Australian Greens

["Steve Painter and Rose McCann" <spainter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Results are in for the Cunningham by-election, held because of the
resignation of a Labor Party member of the Australian parliament. Cunningham
is part of the declining industrial area of Wollongong and a traditional
Labor seat (held by Labor for the past 52 years). Labor won it by a 10 per
cent margin at the last federal elections, and by 17 per cent at the
elections before that.

With 78 per cent of the vote counted, it seems certain the Greens have won
the by-election -- a very big achievement and quite a boost for antiwar
sentiment in Australia, as the Greens have been the most outspoken
parliamentary opponents of war against Iraq.

It's clear the US government viewed this by-election as an important test of
opinion in one of its key allies in the campaign for war against Iraq. The
Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning (Saturday) that US embassy staff
had planned to visit Cunningham to interview campaign managers for the 13
candidates to gauge sentiment on a strike against Iraq. Greens leader Bob
Brown attacked this as "political interference outside normal diplomatic
conventions" and it's unclear whether the visit eventually took place.

Right-wing and Labor Party attempts to weaken the Greens by terror-baiting
Greens leader Bob Brown in the wake of the Bali bombing appear to have
failed.

This is the first breakthrough by the Greens in the House of Representatives
(lower house), which has preferential voting but not proportional
representation It's something the Australian Democrats, with a 30-odd year
history of representation in the Senate (upper house), have never achieved.

Relevant results were:

Michael Organ, Greens, 13, 925 votes (23.5 per cent)

Sharon Bird, Labor Party, 22,714 (38.4 per cent)

Peter Wilson, 6161,  (10.4 per cent) (an independent candidate backed by
some NSW South Coast trade unions)

Organ won on preferences from Wilson, and other candidates, to finish with
52.2 per cent of the vote, while Labor finished on 47.8 per cent.

This result makes Simon Crean's chances of surviving as Labor leader
extremely slim. Crean is already unpopular with the Labor Party ranks
because of his weak stands on asylum seekers and the Iraq war drive.

The Socialist Alliance candidate finished with 377 votes (0.64 per cent),
and 11th out of the 13 candidates.

Steve Painter


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