Welcome to episode two in the slower-than-anticipated Post-Match Report round-up of federal electorate results, which today brings us to South Australia.
Of the three seats that were highly marginal for the Liberals going into the election, Kingston emerged with the smallest Labor margin following a relatively subdued 4.5 per cent swing. The swing was reasonably consistent throughout the electorate, though slightly heavier at Morphett Vale and the Liberal-voting suburbs to the north than along the coast. Makin produced the third biggest swing in the state, perhaps boosted by the retirement of sitting member Trish Draper, with the 0.9 per cent margin obliterated by an evenly distributed 8.6 per cent shift to Labor. In Wakefield the swing was 7.3 per cent, which was markedly lower than in the small towns in the north of the electorate than in the low-income outer Adelaide centres of Elizabeth and Salisbury.
Only at four of Boothby’s 42 booths did Nicole Cornes achieve a swing greater than the 5.4 per cent needed to win the seat. All were in strong Liberal areas, including the coast around Brighton and the Adelaide Hills suburb of Flagstaff Hill. Labor’s worst results came in the area closest to the city, with swings to the Liberals recorded at Mitcham, Myrtle Bank, Kingswood and Hawthorn West. The Greens’ vote picked up 3.1 per cent, perhaps benefiting from embarrassment surrounding Cornes’s performance. In Sturt the Labor candidate Mia Handshin picked up a close-but-no-cigar swing of 5.9 per cent that was concentrated in the heavily mortgaged northern end of the electorate, with swings near or above 10 per cent at Dernancourt, Gilles Plains and Windsor Gardens. Pyne now sits on an uncomfortable margin of 0.9 per cent.
The 7.2 per cent swing in Adelaide was slightly higher than the state average of 6.8 per cent, and was driven in remarkable degree by the stronger Labor areas to the north and north-west of the city. The swings in many of these booths cracked double figures, whereas the strong Liberal booths to the north-east and south-east of the city mostly came in at well under half that. Labor’s Hindmarsh MP Steve Georganas also had a much more relaxing election night this time around after prevailing by 108 votes in 2004, picking up a 5.0 per cent swing that was fairly evenly distributed throughout the electorate.
Labor’s biggest swing in South Australia was wasted in the safe Liberal rural seat of Barker, where Liberal member Patrick Secker went to preferences for the first time since 1998 after his primary vote fell from 53.2 per cent to 46.8 per cent. Labor was up 8.6 per cent on the primary vote and 10.4 per cent on two-party preferred. Swings were larger in the bigger centres than the small rural booths: all five Mount Gambier booths produced above average swings, peaking at a remarkable 21.4 per cent at Mount Gambier North. Talk of a swing in Grey big enough to endanger the Liberals was partly borne out by double-digit swings in the seat’s traditional Labor centres of Whyalla, Port August and Port Lincoln. Swings were much more gentle in the many smaller rural and remote booths, dampening the overall shift down to an insufficient but still severe 9.4 per cent.
Alexander Downer’s seat of Mayo followed the statewide trend in swinging to Labor by 6.5 per cent. Particularly heavy swings were recorded at the southern coastal towns of Victor Harbor and Goolwa. Nine years after coming within an ace of winning the seat, the Australian Democrats can now manage only 1.5 per cent. The Greens did well to increase 3.4 per cent to 11.0 per cent, partly assisted by the donkey vote. Another good seat for the Greens was Port Adelaide, where they picked up 3.3 per cent and boosted Labor from a 3.7 per cent increase on the primary vote to 6.8 per cent on two-party preferred. Remarkably, all but one of the 10 booths in Paralowie, Salisbury and Parafield to the east of Port Wakefield Road produced a double digit swing, a trend which carried over into neighbouring Makin. Swings in booths further west varied around the 4 per cent mark.
557 Comments
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Lord D @ 213
The 60% 2pp to the ALP is jaw dropping. It a testatment to how incumbant friendly the last 8 years have been. I don’t think the Bracks/Brumby govt is anything special. They are largely competant and very careful. This is all that has been required to bury the Libs. Brumby does seem to be a bit more proactive that Bracks which, I think, is a good thing.
If Rudd stays popular and the new COAG is seen to be working I wonder if it makes it harder for the Libs to win a state.
The first Liberal state premier will be a welcome as a fart in an elevator at the COAG meetings and would immediately become the scapegoat of choice for any breakdown in federal/state relations.
merry xmas everyone
KR @ 250.
You took the words from my mouth, except that canard has only one n.
However the foreign policy positions of Howard and Rudd are in fact only minimally different. They are (or were in H’s case) both foreign policy hawks. They just differ on what is the most effective way of ‘fighting the war on terror’ – what is the most effective contribution Australia can make.
you beauty i came third after preferences. Take that FF
Bill Weller, Merry Xmas to you and everyone else at Poll Bludger too. Lucky you are not coming to Brisbane to see Minnippi Parklands because the whole place went up in flames last weekwhen some driver ran off the road in a stolen car. Between drivers like that and the local developers helped along by Gridlock Campbell there may well be nothing left to see soon.
pencil nose @ 247 – KR & Diogenes are right. Always, invasion of another nation state must be under the charter and pre-conditions of the United Nations, or not at all.
Do you support, as a matter of principle, any stronger state, or band of states, because they say they have the right to do so, deposing a sovereign government by force or skullduggery?
It is interesting that the countries involved in the ‘Coalition of the willing’ have never actually experienced an occupation of their country. It is one thing to send your menfolk overseas to fight,quite another to have soldiers entering your mother’s/sister’s bedrooms with impunity while you helplessly look on…
Megan Says:
December 24th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Note to Megan; study English history.
Season’s greetings all and thanks for the ‘brain-fodder’ these past exciting weeks.
What a wonderful Christmas …….am sure there are more smiles than usual:) !
Charles,
US? UK? AUS? Am happy to be corrected….please enlighten me.
There were others that came on board later,but these three were the initiators and without them we would not be involved today.
Mr S, on July 5 2007 in a not-uncommon (for him) Freudian slip, Horatio mentioned that securing oil supplies was a factor in Australia’s involvement in the invasion of Iraq:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/howard-links-iraq-war-to-oil/2007/07/04/1183351291906.html
The rodent slapped him down but by then it was too late. To Bubba Bush the oil consideration was primary, so ‘we’ tagged along to support our ‘friend’. The WMD nonsense was window-dressing.
Anyway – here’s to the summer solstice season. Thanks to all for the discussion to follow when at the keyboard. May there be many more discussions in the new year. May polling continue to be the hub from which the spokes of mature political discussion project.
Best wishes all
Mr Squiggle…until someone can establish a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, there’s no cause for an invasion or occupation of Iraq. Afghanistan is the country that harbored Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
Australia is acting in accordance to UN decisions by having troops in Afghanistan, and by pulling them out of Iraq.
Labor always opposed the invasion of Iraq. It’s perfectly consistent with their policy (and Australian opinion polls) to pull the troops out. Rudd appears to be doing it cautiously, in consultation with the Iraqi government, which is sensible.
Just as the Whitlam Government pulls troops out of Vietnam, Rudd has a right (indeed, a responsibility) to pull the troops out of Iraq.
Incidentally, it’s interesting that Saddam and many of his henchmen have been executed or imprisoned, but Iraq is still in turmoil. What has been achieved? Buggerall, apart from senseless death and destruction. What could be achieved by “staying the course”? More senseless death and destruction.
More whinging from the CLP.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/24/2127011.htm?section=justin
253
Artie B
Oh, sorry, so much Xmas cheer that I cannardly spell, let alone t^pe pro[[er!!
But yes, as you say, one ‘n’.
Season’s Greetings
Stuart@215
Regarding when Corangamite fell…
I left the Grovedale South booth, which achieved an 8+% swing, with a 20%+ increase in total votes from 2004, in time to catch the 8.00pm ABC news as I drove up the Torquay Rd to the ‘Your Rights at Work celebration at Geelong Trades Hall.
Lead item on the news bulletin was that Corangamite and Deakin had been won by Labor. (A memory that will remain crystal clear for a long long time!)
I know that postals subsequently clawed back some of the margin for the Libs but, as Stuart Macarthur said in the Geelong Advertiser on the Wednesday… “I conceeded on Saturday night and I have packed up my office…”
Don’t let anyone tell you that your poem is inaccurate. Corangamite FELL on the night of Sat 24 Nov. 2007! For only the second time since future P.M. Jim Scullin won the seat in 1910, on election night Corangamite was again a Labor seat.
Merry new year
Labor now holds one more seat than the Liberals in South Australia. It was last in this position after the 1990 election. Since 1993 the Liberals had held the ascendancy.
Labor now has a reasonable margin in six seats – Adelaide, Hindmarsh, Kingston, Makin, Port Adelaide and Makin. The Liberals are safe in Barker and Mayo but more vulnerable in Boothby, Grey and Sturt.
Labor, however, was stronger in SA after the 1969 election when it won eight of the then existing seats – Adelaide, Bonython, Grey, Hawker, Hindmarsh, Kingston, Port Adelaide and Sturt (with a 14% swing!). The Liberals were left with four safe seats – Angas, Barker, Boothby (still with a 7.5% buffer despite an 11.1% swing to Labor) and Wakefield.
Christmas greetings to all candidates who have taken part in the great democratic process this year. My particular thanks go to the people who carried the banner for Labor in South Australia. Here they are, seat by seat:
Barker: Karen Lock was the state champ with a swing of 10.4% swing. Admittedly that was from a very low base but Karen captured many votes that were supposedly heading from the Liberals to the Nationals. She as clearly the right fit for the electorate.
Grey: Karin Bolton won big in the Iron Triangle for an overall swing of 9.4%. Grey would have returned to Labor with that vote on the old boundaries (before Yorke Peninsula and parts of the Mid North were added). In a vast seat like this, maybe Labor could consider running two candidates – one from the industrial cities and a farmer like Ben Browne to appeal to the outlying areas.
Makin: Tony Zappia was rewarded second time around with a massive 8.6% swing against his moneybags opponent. Justice at last.
Wakefield: Nick Champion regained the Labor heartland with a 7.3% swing. He should be a member for many years.
Adelaide: Kate Ellis gained a 7.2% swing and a ministry after three years of hard work. All those street corner meetings have borne fruit.
Port Adelaide: Mark Butler rode the wave against Work Choices for a very enjoyable 6.8% surge into parliament.
Mayo: Mary Brewerton did really well with a 6.5% swing, but this seat needs a strong independent to challenge the Libs should Lord Downer step down.
Sturt: Mia Handshin achieved Labor’s best result here since Norm Foster’s 1969 win. Big swings in the northern suburbs for an overall result of 5.6% but the blueblood south stayed true to class.
Hindmarsh: Steve Georganas gave up smoking during the hair-raising 1974 election count which he won by 106 votes. No need to take it up again after a reasonably comfortable 5% swing this time.
Kingston: Amanda Rishworth survived a tough multi-candidate contest to regain what is perhaps the state’s most volatile seat with a 4.5% swing. For some reason some of the south-western suburbs in Kingston and Boothby did not swing that much to Labor.
Boothby: Nicole Cornes has sparked more commentary than anyone in memory. Why only a 2.4% swing? She did well in some middle-class booths, poorly in the affluent east and disappointingly in some of the tree-hugging and working class areas. But she still came closer in Boothby any Laborite since Tom Sheehy won it in 1946.
Congratulations also to Labor’s Senate winners, Don Farrell and Penny Wong (though they should have been in reverse order on the ballot paper).
Hi KR
I didn’t mean to insult intelligence of people with an IQ of more than 10. Most of my pets have that IQ and I would never insult them
Ferral Mayo’s point was that there was never a cause for war….I disagree my view is there was a case for war, and the CoW arsed it up and went to war on a false pretence.
BTY, I see no pitfall in arguing that the defence of others can be a just cause for war.
Are you going to argue we can never go to the defence of others in the future because we failed to do so in the past in “Sudan, Burma, Zimbabwe and a few Central Asian hell holes.. ” ??
KR.
I couldn’t resist, and I wanted to give you the opportunity to make that canardly joke. But its a case of people in glass houses. Most of the time I type like Melb City.
Cheers.
Megan.
Maybe Charles was referring to the Norman Conquest and/or the Roman occupation. Or perhaps to all those times the Scots invaded England and vice versa. Hardly within living memory, but …
In more recent times the Germans occupied the Channel Islands in WW2, but I don’t suppose that was what he had in mind.
As regards the US, the War of Independence might be regarded as a war against occupying forces. And in the War of 1812 the British burnt Washington to the ground. Then there was the US civil war, the purpose of which was to coerce 13 states back into the Union and which ended with the extended military occupation of those states – the so-called ‘reconstruction’ of the South. I understand that still rankles a bit in certain states.
Regarding Iraq, Admiral Lord Horatio summed it up beautifully, it was about the OIL.
Merry Christmas everyone, and thanks for the delightful banter over the past weeks. Good to note the rain that Kev brought is still falling!
Artie B,thanks. I was referring to the terror such as my family experienced during the Nazi occupation,meaning within living memory.Old Europe wasn’t gung-ho for another military adventure.
Mr Squiggle @ 247 – If you wish to use Saddam’s murderous abuse of his own people as a justification for a war that has resulted in the deaths of upwards of a million Iraqis and the displacement of another 4 million – and who knows how many more will suffer before peace returns – then you must be also willing to wage war with every other country ruled by such a despotic regimes, even those without oil. In which case you’ll be at war for a long, long time.
Given what has happened since the invasion, you may wish to ponder why a people who’ve been able to tie down the world’s most powerful military for 4 years couldn’t remove Saddam without our ‘help’. Or how people in the far more powerful communist regimes were able to depose their overlords with barely a shot being fired.
Mr Squiggle, war was my profession for 33 years, and the one great lesson we old warriors learn is that war is unpredictable. Not only are the immediate consequences unpredictable, but so are the long term ones.
WWI was a war fought for no greater reason than some of the protagonists were spoiling for a fight. They ended up getting much more than they bargained for. Not only the huge toll of the war itself, which most of the urgers thought would only last a few weeks, but it triggered off even greater suffering years later. The ‘Spanish’ flu that killed perhaps twice as many as died in WWI was incubated on the battlefields and spread by troops returning from that war, the Great Depression, and the even greater disaster that was WWII. If it weren’t for the 1914-18 war its likely that you would never have heard of a certain Viennese paper hanger. And without the spur of the Holocaust, Israel may not have become a nation, or at least not one in the form it became. The Zionists would likely to have had much less influence, for example.
Phil Robins @ 267 – Nicole Cornes is almost a certainty to win Boothby in 2010/11. She has apparently been offered a job as a union organizer and you know how well Union Bosses [BOO!] do!
272 MayoFeral- I’m just finishing a book “1914 1918″ about the history of WWI and you are completely right. An even better book about why regimes continually make mistakes is “The March of Folly” by Barbara Tuchman. Bush is just adding his name to the list she goes through of the Renaissance Popes, American Independence and the Vietnam War. He is just too stupid to have learnt anything and his henchmen are too evil to see anything beyond their bitter, twisted souls. Ruddock, Reith and Howard would have fitted in well.
Here’s to the blog to top all blogs. Without Poll Bludger, I would have chewed my fingers to the bone on election night, continued to feel isolated and alone in the lair of the trolls (Western Australia), and not understood much of what went on in psephologyland. Thank you all for your wit, humour, scintillating wisdom (mostly), bonhomie (mostly) (KR – note correct spelling) and expert comment. Of course, special thanks to Billbowe for making it all possible. Merry Christmas and an even better psephological new year.
272
MayoFeral
A great little potted history, and a salutary lesson in the unintended consequences of war. ‘Tis a great pity that the Washington neocons were better versed in Zionism than history, and that they were so gullible as to allow themselves to be mesmerized by that arch manipulator Ahmed Chalabi.
As for Mr Squiggy, his argument is one of convenience and has no standing in international law ie we decide your country is a ‘bad guy’ and we give ourselves the right to invade it for ‘your’ protection. (”We” being a unilaterlist superpower of your choice).
That argument has been used by every tyrant and genocidal maniac throughout human history, and it just does not withstand a moment’s scrutiny. (Oddly enough, the peculiar nexus of Southern Baptists or Rapture fundamentalists with Zionism has sired this monstrous mule called neoconservatism, and the only good thing one can say about it is that it cannot be viable in the biological sense of readily reproducing itself.)
In their inimitable way, the Yanks talked about ‘blowback’ with the CIA backing of bin Laden and his mujahadeen, but they just never seem to learn the real lesson: the exercise of military force, overt or covert, never just produces the desired effect. They keep on swallowing the spider to catch the fly and never seem able to disengage from the inevitable.
Season’s Greetings
274
neophyte
Noted, Neo.
And lots of ‘bon’ to you too, homme!
Now, off to don the Santa robes and do a bit of stacking under the tree (yes, it’s a live one!) and fill the stockings for the kids. Which is a bit hard after being plied with champagne and gauva juice by the better half!
So ho ho ho ho, and merry christmas, to youse all!
Phil
I think you may be right about Nicole, if she stands in 2010 then she should win, another 3 years of hard work will show that she is not as the media portrays her.
AEC has finalised results and now shows Howard suffered a bigger swing in his seat than the national swing, so will have to take back my comment agreeing that he was more popular than the party.
More info trickling out about the Howard years, Australia’s tertiary education funding declined 4% under Howard whilst in every other industrialised country it went up 49%, what a great waste of the boom years. The $125 million the libs spent on Work Choices advertising could have provided scolarships for 1,000 doctors for our struggling health system.
To all, a very happy festive season, whatever your beliefs and may the New Year bring the best. Congrats on your victory Bill.
We are looking at fine weather tommorrow after all the rain Kev brought, green every where, last few years brown and dry. Life is good.
Thanks for the blog William, hope Santa is good to you.
To all the bludgers of all persuasions have a Merry Christmas and thanks for all of your wit, knowledge, dedication, passion and insight. And a special thanks to William for running such a wonderful sight. It has given my brain a new lease of life.
Merry Christmas all, and may the New Year be filled with much happiness, joy and especially laughter.
If Santa doesn’t bring you all you hoped, well most of us have already gotten the bestest (sic) of presents in the last month or so, a, hopefully, more compassionate and wiser government and blessed, blessed rain – even if it means having to mow the #@#$% lawn again [grumble] ;(
K. Removals @248: “Only the Yanks can do such bland things to the English language and not realise how plastic it sounds.”
I always look forward to your posts, which are invariably interesting and insightful, but could you please give the Yanks a pass with this stereotype stuff. I know a great many Americans and have often visited the USA, and I can assure you that they would be no more inclined to do bland things to the English language without being able to realise the degree of plasticity involved than we would be here. Of course, you could be referring to the more than 30 million Americans for whom Spanish is their first language.
Before we bask in the warm glow of blanket criticisms of the Yanks, let’s try not lose sight of the fact that a majority of them voted for Al Gore in 2000 (just as we voted for Kim Beazley in 1998)!
Here’s hoping you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
This last year has seen the longest political campaign that I can ever remember and with it’s various twists and turns, I think the year definitely belongs to Kevin 07 and his team for an extraordinary effort.
I believe the Australian people have made a wise decision and will be glad that the country can get it’s sullied reputation back and move on to a more prosperous and certain future with a very capable captain at the helm.
Many thanks to all the many and varied contributors that have graced this site over the last year. Some I have found informative and enlightening and others frustratingly negative and unbending in their support of the unsupportable. You have certainly made life interesting especially towards the defining date of 24th November.
Thank you William for patiently allowing my occasional contributions throughout the year and I look forward to catching up with everyone during this coming year.
Cheers, Scorpio.
Sorry Adam and prosterity, “its”!
Christmas is a couple of hours away, the Carols from the Music Bowl in Melbourne are playing in the background, I’m about to don my Santa hat and fill the stockings, and most importantly of all I am more optimistic about our country’s future than I have been for a very long time.
It has been a real joy to share the journey with you my fellow bloggers and I look forward to joining you on the road though 2008.
In the midst of our merriment, pause and think of the battles that still rage in Afghanistan, Iraq, the middle-east – and in our own region, the people of Fiji still endure the theft of their democracy by a tyrant with a gun. We still have so much to do…but for now, here in Australia, the future looks good.
A merry Christmas to all – and a joyous New Year!
Pollbludger kept me sane in the scary days leading up to November 24, when I alternated between fear of ‘the narrowing’ and a desperate hope for change. Every time those MSM prophets predicted doom for Labor I found encouragement in the well-informed and wise words of pollbludgers. I even had (quite) a few laughs to keep me on an even keel. Thanks to William for a site which gave a voice to local knowledge and many fields of expertise. All the best for Christmas and a 2008 to look forward to!
Merry Christmas everyone,
even the Glens…
Thanks for all the fun and frivolity
and may the turn-around continue.
Thanks William for a fantastic site, and let all who sail on it have a happy 2008.
Joy to the World…we sure as hell need it.
Jenxx
Season’s Greetings. All.
I have returned and sat on the step outside, having a welcome glass of wine.
The gifts wrapped, have been delivered to the house of my sister. Not too consumeristic, in the main. Best of mine. Gained recent access to some great photos (an amazing little story in itself) of the Brighton Jetty SA, in its stormy destruction. 95? For a few bob, bought some attractive frames, for the copies.
One more item to do. My friend bought a turkey to cook and take to that family gathering. Unfortunately, overlooked the fact that the oven did not work. Well, it works, but the seals are buggered. Pointing this out, I said I will do it, at my house. So shortly to make the stuffing and get up at dawn, to do the thing. In fact, my oven is a bit of a worry, seals and all. Reckon will work out okay, though. Apologies to vegetarians, but I will enjoy the aroma of Christmas, in my home, as I always have to go elsewhere for lunch.
William, Merry Christmas to you. May you find many gifts under your tree. Have fun and a great day!
Thank you so much for all your work, dedication and the privilege of allowing me to participate, in such breakneck , breathless harmony, sometimes conflict, with all here, in our democracy, the greatest miracle, the spills, the thrills, the chills, the hills. And finally! The gods are good!
Thanks all you bloggers. Too numerous to name, might miss some loved ones.
The moon is sheltering behind the largest and remaining gum trees in my street, the leaves are fracturing it into starry lights.
All is calm. All is bright.
Have a lovely Christmas.
And Goodnight.
280
JJJ
Ooops, sorry there JJJ, a flippant off the cuff remark, you know what I mean? Some kind of ‘political correctness’ and erasing the Yuletide in that “happy holiday” expression, that made me comment. Funny really, because I’m a lifelong member of the atheist club, and don’t mind some ridicule of the holy stuff.
Season’s greetings, and now the chores are done, as Samuel Pepys would say, so to bed.
Here in WA it’s still Christmas eve.
May I take the opportunity to wish all who take pleasure and add to their knowledge from this site, those I’ve criticised and those I’ve applauded, a safe and happy festive season and the hope that you may achieve everything you desire for yourselves in the new year.
For the supporters of Labor, the Greens and the Coalition, to steal a phrase uttered by a much wiser man than I, do as the lawyers do, strive mightily for your cause, but eat and drink as friends.
Happy Christmas all – a special thanks to William for the site, to the Kevin07 team with nothing but appreciation for turning the tide; and to Kevin and the team .. a special note of appreciation for a brilliant 30 days of governance and the launch of so many new horizons.
To all fellow bludgers. I’ve been away since our victory a month ago & that was an early present that I savor with justifiable pride! To all of you I wish all a great Xmas day & a safe and prosperous ‘08. I hope to share my thoughts with matters come the next Brizy council elections & any bye-election that may come our way. Bring it on.
!!
Merry Xmas pollbludgers (do maltesers constitute a nourishing breakfast?)
guys,
: his closeness / warmness to China.
I’m already feeling uneasy with Rudd already
If he does not keep a safe / distinctive distance from the Communist China, I swear I’ll go for a viable alternative next election.
If the Chinamen helped Rudd winning Bennelong, they are also his curse and reason why he’ll lose government.
frank frederic,
Looks like Santa must have forgotten something in your Christmas stocking this morning, frank.
I would much rather see PM Rudd inside the China tent where he can have some influence on Sino/Aust relations than outside with Bush making threatening gestures towards China over Tiawan.
Mate, China has 1.2 billion people. We have 21 million. Slightly outnumbered, I would say and best to be on good terms with them. They sell us lots of reasonable quality, cheap goods and buy lots and lots of our minerals and gas.
A win/win all round, I would think. Go Ruddy, you’re doing great so far.
Merry Christmas, is it wrong to be drunk @ 10.30 am
barbara @ 291 – Yes. Malt comes from barley so its may have some fibre, and lets face it, they make beer from it so it has to be good. And chocolate’s main ingredient, cacao, is one of the richest sources of cancer fighting antioxidants, much higher than fruits and vegetables – http://www.livingearth.com.au/Raw_Cacao.html.
But I would still try to eat something green, or at least yellow. Do you have any jellybeans or smarties?
I thought I’d drop in and say Merry Xmas to William and the Bludgers before heading off for a serious day’s over-eating. Thanks for an excellent service this year, William. It’s been a great year, culminating in the Great Victory of 24 November, and capped off by lots of Kevin-sent rain. Next year will be even better since it will be G W Bush’s last year, and I do love US elections. Go Hillary!
Merry, merry x-mas and one big politically incorrect “HO HO HO!”. A great day awaits as I head off to the in-laws for a feast, a beer and a blue.
Now, can someone tell me, who will be the next Liberal state/federal premier/prime minister?? And in what year?
294 Santas Mistress, only if you don’t share the good stuff with us
2008 is almost here, the ‘Year of Hillary’, when the whole world awakens from a bad dream.
Fellow Bludgers
Thanks for all the entertainment throughout the campaign and a great big thankyou to all those who provided me with enough information, and provided the confidence to bet on Saint Maxine (the first time I’ve ever bet on anything).
It propped up my relatively income-lean year.
It feels like the new government has achieved more already than the previous did in at least their last term, maybe more. I reckon there’s a good chance that the majority of the election platform will have been achieved, or be underway, in the first 12 months.
I’m at my sister’s place in QLD, in Kev’s electorate. I’ve been told to take my K07 t-shirt off for lunch….haha. High income really does isolate you from social concern I reckon. Apparently the poor are just lazy around here…
A massive thankyou to William for providing the forum for discussion.
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