In the seat of Gippsland I wish for a substantial swing against the National Party incumbent, and that a large part of it goes to the Greens – the only party and candidate with a strong climate action platform. Doubling the Green vote to 12% may be too much to hope for and 10% of primaries would be very nice. It would also be nice if the three reactionary parties cancelled each other out and all lost their deposits.
In Monash there are two strong climate candidates. Unfortunately, the Greens have made a preference deal with the ALP placing their candidate ahead of the Voices independent Deb Leonard. Hopefully she will poll well despite this, and finish second or third in the primaries and give the incumbent a run for his money.
Elsewhere in Victoria, I would like the member for Indi Helen Haines to expand her primary vote and for LNP seats to fall to climate independents in Goldstein and Kooyong. In country Victoria, the seats of Casey, Wannon, and Nicholls may give the LNP a worry although the independent in the latter seat has not campaigned on climate. A long shot would be for the Greens to take the seat of Higgins as well.
Across Australia, the wish list includes retaining current climate aware independents like Zali Steggall and Andrew Wilkie. It would be nice for the Voices candidates to take a further three to five LNP seats in Sydney and in Perth with some strong performances, perhaps even upsets, in the regions and the bush. An extra Green or two would be icing on the cake making for a greatly expanded crossbench holding the balance of power.
Failing this, I hope the LNP are evicted from the portals of power by the ALP and that the defeat will be disastrous enough for both the Libs and Nats to split on climate. Then they can reform into a true Liberal party that accepts the science and an ultra-conservative or reactionary party that doesn’t, with the latter rightfully destined for the political wilderness.