Archive for the ‘Liberals’ Category

South Australia election: Swing to Liberals but Labor clings to hope as #SAvotes

ABC Steven Marshall not in position to form a government on election night

South Australia's political future is in the balance, with the Liberals achieving a statewide swing in the 2014 election but remaining tantalisingly short of the six lower house gains needed to form a government.

Liberal leader Steven Marshall addressed the party faithful at a hotel in Adelaide's south-eastern suburbs four hours after the polls closed, saying he was not in a position to form government.

"I think we stand a good chance in a range of seats including Mitchell, including Elder, including Ashford and Wright," he said.

"We're not in a position to claim victory tonight despite our outstanding result, increasing our vote and increasing our two-party preferred vote but we will do what we can over the coming days."

Mr Marshall praised the performance of all Liberal candidates and singled out three who he was sure would be in the next parliament.

Vincent Tarzia is confident of a victory in Hartley over Labor government minister Grace Portolesi, Troy Bell will be the new Liberal member for Mount Gambier, ousting independent Don Pegler, and David Speirs expects to be Bright's new member of parliament with a win over government minister Chloe Fox.

ABC election analyst Antony Green says the Liberals will take the Adelaide seat of Mitchell from Labor's Alan Sibbons, putting Corey Wingard into the new parliament.

The Liberals had 18 seats in the previous parliament, Labor 26 and the other three were in the hands of independents.

Two of those independents might play a pivotal role in which party can form the next government.

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South Australia election: Swing to Liberals but Labor clings to hope as #SAvotes

Tasmania votes: Liberals sweep to power, ending 16 years of Labor rule

ABC Will Hodgman's Liberals have won 14 seats in the 25-seat Tasmanian parliament.

Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgman has won the state election, ending 16 years in Opposition.

With 80 per cent of the vote counted, the Liberal Party has won more than half the vote and is set to take majority government with 14 seats in the 25-seat Parliament.

It is the Liberals' best ever electoral result.

Mr Hodgman has also broken the hex of being the country's longest-serving Opposition Leader and will be the state's next Premier.

The Tasmanian Liberal Party stormed into power, posting its best electoral result in 60 years.

It is shaping as a comfortable victory for the leader who campaigned on returning the state to a majority government after four years of a Labor-Green minority.

There has been a swing against the Labor Party in all five seats, making it the worst election result for the party in six decades.

The Liberals look set to pick up an extra seat in every electorate except Denison.

ABC analyst Antony Green says Labor has won six seats and the Greens two, with three seats still undecided.

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Tasmania votes: Liberals sweep to power, ending 16 years of Labor rule

Tas Liberals set to win majority govt

Tasmania's Liberals is set for a crushing election victory and a return to office in the island state for the first time in 16 years.

Will Hodgman has led the party to victory at his second attempt and will become the first Liberal premier of the state since Tony Rundle.

Polls had predicted a bloodbath for Labor, who shared power with the Greens for the past four years, and experts were calling the result with barely 10 per cent of the vote counted.

Labor was hard hit in the north and the Greens had also lost electoral support.

Under Tasmania's unique Hare-Clark electoral system, where five members are elected in each seat, the Liberals needed to pick up three for a majority in the 25-seat lower house.

They looked set to win 14, while Labor had won five, the Greens two with four still in doubt.

But in the popular vote it was a landslide, the Liberals claiming at least 53 per cent, a swing of 14, and Mr Hodgman the highest personal tally of any candidate.

The 44-year-old father of three young children comes from a long line of Hodgmans involved in Tasmanian politics, but will be the family's first premier.

His late father Michael was a popular Fraser government minister and state politician.

His grandfather Bill Hodgman and uncle Peter were also members of the state parliament.

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Tas Liberals set to win majority govt

Tasmania's Liberals win majority govt

Tasmania's Liberals is set for a crushing election victory and a return to office in the island state for the first time in 16 years.

Will Hodgman has led the party to victory at his second attempt and will become the first Liberal premier of the state since Tony Rundle.

Polls had predicted a bloodbath for Labor, who shared power with the Greens for the past four years, and experts were calling the result with barely 10 per cent of the vote counted.

Labor was hard hit in the north and the Greens had also lost electoral support.

Under Tasmania's unique Hare-Clark electoral system, where five members are elected in each seat, the Liberals needed to pick up three for a majority in the 25-seat lower house.

They looked set to win 14, while Labor had won five, the Greens two with four still in doubt.

But in the popular vote it was a landslide, the Liberals claiming at least 53 per cent, a swing of 14, and Mr Hodgman the highest personal tally of any candidate.

The 44-year-old father of three young children comes from a long line of Hodgmans involved in Tasmanian politics, but will be the family's first premier.

His late father Michael was a popular Fraser government minister and state politician.

His grandfather Bill Hodgman and uncle Peter were also members of the state parliament.

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Tasmania's Liberals win majority govt

Liberals swept to power in Tasmania, Labor hopeful of clinging to power in South Australia

ABC Incoming Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman addresses supporters as his wife, Nicola, shares a laugh.

Labor has been swept from power in Tasmania but is clinging to life in South Australia after both states went to the polls on Saturday.

Voters called time on 16 years of Labor rule in Tasmania, flocking to the Liberals, whose leader, Will Hodgman, had positioned his party as the only option for a stable majority government.

The Liberals will get that, with at least 14 seats in the 25-seat legislature, which is decided using the complex Hare-Clark proportional representation system.

Premier-elect Mr Hodgman said Tasmanians had voted for change "and that's what they will get".

In South Australia, what had been expected to be a comfortable Liberal victory failed to materialise, with Jay Weatherill's Labor putting up a fight in the Adelaide marginals which have delivered it power for the past three terms.

The South Australian Electoral Commissioner says with the high volume of early and postal votes, up to a quarter of the overall vote is yet to be counted.

The ABC's election computer is predicting 23 seats for Labor, 21 for the Liberals and two for independents.

Both major parties say the seat of Mitchell is too close to call.

Mr Weatherill said he was "hopeful of retaining government".

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Liberals swept to power in Tasmania, Labor hopeful of clinging to power in South Australia