The Greens’ fortunes have fed off Labor’s performance: a weakened Labor means more support for the Greens. But this election the party is more likely to maintain its parliamentary presence.
While Ipsos on Newspoll are telling different stories about leaders’ approval ratings, both are still showing a likely victory for Labor at the federal election.
Razzmatazz aside, the opposition leader - standing in front of Labor’s slogan “A Fair Go For Australia” - brought together the “case for change” in a carefully-honed, strongly delivered address.
At the Brisbane launch Shorten will emphasise the link between the tough economic decisions Labor has made and the ability provided to spend on health and other services.
Inevitably much of the discussion and many of the clashes focused on money and tax – the conflicting arguments have been well rehearsed throughout the campaign.
In the second debate of the campaign, Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten answered questions from voters in a people’s forum on everything from franking credits to, yes, post offices.
Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was Queensland’s longest-serving premier, but an inquiry into corruption brought his hopes of becoming the next prime minister of Australia to a sudden end.
Pre-poll votes within the first 24 hours were almost double the number at the same stage in 2016. That could hurt some minor parties who traditionally spend big in the last few weeks of a campaign.
He’s spending big and may well win a spot in the Senate. But the big question is what the billionaire businessman intends to do if he returns to the Australian parliament.
Thanks to preferential voting, Australian House of Representatives members are each elected by an absolute majority of the voters in the electorate they represent.
Senate voting is pretty complicated. Here’s how preferential voting and proportional representation work – and how to make sure your vote is counted on election day.
Senior Lecturer in Political Science: Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute; Research Associate for Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland, James Cook University