ELECTIONS – AUSTRALIA

Labor folds over Adani coal mine

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 23-May-19

The Queensland Government is expected to approve Adani’s Carmichael coal mine within weeks, after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk demanded an end to the delays that have stalled the project. Palaszczuk has described Labor’s federal election defeat as a "wake-up call", after having previously downplayed suggestions that the Adani debate had affected Labor’s vote in regional Queensland. Adani Mining CEO Lucas Dow has urged the state to act quickly to give final approval to the project, but Basha Stasak of the Australian Conservation Foundation says the government must not yield to pressure from Adani and the coal industry.

CORPORATES
ADANI MINING PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INCORPORATED, QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL LIMITED, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, ADANI GROUP, QUEENSLAND. OFFICE OF CO-ORDINATOR GENERAL

How to fix Australian polling

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Original article by John Utting
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 54 : 23-May-19

Australia’s polling industry requires ‘root and branch’ reform in the wake of the federal election, with public opinion polls consistently showing that Labor was set to win. The question arises as to whether these polls have had a pro-Labor bias for the last several years, rather than just during the election campaign. The polling industry needs to ensure that their samples are more representative of the population, even though this will be more expensive. There must also be greater transparency regarding the methodology used and the number of people who were polled. Polling companies must also disclose any potential conflicts of interest; Galaxy YouGov Research, for example, produced public opinion polls during the election while also undertaking Labor’s internal polling.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GALAXY YOUGOV RESEARCH, NEWSPOLL

Coalition on course to buffer its electoral clout

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 5 : 23-May-19

Liberal candidate Susan Richards had a slim lead in the seat of Macquarie as counting of postal and absentee votes continued on 22 May. Winning the seat from Labor would give the Coalition a total of 78 seats in the lower house. Several other seats remain in doubt, although Labor seems set to win Lilley, Cowan and Hunter, while the Liberal Party is likely to win Bass. The Coalition had 51.2 per cent of the two-party preferred vote on 22 May, compared with 48.8 per cent for Labor.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Weak Shorten: union calls for party overhaul

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Original article by Mark Ludlow, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 22-May-19

Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union official Shane Brunker says the federal election shows that Labor has lost touch with grass-roots supporters. He has accused former Labor leader Bill Shorten of "pandering to inner-city voters" at the expense of the party’s traditional supporter base, and warned that the Queensland government also faces an election defeat in 2020 unless it heeds this message. Labor’s lack of clarity regarding Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine contributed to its poor election performance in regional Queensland.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Coalition secures majority, and may get a buffer

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Original article by Rachel Baxendale, Victoria Laurie
The Australian – Page: 7 : 22-May-19

The Coalition may extend its majority in the lower house, with Liberal candidates holding slim leads in several seats that remain in doubt. Liberal candidate Gladys Liu was declared the winner in the seat of Chisholm on 21 May, ensuring that the Coalition will have the 76 lower house seats it requires to govern in its own right. The Liberals may also win the seats of Bass and Macquarie, although the Australian Electoral Commission has indicated that Labor is likely to win the seats of Cowan and Lilley.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Shorten fell for elites, says Trump strategist

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Original article by Cameron Stewart
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 21-May-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s unexpected election win has been likened to Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory in 2016. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, says there were similarities between the US businessman’s "forgotten people" and Morrison’s "quiet Australians". He believes that as was the case in the US, many Australian voters were reluctant to tell pollsters that they supported Morrison. Bannon adds that former Labor leader Bill Shorten had focused on "inner-city elites" rather than ordinary Australian families.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Unions try to fathom loss of workers’ vote

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 21-May-19

Analysis of voting at the federal election indicates that the labour movement needs to do a better job of communicating with working-class voters, following Labor’s shock loss. BCG Gamma has found that electorates with households with a median weekly income of more than $1,800 preferred to vote for Labor rather than the Coalition, as were electorates where more voters had a higher education. Union leaders suggest that working-class voters steered away from Labor over a range of issues, including its proposed changes to negative gearing and its mixed messages on the Adani coal mine. The ACTU is tipped to review its $10 million ‘Change the Rules’ advertising campaign in the wake of the election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BCG GAMMA, ACTU, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION, VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL

Libs ahead in three of six undecided seats

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Original article by Rachel Baxendale, Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 5 : 21-May-19

The Coalition remains one seat short of the 76 lower house seats needed to form majority government. The outcome of six seats is still in doubt, although the Coalition had a slim lead in the seats of Macquarie, Bass and Chisholm on 20 May. Labor in turn had a narrow lead in the seats of Cowan, Lilley and Corangamite. Postal and absentee votes may determine the final result in all seats that are still in doubt.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND

Labor punished for not backing coal jobs, Fitzgibbon says

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 21-May-19

Adani Mining CEO Lucas Dow says the Queensland government needs to take note of Labor’s poor showing in the state at the federal election, describing it as a referendum on the Carmichael coal project. State Labor MPs are worried about the impact that the government’s delay in approving the mine will have on its fortunes at the state election in 2020. Federal Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon says the party needs to show more support for the coal industry and the jobs it creates; he suffered a 10 per cent swing against him in the coal mining seat of Hunter.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL LIMITED, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE PROTECTION, ADANI MINING PTY LTD

Cut-down crossbench boosts PM

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 3 : 20-May-19

Political strategist Glenn Druery expects the Coalition to have 33 or 34 seats in the new Senate, compared with 30 in the previous parliament. The Coalition’s prospects of passing bills in the upper house are also likely to be enhanced by a significantly smaller crossbench, which is expected to be reduced from 12 to six in the new Senate. Druery says the Coalition’s Senate voting reforms in 2016 have made it harder for ordinary Australians to win seats in the upper house.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVES