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Election myths busted

9:58pm Thursday, 2nd September 2010  

John Sandeman

The ABC’s election night headline “Green tide sweeps Fielding for Senate” was wrong. The last Senate seat in Victoria was being fought over by Family First, the Democratic Labor Party and the coalition as Eternity went to press. This meant a senator from a conservative party (with Pentecostal roots) was possibly replaced by a senator from a conservative party (with Catholic roots) or by a plain conservative. Not a green.
In 2010 Family First (FF) got 72,292 Victorian first preferences (to date), the Christian Democratic Party (CDP) got 10,300, DLP got 61,473 a total of 144,065. The “conservative Christian” parties increased their vote by 25,000.  At .37 of a senate quota, this vote (if it preferences tightly) will always be in with a good chance of winning a seat.
In SA the heartland of the Family First party, they got 34,431, the CDP 2,048 and the DLP 5,722.  The “Christian”  was roughly steady at .35 of a quota.
Wendy Francis from the City Tabernacle in Brisbane increased the FF vote in Queenland to 70,010, and  CDP and DLP vote increased off a small base, totalling .30 of a quota.
But in NSW there was a fall in the “Christian Conservative” vote: the CDP led by Nowra Mayor Paul Green got 70,521 votes and Family First got 33,244 with  the DLP on 26,864. The latest vote is only .25 of a quota.
In WA the CDP polled 18,993, FF 11,775, and DLP 7,716 for .25 of a quota. In Tasmania FF plus DLP received under .12 of a quota.