Antinuclear

29% voter swing to Greens in Northern Territory’s proposed nuke waste dump area

with many of the intervention’s most controversial elements still in place during Labor’s first term, some voters chose not to vote for either major party. Other issues, like the proposed Muckaty Station nuclear waste dump, seemed to have an effect.

In Tennant Creek, near where the facility would be built, Labor had a 24 per cent swing away from it in primary votes, while the Greens, who are opposed to the dump, achieved a swing of 29 per cent

The shifting tide of Territory politics, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Katrina Bolton –   Sep 9, 2010 “……worryingly for the Territory Opposition, even the people who swung away from Labor did not necessarily vote for the Country Liberals in many of the remote booths. Some went with the Greens or independents.

For Labor, these results are a sign that perhaps for the first time, Indigenous votes in the bush really are up for grabs.

For the Country Liberals, it’s a clear message that they have a lot of convincing to do before people in remote communities see them as a viable alternative…….It is hard for the major parties to know exactly why people in the Territory’s remote communities shifted their votes but the intervention does seem to be a major factor.

In the 2007 election, people voting against the intervention shunned the Coalition. But with many of the intervention’s most controversial elements still in place during Labor’s first term, some voters chose not to vote for either major party.

Other issues, like the proposed Muckaty Station nuclear waste dump, seemed to have an effect.

In Tennant Creek, near where the facility would be built, Labor had a 24 per cent swing away from it in primary votes, while the Greens, who are opposed to the dump, achieved a swing of 29 per cent. On a two-party preferred basis, Labor still won the booth.

The shifting tide of Territory politics – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

September 10, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Northern Territory, politics, uranium | aboriginal, antinuclear, Australia, Muckaty, nuclear wastes, uranium