Quote Originally Posted by CountArach View Post
I saw this result coming long ago so I was prepared for it and expected it. It disappoints me that people elected the Liberal government when their policy platform was full of contradictions (cut expenses in the budget but raise military spending), was self-defeating (cut foreign aid, which will create more asylum seekers...), as well as being based primarily on rhetoric (stop the boats) but that's what was always going to happen. I have very little faith in the Australian public and this just confirms that.
Basically this. The contradictions in policies, and the lack of transparency from the Coalition in the build-up, should have had a greater impact on the result. People clearly just do not care. This is not to say that the Labour government did not have some very real problems, which ultimately led to a situation where there was little pressure on the Coalition to actually explain away these contradictions, but at least their policies attempted to adhere to their rhetoric. On the economic front, Abbott has spent the last three years peddling the whole 'budget emergency' line borrowed from the British Conservatives and US Republicans. He now has two choices: cut spending, and send a stable economy down the wrong path, or (the more likely option IMHO) continue along the same path that Labour were on, secure in the knowledge that they cannot criticise him for not taking an axe to spending...

In positive news, at least Diaz was not elected: that would make Australia a laughing-stock.

Now we have to hope that Abbott does not gain full control of the Senate. I am not confident over which way the ultra-minor parties currently projected to win seats will flop (Motoring Enthusiasts, Australian Sports)...