while Labor argues election shows ‘teals are eating the Liberal party alive’
Teal independent Monique Ryan is greeted by her parents after arriving to meet her supporters in Kooyong on election night. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP
Daniel Hurst and Anne Davies Sun 22 May 2022 01.26 AEST First published on Sat 21 May 2022 23.03 AEST
The teal independents are on track to win at least five seats from the Liberals, punishing the party’s moderate wing for not securing strong enough action on the climate crisis or introducing a federal integrity commission.
The treasurer and longstanding MP for the Victorian seat of Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/josh-frydenberg , was set to be the most high-profile loss to the independents backed by the Climate 200 group.
The convenor of Climate 200, Simon Holmes à Court, said the results showed a significant proportion of Australians were “sick of nine years of failure” on climate policy.
“The people who called themselves moderates didn’t deliver,” he said on Saturday night.
The Liberal Senate leader, Simon Birmingham .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/simon-birmingham , said it was “a clear problem that we are losing seats that are heartland seats, that have defined the Liberal party for generations”.
During the election campaign, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, generally did not campaign in any of the seats where his MPs were facing challenges from teal candidates, reflecting the assessment that his brand would not assist them.
Morrison had implored voters not to “hand over the parliament to a gaggle of independents” which he said would be “a recipe for absolute chaos”.
Frydenberg’s independent challenger in Kooyong, Monique Ryan, was on track to secure about 54.5% of the vote after preferences.
Frydenberg said at 10pm on Saturday there were “still thousands of postal votes to count” and “while it’s mathematically possible that we win in Kooyong, it’s definitely difficult”.
The former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel claimed a teal victory in the Victorian seat of Goldstein with 54% of the vote after preferences.
Her win ends the political career of Tim Wilson, the assistant minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction.
Daniel thanked her supporters in the formerly safe Liberal seat, saying the achievement was “extraordinary”.
Independent Goldstein candidate Zoe Daniel celebrates with supporters in Melbourne on Saturday night. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
She noted the electorate was named after the internationally renowned suffragette Vida Goldstein, who ran for the Senate in the 1903 federal election – the first election in which women could be candidates.
“She was so independent that she couldn’t bring herself to run for either of the major parties,” Daniel said. “Vida was not elected. This seat is in her name and today I take her rightful place.”
Earlier, in an ABC interview, Wilson alleged that he had been targeted by “an unholy alliance [of] GetUp, Extinction Rebellion, the Labor party .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/labor-party .. [and] the Greens all abandoning their traditional stance to back a former ABC journalist”.
The teal independents – named after the colours of their campaign materials – also made strong gains in Sydney .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/sydney .. seats. They campaigned strongly for more ambitious climate action, the introduction of a strong national integrity commission and equality for women.
In Wentworth, independent Allegra Spender defeated the Liberal MP and former Australian ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, garnering nearly 57% of the vote after preferences.
Allegra Spender (right) hugs her sister Bianca Spender outside Bondi Beach public school in the seat of Wentworth on Saturday morning as voting got under way. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images
In North Sydney, teal Kylea Tink was set to take the seat from Trent Zimmerman with about 54% of the vote after preferences, although the incumbent was hoping postal votes could still save him. Labor’s high-profile candidate for North Sydney, Catherine Renshaw, also garnered strong support in the seat.
Tink claimed victory saying she would now be seeking her community’s support to “change the climate in Canberra”.
Tink said it was not just her victory but a win for the 1,000 volunteers who powered her campaign.
She promised to deliver “faster action on climate change, an integrity commission, an economy that is forward-focussed and action to address the systemic inequality that continues to plague our community”.
Zimmerman had not yet conceded defeat but admitted “the pathway to victory in North Sydney is a narrow one”.
Reflecting on the likely loss of several urban seats, Zimmerman said the Liberal party must ensure it represented “the aspirations of the great urban areas that represent a large portion of the economic activity of our nation”.
“There is a driving desire in the communities I represent for greater action on climate change, for greater action in areas like ensuring there are genuinely more opportunities for women in our communities,” the outgoing Liberal MP said.
Zimmerman said “we cannot ignore them, for if we do, winning government again will be impossible”.
Matt Kean, the NSW treasurer and a leading moderate, said the lesson of Saturday night was that “when the Liberal party goes too far to the right we lose in the centre”.
“The Liberal party is at its strongest when we represent the diversity in the community. Tonight we have had a very strong message from our heartland that we are not representing them.”
Another teal independent, Sophie Scamps, was likely to defeat Jason Falinski in Mackellar with about 53% of the two-candidate vote.
In the Western Australian seat of Curtin, independent candidate Kate Chaney has run a strong challenge against Liberal MP Celia Hammond. Early results had Chaney ahead with about 52.5% of the vote after preferences.
Holmes à Court said Climate 200 had raised about $12m for the campaigns and he had personally contributed 2% of that amount.
He praised the strength and enthusiasm of the local campaigns, saying they were “incredible campaigns like we’ve never seen before”. He said they had “thousands of volunteers”.
“The Kooyong campaign knocked on every knockable door in the electorate – 55,000 knockable doors. No one has ever done that before,” Holmes à Court told Guardian Australia.
He said Climate 200-commissioned polling of the target seats had shown voters’ main concern was climate change and their second or third-highest priority was integrity in government.
In the upper house, the Climate 200-backed independent candidate David Pocock appeared a strong chance of gaining one of the two Australian Capital Territory Senate seats.
Labor’s campaign spokesperson, Jason Clare, speaking on the Seven Network as the results were being tallied, said: “The teals are eating the Liberal party alive.”
Birmingham, a prominent moderate, argued the Liberal party should not shift too far to the right after the election.
I have a hunch it would be a serious mistake for the Liberal-National coalition to elect Dutton. ] ----------
“We need to heed the message because forming government in the future without winning those sorts of seats is a next to impossible task,” Birmingham told the ABC.
The independent MP Zali Steggall – another Climate 200-backed candidate – was re-elected in the seat of Warringah with more than 60% of the vote after preferences.
It was a good result. Sam Lim's unlikely rise from dolphin trainer to federal Tangney MP
"Thanks...and G/L to the good people in Australia. When Scott Morrison came under frenzied, sustained attack last week of the food emergency, there was one person who did not come out swinging, Anthony Albanese. - A classy guy."
By Andrea Mayes
Posted Sun 22 May 2022 at 3:13pm, updated Sun 22 May 2022 at 3:54pm
Play Video.VIDEO - 2: 07 - New Labor MP for Tangney Sam Lim reflects on his dolphin trainer job.
Former dolphin trainers do not usually become MPs but, in a federal election where most political conventions seem to have been thrown out the window, it seems entirely appropriate that one has been elected in Western Australia.
Key points:
* Sam Lim unexpectedly wrested Tangney from Ben Morton
* He is a former dolphin trainer and police officer
* He speaks 10 languages and won a top police award
Meet Sam Lim, whose unlikely election victory over Scott Morison's close friend and adviser Ben Morton in the Perth seat of Tangney came as a bolt out of the blue to almost everyone.
Mr Morton had been widely expected to hold onto the outer suburban seat in Perth's southern mortgage belt, which he held with a comfortable margin of 9.5 per cent.
But that was before a tidal wave of red swept over Western Australia, which saw Labor not only pick up the seats it felt it had a reasonable chance of winning —Pearce, Swan, Hasluck — but also Tangney. where it had not even dared hope for victory.
Mr Lim, who migrated to Australia in 2002, detailed his unusual journey to represent the people of Tangney in federal parliament as he addressed the media on Sunday morning.
One of eight children who grew up "in a very poor family", Mr Lim said his childhood home had a leaky roof, dirt floor and no running water
"So we had to struggle for the first 15 years of my life," he said.
"But that 15 years built me up to today.
"When I had to fight to win this seat, I utilised all that determination that I gained in the first 15 years of my life and I achieved it."
Sam Lim's childhood dream was to join the police force, a dream he realised in 2006.(ABC News: Gian De Poloni)
Mr Lim's childhood dream was to join the police force, but police pay rates were so low in Malaysia that, which led him to apply for "my best job ever" - that of dolphin trainer at a safari park.
"I loved it because dolphins are so genuine," he said.
"Dolphins never hurt you. If you feel hurt you jump into the swimming pool and the dolphin will come to you and try to comfort you.
"That was my best part of my career."
Sam Lim moved to Australia with his family in 2002 from Malaysia.(ABC News: Cason Ho)
But when creditors moved in on the safari park, Mr Lim had to farewell his beloved dolphins, a time he described as one of mixed emotions.
"[It was] the worst part of my career at that time because we had to say goodbye to them, but we feel very happy they are back to their home," he recalled.
From there, Mr Lim moved into small business and he attributed his success to his "good karma", which he said led to "a lot of people … supporting me".
His success in business enabled him to move to Australia with his young family, which he described as "a wild world … a totally different world".
Sam Lim won a top police accolade in 2020 for his work with multicultural communities.(ABC News: Gian De Poloni)
Despite his business success, Mr Lim's childhood dream of joining the police force continued to haunt him, and so he joined the WA Police in 2006.
"[Being] a police officer is a great job, I love the blue uniform," he said.
In December 2020, Mr Lim, who speaks 10 languages, was awarded WA Police's highest accolade, its officer of the year award for his work with multicultural communities during the pandemic.
Soon after, he was approached by Labor to run in Tangney.
Having unexpectedly won the seat, Mr Lim is not shy of ambition.
"There is a big challenge for me to do better and I hope the Labor Party can be there for the next 45 years," he said.
Election 2022: WA sees huge swing away from the Liberals, with Swan, Pearce, Hasluck lost By Andrea Mayes Saturday 21 May 2022 at 8:03pm , updated Sun 22 May 2022 at 7:29am [...] The collapse in the Liberal vote is the biggest swing in the country away from the Liberals and a massive result for a state where the conservative side of politics has traditionally performed strongly at a federal level. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-21/wa-election-result-liberal-loss-alp-gain/101077652
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