Other recent news:
School relocation
THE RELOCATION of the Riverland Special School has been ongoing since 2004 when the governments wanted to redevelop the existing site when there was around 40 plus students.
Embellished headline
IN REFERENCE to the police report headed 'Teen bashed at fundraiser' in a recent edition of The Murray Pioneer (30/3/10), I would like to express my disappointment in your reporting of the incident.
IN AN article in The Advertiser (23/8/10) Alexander Downer, who took some time off as UN special envoy to Cyprus to be present in Australia during the national elections, described the election result as an "incredible achievement" by Tony Abbott.
Although it is absolutely true that he came very close to winning the election in his own right, I would not necessarily agree with Mr Downer that a 2 per cent swing towards Tony Abbott was an “incredible achievement”.
However, I too regard the election result as “incredible” and indeed I did note a number of significant outcomes which cannot be ignored. These include:
q The election of Australia's first ever Aboriginal MP (Liberal), Dr Ken Wyatt in Western Australia.
q The election of Australia’s youngest ever MP (Liberal), 20-year-old Wyatt Roy in Queensland.
q The election of Australia’s first Green Federal MP, Adam Bandt in Melbourne.
q The election of nine Green senators.
q The increase of the Labor vote in South Australia by 1.13 per cent.
q The increase of informal votes to 618,435 or 5.64 per cent, an increase of 1.69 per cent. This trend indicates a rising number of Australians are losing their trust towards the Australian political system.
While postal votes are still being counted, I don’t know who will finish up with the required 76 MPs and form government.
What I do know is, regardless of who will form our next government, even if we have to go back to a new election, one thing is certain: Independents come and go but the Australian Greens have emerged as the third largest party with 11.41 per cent of the national vote and will hold the balance of power possibly for many years to come in Australian politics.
That might be good for some, but surely it won’t be good for other individuals like Nick Xenophon and Barnaby Joyce. I’ve got the feeling they won’t be as popular with the media anymore.
In my view, we have no other choice but to stay positive that our democratic system of government will prevail.
After all, it is designed in such a way to be inclusive and pluralistic. At the end of the day, we may all be winners living in an ever expanding democracy with more qualitative political debate, better scrutiny and more accountability.
PETER PPIROS
Editor
Greek Tribune
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