Australia’s embattled govt suffers state vote ‘bloodbath’

SYDNEY: Australia’s embattled minority government has suffered a further blow after a big loss in a crucial state poll ahead of national elections next year.

The Labor government for Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, was returned to power in a landslide after elections on Saturday.

Provisional results collated by national broadcaster ABC pointed to a 4.8 per cent swing to Labor, and for the left-leaning party to hold 55 seats in the 88-seat state assembly – a result one minister described as a ‘bloodbath’.

“We shouldn’t be in this position – we did a lot of things right but obviously something’s gone horribly wrong,” Shadow AttorneyGeneral John Pesutto, from the Liberal Party, told the ABC.

“We’re going to clearly have to do a root-and-branch review, top to bottom, of all of this.” The ruling federal Liberal-National coalition is still reeling from having ousted former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in August.

Turnbull’s removal saw him quit politics and trigger a byelection in his wealthy Sydney seat in November which the Liberals lost, sending them into a minority government. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt would not attribute the Victorian defeat to the Turnbull turmoil – the sixth change of national leaders in the last decade – and said local issues determined the outcome. — AFP