Australian federal election 2022

[David]

South Australian senate results are in: 3 Liberals, 2 Labor and 1 Green, as expected.

[Pies4shaw]

UAP won a total of 0 seats in both Houses, nationwide. Well done by all concerned.

[David]

Still an outside chance in Victoria – we'll know for sure next week – but yes, that looks like the most likely outcome.

Tasmanian senate will be finalised this afternoon. Looks certain to be 2 Liberals, 2 Labor, 1 Greens, 1 Jacqui Lambie Network.

[stui magpie]

Palmer got his 1 seat in the Vic Senate.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/clive-palmer-s-candidate-claims-last-victorian-senate-spot-20220620-p5av1h.html

$100 Mil well spent.

[David]

Holy shit, haha. Not sure this is exactly a good result, but it certainly won't be dull.

Otherwise, Hanson won in Queensland and NSW went as expected (3 Coalition, 2 Labor, 1 Green). The only one left to be finalised now is WA, at 2pm to be precise – still not certain whether the last seat there will go Labor or Liberal, which will decide whether there's a 'progressive' majority between Labor, the Greens and David Pocock or whether the government needs either the Jacqui Lambie Network or One Nation to pass legislation.

[David]

And the results are in for WA: 3 Labor, 2 Liberal and 1 Greens.

Final tally (39 for majority):
Coalition 32
Labor 26
Greens 12
One Nation 2
Jacqui Lambie Network 2
David Pocock 1
United Australia Party 1

[David]

A bit of early bastardry from the new government has already put crossbenchers offside, including those they're depending on to get legislation through in the upper house:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/27/independents-say-crossbencher-staff-cuts-will-slow-down-labors-legislative-agenda

[stui magpie]

I don't have a problem with it, how many staff do they think they need?

it's very, very early days but so far I'd give Albanese a tick.

[David]

Under Morrison they had four staffers each. I think it's fair enough to expect independents to be given decent resources given that, per the article, each major party politician has access to up to six, not to mention the broader party structure to "help them" work out how to vote on each bill (lol).

It's in everybody's interests for the independent and minor-party politicians who do get in to have the resources needed to do their jobs – both to adequately serve their constituents and make sure they're across all legislation that comes before parliament.

[stui magpie]

Who says they aren't adequately resourced, apart from them?

I read that Albo has said he'd beef up the Parliamentary Library to provide the service of reviewing and summarising draft legislation for everyone. It is somewhat of a specialised skill set, not something you'd give to an average staffer.

For mine, classic case of it's always hard to take away something. People sook whether they needed it or not.

The number of times I've heard "we need more staff" from people with ingrained poor work practices is unreal. Status also comes into it.

[David]

Jacqui Lambie puts it pretty persuasively:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/28/the-decisions-i-make-in-the-senate-matter-and-i-trust-my-staff-to-guide-me-through-them

[stui magpie]

Very few of them are experts on anything and of course a Government needs staff.

A Crossbencher gets what, 4 staffers plus an advisor? Surely that's enough?

[David]

They did under the previous government. Now it's not 4 but 1 – that's what this is all about.

[Pies4shaw]

^ I think Stui is referring to the fact that they still have 4 electoral staff - the advisers have been cut from 4 to 1.

[David]

Oops, that's correct – sorry Stui!