Page 5 - Malcolm Mackerras News Today

What are the key seats and issues affecting Australians? Six experts tell us what to expect in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

As change in how we pick our Parliament drew near, the fight to keep the old system got brutal.

Switzer Daily 28 June 2021 There have been three recent developments in federal politics about which readers may be interested in my opinion. They are: The election of Barnaby Joyce as Nationals leader. My change of view on the election date. Why the Nationals decided to make Ross Cadell a senator-in-waiting for New South Wales. There is great dispute as to whether the Joyce selection strengthens Labor’s chances of winning the forthcoming federal election, reduces those chances or leaves the...

Switzer Daily The Liberals won the Tasmanian election as predicted, but what will happen in the next Federal election? 14 May 2021 At 7.30pm Wednesday 12 May the Tasmanian Electoral Commission confirmed the result of the general election held on Saturday 1 May. The Liberal Party won 13 seats, Labor 9, and the Greens 2. The 25 th seat went to the Glenorchy mayor, the independent Kristie Johnston, one of the five female members for the Hobart-based Division of Clark. In the race for that 5 th Cla...

Switzer Daily 27 April 2021 China is aggressively punishing our coal producers to possibly hit the Morrison Government in an election that could happen this year. This story, which shouldn’t be happening, is the greatest reason for knowing how to invest like a champion. And being diversified is one way to be a hotshot investor. But back to the coal story and how it shows you how to make money by not losing money on the stock market. Ironically, Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors ev...

Switzer Daily 9 April 2021 Now that every vote has been counted and every seat determined the time has come for me to give my thoughts on the results of the Western Australian general elections held on Saturday 13 March. The first point is to note the strength of the Labor vote which is without precedent. Labor scored 59.9 per cent of the first preference vote for the Legislative Assembly. The two other currently successful Labor premiers scored only 42.9 per cent in Victoria in November 2018 (...

Switzer Daily 12 March 2021 Early this week it was announced that former Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, would seek to make a comeback into federal politics by being a Nationals senator for New South Wales from 1 July 2022. What do I think of that? Frankly, it is not a good idea – for reasons I now explain. Who would Anderson succeed in the seat if he were to fill it? Answer: Fiona Nash (Nationals) who held the seat from 1 July 2005. She was elected to six-year terms in October 2004 an...

Switzer Daily Previously on Switzer, I have written about how I think three Australian voting systems need fixing, the Senate and the upper houses in Victoria and Western Australia. With the WA elections due on Saturday week, I now go west for the sixth time since I started writing for Switzer Daily. The three glaring defects of the way in which the WA Legislative Council is elected relate to three words/sets of words. They are “malapportionment”, “district magnitude” and “ballot pa...

Switzer Daily 12 February 2021 On 13 March there will be general elections for the entire Parliament of Western Australia, with all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 in the Legislative Council contested. That another landslide win for Labor will occur is the general expectation, and I have no reason to predict otherwise. However, this election is of peculiar interest for me which is why I devoted two articles last year on WA politics for Switzer Daily. The articles were “Travel...

Switzer Daily 3 February 2021 The time has come for me to make my Australian political predictions for the next eighteen months, beginning with election dates. The first point to note is that the federal elections are, technically speaking, the fourth most proximate. The most proximate is the general election for all members of Western Australia’s Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. The fixed date is 13 March 2021. The second most proximate is the general election for all members of...