Victorian State Election

[Strawb]

They were saying 500,000 absentee/pre poll votes have to be counted. That's a shirtload of votes to come.

We should know the result by Monday some people are saying and that is alot of absentee votes.

[dedja]

2 things are very clear ...

It will take quite a while to determine whether the coalition wins outright or whether there is a hung parliament.

The decision of the Libs to preference the Greens last has cost the coalition certain victory.

[McAlmanac]

The decision of the Libs to preference the Greens last has cost the coalition certain victory.

No, it has just saved the Coalition from the moral dilemma of having to deal with the party that they put last on their how-to-vote cards.

[Leaping Lindner]

Funny/sad listening to talk back radio this morning, and the amount of people that rang in saying they voted Liberal (supposedly for the first time) because of problems with the public health system. Whilst there is no denying that the Brumby Government has made a mess of the health system in this state of late I am struggling to think of ANY Liberal government (Federal or State) that has IMPROVED the public health system anywhere.

[Strawb]

Funny/sad listening to talk back radio this morning, and the amount of people that rang in saying they voted Liberal (supposedly for the first time) because of problems with the public health system. Whilst there is no denying that the Brumby Government has made a mess of the health system in this state of late I am struggling to think of ANY Liberal government (Federal or State) that has IMPROVED the public health system anywhere.

LL I am waiting for the complaints to start if the Libs win on how much that they have cut spending on Education, Police, Health

[Sojourner]

2 things are very clear ...

It will take quite a while to determine whether the coalition wins outright or whether there is a hung parliament.

The decision of the Libs to preference the Greens last has cost the coalition certain victory.

Perhaps the decision by the Greens not to preference the Liberals in various seats actually cost them the three seats? If the Greens had of won people would only be saying that the Nationals and the Liberals are a coalition and their is no reason that Labor and the Greens cant be and that it does not give Liberal a right to govern and so on and so on.

[Leaping Lindner]

Funny/sad listening to talk back radio this morning, and the amount of people that rang in saying they voted Liberal (supposedly for the first time) because of problems with the public health system. Whilst there is no denying that the Brumby Government has made a mess of the health system in this state of late I am struggling to think of ANY Liberal government (Federal or State) that has IMPROVED the public health system anywhere.

LL I am waiting for the complaints to start if the Libs win on how much that they have cut spending on Education, Police, Health

"We've had another look at the costings, and it's not viable to go ahead with that at this time. We aren't breaking our promise though. It's merely on hold........blah, blah, blah"



Libs lead in Bentleigh has increased so it look likes Labor will have (at least) 45 seats by this time tomorrow. Giving them victory.

[mick]

The decision of the Libs to preference the Greens last has cost the coalition certain victory.

No, it has just saved the Coalition from the moral dilemma of having to deal with the party that they put last on their how-to-vote cards.

Could not agree more, the ALP can at least form a credible government, the Coalition has more common ground with the ALP than the Greens. No Greens in parliament is a good outcome

[Psyber]

Funny/sad listening to talk back radio this morning, and the amount of people that rang in saying they voted Liberal (supposedly for the first time) because of problems with the public health system. Whilst there is no denying that the Brumby Government has made a mess of the health system in this state of late I am struggling to think of ANY Liberal government (Federal or State) that has IMPROVED the public health system anywhere.

I'm struggling to think of any government that has improved the public health system in my lifetime.
I worked in public health from February 1968 until the end of 1975 when I finally got sick of the increasing bureaucracy and walked. I still remember the date - November 24th 1975.
[ I set it to qualify for my pro-rata long service leave when I gave notice.]

Subsequent interactions trying to liaise with the public system about uninsured patients in greater need than I could provide in private demonstrated it has only continued to get worse.
It was the same in both SA and Victoria.

[mick]

It seems that the Coalition preferencing the Greens last is considered a masterstroke by people on both sides of politics.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/fighting-greens-ignoring-suburbs-to-blame-says-bill-shorten/story-fn59niix-1225962416390

[Leaping Lindner]

The decision of the Libs to preference the Greens last has cost the coalition certain victory.

No, it has just saved the Coalition from the moral dilemma of having to deal with the party that they put last on their how-to-vote cards.

Could not agree more, the ALP can at least form a credible government, the Coalition has more common ground with the ALP than the Greens. No Greens in parliament is a good outcome

And therein lies the problem

[Leaping Lindner]

Funny/sad listening to talk back radio this morning, and the amount of people that rang in saying they voted Liberal (supposedly for the first time) because of problems with the public health system. Whilst there is no denying that the Brumby Government has made a mess of the health system in this state of late I am struggling to think of ANY Liberal government (Federal or State) that has IMPROVED the public health system anywhere.

I'm struggling to think of any government that has improved the public health system in my lifetime.
I worked in public health from February 1968 until the end of 1975 when I finally got sick of the increasing bureaucracy and walked. I still remember the date - November 24th 1975.
[ I set it to qualify for my pro-rata long service leave when I gave notice.]

Subsequent interactions trying to liaise with the public system about uninsured patients in greater need than I could provide in private demonstrated it has only continued to get worse.
It was the same in both SA and Victoria.

Where you in victoria at the time of Cun...um sorry Kennett.. Psyber? He should be strung up for what he did to the Health System(and education system)in this state whilst pouring millions into "that" Casino and "that" Car Race.

[Ronnie]

The Greens and One Nation, both extremist parties on the Australian political landscape, don't deserve preference deals.
Well done Libs on not directing preferences the Greens way.
Please take note in NSW of this basic ideal for next year.

[Psyber]

Where you in victoria at the time of Cun...um sorry Kennett.. Psyber? He should be strung up for what he did to the Health System(and education system)in this state whilst pouring millions into "that" Casino and "that" Car Race.

I arrived there in January 1999, not very long before he lost the election.
However, the situation in Victoria - at least in the mental health field - continued to get worse at least until I quit practice there at the end of May 2008.
The succeeding government had not done much positive either despite their many years in power subsequently.

I just came across this today on this site : http://www.mjainsight.com.au/view?post= ... d-research
[It probably requires a log in so I quote the first few sentences.]

Patients die as politicians dither

AN EMERGENCY medicine physician says patients throughout Australia are still dying unnecessarily as they wait in emergency departments (EDs) for a hospital bed.
The accusation is based on a nationwide ED snapshot taken in September that showed three-quarters of hospitals had access block.
Associate Professor Drew Richardson, chair of road trauma and emergency medicine at Australian National University Medical School, said even though politicians and health departments had been shown the facts and patients were still dying while waiting for beds, there had been no significant improvement in access block in the past year.
Access block is defined by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) as the situation where patients are unable to gain access to appropriate hospital beds within a reasonable time, which is defined as no greater than 8 hours.

[mick]

Brumby has just conceded, it will be interesting to see whether the Coalition will persist with preferencing the Greens last in the upcoming NSW and QLD elections.

[Strawb]

Brumby has just conceded, it will be interesting to see whether the Coalition will persist with preferencing the Greens last in the upcoming NSW and QLD elections.

No idea but if Bellyache doesn;t do what he says he will he will be bounced out at the next election. Providing Labor gets rid of Bumbles.

[Leaping Lindner]

Brumby has just conceded, it will be interesting to see whether the Coalition will persist with preferencing the Greens last in the upcoming NSW and QLD elections.

Not really an issue Mick. Labor is dead in the water in both states. The only reasons it was an issue in Victoria was that the Greens have a very strong inner city vote (30%+ first preference in some seats), and Brumby was in a seemingly much stronger position - see the odds from a couple ofweeks back when the Libs annouced the preference deal.

[Leaping Lindner]

Brumby has just conceded, it will be interesting to see whether the Coalition will persist with preferencing the Greens last in the upcoming NSW and QLD elections.

No idea but if Bellyache doesn;t do what he says he will he will be bounced out at the next election. Providing Labor gets rid of Bumbles.

Now that Peter Ryan is deputy premier I'm building a white picket fence just before I go off to do National Service. It's funny how people always seem to conveniently forget that these nutbags are part of the coaliton.

[Strawb]

Brumby has just conceded, it will be interesting to see whether the Coalition will persist with preferencing the Greens last in the upcoming NSW and QLD elections.

No idea but if Bellyache doesn;t do what he says he will he will be bounced out at the next election. Providing Labor gets rid of Bumbles.

Now that Peter Ryan is deputy premier I'm building a white picket fence just before I go off to do National Service. It's funny how people always seem to conveniently forget that these nutbags are part of the coaliton.

Yes that is true I wonder what will be happening there with the coalition. I have always wondered if the Nationals spilt from the coalition how would the libs ever hold government?

[Leaping Lindner]

Yes that is true I wonder what will be happening there with the coalition. I have always wondered if the Nationals spilt from the coalition how would the libs ever hold government?

It's the only reason they put up with each other. It's not like they actually like each other.