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| Biting the hand that feeds him | |
The Greens appear to have won the Cunningham by-election, ending the
52 year stranglehold by the ALP. By-elections are usually a barometer for the popularity of the government.
There is normally a small 'protest' swing against the government because
people know they won't actually change the decision, and this is sometimes
reversed if the incumbent government are lucky enough to find a small and
winnable war to fight. However in this case, the Liberals didn't even put up a candidate.
The ALP's Sharon (I-love-affirmative-action) Bird lost to
a Michael (green behind the ears) Organ. Part of this is union payback to Simon (union-basher) Crean for his 50-50 union
push. Unions supported an independent candidate, who in turn gave preferences
to the Greens. The ALP is, as expected, adrift in the political mire after Simon sank his
teeth into the unions in the federal ALP conference. The ALP had no chance of
winning the next election if they remained the lap-dog of the unions, but that
would be a whole lot better than just drifting around bickering among
themselves about border control and welfare policy. Simon, Simon, just because you got new teeth didn't mean you had to
bite the hand that was feeding you.
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