Sunday Times 2
Australia election: Tony Abbott defeats Kevin Rudd
View(s):SYDNEY, Sept 7 (AFP) -Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced he would step down as Labor chief after a heavy defeat to the conservatives in national elections today following years of leadership ructions. ”I will not be recontesting the leadership of the parliamentary Labor Party. The Australian people I believe deserve a fresh start with our leadership,” Rudd said in his concession speech.
Tony Abbott (L), who leads the conservative opposition, looks over voting forms with his wife Margaret (R) and daughters Louise (2nd R) and Frances on election day at the Freshwater Beach Surf Lifesaving Club in Sydney on September 7 (REUTERS)
Early exit polls taken in Australia’s national election showed the Tony Abbott-led conservative opposition romping to victory over Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party. A Sky News exit poll released before voting was to end at 6:00 pm (0800 GMT) predicted that the Liberal/Nationals would gain a massive 25 seats to sweep 97 of the 150 seats in the lower House of Representatives.
The survey, carried out by Newspoll, forecast Labor would lose 21 to be left with just 51. The independents would have two seats.
On a two-party basis, the coalition would take 53 percent of the vote to Labour’s 47 percent. A separate Morgan-Channel Ten exit poll predicted Abbott’s coalition would sweep to victory with 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Labor on a two-party basis.
In the primary vote, which takes into account the minor parties and independents, the coalition had 42.5 percent to Labor’s 33.5 percent, it showed. The Greens Party would garner 11 percent and the newly-established Palmer United Party, run by colourful billionaire Clive Palmer, five percent, with “others” taking the rest.
A Newspoll published before voting started indicated Abbott was ahead 54 to 46 percent on a two-party basis, the same as a Nielsen poll. That represented a four percentage point swing since the last election in 2010. A relaxed Abbott spent Saturday morning campaigning in Sydney while a subdued Rudd kept a lower profile in his home town of Brisbane, voting in the early afternoon.
With polling booths in the mandatory ballot closed across the country, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation called a clear win for the Liberal/National coalition while several senior Labor ministers conceded the divided party was beaten. ”The government will be defeated tonight,” Defence Minister Stephen Smith told ABC television.
“Pessimistically, I’m looking at a result which will be a 1996-type result, a heavy defeat for the government,” he added, referring to the election which brought Liberal leader John Howard to power. Health Minister Tanya Plibersek also admitted Labor had lost.
“The clear take-out from this definitely is that disunity is death and we are not disciplined enough,” she said.
Stepping down: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Reuters)
“I don’t think the division or the pain was justified at any stage. “With 54 percent of the vote counted, the Australian Electoral Commission had Abbott’s party leading in 76 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives and Labor in 55. A majority of 76 is needed to form government once all the votes have been tallied.
The ABC forecast the Liberals would end up with 89 seats, Labor 59 and independents two. Early poll numbers suggested big swings against the government in the key states of New South Wales and Queensland, with the ABC’s respected election analyst Antony Green saying Labor had no chance of winning.
“At this stage I’m seeing consistently Labor behind and losing seats,” he said, adding: “I think we can say the government has been defeated”. Former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, who won four successive elections in the 1980s and 90s, said personality politics had been allowed to overtake the party’s message and policies.
“The personal manipulations and pursuits of interest have dominated more than they should and in the process the concentration on values has slipped,” he told Sky. ”I really believe this was an election that was lost by the government rather than one that was won by the opposition.” Rudd struggled for traction after toppling Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, in a bitter party room coup just weeks before calling the election.
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