Thanks again for joining us – you are building a lovely community and we are truly humbled by your trust. And your humour keeps us going. We will be working on how to bring in more commenting, but we are loving what you are sending us (and that includes all your messages).
We will be back tomorrow with Day 33 of this campaign – we are almost there!

So have a lovely night (it is cold and raining in Canberra, so it will be a rugged up one here) and we hope to see you back bright and early.

Until then – take care of you. Ax

There is also a growing school of thought that One Nation could take a senate seat off the Coalition in NSW. Maybe South Australia. Possibly Tasmania (where her daughter Lee is running) And the Coalition could lose a seat in Queensland, with Gerard Rennick splitting the conservative vote there.

So yes, the house of reps is the main game, but don’t lose sight of the chamber of review.

There has also been a bit of reaction to Mark Carney’s win in Canada from Canadian groups involved in climate causes – something to be learned here, from the Australian perspective, you would think:

Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Senior Researcher, Climate, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:

“The Liberal election victory proves that climate action is still a winning political proposition in Canada. Despite recent backsliding on carbon pricing, the Mark Carney government remains committed to important policies for reducing emissions and promised new efforts to accelerate major climate-friendly infrastructure projects, such as high-speed rail and east-west electricity transmission. However, the Liberals’ climate plans do not go far enough to meet Canada’s own domestic climate targets—let alone Canada’s fair share of the global climate effort. The hard work now begins to strengthen Canada’s climate policies in the face of increasingly costly extreme weather events. Fortunately, the future of global economic growth lies in clean power, clean manufacturing and energy efficiency, so Canada has every incentive to double down on climate action.”

Nick Bridge CMG was UK Special Representative for Climate Change 2017 to 2023. Nick was previously Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the OECD from 2011 to 2016. He served as Chief Economist at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Head of Global Economy Department. He has served for over a decade in diplomatic postings to China, Japan and the United States:

“Mark Carney is well-respected internationally and can be an out-sized voice for intensified cooperation – rather than division – between an alliance of responsible nations. If he can lead and empower Canadian citizens and organisations to work together to align economic, social and environmental goals, then Canada can play a responsible role internationally towards a more sustainable economic system and avoidance of climate and ecological collapse.”  

Tim Gray, Executive Director, Environmental Defence Canada:

“With a new mandate as Prime Minister, Mark Carney will now have the opportunity to take bold action on the ideas he has long advocated for. He can lead the implementation of a rapid shift to clean energy and a climate-solutions oriented financial system. He can lead Canada in a march forward with the rest of the world toward a prosperous new economy while the U.S. turns backward.”

Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada:

“Canadians want the next government to do more on climate action; the polls have shown it, and now the election results have confirmed it. With the election over, Prime Minister Carney has the opportunity to practice what he has preached for years, and kickstart a green transformation that will build our country’s resilience for decades to come. That requires picking a lane with regard to energy: no more flirting with fossil fuel expansion and new pipelines, which would come with staggering costs to our wallets and our planet. Instead, the new federal government must focus its attention on building a renewable-powered electricity grid as the backbone of a new economy in line with Canadian values.”

We kept the blog open in case anything happened, and well, not a lot did.
I can tell you the Liberals are very worried about the seat of Sturt in South Australia though, and that they are not confident of retaking Boothby.

Flinders is on the watch list and Brisbane is ‘too close to call’ between Labor and the Coalition, although apparently some of the heat has come off the Liberal campaign in Ryan.

Kevin Hogan is starting to make calls about support for the Nationals leadership, along with Bridget McKenzie. Ted O’Brien is (laughably, but hey – stranger things have happened) looking if there is any support for him making a bid for the Liberals’ leadership.

Calare could go Nationals or independent, although Andrew Gee has lost some of his vote. Nuclear as a policy is in the absolute doldrums – no one really likes it. There is unhappiness with the Coalition spending money on trying to make Bendigo a marginal seat because – why? Especially when other seats (Calare, Cowper, Wannon, Monash, etc) need defending. Barnaby Joyce is keeping his head DOWN to ensure that there is not even a whiff of a fingerprint on the Nationals campaign result. (That way Littleproud owns it all) Labor could win Bulwinkle and the Greens are firming on Wills. The best gains for the Coalition still seem to be in Victoria, although that too is on the bubble.

By and large it seems like voters are gritting their teeth and giving Labor another chance. But Labor won’t have too many more chances to use power. So that will be the next question.

Sue has responded to Jason Fallinski’s fundraising push with a very good point:

This looks an awful lot like those over-the-top fundraising emails Trump sends out almost every day. WE NEED TRUTH IN POLITICAL ADVERTISING/COMMUNICATION LAWS NOW!

AAP’s Maeve Bannister has written on some of the women candidates challenging for electorates this election:

Female candidates are hoping to change the face of politics this election, with one independent aiming to become the first woman to ever represent her seat in parliament. 

More than 40 candidates across 10 parties are alumni of Women for Election, which aims to enable and empower women from all walks of life – and all sides of politics – to run for public office.

In the most recent parliament following the 2022 election, 44 per cent of MPs were female, up from 26 per cent in 2002. 

For Claire Ferres Miles, an independent running in the Liberal-held Victorian seat of Casey,  becoming a member of parliament would be an opportunity to represent her community on issues that matter to them.

She ran in 2022 after a whirlwind campaign and gained 8.3 per cent of the vote. 

“In Casey we have never had a female MP and we have been represented by the Liberal Party for 41 years,” she told AAP. 

“People feel like we’ve been forgotten because we were a safe seat for so long, but this time around it is winnable.” 

An unfortunate part of this year’s campaign has been the gendered abuse Ms Ferres Miles has seen, particularly in graffiti on her corflutes. 

But Labor candidate for the rural Victorian seat of Flinders Sarah Race believes a furry friend helped ensure her corflutes were not targeted. 

“I’ve got my dog on my poster and we are wondering if having him on there is a factor deterring graffiti,” she said. 

Flinders has been a Liberal seat for 40 years and is currently held by first-term MP Zoe McKenzie. 

Women for Election was a key part of Ms Race’s decision to run, equipping her with the knowledge she needed to embark on a campaign. 

While the organisation helps to arm candidates with the knowledge they need, it does not get involved in the campaigns once launched.

“We watch everyone’s campaigns like proud parents,” Women for Election chief executive Licia Heath said.

“It’s not our role to tell women what party they should run for, it’s our role to make an opaque process more transparent.” 

Ms Heath also reminds alumni that running is winning and they might not necessarily be successful on the first go. 

“It took Julia Gillard three times to run before she was elected,” she said.

Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Barton Fiona Douskou hopes the fourth time is the charm.

She’s taking on Labor candidate Ash Ambihaipahar, who is looking to replace retiring former Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney. 

“This is my fourth time running a campaign, and I decided to step forward because I’ve seen first-hand how decisions at every level of government affect our daily lives,” Ms Douskou said.

Harsimran Kaur, running for the Australia’s Voice Party in the Senate, said the campaign had been full of ups and downs. 

“It’s hard to get people to consider the minor parties … it’s even harder for a diverse candidate to get public trust, even if they are born in Australia,” she said.

Meanwhile, Greens candidate Emilie Flynn is challenging Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles in his Geelong seat of Corio.

“I don’t think that we should look at anybody as having a safe seat just because they’ve been there for a long time and have a senior position,” she said.

We did a quick fact check (Dutton said 2.7% when asked) but Jim Chalmers is punching the air right now.

Former Liberal MP turned NSW Liberal president, turned almost going back into politics, turned Australians for Prosperity (a Liberal aligned campaign outfit) Jason Falinski would like you to know that the TEALS ARE ON THE ROPES! His evidence? A couple of Australian articles. Here’s his latest fundraising push:

There is good news. The so-called “teal independents” are scrambling. Simon Holmes à Court, the mastermind behind their campaigns, sent a desperate fundraising email begging his tech bro billionaires for a cool million dollars. Why?

Because communities who voted for Teals like Zoe Daniel, Dr Monique Ryan, Dr Sophie Scamps, and Kate Chaney in 2022 are waking up to the fact they have been dishonest and have not delivered.

Holmes à Court admitted that Zoe, Dr Monique, Dr Sophie, and Kate are in serious danger of losing their seats. And here’s the kicker: they are possibly too stretched to save even Allegra Spender. They’ve already poured millions into Bradfield alone, and their war chest is running dry.

Michael has responded to some of Peter Dutton’s comments in his press conference:

This js not to defend any form of vandalism, however in his response Dutton says “… we employ security guards now at booths because ETU workers and CFMEU workers intimidate older ladies. …”.

If this is true:
1. What are the AEC officials doing at these booths are they are pro-active in addressing such behaviour?
2. Why weren’t the police called to address such behaviour?
3. Furthermore, employing security guards in “public” spaces i.e. AEC hire the buildings & not political parties wouldn’t appear to an appropriate nor acceptable practice.

If it isn’t true:
1. Is this another example of Dutton’s use of scare campaigns eg. People are afraid to go shopping for fear of being attacked; African gangs in Melbourne (historical).
2. Wouldn’t this be a libellous/slanderous claim against these unions?
3. What evidence is provided that these alleged people are ETU/CFMEU members?

Seems like your divorced parents are fighting again