2016 Federal Election – Key points
The Federal election saw both good and bad results.
The Turnbull govt was returned with a much decreased margin of one but the Senate has a larger number of small parties and independents on the cross-bench, making it more difficult to get legislation passed. The Greens went from 10 down to 9 Senators (losing one from SA’s two) with Adam Bandt elected to the House of Reps. It was extremely close in Batman and Melb Ports with Wills showing a lot of green spirit as well. Melbourne’s north is quite a hot bed of progressive voters. Not so in Gippsland though.
Gippsland, traditionally a stronghold of the conservative voter, returned Darren Chester with a 2.6% swing in his favour.
First preference count for the division of Gippsland (VIC)
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing (%) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHESTER, Darren | The Nationals | 50,309 | 56.34 | +2.58 | Elected |
| BHATTI, Shashi | Australian Labor Party | 17,870 | 20.01 | -3.14 | |
| ONLEY, Ian | The Greens | 7,002 | 7.84 | +2.14 | |
| BUCKLEY, Ben | Liberal Democrats | 4,444 | 4.98 | -0.35 | |
| HEATH, Brian | Family First Party | 3,068 | 3.44 | +1.64 | |
| SMITH, Cherie | Independent | 1,577 | 1.77 | +1.77 | |
| DORIAN, Peter | Rise Up Australia Party | 1,513 | 1.69 | +1.27 | |
| GARDNER, Peter | Renewable Energy Party | 1,384 | 1.55 | +1.55 | |
| SINDT, Christine | Independent | 1,379 | 1.54 | +1.54 | |
| BELSAR, Ashleigh | Australian Christians | 746 | 0.84 | +0.84 |
See more results on the Australian Electoral Commission website.
New Enviro Minister – Josh Frydenburg now has a newly created and contradictory portfolio of environment and energy.
Josh Frydenberg was formerly the Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia and is a big supporter of coal. Some say he couldn’t be worse than Greg Hunt while others say Malcolm Turnbull has made ‘Mr Coal’ his Environment Minister. Let’s see if he can operate independently from the Coalition’s corporate owners.
Good news – the Tasmanian Senator who was the federal parliamentary secretary responsible for forestry, Senator Richard Colbeck, has lost his seat! And lost to The Greens’ Nick McKim.
For 14 years, Senator Colbeck supported logging and woodchipping. He endorsed forests being cut down and burnt in power generators while declaring the ANU science on forests and carbon was bollocks. He also promoted the logging of protected National Parks as a means to reduce bushfires. None of which earned him enough votes to get back in. Read more on the ABC website.