The Coalition wins a goodly number of seats, but still short of an absolute majority; Labor, almost the same, especially if some other left-wingers are counted; independents hold the balance of power. Worldwide, the economic situation has been very bad; our troops are busy overseas defending our national interests, or rather those of our great superpower ally, fighting an agile and cunning enemy in faraway desert climes. First those independent M.P.'s back the Coalition - then later they switch to Labor...
This, of course, is ancient history: this is what happened in the Australian Federal Election of September 1940. In the event, the two independents first gave Menzies the Prime Ministership as head of the U.A.P./Country Party coalition (ancestor of the postwar Liberal and National Parties' coalition), but then switched in October 1941 to back Curtin as head of the Labor Party. Australia had suffered through the Great Depression, and then sprang to the aid of the United Kingdom, fighting for King and Empire against the Nazi terror...
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
1 comment:
A not too disimilar situation to here in May. Our coaltion is certainly an improvement on the previous government - may it be the same for Australia.
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