Vote. Credit: modeen/ flickr
By Rich Bowden:
As a special presentation for our readers, theangle.org will be running live coverage of the count from the twin by-elections this weekend in Bradfield (NSW) and Higgins (Vic) using the Cover it Live software.
Both seats were vacated by outgoing Liberal party luminaries Brendan Nelson and Peter Costello and are considered blue ribbon Liberal certainties with the main interest being the margin of victory.
Will the new Liberal leadership team of Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop galvanise the party voters and give the crumbling party a much-needed boost at the polls? Or will the imminent Copenhagen climate conference focus voters’ minds into directing their preferences towards the Greens candidates particularly towards high profile author and climate expert Dr Clive Hamilton who is running as the Greens candidate in Higgins.
Political writer Alex Schlotzer will be directing the live blog at his site, simultaneous coverage at the angle.org can be found at our Live Events.
Alex says in his analysis at his site that it is possible the Liberals could face a backlash from voters after the political infighting of the past week culminating in Tony Abbott’s unseating of the former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull by just one vote in yesterday’s leadership spill.
“There has been vigorous campaigning, though slightly less by the Liberals in Bradfield than the candidate in Higgins,” says Alex. “The shenanigans of recent weeks cannot be sitting well with some Liberal Party voters. They Liberal Party could find itself suffering a minor backlash by some voters over the brutal public brawling that we’ve recently witnessed.”
He goes on to say the Greens are trying to frame the by-elections as a “referendum” on climate change.
“It could have some appeal to the Liberals in the seat that believe action is required to avert disastrous climate change impacts. However, can the Greens actually reach the necessary numbers to tip over the line? Undoubtedly as the Liberals attempt to stabilise their damaged image, they’ll be working extra hard to make sure voters haven’t been too spooked.”
Join in and have your say. Get your email reminder for the by-election double header starting at 7.00pm AEDT on Saturday December 5.
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As a denizen of Higgins… having asked O'Dwyer's office (I walked in) to email me HER (not her party's) policies even before the final date for candidates to nominate, and not getting anything since, she's back to below the odious Internet-Throttling Hamilton. So it's the anarchistic Dr Joe Toscano for me (he was big in the Defend and Extend Medicare movement), then loony party (Australian Sex Party), other loony parties, Hamilton, O'Dwyer, and Nasty Raving Loony Parties (Christians, etc).
Thanks for the comment Dave. Nice description of the candidates too! Don't forget to log in at 7pm on Saturday night, we'd love to have your views at the http://theangle.org/live-debates/ Cover it Live.
Rich
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by globaleye and globaleye, sremmah. sremmah said: Live coverage of the Bradfield/Higgins by-election at theangle.org: http://su.pr/15itMh [...]