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Governing ALP Still Dominant in Australia
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) maintains the upper hand in the country’s political scene, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 48 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives.
The Coalition of Liberals and National is second with 34 per cent, followed by the Australian Greens with 10 per cent. Australia’s preferential voting system—where electors indicate an order of predilection for each contender, and the ballots from smaller parties are re-distributed—gives the ALP an 18-point lead over the Coalition.
Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the ALP 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. ALP leader Kevin Rudd was officially sworn in as prime minister in December, bringing an end to the 11-year tenure of Liberal leader John Howard as head of Australia’s government.
Howard failed to retain his seat in the Bennelong constituency and stepped down as Liberal leader. Brendan Nelson—a former defence minister—defeated former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just three votes. In September 2008, Turnbull won a new internal leadership race, edging Nelson by four votes.
This year, 35 different boats carrying about 1,800 asylum-seekers have arrived in Australia. On Oct. 21, Liberal lawmaker Wilson Tuckey hinted at the possibility of terrorists arriving on these boats, declaring, "If you wanted to get into Australia and you have bad intentions, what do you do? You insert yourself in a crowd of a hundred for which there is great sympathy for the other 99."
Rudd expressed consternation with Tuckey’s comments, saying, "‘These are deeply divisive, disgusting remarks and they do not belong in any mainstream Australian political party."
Polling Data
If a federal election to the House of Representatives were held today, which one of the following would you vote for? If "Uncommitted", to which one of these do you have a leaning?
|
Oct. 18 |
Oct. 11 |
Oct. 1 |
|
|
Australian Labor Party |
48% |
47% |
46% |
|
Coalition (Liberal / National) |
34% |
36% |
35% |
|
Australian Greens |
10% |
10% |
10% |
|
Others |
8% |
7% |
9% |
Two-Party Preferred Vote
|
Oct. 18 |
Oct. 11 |
Oct. 1 |
|
|
Australian Labor Party |
59% |
58% |
58% |
|
Coalition (Liberal / National) |
41% |
42% |
42% |
Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,144 Australian voters, conducted from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18, 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.