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Australia’s embattled government suffers state vote ‘bloodbath’
SYDNEY, Nov 25, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Australia’s embattled minority government
has suffered a further blow after a big loss in a crucial state poll ahead of
national elections next year.
The Labor government for Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state,
was returned to power in a landslide after elections on Saturday.
Provisional results collated by national broadcaster ABC pointed to a 4.8
percent swing to Labor, and for the left-leaning party to hold 55 seats in
the 88-seat state assembly — a result one minister described as a
“bloodbath”.
“We shouldn’t be in this position — we did a lot of things right but
obviously something’s gone horribly wrong,” Shadow Attorney-General John
Pesutto, from the Liberal Party, told the ABC.
“We’re going to clearly have to do a root-and-branch review, top to bottom,
of all of this.”
The ruling federal Liberal-National coalition is still reeling from having
ousted former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in August.
Turnbull’s removal saw him quit politics and trigger a by-election in his
wealthy Sydney seat in November which the Liberals lost, sending them into a
minority government.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt would not attribute the Victorian defeat
to the Turnbull turmoil — the sixth change of national leaders in the last
decade — and said local issues determined the outcome.
The conservative coalition has to call national elections by mid-May next
year, with the Wentworth and Victoria losses pointing to a possible crushing
defeat against the main opposition party Labor.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1015 hrs