Election 2016: Malcolm Turnbull 'quietly confident' of forming majority government
Malcolm Turnbull says he is "quietly confident" of wining enough votes to secure a majority Coalition government, but Bill Shorten says the Prime Minister has delivered "anything but stability" for the nation.
Malcom's defending himself to the hill.
Hilairious. Bill Shorten has it easiest, can dismiss the double-deal making and deal rejections as instability. Which is true. Lol, they can run an election (barely), they can hardly run most policy areas (budget deficit & debt at record, NBN fledgling, infrastructure declining) the whole lot, but can't scrounge 5 or what have you Senators to guarantee Supply and major legislation.
What a joke.
ABC review;
What. Just. Happened?
Australia is waking without a winner from last night's federal election. How did we get here?
Malcolm Turnbull's Coalition Government is facing a desperate fight to hang on to a majority in Parliament. On the count so far it has won at least 65 seats, 11 fewer than the 76 needed to command a majority in the Lower House.
While Bill Shorten and Labor look set to fall short of being able to form even a minority government, they have staged an amazing comeback that has again highlighted the volatility of modern Australian politics.
LNP 33
ALP 39
OTH 5
76 seats needed to win
The Apple Isle turned red
Tasmania set the tone early in the evening, with Bass the first seat to fall to Labor, followed by Braddon and Lyons, reversing the Liberal Party's 2013 gains in the state.
The result means that of the five federal Tasmanian seats, Labor will now hold four, with independent MP Andrew Wilkie holding the fifth.
While Labor recorded a 2 per cent national swing, in Tasmania it was twice that, showing deeper disenchantment with the Coalition Government.
Queensland swung for Labor
Elections are often decided in the Sunshine State, and 2016 looks to be no exception.
The ALP looks likely to pick up between two and four seats in Queensland, including that of key Turnbull backer Wyatt Roy, who saw his 6 per cent margin washed away, and now can add to his resume the record of youngest member of Parliament to ever be voted out.
Labor is also ahead in the regional seat of Herbert in the state's north, and four more seats across the state remain on a knife edge.
The giant of the 2013 election, Palmer United, has faded from view, replaced by a blast from the past in the form of Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
While One Nation is unlikely to pick up any seats in the Lower House, securing 5.5 per cent of the vote in Queensland, it is on track to pick up at least one seat in the Senate.
Australians turned against the major parties, especially in SA
Whoever takes power after this election is going to do so knowing that a quarter of all Australians voted for someone other than Labor or the Coalition.
The four current independents Cathy McGowan, Andrew Wilkie, Adam Bandt and Bob Katter were all returned with increased majorities, and Senator Nick Xenophon cemented his place as a massive force in South Australia.
Senator Xenophon's NXT party gained more than 20 per cent of the vote across South Australia, picking up the seat of Mayo off embattled Liberal MP Jamie Briggs, and is still threatening in the South Australian seat of Grey.
In Queensland, while Mr Palmer's seat of Fairfax was returned to the Coalition, this was its only gain in the state: the majority of Palmer United's votes from 2013 shifted to the minor parties, predominantly a resurgent One Nation.
In the Northern Territory, Labor gained a second seat with a massive swing against the sitting Country Liberal Party member Natasha Griggs in Solomon.
A significant portion of this swing went to minor parties, before being returned to new Labor MP Luke Gosling through preferences.
It was swings and roundabouts in Victoria
Heading into yesterday's vote there was talk the CFA union dispute, which has engulfed Victorian politics, could threaten the ALP's chances in its traditional stronghold, but Labor still picked up a 1.5 per cent swing across the state.
The departure of popular former Labor speaker Anna Burke gave the Coalition one of its few likely gains for the night, with her seat of Chisholm bucking the national trend and looking like switching to the Liberals.
The Greens have retained the seat of Melbourne, and remain in the running for the seat of Batman, both traditional Labor strongholds.
NSW came back to Labor
Based on newsprint alone, western Sydney is the spiritual home of the federal election, with the Prime Minister losing the press pack yesterday to make the pilgrimage out to Penrith in a last-ditch effort to woo voters.
However for Labor last night, the west was a friend, with the party looking likely to pick up Lindsay, Macarthur, and the Blue Mountains seat of Macquarie, which has been held by the Liberal Party for more than a decade.
With the aid of a redistribution, Linda Burney returned the seat of Barton in Sydney's southern suburbs to Labor, becoming the first Indigenous woman to hold a seat in the House of Representatives.
AECALP: 71
LNC: 67
Greens: 1
Katter: 1
Xenophon: 1
Independent: 2
Not Yet Determined: 7
"Why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones?"
Lord Varys,
Game of Thrones.
.
Late Sunday night.
- By wat0n
- By litwin
- By QatzelOk