Voters turn on major parties - WA

A very interesting result so far in the Western Australia senate rerun. Both major parties have had large swings against them of about 5%. Green and the Palmer United Party are both up by around 7%. One senate seat is still up in the air but looks like going to the Lieberals. I have no idea what all this means for the senate yet, in July.

In general, this election was a disaster for both major parties, and a huge win for both the Greens and PUP. The combined Liberal/National vote was at 36.8%, down 7.5% on the 2013 election. However, due to Labor’s weakness, the combined Labor/Green vote was 37.7%, up only 1.6%, and well short of the 42.9% required for three quotas. The combined Coalition vote was short of three quotas for the first time since 2001, when One Nation was strong. more

It'd be interesting in hindsight to know what exactly were the issues that people voted on. One thing is for sure, West Australians have made it clear that both Labor and Lieberal are not representing them. Or at least not representing them anywhere near what they used to.