jad n rich

Political commentators calling it already, the little mans back in, aus's strong economy looks set to continue.

Pity the poor taxi driver who picks up the other fare tonight

wmoore

Political commentators pah! They said the $ would weaken (meaning I get a better exchange range for my £'s). What do they know?

Will the result be announced tonight then?

Bordy

Hes almost there, he should give his winnibg speech within couple of hours.

jad n rich

Looks like it, they were calling a howard win before the folks in WA had even stopped voting! Thought that was a bit premature but looks pretty clear cut now. Seems most people were very happy with australias economy and didnt fancy risking it. Australia released brilliant economic figures and low unemployment results on Thursday that might have helped Howard win too.

wmoore

I think a lot of shit can be forgiven if the economy is in decent nick, people have money in their pockets, etc.

Bordy

Hes got an increased majority too. Not bad going for a fourth term in office. Looks like labour are paying big time for those huge interest rates when they were in office.

ABCDiamond

Mark Latham has just done his "concede defeat" speech.

It's over.

Phoenixuk2oz

.
It aint over till the fat lady sings...so when she coming on

BTW; Did you see Latham "front up" to Howard yesterday?

Gibbo

Thank heavens John Howard has won. Australia is the better for it!

Alan Collett

The significant issue in the election today (aside from the re-election of the Coalition) is the additional seats gained by the Coalition in the Senate. Traditionally the Coalition has had to broker a deal with minor parties in the Senate to ensure some its more controversial legislation wasn't blocked; it looks like the Coalition will get at least 38 out of the 76 seats in the Upper House (thanks to the collapse of the Democrats vote) ... so expect the sale of Telstra and some of the more controversial workplace relations laws to come through in the next 12 months.

Best regards.

renth

Yes, the old Australian Workplace Agreements. Looks like I'll be called out on strike again

Phoenixuk2oz

Can't pretend I know too much about either party however as a newbie to Aus, Latham's past history didn't look too promising to me. Latham gave Howard a good run for his money ....however Latham doesn't come accross as the sharpest knife in the draw

What are these "controversial" workplace relations laws you talk about Alan?

One thing I have noticed is whilst unemployment seems to be low in Aus, I wonder how many employees are on temporary contracts i.e is low unemployment in Aus masked by many long term temp contract workers?

It seems to be the "done thing" to keep Aus employees on temp contracts for years which in itself creates social instability, compared to UK where thankfully laws have prohibited this to the degree it seems to occur in Aus.

Perhaps this is just my perception? I don't actually have any facts / figures to back up this gut instinct but would be interested to know if anyone has

chocaholic

The chocaholic household is extremely pleased with this result....
couldn't have imagined having Latham lead this nation!

mr mover

The thing that worries me, is did you vote for John Howard, or peter Costello, this smug faced "barstad",when he takes over at the end of the year, will tax this country too its knees......... mm

chocaholic

We're not yet citizens, so unable to vote for now, but I would have voted for the Liberals. In three years time we will be able to decide whether the Liberals have come true on the promises we find important, so if taxes are raised significantly in the meantime - there will be consequences, don't you think? 3 years is a short time.