Why Prime Minister Gillard may survive a by-election loss

A by-election loss for the Gillard Labor Government need not lead to Tony Abbott becoming Prime Minister.

Gillard has the support of 76 members of the House of Representatives while Abbott has the support of 74 (counting Tony Crook). With one Labor MP as Speaker, this turns into a 75-74 vote on confidence motions on the floor of the House – assuming that both Tony Crook and Bob Katter vote with Coalition MPs against Gillard

A by-election loss for the Gillard Government would lead to a 74-75 split on the floor of the house in favour of Abbott. But it is highly likely Labor MP Harry Jenkins would resign the speakership to prevent Abbott becoming Prime Minister.

Atlas of NSW

The NSW Land and Property Information division of the Department of Finance and Services has recently published its online Atlas of NSW overlaying all types of statistical information onto maps of NSW covering on the topics of economy, elections, environment, history, people and the 2006 census.

I’ve only looked in detail at the elections section, which is a fabulous treasure trove of historical information from 1856, including electorate maps and results. You can zoom in to any part of NSW and scroll through time. No doubt Antony Green enjoyed himself putting the information together!

Here is the electoral atlas.

NSW Parliament publication – NSW Election 2011: Overview of Legislative Assembly Results

My blog has suffered from neglect recently due to my extreme business in my new job as a consultant for the Allen Consulting Group.

I thought I’d publish a link to something students of NSW politics will be very in interested – the NSW Parliament’s publication on the lower house results of the 2011 NSW state election.

The NSW Government has also published a treasure chest of NSW state electoral history, including electoral boundaries, which I’ll link to on another post. Creating this electoral atlas would have been a truly herculean task.