it’s election day in australia and the opposition labour party has swept in to power, ousting john howard’s liberal (conservative) party after 11 years in power. prime minister john howard has even lost his own electorate seat. throughout the campaign the two major parties had been polling neck and neck, but it’s already a clear win for labour without all the votes counted. key issues have included climate change (howard’s plan was to start a fund for research into climate change in 2010 … ), industrial relations, immigration, and interest rates. indigenous issues had a lower profile but were still significant, as the northern territory intervention instigated by the howard government a few months ago isn’t progressing terribly well. australia’s involvement in iraq is also a factor for many voters. as a new zealand citizen living in australia, i’m not eligible to vote; i’m glad labour have won but if i’d been able to vote i would have supported the green party, who at this stage have achieved 7.8% of the vote. under nz’s MMP system, that would be enough to get them at least one seat in parliament, but here it’s not, which is a shame. it remains to be seen whether the new labour government will live up to its promises on environmental issues. the moon is full, the night is mild, the streets are echoing with cheering election night parties & a sense of hopefulness …