The by-election for the federal seat of Batman is marred by a last-minute scandal, with reports elderly voters received phone calls telling them they did not have to vote.

The Greens had been tipped to seize the seat from Labor. (Credit: ABC)

The by-election for the federal seat of Batman was marred by a last-minute scandal on Saturday, with reports elderly voters received phone calls telling them they did not have to vote.

In response, Labor launched a phone call and SMS blitz urging senior voters to attend polling centres.

"We're encouraging all Batman residents to ignore these dirty tricks and exercise their right to vote."

The electorate has a high proportion of elderly voters, who are traditionally more supportive of Labor.

Labor has declared victory in the Batman by-election, upsetting the Greens who were the favourites to win the inner-Melbourne seat and have now conceded defeat.

Former ACTU president Ged Kearney was on track to defeat the Greens' Alex Bhathal, with the ALP winning back voters from the Greens in the southern part of the electorate.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of David Feeney, who was unable to find documents proving he was not a foreign citizen.

The seat in Melbourne's inner-north takes in trendy suburbs such as Northcote and Clifton Hill, and stretches to Preston and Reservoir further north.

It was once a Labor heartland, but gentrification has changed the demographics of the area.

The Greens campaign focused on Queensland's Adani coal mine project and Australia's refugee policies, however Ms Bhathal told ABC radio housing was the number one concern of voters across the electorate.

Her campaign had been marred by internal party leaks, alleging bullying.

Labor's announcement of changes to tax policy and franking credits could hurt Ged Kearney's chances in Batman, where there is a large contingent of senior voters.

The Australian Electoral Commission says more than 16,500 people cast an early vote, with another 14,500 registering for a postal vote. </s> Scandal hits Batman by-election with seniors phoned, told they didn't have to vote

The by-election for the federal seat of Batman was marred by a last-minute scandal on Saturday, with reports elderly voters received phone calls telling them they did not have to vote.

In response, Labor launched a phone call and SMS blitz urging senior voters to attend polling centres.

"We're encouraging all Batman residents to ignore these dirty tricks and exercise their right to vote."

The electorate has a high proportion of elderly voters, who are traditionally more supportive of Labor.

Labor has declared victory in the Batman by-election, upsetting the Greens who were the favourites to win the inner-Melbourne seat and have now conceded defeat.

Former ACTU president Ged Kearney was on track to defeat the Greens' Alex Bhathal, with the ALP winning back voters from the Greens in the southern part of the electorate.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of David Feeney, who was unable to find documents proving he was not a foreign citizen.

The seat in Melbourne's inner-north takes in trendy suburbs such as Northcote and Clifton Hill, and stretches to Preston and Reservoir further north.

It was once a Labor heartland, but gentrification has changed the demographics of the area.

The Greens campaign focused on Queensland's Adani coal mine project and Australia's refugee policies, however Ms Bhathal told ABC radio housing was the number one concern of voters across the electorate.

Her campaign had been marred by internal party leaks, alleging bullying.

Labor's announcement of changes to tax policy and franking credits could hurt Ged Kearney's chances in Batman, where there is a large contingent of senior voters.

The Australian Electoral Commission says more than 16,500 people cast an early vote, with another 14,500 registering for a postal vote. </s> A mystery caller has been wrongly telling elderly Melbourne residents they don't have to vote in the Batman by-election, the Labor Party says.

It has prompted Labor to send out 10,000 robocalls and 2400 text messages to older voters, reminding them they must have their say.

"Lying to elderly people is as low as it gets," a Labor spokesperson said on Saturday.

"We're encouraging all Batman residents to ignore these dirty tricks and exercise their right to vote."

Labor said several elderly voters received a call from someone who said people over the age of 70 didn't have to vote in Saturday's by-election.

The party contacted the Australian Electoral Commission, which promptly sent a Tweet saying voting was compulsory for everyone enrolled in Batman.

Labor's Ged Kearney and Greens candidate Alex Bhathal are going head-to-head in a tight contest for the inner-Melbourne seat.

The by-election stands as a test of whether the Greens' march into inner-metropolitan seats continues, or Labor can appeal to a younger "hipster" demographic.

It comes after Labor MP David Feeney resigned over his dual citizenship status. </s> Much is at stake in tomorrow’s Batman by-election, for both Labor and the Greens. Ben Eltham reports from his home electorate.

The inner-Melbourne seat of Batman is unusual in many respects. Stretching approximately 10 kilometres in a concrete ribbon north from Clifton Hill to the middle ring suburbs of Preston, Reservoir and Bundoora, it encompasses much of Melbourne’s diversity and dynamism.

On one analysis, Batman is the most left-leaning seat in the country. According to the ABC’s Vote Compass, the seat scores the most leftwards on political philosophy of all 150 federal electorates. The demographics are a rainbow coalition of white and blue collar workforce, second generation Greek and Italian immigrants, with a large swathe of Melbourne hipsterdom and LGBTIQ voters predominant.

The seat’s retail artery, High Street, is an epicentre of Melbourne gentrification. Served by the famous (or should that be infamous) 86 tram, old shops are being knocked down and high-rise apartment blocks are sprouting. Just a decade ago, Thornbury was a sleepy middle-ring suburb known mainly for Italian grandparents. Now it’s one of Melbourne’s hottest restaurant and bar districts, with wood-fire pizza and small bars on seemingly every block. Men with beards and women with tattoos are everywhere.

In the centre of Batman lies the suburb of Preston, where I live. Made famous by Courtney Barnett in her song ‘Depreston’, Preston is a fast-changing mix of bucolic bungalows in cul-de-sacs, old factories and warehouses, and new apartments, cafes and bike repair shops. ‘Depreston’ depicts a young couple considering purchasing a house “out further” from their usual digs in the inner city.A poignant four minute elegy to suburban anomie, the song describes Barnett’s travails house-hunting, a rite of passage all too familiar to Batman voters. “We don’t have to be around all these coffee shops,” Barnett tells her partner in the song.

‘Depreston’ is only a few years old, but it’s a handy gauge for just how rapid the demographic change in the seat is. You won’t find a house worth $500,000 in the postcode anymore. House prices have shot skywards in a process that has hurt many at the pointy end of Australia’s unprecedented experiment in housing inequality. While the boom has minted millionaires for those selling houses on big blocks, the pain for workers of moderate means is real. As fast as the hipsters move in, the working classes move out, driven north and west by spiralling rents.

The demographic transition has happened faster than anyone ever expected, which is what makes the Batman by-election so interesting, both for local residents and especially for Australian politics. Batman is a litmus test. The stakes are high.

For the Australian Labor Party, nothing less than the future of the ALP in the inner cities is at stake. In Ged Kearney, the party has fielded the best that the labour movement has to offer. Kearney has impeccable credentials as a representative of workers. A former nurse and union delegate, she rose to the top of the ACTU, all the while demonstrating a winning mix of warmth and determination. Kearney has been a strong advocate for the environment and for the plight of refugees. She is a woman of substance in a winnable seat.

I sat down with Kearney at a café inside the cavernous Northlands shopping centre. She’d just come from a doorstop at a local school.

“I had been interested in Batman before, it didn’t work out,” she told me. “And I’m glad because I had unfinished business in the ACTU and I did great work while I was there. It’s my home. It’s a good fit for me, it’s a good fit for where I am personally, I know and I love the area.”

“There’s a feeling that Labor hasn’t been as progressive as it should have been, and I think there’s a couple of really big issues on which people are disappointed. But it’s interesting – when you sit down and get a chance to talk to people and explain Labor policies, people are surprised.

“I’m kind of new to selling Labor policies,” she laughed.

“I’ve had some great conversations. One chap stopped me today and asked me did I realise about the number of public servants in the area, and the issue for federal public servants is a wages freeze. I was able to have a really good chat to him.”

When I asked her about the issues voters mention, Kearney replied: “Schools, schools, schools.”

“This is all about schools. The schools could do with a lick of paint, they could do with some capital infrastructure. They’ve got 100-year-old windows, they’ve got tiles falling off the roof, this is really why I hope I get elected, I would focus on that.”

Kearney is undeniably ambitious. “I reckon I could make a difference,” she said at one point, with a steely smile. “I would hope that I don’t stay a backbencher for long, I would like to work my while through to a higher level of presentation so I could really make change. I know how to win battles, I’ve got experience on the ground in winning change in campaigns, I know the hard work that needs to go into policy.”

Kearney’s run is all the more important because it will answer the question of whether the problem for Labor in inner city seats has been personal, or philosophical. In inner Sydney, where the ALP is represented by Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek, the party can point to two substantial figures of the left, who have been progressive in their politics and diligent in their fight against the forces of the right.

Melbourne has been rather the opposite: Kearney is running in Batman because the representation of the hapless David Feeney, a widely disliked factional warrior of the ALP right, was ruled invalid by the High Court.

In contrast, Greens candidate Alex Bhathal’s story is one of traditional grass-roots politics. She first stood for the seat in 2001, where she picked up a small swing in the Tampa election that swept John Howard to a third term. Far from a factional warrior or a professional operative, Bhathal is a suburban social worker and a social democrat: the sort of candidate Labor used to throw up in its younger days.

When I sat down in a Thornbury park to talk to her in the last week of the campaign, Bhathal told me that “jobs and housing” were amongst the key issues in the electorate. “Renters are being pushed out of the whole electorate now, maybe with the exception of Kingsbury and Bundoora, but even then people get evicted with very little notice, rents are rising, there’s also the problem of housing affordability for people looking to buy in the electorate.

“The other broad issues – which seems to surprise Labor, but they don’t surprise me – are that people are outraged about what’s happening to refugees, and they want some action on the climate emergency,” Bhathal said.

“The other thing that people talk to me a lot about, and it’s more likely to be raised to me by older migrants, is that they’re outraged by the inequality that is forcing people to live on the streets. I’ve had people crying in frustration and despair.”

What’s it like running against an opponent of the stature of Ged Kearney, I asked. “She is someone who I’ve long valued for her stance on refugee and asylum seeker rights,” Bhathal responded. “I was shocked to read her statement that the detention of refugees is a ‘reality we need to accept’. I can’t understand why she would say such a thing… if she’s talking about political reality, that’s precisely why progressive leaders need to lead the way and take a bold stand.”

Bhathal echoed the Greens talking point that the ALP is a graveyard for progressives looking to change the party from the inside. “I’ve seen a lot of impressive people come into Labor, from Greg Combet, a former ACTU head as well, to Peter Garrett. They say they’re going to change things internally, and Labor changes them.”

In contrast to 2016, when she had a dream run against the accident-prone Feeney, 2018 hasn’t been an easy campaign for Bhathal. Even though she has contested the seat five times since 2001, Bhathal faced a nasty pre-selection battle in 2016 which saw a small minority of her branch split off in opposition.

While Bhathal won the pre-selection contest comfortably, the victory embittered her internal opponents. Bhathal has suffered a damaging series of leaks from inside the party aimed at painting her as a bully.

Are you a bully, I asked her.

“No. I’m not that kind of person. The party has dealt with that matter and from my perspective it was a comprehensive evaluation and investigation, and I was re-endorsed as the candidate for the seat and I’m running now. Anyone can look on the ground can see we’ve got huge numbers of our local members of the Greens, and our supporters are out there campaigning in the seat.”

While anonymous and unsubstantiated, the leaks have been seized upon by the media. The Greens believe they are held to higher standards than the major parties, so internal warfare is all the more destabilising with switched-on local voters.

Bhathal conceded it has been damaging.

“It has been really, really difficult for me, but I’ve been overwhelmed by support. It hasn’t been difficult because people believe it, it has been difficult just because I believe it has been terribly unfair.”

“It worries me that this could happen in any political party, and that the media hasn’t asked the questions that could be asked about it, but I’ve been trying to focus on the issues.”

Media hostility was on full display on the Thursday before the by-election, when Fairfax’s Noel Towell published a scathing attack piece on the Greens, featuring a claim he had been sworn at by an unattributed “Greens staffer”. Towell dressed up his allegation by claiming the Greens were under pressure, and of course they are, but the effort looked more like a calculated smear than a new revelation. Privately, staffers in Greens headquarters acknowledge that the incident has hurt them, even while contesting Towell’s version of the conversation.

And yet, the race remains close, in part because The Age is far from the powerful force it used to be. Local campaigning and social media may prove more important.

And then there’s policy. Despite the heat of the campaign, in policy terms, the by-election has been rather unadventurous. Both the Greens and Labor have rolled out just a single new policy, with the Greens pledging to reform the Fair Work Act and Labor announcing its new policy on dividend imputation. Both candidates have also had to deal with the swings and roundabouts of their leaders’ positions on key issues.

For Kearney, the challenge has been to navigate Labor’s confusion on mining policy, as Bill Shorten has swung like a weather vane on Adani’s Carmichael mine in north Queensland. As I wrote last week, the ALP is all over the shop on Adani, and Kearney has had to defend a position that appears to be simultaneously pro- and anti-Carmichael.

“Personally, I think I’ve been very clear [that]I don’t think it should go ahead, it doesn’t stand up financially, the jobs story is not real, it will take jobs away from other industries,” Kearney told me in our interview. “But I’m acutely aware that there are people in north Queensland who need jobs, they’re a long, long way away from us, and I’m not prepared to say we’re going to throw you under a bus. And I don’t think Bill Shorten is.”

Kearney has also had to spend time explaining her position on asylum seeker policy. As a noted campaigner for asylum seekers, many have pointed out the inconsistency of her previous statements, given she will now be bound by Labor’s platform.

This animus blew up last weekend, when someone snapped a photo of Bhathal at a refugee rally, in front of a Labor corflute poster which had been defaced with a red “no” sign emblazoned across Kearney’s face. “I saw that corflute and I was dismayed, and I actually asked the people not to use it,” Bhathal told me. “I think it’s appalling, I would never ever do anything to support the defacement of election materials.”

On refugees, Kearney walks a tightrope. “I don’t think anybody wants to see people languishing on Manus or Nauru,” she said in our interview. “I think what people need to remember is that Labor asylum seeker policy is pretty progressive, there will be funding for resettlement, it starts from a humane approach and not demonising or prosecuting people.”

But Kearney won’t cross the floor or speak out on ALP asylum seeker policy. “I will continue to speak for my position, which is well known, at party conference.” It’s about all she can honestly promise, but it will hardly mollify those who wish for a more humane immigration policy.

Bhathal has also faced challenges on policy, being forced to defend the Greens position on pensions (the party voted with the government to tighten asset testing in the last parliament). The difficulties multiplied late in the race, after Labor announced its policy to remove the cash rebate for fully franked dividends, a policy the Greens declared they would seek to modify in order to protect low-income pensioners. There has been some suggestion that Labor’s announcement will hurt it with older voters who have been frightened by the Coaliton’s scare campaign.

Whether any of this matters on the day is anyone’s guess. There has been little published polling on the by-election, and neither campaign is revealing any details of their internal surveys. As one would expect given her experience, Kearney has performed well in public debates and in media appearances. But Bhathal is better known in the electorate. Labor has run a slick and well-organised campaign. The Greens have enlisted more door-knocking foot soldiers and mounted a stronger ground game.

Bhathal’s other problem has been dealing with the virulence of Labor attacks, particularly from rusted-on ALP supporters who resent the Greens’ inroads into a Labor stronghold. These are to be expected in what amounts to an internecine battle: it remains difficult for Labor stalwarts to accept that the ALP is no longer the uncontested party of the left; this drives a view of Greens voters as traitors to the working class cause.

But Batman is interesting precisely because it potentially illuminates a rising demographic of new voters. The conventional view of Greens voters is that they are disaffected Labor deserters. If so, the theory goes, a sufficiently left-wing candidate and platform might win them back.

But how true is this? There are many younger Greens voters who have never voted for the ALP. An 18-year old who voted for Bob Brown in her first election in 2010 is now 29. Labor has not spent a great deal of effort to try and appeal to such voters; in some election years, like 2013, it has actively alienated them. If there really is a growing cohort of deep Greens, then Batman is the place to see them. Saturday’s election will provide us with some granular evidence.

The other big unknown is what conservative voters will do. The Liberals polled 20 per cent in Batman in 2016, but are not running a candidate this time round. It’s a move most expect to help the Greens. The theory goes that wealthier voters, the so-called ‘Teal Greens’, will plump for the minor party over the hated party of unions. That is one narrative explaining the victory for Lidia Thorpe in the Northcote state election earlier this year. But equally, many Liberal voters could cop the fine for not voting, and simply stay home. A handful of right-wing candidates from the Australian Conservatives, Australian Liberty Alliance and Rise Up may also harvest preferences in unpredictable ways.

When I asked her about this, Bhathal had short shrift for the view that her electorate is chock full of teal Greens who are wealthy enough to afford to be concerned about refugees and the environment. “I’ve always been completely nonplussed about that view. I’ve never believed in the ‘hipster proof fence’ at Bell Street… or maybe it’s moving to the Ring Road!” she laughed.

All in all, it’s a toss up. On Friday afternoon, as this article was published, the by-election was too close to call. Much will be decided in the booths of Batman on Saturday. The result will tell us much about the future shape of Australian progressive politics.

For years, Labor treated inner-city seats like Batman as trophies of factional combat. Feeney replaced another figure of the Labor right, Martin Ferguson, whose pro-carbon politics were radically out of step with many in Melbourne’s green-tinged inner north. Just to rub it in, Ferguson has spent his post-politics retirement working for the fossil fuels lobby.

With little local appeal, Feeney was parachuted in to Batman after losing his winnable spot on the Victorian Senate ticket. It was a symptom of the way the party took left-leaning voters for granted. In contrast, Kearney is the candidate Labor should have pre-selected after Ferguson: a strong, likeable progressive with local roots.

If Kearney can’t win Batman, therefore, the ALP will be forced to confront some unpalatable truths: that its problem in the inner cities is not just weak candidates, but a demographic shift to the left. In the worst case scenario, it would condemn Labor to concede the fast-growing inner cities to the Greens, and move the focus of its campaigning to the mortgage belts of the suburbs and regions, where it can compete on more traditional issues of the centre.

As Kearney told me towards the end of our interview, “I really don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t win… I will have to go and look for a job.”

But just as much it at stake for the Greens. With Alex Bhathal in Batman, the party has its best shot of a second House of Representatives seat. Bhathal is a local with deep local recognition: it is almost impossible to walk down the street with her without being hailed by a resident or friend. She is well-respected in the local community. And she has momentum: taking the Greens vote from single figure percentages to a majority of primary votes.

If Bhathal can’t win Batman, therefore, many will ask whether the Greens’ ambitions to become a third major party are fantasy. To make a difference in the lower house, the Greens must win and hold winnable electorates, building on their base to construct a meaningful House of Representatives caucus. Bhathal is a popular candidate with impeccable left-wing credentials and a high local profile. If she can’t win in Australia’s most left-leaning seat, the future of the Greens in the lower house looks limited. </s> Labor has retained the federal Melbourne seat of Batman, overcoming the Greens' march on inner-city seats.

Polls showed a three per cent swing to Labor's Ged Kearney following Saturday's by-election after she took out more than 54 per cent of the two-party preferred result.

"They said we'd never do it but we did," the soon-to-be MP told pumped-up supporters on Saturday night.

"We spoke to national progressive values, workers' rights, climate change, social justice and a better Australia."

Federal leader Bill Shorten said the win meant Labor was "back", having proved bookmakers and commentators wrong for writing them off in Batman.

Six-time Greens candidate Alex Bhathal did not say if she'd run again for the seat after conceding defeat.

"Obviously, it's not the result that any of us would have wanted," she told the party faithful.

"We knew that Labor would throw everything they had at this seat to hold it after 84 years.

"Many people have said over the course of the campaign that regardless of the outcome, we'll have a strong, progressive woman representing us in this seat."

With the Liberals not fielding a candidate in Batman, the by-election was a test of whether the Greens' march into inner-metropolitan seats would continue, or if Labor could successfully appeal to a younger demographic.

The minor party blamed their loss on preferences to "hard-right" parties such as the Australian Conservatives.

Ten candidates contested the by-election, sparked by the resignation of Labor's David Feeney earlier this year over his dual citizenship. </s> The Experts

SA Election: Will Xenophon be king-maker?

Malcolm Mackerras

Friday, March 09, 2018

Having made near-perfectly-correct predictions for Tasmania’s recent election “Island politics: Spotlight on Tasmania’s election” I am emboldened now to chance my arm on South Australia whose general election will occur on Saint Patrick’s Day, Saturday March 17. I begin by noting that I have already predicted this election result – more than a year ago. In my article “Leadership Shakeup for WA and SA?” (published on Thursday February 9, 2017) I correctly predicted the Labor win in Western Australia and went on to write: “By way of contrast, the opposite will happen in South Australia in March 2018. The Labor government there will be defeated and replaced by a government composed of one party only, the Liberal Party. Labor’s Jay Weatherill will lose the office of Premier to Steven Marshall”.

That, of course, was written long before Nick Xenophon decided to resign from the Senate in order to contest the state seat of Hartley in the SA House of Assembly. So, do I stick to that prediction? Or do I change it, asking to be excused my change of mind by using Xenophon’s decision as my excuse? As explained in detail below I have decided to stick to the prediction that Marshall will be Premier in a majority Liberal government.

In the outgoing lower house, Labor held 24 seats: Ashford, Cheltenham, Colton, Croydon, Elder, Enfield, Fisher, Florey, Giles, Kaurna, Lee, Light, Little Para, Mawson, Napier, Newland, Playford, Port Adelaide, Ramsay, Reynell, Taylor, Torrens, West Torrens and Wright. The Liberal Party held 21 seats: Adelaide, Bragg, Bright, Chaffey, Davenport, Dunstan, Finniss, Flinders, Goyder, Hammond, Hartley, Heysen, Kavel, MacKillop, Mitchell, Morialta, Morphett, Mount Gambier, Schubert, Stuart and Unley.

That left two others, both seats which would normally be won by the Liberal Party. They were Frome, based on Port Pirie, and Waite, in Adelaide’s salubrious southern suburbs. Port Pirie is a Labor town but the surrounding countryside (which is almost entirely to its south) votes solidly Liberal. It would be a Liberal seat except that it has a popular Independent member who won the seat as an Independent but supported the Labor government. Waite is blue-ribbon Liberal but its member, Martin Hamilton-Smith, decided to be a minister in the Labor government. My predictions begin by asserting that both Frome and Waite will be won by the Liberal Party.

The big problem lies with SA Best, Xenophon’s party. However, I chance my arm on saying there will be two such members in the House of Assembly. They will be Xenophon himself in Hartley, taken from the Liberal Party, and one other member in Giles, a gain from Labor. Giles takes in the steel-making city of Whyalla plus a third of South Australia’s area to Whyalla’s west. It is Labor’s only regional seat.

At the general election held on Saturday March 15, 2014, the two-party preferred vote was distributed 53-47 in favour of the Liberal Party, which party lost the election! Due to the obvious unfairness of such a result there has been a redistribution of seats which creates a notional result (on the new boundaries) of 27 Liberals to 20 seats for Labor.

Having studied all the seats and much opinion poll information I now predict these 24 seat will be won by the Liberal Party: Adelaide, Bragg, Chaffey, Colton, Davenport, Dunstan, Elder, Finniss, Flinders, Frome, Gibson, Hammond, Heysen, Kavel, MacKillop, Mawson, Morialta, Morphett, Mount Gambier, Narungga, Schubert, Stuart, Unley and Waite.

The 21 seats I predict will be won by Labor are Badcoe, Black, Cheltenham, Croydon, Elizabeth, Enfield, Florey, Hurtle Vale, Kaurna, King, Lee, Light, Newland, Playford, Port Adelaide, Ramsay, Reynell, Taylor, Torrens, West Torrens and Wright.

If all the above is correct, then Xenophon will be very disappointed – but not devastated. I say that because there are plenty of pundits who think he will not win Hartley. For that seat to be won by the Liberal sitting member or the Labor former member would be devastating for Xenophon. So I do not think it will happen. On the other hand I am not predicting he will be king-maker. Since that is the aim of his quixotic decision to leave the Senate my predicted result, if proven as correct as my Western Australian, Queensland and Tasmanian predicted results, would leave Xenophon very disappointed indeed.

Two by-elections will be held on the SA general election day, March 17. One is very easy to predict. The Liberal Party will retain blue-ribbon Liberal Cottesloe (WA), the seat resigned by the former premier, Colin Barnett, who has retired from politics.

By contrast, Batman (Victoria) is interesting. Once again my prediction is on the record. In my article here (show “Who’s to blame for the citizenship scandal?” in blue) I wrote that “Labor will lose Batman to The Greens at the next election whenever that election is held”. Do I stick to that? I give an affirmative answer. The Greens candidate, Alex Bhathal, will be elected for Batman.

(Malcolm Mackerras is Honorary Fellow of Australian Catholic University. malcolm.mackerras@acu.edu.au)

Published: Friday, March 09, 2018

Disqus </s> Welcome to a night of politics.

Not only do we have South Australia deciding the most unpredictable election in recent memory, we also have the good burghers of Batman deciding whether Adam Bandt gets some company on the Greens side of the lower house crossbench.

Both campaigns have been fraught, full of drama and, at least from what the people are telling us, coming down to the wire.

But this is Australian politics, where nothing is certain.

Nick Xenophon has bet his political future on being a state powerbroker, but SA Best, his rebranded party, fumbled in the last few weeks of the campaign and Xenophon himself is no certainty to win the seat of Hartley. Labor have been in power for 16 years, which has been one of the strongest cornerstones of the Liberals’ campaign, as Steven Marshall argued it was beyond time for a change.

Meanwhile, Jay Weatherill has been talking up all of Labor’s successes, including its shift to renewable power sources. Will it be enough? We’ll find out soon enough.

Outside of South Australia, Melbourne has seen the battle of the left, as the Greens and Labor slug it out for the seat of Batman, left vacant by David Feeney’s misplacement of dual citizenship papers.

Ged Kearney’s and Alex Bhathal’s campaign for the seat has almost been the side-show to party infighting and policy disputes. The polls tell us the Greens are on track for a historic win. There is not long to go to see if those polls are correct.

So join us as we indulge in what looks set to be a night of political upsets. Which is basically like political Christmas to us political livers.

Katharine Murphy is watching all the events and we have Calla Wahlquist, Ben Raue and Max Opray in the field.

Comments will be turned on from 7pm, but you can find me on twitter in the meantime - @amyremeikis.

Grab your drink of choice, settle in and get ready with the refresh button - polls are about to close. </s> Labor wins the Batman by-election, upsetting the Greens who were the favourites to win the inner-Melbourne seat and have now blamed preferences deals between Labor and "hard-right" parties for their defeat.

Labor has declared victory in the Batman by-election, upsetting the Greens who were the favourites to win the inner-Melbourne seat.

Former ACTU president Ged Kearney was on track to defeat the Greens' Alex Bhathal, with the ALP winning back voters from the Greens in the southern part of the electorate.

There has been no formal declaration, but with more than half of the vote counted at 9pm AEDT, the ABC was predicting that Labor would retain the seat.

"This is a victory for true Labor values,'' Ms Kearney said.

"Our campaign spoke to everyone from the ring road to the river."

Her victory, the first ever for a woman in Batman, takes female representation in the federal caucus to 48 per cent.

Ms Kearney entered the Thornbury Theatre, where Labor supporters are celebrating, to a crowd-led rendition of union anthem Solidarity, and Mr Shorten paid tribute to the efforts of unions in the campaign.

He also acknowledged there was a growing anti-political party sentiment in the community, but used the victory to make a broader pitch to Australian voters.

Mr Shorten paid tribute to the Greens for running, and took a swipe at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for "not even bothering to turn up".

He also thanked the campaign's volunteers.

"To all of those who voted for Labor or not, tonight we celebrate a victory for Labor."

"I promise that we do not treat this election outcome as a triumph and an end in itself, but as another step, another step along the way to giving Australians the sort of government they want."

Greens leader Richard Di Natale told the party faithful the Greens were not going to get over the line in Batman.

He blamed preference deals between Labor and hard-right parties.

"Obviously it's not the result that any of us would have wanted," Ms Bhathal said.

"I first want to congratulate Ged Kearney. It's been an honour to have contested this seat against her."

"Many people have said over the course of this campaign that regardless of the outcome we'll have a strong, progressive woman representing us in this seat. And I wish Ged all the very best in Canberra."

It was Ms Bhathal's sixth attempt to win the seat and she entered the by-election needing just a 1 per cent swing to knock Labor off.

But the Greens campaign was dogged by internal leaks, including the release of a 101-page dossier of complaints from branch members against Ms Bhathal, some calling for expulsion over bullying and branch-stacking allegations.

Equally, Labor has had to fight a campaign on national issues that have wedged it, including stopping the Adani mine and the treatment of refugees. </s> 07:41

Bill Shorten and Ged Kearney have claimed victory in Batman in two rousing speeches, frequently interrupted by the crowd interrupting into chant or song.

Shorten promised voters that Labor would not take victory in Batman to mean that they could ignore the demands of progressive voters or those who had turned away from Labor:

Tonight I want to make a promise to all of the voters of Batman, the ones who voted for Labor and the ones who voted for other candidates ... that Labor hears the lesson and the message of Batman.

Shorten said he knew many voters were “disillusioned with politics as usual”.

Tonight in this venue we celebrate a victory for Labor, but beyond this room into the lounge rooms of Batman more broadly in Australia, I promise that we do not treat this election campaign as a triumph and an end in itself, but as another step in the way to giving Australians the sort of government they want with the policies that make a difference to everyday Australians.

Kearney, speaking over chants of “Ged! Ged! Ged!”, said: “Oh, they said we’d never do it. But we did.” She thanked Alex Bhathal for a “hard-fought campaign”, then addressed the voters of Batman:

I want the people of Batman to know that I have listened, that Bill Shorten has listened, and we are going to take everything you have said to Canberra.

Kearney is the first woman elected to the seat of Batman in its 110-year history, and brings the proportion of women in the federal Labor caucus to 48%.
Australian voters in South Australia, the Melbourne division of Batman, and the Perth electoral district of Cottesloe go to the polls in three separate elections.