Andrew Landeryou’s enthusiastic blog belongs in a genre all its own: lawsuit-bait. A lot of what he writes is shameless propaganda.
Take this latest effort, for example:
The conservatives had a stunning result in Gippsland.
In recent times, mainly after Nelson’s promises to cut petrol taxes, the OC has been thinking that the good doctor might just have what it takes to survive and even prosper as Liberal leader.
Um … what? Nationals candidate Darren Chester (I wonder if we’re related?) outpolled the Liberal candidate 2:1 on primaries. Oh, and the ALP candidate beat the Liberal candidate’s primary vote too.
In terms of a 3-cornered contest, the Liberals came last. There was, in fact, a swing to the Nationals. A terrible shock in a seat where the Nationals haven’t lost since the days of the Ford Model T.
From hereon in I leave the field to the psephoes and observe in passing that the LDP candidate got 4.6% of the primary vote.
I agree that Landeryou is quite incorrect in attributing the result to Brendan Nelson’s leadership.
What I wonder is why there was such a swing against the government in Gippsland when nationally Labor is in a better position than when it won the 2007 elections.
My understanding is that there tends to be a swing against the sitting government in by-elections. No doubt the psephs can flesh this out in great detail, but that’s the general rule.
I’m trying to work out who Landeryou categorises as the ‘conservative’ candidates. The first thing the new member called for was an increase in welfare payments, which may or may not be justified but is hardly a marker of conservatism.
The link is dead. Long live the link.
Colin — fixed.