150

For my 150th blog post, I have quite a bit to report on. As it happens, it falls on the night of a very important Australian election and the 150 members of the House of Representatives are seeking office. It's also a test of the Labor Party's policies and the results are very exciting.

First of all, some other news. I read that the US has ended its combat operations in Iraq. We'll see what this means in the future and what the consequences of America's actions will be. After 7.5 years in Iraq, only history will tell what impact the Americans had on the country. Contrary to many predictions, Iraq has not descended into civil war and hopefully it was not only the Americans' presence that prevented it. While there will still be support units in the, Operation Iraqi Freedom (they've got to come up with more imaginative names) has concluded and this chapter of American history closes; let's see what the footnotes will say.

In health news, I got a massage for my stiff iliotibial band at umpire training. Every training session a physiotherapist comes in and offers massages to those who need them. To limber up my iliotibial band, I asked for one and it is an experience unlike any other, and not one which should be repeated. In order to loosen the band, pressure must be applied to it but in its stiff state, that causes considerable discomfort. The physio knew what she was doing and it did help but I really felt the pain. Next time, I think I'll just inject some drugs right into the band.

In lighter news, I got the chance to effect a Scottish accent in my criminal justice class. The lecturer asked for someone to do it to read out a passage by a Scottish author. No one put their hand up so I volunteered and I think I pulled it off. In truth, I did it better than I thought I would. Unfortunately there is no recording of this event.

The big news in Australia is, of course, the general election and what a night it has been. The final result is too close to call and will likely not be known for some weeks as there will be recounts and challenges. However, for the first time since World War 2, Australia will have a "hung" parliament, which means that no party has won a majority of seats. In my opinion, a better solution would be a hanged parliament. The predicted final tally in the House is the Liberal/National Party, 73 seats, the Labor Party, 72 seats, the Green Party, 1 seat and independents, 4 seats. This mess will take some time to sort out but until then, Julia Gillard will continue as Prime Minister. As you can see, the formation of the government will depend on how the independents and the Green Party members align themselves. An even more curious result would be a 75-75 split which would really liven things up.

This result has come about due to poor performance by the Labor Party in the 4-week election. Apparently they had a pretty disastrous 2nd and 3rd weeks and so that has hurt them. The Labor Party has lost something like 15 seats! The Labor Party was already in trouble due to declining polls, the ousting of PM Kevin Rudd, the mining supertax and the failure of the Emissions Trading Scheme (whatever that was). Also, it seems that they underestimated Tony Abbott, the Liberal/National Party leader, who was able to run a fairly effective campaign. I think the Labor Party could have secured a better result if they'd stuck to pointing out that they managed to keep Australia out of recession with their stimulus package and Australia has one of the best performing economies in the industrialized world.

This election has been remarkable for other reasons. The first Green Party member was elected for the district of Melbourne. A 20-year old from Queensland in poised to become the youngest ever MP. Also from Queensland, voters elected the first indigenous Australian Member of the House of Representatives. In general, there has also been a strong showing for the Green Party nation-wide and they will now hold the balance of power in the Senate, and to some extent in the House as well.

A few words, or as few as can reasonably be uttered, about the Australian electoral process. Australia's election system is nothing if not entertaining. In Australia, voting is compulsory and done on a preference system. On the ballot page you mark in order from 1-whatever the candidates whom you wish to elect. In other words, your first choice you mark "1", your second, "2", and so on, though you don't have to exhaust your choices. First, the 1 votes are counted and if no candidate has 50%+1 of the votes, then the 2 votes are counted and so on until a candidate has achieved a majority. While creative and, I think worthwhile, this system is very confusing to an outsider, as Bill Bryson noted. The analysis speaks of things like "1st Party Preference, "2 Party Preference" and the "swing". The swing is the easiest concept, it's the percentage change from the last election so that a swing of 5.8% to the Liberal/National Party (as happened in Queensland overall), means 5.8% more people voted for that party than the previous election. Still, if you're not in tune, Australian election banter quickly degenerates into what sounds like meaningless drivel, although it may actually be very astute observation. I'm ineligible to vote so, luckily, I don't have to know any of this.

Another peculiarity of the Australian election system is that all constituencies have proper names, and not just descriptive ones like Ottawa-South or Toronto-East. For example, I live in the electoral district of Fraser, and around the country there are Fraser, Bennelong, Sturt, Eden-Monaro, O'Connor, Durack, Lingiari, Werriwa and countless others. I think this is very clever on the part of Australians. Although perfectly functional, Canadian riding names are rather bland but Australians have spiced theirs up. I think Canada should seriously consider following the Australian example.

There is also the nerve-center of reporting, called the Tally Room. This is where all the results are sent through more or less as soon as their known. I'm not sure if there's something exactly similar in Canada although I do know that news agencies report the results and that individual political parties have something like it at their respective headquarters. I've been told that it can be quite the experience and I may have gone had I not been assigned a take-home exam on the subject of fiduciaries. If this is a hung parliament, then the next election might not be too far away anyway and I can visit the Tally Room then.

So who's going to be the Prime Minister? No one can as yet say. What is certain is that the Labor Party has been dealt a significant blow but, for the time being they remain in power. We'll see what happens over the coming weeks if a changing of the guard will be in order.