It's on! Australia votes on November 24, 2007.- What are the figures for the minor parties and to whom are their preferences being directed? In blunt terms, is it possible for the Greens to gain their first seat in the House of Representatives and, if so where? Is it possible for new independents to enter the House of Representatives?
- How will votes translate into seats and how will seats translate into winning and losing?
On the major vote winner for Labor, opposition to John Howard's Work Choices legislation, will voters - when it comes to casting a ballot - accept Kevin Rudd's delay in the abolition of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs)?
This voter won't. Miss Eagle hangs her colours out for all to see. She is in that unofficial voting bloc, Rusted on Labor that Votes Green. Miss Eagle thought that this election would see her giving her No. 1 vote to the ALP like old times were here again. But, at this point in time, no.
Miss Eagle will express her disenchantment with Labor and its Leader by giving the Greens her No. 1 vote and she is helping out in the seat of Aston because Rex, one of her fellow parishioners at St Thom's, is the campaign manager there.
However, Miss Eagle believes that this is an election where anything can happen and probably will. The Liberals have already shown how desperate they are to hang on to government. Rudd has shown how tetchy he is in rebuking his Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Bob Brown's temper hasn't been too even with the goings on around the projected pulp mill in Tasmania. And there's six weeks still to go!
So, dear Voter/Punter, consider your vote carefully. Don't make self-interest your only guide. And keep your vote well away from the mean-spirited...you know who I mean!
