vidakfeeling pretty happy about the federal division of aston falling to the labor party after the by-election.
remember the by-election was triggered by the resignation of alan tudge, who was one of the ministers to be in charge of centrelink, the australian government's welfare benefits office.
(for those not in the know, centrelink pays you your unemployment money, pays all the government pensions, whatever they be, etc.)
what makes this defeat against the liberal party of australia (the australian version of the US republican party, don't let the name fool you) particularly sweet is that the liberal party tudge has resigned due to his intimate involvement in the outrageous scandal surrounding centrelink during the previous federal government.
it is called the 'robo-debt scandal'. putting it simply, the scandal involved a new set of welfare policies by the then-liberal party government that saw centrelink go from handing out money, to demanding that the unemployed and defenseless _pay back_ money to the welfare office.
there has been an official government inquiry into the scandal, and rather than face the music, tudge has ducked and weaved and decided, rather conveniently, to resign from politics.
so, the liberal party losing this seat in parliament virtually seals their fate in the history of australia--they are going to be in the wilderness for a long, long time.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/byelection-result-aston-melbourne-labor-win/102157990
remember the by-election was triggered by the resignation of alan tudge, who was one of the ministers to be in charge of centrelink, the australian government's welfare benefits office.
(for those not in the know, centrelink pays you your unemployment money, pays all the government pensions, whatever they be, etc.)
what makes this defeat against the liberal party of australia (the australian version of the US republican party, don't let the name fool you) particularly sweet is that the liberal party tudge has resigned due to his intimate involvement in the outrageous scandal surrounding centrelink during the previous federal government.
it is called the 'robo-debt scandal'. putting it simply, the scandal involved a new set of welfare policies by the then-liberal party government that saw centrelink go from handing out money, to demanding that the unemployed and defenseless _pay back_ money to the welfare office.
there has been an official government inquiry into the scandal, and rather than face the music, tudge has ducked and weaved and decided, rather conveniently, to resign from politics.
so, the liberal party losing this seat in parliament virtually seals their fate in the history of australia--they are going to be in the wilderness for a long, long time.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/byelection-result-aston-melbourne-labor-win/102157990
