Well, that was a bit of a disappointment. Sorry to everyone who turned up to election parties under the assumption they’d have a clear answer by the end of the night.
Basically, Malcolm Turnbull thinks the Coalition have enough seats to bring this election home, but he actually doesn’t know. Because the Government lost at least 11 seats with a 2.3% swing against ’em, which is definitely a lot more than they were hoping for.
.@TurnbullMalcolm tells supporters the advice he has is that the Coalition will form majority government #ausvotes https://t.co/48ULn4yJwt
— ABC News (@abcnews) July 2, 2016
It’s so tight that not only are we very possibly heading toward a hung parliament, there’s a solid chance we won’t actually know what the fuck is going on until BLOODY TUESDAY at the earliest.
“I can report that, based on the advice I have from the party officials, we can have every confidence that we will form a Coalition majority Government in the next Parliament,” Mr Turnbull told supporters after emerging past midnight.
“And certainly we are the only parties that have the ability or the possibility of doing that.”
The Coalition lost a few key marginal electorates, including Bass, Braddon, Lindsay, Lyons, Macquarie, Eden Monaro, Longman, Macarthur, Herbert, Burt and Solomon.
Though Bill Shorten hasn’t dominated the night by any means, he’s certainly notched up some significant victories. “We will not know the outcome of this election tonight,” he said. “Indeed, we may not know it for some days to come. But there is one thing for sure – the Labor party is back.”
The Senate is quite similarly anyone’s game at this point, but it looks like Pauline Hanson is actually going to cop a seat, which is something we’re going to have to bear as a nation.
The performance from The Greens was a little disappointing after some early promise: they looked to be in play for up to four seats, but ended up only winning their already-held fortress Melbourne.
If the Coalition don’t get the required 76 seats – which is very possible – they will have to deal with the crossbenchers, including Nick Xenophon‘s MP Rebekha Sharkie, Victorian rural independent Cathy McGowan and North Queenslander Bob Katter. Bob’s probably in their court, but it’s hard to speak for the others.
Heavy times, folks. If I were Malcolm Turnbull, surrounded by his party’s conservatives sharpening their knives, I’d be sweatin’ all the way to Tuesday.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Getty Images.
