Environment given a green light by voters
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/2001/11/11/FFX5QTD9UTC.html
Bob Brown - winners are grinners.
By CLAIRE MILLER
Sunday 11 November 2001
The Greens last night became a force in Australian politics, closing in on the Democrats with the party's strongest showing yet in the polls.
From the moment counting began, a significant swing to the Greens was evident in both houses, apparently at the expense of Labor and in some states, the Democrats.
Their strong support was not so much a reflection of a resurgent environment vote as respect for the party's principled stand on asylum seekers. Senator Bob Brown took the high moral ground, saying he did not care about the electoral consequences, but it appears his stance struck a chord.
At the close of counting last night, Senator Brown had retained his Tasmanian seat, and the Greens were a strong chance for two more Senate spots for the first time in Victoria and New South Wales. The party said early counting in Western Australia was looking promising for a fourth Senate seat, which means they would share the balance of power with the Democrats.
The Greens doubled their primary national vote in the House of Representatives from 2.14 per cent in 1998 to 4.33 per cent. In Tasmania, the Greens' leader Senator Bob Brown increased his primary vote to more than 14 per cent to retain his seat in his own right.
In Victoria, Senate candidate Scott Kinnear said it was too close to call, but he was hopeful of taking the last Senate spot from the Democrats after picking up 5.78 per cent of the primary vote.
"If it is confirmed, I am ecstatic because our best estimates put it at a 20 per cent chance. It was very dependent on the primary votes of other parties, and we are very fortunate those votes have fallen into the right position."
Mr Kinnear said the party's principled stand on the treatment of Middle Eastern asylum seekers and its cautious approach to the war in Afghanistan had resonated through the electorate.
He said Senator Brown's professionalism and leadership during the campaign had also raised the party's profile, so the electorate was prepared to engage with the Greens more than ever before. "They see us as someone to vote for," he said.
Mr Kinnear said the Greens strong showing was "a real wake-up call" for both the major parties, that they had to work on their relationship with the community because they were out of touch.
With 78.85 per cent of the vote counted, the Greens primary national vote in the House of Representatives was 4.33 per cent, a 2.3 per cent swing.
The shift to the Greens was most marked in Victoria, with a 3.8 per cent swing to 5.8 per cent of the primary vote in the lower house, almost triple their 1998 result. In Tasmania, the Greens increased their primary vote from 5.56 per cent to 7.52 per cent, a 2.25 per cent swing.
In NSW, the Greens almost doubled their 1998 lower house vote to 4.62 per cent, beating the Democrats on 4.09 per cent. In Queensland, the Greens picked up 3.4 per cent of the primary vote, a 1.2 per cent swing.
In South Australia, they gained 3.54 per cent of the vote, a 3 per cent swing but were a long way behind the Democrats in their home state with 10.5 per cent. In the Australian Capital Territory, the Greens were just behind the Democrats on 7 per cent and 7.9 per cent respectively.
In Western Australia, where the Greens won the balance of power in the state election last March, they picked up 5.8 per cent of the primary vote and were hoping the party might once again put a senator in Canberra.
The party performed particularly well in a handful of mainly city-based lower house seats. In Victoria, it polled 15.7 per cent of the primaries in Melbourne, 15.2 per cent in the seat of Sydney and 13.3 per cent in Grayndler in NSW. In Kooyong, the party poled 11.2 per cent.
Senator Brown's adviser, Ben Oquist, said the Greens had picked up a massive vote from disaffected Labor supporters and small `l' liberal voters because they had managed to put the environment on the agenda through their preference deal with Labor and because they took the principled, humanitarian stand on the asylum seekers.
Mr Oquist said Labor lost out by not standing up to John Howard and his "divisive" policies. "They should have taken a principled stand from the beginning and, who knows, the result may have been different. You can appeal to what's worst in people and what is best in people, and they should have done the latter."
The environment vote played a strong role in some seats. In Burke, where there is strong community unrest about overlogging in the Wombat state forest, the Greens won a strong 7.3 per cent of the primary vote.
In Corangamite, where clear-felling in the Otways became an election issue, the Greens picked up 6.4 per cent of the vote, while the newly formed splinter party, Liberals for forests, picked up 2.5 per cent.
The Senate
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/2001/11/11/FFXZOE89UTC.html
By TIM COLEBATCH
Sunday 11 November 2001
A sizeable swing to the Greens in Senate voting could give them a share of the balance of power, with the Democrats at risk of losing up to three Senate seats to the Greens or Labor.
The Greens were running neck and neck with Democrat senators in Victoria and New South Wales, and early counting put them ahead in Western Australia.
With Greens leader Senator Bob Brown almost winning a quota in his own right in Tasmania, the Greens could have four senators in the senate, which takes office next July 1.
The Democrats look certain to retain only two of the five Senate seats they were defending. Party leader Natasha Stott Despoja also came close to winning a quota in her own right in South Australia, while welfare spokesman Andrew Bartlett appeared set to hold his Queensland seat on Labor and Green preferences.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson lost her bid for a Senate seat in Queensland. While she outpolled her rival, National Party Senate leader Ron Boswell, by 10.2 per cent to 9.2, Liberal preferences made Senator Boswell's re-election certain.
The Coalition will retain the 18 Senate seats it won in 1996, giving it an unchanged 35 senators in the new 76-member Senate. Labor still has just 28 senators, although it has an outside chance of winning a third seat in Victoria. On counting late last night, however, Greens candidate Scott Kinnear appeared to have the best chance of winning Victoria's final Senate seat in a very close contest with Democrat senator Lyn Allison and Labor's Ted Murphy.
With 78 per cent of the vote counted, the Coalition had 39.8 per cent of the vote, Labor 37.6 per cent, the Democrats 7.6 and the Greens 5.8 per cent. But preferences from the Liberals for Forests group (2.1 per cent) appeared likely to push the Greens above the Democrats, with Mr Kinnear likely to be elected on Democrat preferences.
A similar scenario in NSW put Democrats' Senator Vicki Bourne in danger.
Pauline Hanson
Sunday 11 November 2001
Long before votes were cast for the potential political renaissance of Pauline Hanson, Australia's punters had turned against the One Nation leader's bid to win a Senate seat.
Centre Bet in Alice Springs closed its book on Ms Hanson's latest political ambitions six hours before polling booths wound up on the east coast yesterday - and found three out of every four bets were against her.
She was the only Senate hopeful to get a book, paying $2 to win, $1.65 to lose.
She was vying with hard-charging National Party stalwart Ron Boswell and Australian Democrat Andrew Bartlett for two Queensland Senate seats. The Labor and Liberal parties were expected to divvy up the other four between them.
The One Nation leader entered the contest heavily handicapped. None of the other parties or independents directed their preferences to her and the 15 per cent of Queensland voters living west of the Great Dividing Range, where Hanson support is strongest, barely surpasses the 14.3 per cent required for a Senate quota.
The final tally may take some time. Australian Electoral Commission officers do not begin counting Senate votes until the completion of House of Representatives counting and votes made west of the range are among the last to be collated.
Two months ago Ms Hanson looked a certainty to win a seat on the back of an unexpected resurgence in the Western Australian and Queensland state elections. But the Coalition's handling of the illegal immigration issue effectively pulled the rug from beneath her.
"John Howard took my policies," she said. "I became his unpaid adviser."
Ms Hanson polled poorly in early exit polls.
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