There’s no doubt the weekend’s federal election result is a blow to the government led by Julia Gillard, although closer to home it was a solid win for Steve Gibbons. Just three months out from a state election, it was also a major blow to the Victorian coalition.
This was an election with no great highlights and even now in its aftermath it’s still a race to see which of the major parties has lost the least in order to form government.
For Julia Gillard, the result is a shocker. Having assumed the office of prime minister just two months ago, she would have hoped to have ridden a wave of popular support that would legitimise her prime ministership. Instead, Australians face the very real prospect that we will have as our next prime minister a party leader who was unable to win the election in their own right.
Labor appears the party most likely to be in a position to form a minority government and this would then set the scene for potentially one of the most turbulent and unpredictable periods in Australian politics with the Greens almost certain to hold the balance of power in the Senate.
The Greens have well and truly arrived as a political force, having splintered off enough of Labor’s primary vote to win valuable seats in the Senate, and of course, the highly prized seat of Melbourne in the House of Representatives.
Whether this is the making of the Greens or not remains to be seen.
One thing for sure though, these next few days, weeks, months and even years are going to be as interesting as any in our nation’s proud political history.
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