Hi everyone

so much for voting... I wonder - if the Howard-haters
had given their primary vote to Labor rather than the
Greens - would things be different?

Australian politics continues...

From the ABC:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1216569.htm

Howard returned for historic fourth term

John Howard has won a fourth term as Prime Minister
and he will return to government with an increased
majority in the Parliament.

The Coalition's primary vote is up to nearly 47 per
cent, which is nine points ahead of the ALP.

The Liberals have benefited from the collapse of One
Nation, while Labor has attracted the same support it
did in the last election.

The Greens are polling more than 7 per cent, giving
them close to the one million votes they predicted
they would receive.

After preferences, the Coalition is ahead by 5 per
cent.

The ABC computer is predicting the Coalition will get
52.5 per cent of the vote and a 20 seat majority.

That would give the Liberals 73 seats and the
Nationals 12, Labor would hold 62 seats, with three
going to other candidates.

With 70 per cent of the vote counted, Labor appears to
have lost five seats - Bass and Braddon in Tasmania,
the Sydney seat of Greenway, the new Queensland seat
of Bonner and the South Australian seat of Wakefield.

Labor is ahead in Adelaide and Cunningham in New South
Wales and looks like picking up the Sydney-seat of
Parramatta.

A string of seats also remain in doubt.

In South Australia, that includes the Labor electorate
of Kingston and the Liberal seats of Adelaide and
Hindmarsh.

The Victorian seat of Holt and the National Party seat
of Richmond in northern new South Wales also remain
close.

In Queensland, there has been a swing to the Coalition
of 3.6 per cent, but it appears Labor will hold all of
its seats there.

In the Senate, the Liberals appear to have won an
extra seat in Tasmania, with the Greens also picking
up another seat there.