Samuel's Blog

Higgins and Bradfield by-elections

Two by-elections have taken place today, one in the electorate of Bradfield for the seat of former Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson, and the other in Higgins for the seat of former federal Treasurer Peter Costello.

Labor have, for reasons best known to them, decided not to run candidates in these by-elections, effectively making the Greens the main left-wing party to contest these elections. I’m a tad busy panelling for a 1WAY FM Outside Broadcast of Twin City Church’s Carols By Candlelight as well as doing a couple odd jobs for my day job, but I’m trying to keep an eye on these elections as well. Unfortunately I don’t think that they can really be considered a test of Tony Abbott’s leadership without Labor candidates to go up against…but with the party of climate doom (The Greens) as the main opposition in these seats, it is a barometer of the electorate’s stance on climate change.

I’ll update this post with results throughout the night.

7:37pm
Bradfield (top three) – 18.27%% counted
FLETCHER, Paul William – Liberal Party – 9,213 votes (56.14%)
GEMMELL, Susie – The Greens – 4,157 votes (25.33%)
LEISHMAN, Marianne – Australian Sex Party – 524 votes (3.19%)

Higgins (top three) – 21.83% counted
O’DWYER, Kelly – Liberal Party – 9,527 votes (51.59%)
HAMILTON, Clive – The Greens – 6,535 votes (35.39%)
MULHOLLAND, John – D.L.P. – Democratic Labor Party – 662 votes (3.59%)

8:10pm
Bradfield (top three) – 38.06% counted
FLETCHER, Paul William – Liberal Party – 19,087 votes (56.04%)
GEMMELL, Susie – The Greens – 8,683 votes (25.49%)
LEISHMAN, Marianne – Australian Sex Party – 1,102 votes (3.24%)

Higgins (top three) – 47.28% counted
O’DWYER, Kelly – Liberal Party – 21,012 votes (52.57%)
HAMILTON, Clive – The Greens – 13,791 votes (34.50%)
MULHOLLAND, John – D.L.P. – Democratic Labor Party – 1,504 votes (3.76%)

8:40pm
Bradfield (top three) – 53.38% counted
FLETCHER, Paul William – Liberal Party – 26,271 votes (55.30%)
GEMMELL, Susie – The Greens – 12,406 votes (26.12%)
LEISHMAN, Marianne – Australian Sex Party – 1,585 votes (3.34%)
The Liberal Party appear to be home here.

Higgins (top three) – 58.21% counted
O’DWYER, Kelly – Liberal Party – 25,326 votes (51.47%)
HAMILTON, Clive – The Greens – 17,302 votes (35.16%)
MULHOLLAND, John – D.L.P. – Democratic Labor Party – 1,933 votes (3.93%)
This one is a bit closer. The Liberals look pretty comfortable, but Clive Hamilton has a chance on preferences.

8:48pm
The Liberal Party’s Kelly O’Dwyer has declared herself victorious in Higgins. She is almost certainly right, but I would have expected Bradfield to be declared first.

9:05pm
Bradfield (top three) – 58.88% counted
FLETCHER, Paul William – Liberal Party – 29,050 votes (55.46%)
GEMMELL, Susie – The Greens – 13,674 votes (26.10%)
LEISHMAN, Marianne – Australian Sex Party – 1,734 votes (3.31%)
The Liberals have this one in the bag. They should have declared by now.

Higgins has not been updated on the AEC website since the last update.

9:40pm
The Liberals have now declared themselves victorious in Higgins as well.

9:45pm
Bradfield (top three) – 66.41% counted
FLETCHER, Paul William – Liberal Party – 32,501 votes (55.12%)
GEMMELL, Susie – The Greens – 15,567 votes (26.40%)
LEISHMAN, Marianne – Australian Sex Party – 2,002 votes (3.40%)

Higgins (top three) – 61.49% counted (result is final according to the AEC website. Not sure if they mean for the night or if they’re not bothering to count the rest of the votes)
O’DWYER, Kelly – Liberal Party – 26,893 votes (51.74%)
HAMILTON, Clive – The Greens – 18,172 votes (34.96%)
MULHOLLAND, John – D.L.P. – Democratic Labor Party – 2,031 votes (3.91%)

10:05pm
Bradfield (top three) – 69.20% counted (another “final” result)
FLETCHER, Paul William – Liberal Party – 33,991 votes (55.38%)
GEMMELL, Susie – The Greens – 16,071 votes (26.18%)
LEISHMAN, Marianne – Australian Sex Party – 2,087 votes (3.40%)

Samuel

December 5th, 2009 at 07:43pm

Global warming?

See what happens when Al Gore cancels one of his aeroplane trips and hot air speeches…it snows in Texas!

Houston this morning broke a record with the earliest snowfall ever recorded in the city’s history.

Forecasters are still hedging their bets on the amount, but say the most likely scenario is 1 to 2 inches of widespread snowfall through the day. Some areas could get up to a half a foot.

Light snow already was falling downtown and in other areas before 8:30 a.m. Other forms of precipitation — such as rain, freezing, rain, sleet and hail — also have been reported. Houston’s main weather recording station at Bush Intercontinental Airport reported at trace of snow at 8 a.m., meaning Dec. 4 will go down as the new record.

But emergency management officials say snow isn’t the biggest concern — it’s icy roads. A 12-hour freeze period is expected to begin after sundown today, continuing into Saturday, which could cause hazardous driving conditions.

Meanwhile a similar story is being played out in other parts of the state:

KVUE Storm Team meteorologists expected snow flurries to move into the Interstate 35 corridor Friday morning through mid-afternoon; in fact, very light snow was spotted in the KVUE parking lot in North Austin just before 9 a.m.

Total accumulations in the Hill Country will range from 1/2″ to 1″. Up to 1/2″ was expected in the Austin metro area, and 1″-2″ to the east of Austin near LaGrange.

A winter weather advisory was also in effect from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The high Friday will be 36

And a “freeze warning” is in place in the Nevada desert, with snow expected in Las Vegas on Tuesday:

Yep, sure is warm there!

Samuel

December 5th, 2009 at 02:38am