Well, it's finally happened! John "The Rodent" Howard is no longer at the helm of Australian government. After eleven long years, Howard and his conniving Liberal cronies were booted out in a landslide by Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party. (story continues below photos)
It even looks like the smarmy git may lose his seat, which he has held since 1974. It would be such beautiful poetry if votes from Australia House in London were the ones that tipped him into oblivion. The unflushable turd* finally goes down the u-bend!
Katie and I played a part in yesterday's result, by hading out How to vote cards for Julie Collins and the ALP in Franklin electorate. By lucky coincidence, we were posted to the town of Franklin, in the Huon Valley. Mum was born there, and my grandparents owned the local store, so while not really a local, there definetly was some genetic connection to the town.
The Greens had a few people handing out there, as well as the ACTU's "Your Rights at Work" campaign, which was bloody handy, considering their preferences in the Lower House were the same as the ALP. Kind of a double pronged attack. There was one bloke handing out Liberal papers for a while, but he scarpered at one pm. In a real show of the conservatives' true regard for the environment, they attached a banner to a tree in the school yard (a giant Sequoia, almost 100 years old and listed by the National Trust) with ROOFING NAILS. Anyway, Julie dispatched her opponent, Vanessa Goodwin without too much trouble. Tasmania actually returned five out of five seats to the ALP in the House of Reps...awesome! Thanks to Mark, Lisa & Merlin for dropping some much needed refreshments and allowing me to go for a bit of a stroll in the afternoon.
In London, I hear that the party booked at the Pendrels Oak pub in Holborn was a raging success. Fifty off people were expected...apparently over three hundred turned up. Must've been some serious pressure on the bar when alcohol was able to be served at 9am! Does anybody have an pictures? Please send! Channel Four News led their Saturday night bulletin with a seven minute story on the election, including a studio interview with ALP Abroad President, Paul Smith.
After we finished in Franklin, it was back to Lindisfarne and the House of Comrade Tim for "Ron's Party". We watched the results come in on the ABC, ate pizza, sang, and drank much beer. I think I've only just sobered up now.
What a day, what a result, what a return to being able to be proud to say you come from Australia!
*Quote courtesy Ivan Pagett
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1 comment:
looks like it was a very exciting day in australian politics. Pesonally I thought franky howard was very good in up pompei
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