Just days after the results of Australia's federal election became known, signs already suggest the nation's mining and energy sectors will be far from immune to the change of government.
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), generally left-wing but containing factions positioned along that part of the ideological spectrum, has won about 80 of the country's 150 electoral divisions. During the 2004 federal election, the winning of 74 divisions saw the Liberals re-elected to govern.
About 80% of the primary vote has been counted, at the time of writing. Even though vote-counting continues, early on the ALP and its leader Kevin Rudd seemed sure to edge out the Liberal-National coalition - so sure that outgoing parliamentarians Prime Minister John Howard, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile and Treasurer Peter Costello chose to step down from office in recent days, leaving what local media are calling a "leadership vacuum" within the Coalition...
In April, the ALP dispatched a significant change of policy, well before the election campaigning began in earnest. It was back then, at its national conference, that the ALP lifted its ban on new uranium mines on Australian soil.
Now that the ALP will govern federally, pressure on the Western Australian and Queensland state Labor governments to open their gates to uranium mining could quickly intensify.
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), generally left-wing but containing factions positioned along that part of the ideological spectrum, has won about 80 of the country's 150 electoral divisions. During the 2004 federal election, the winning of 74 divisions saw the Liberals re-elected to govern.
About 80% of the primary vote has been counted, at the time of writing. Even though vote-counting continues, early on the ALP and its leader Kevin Rudd seemed sure to edge out the Liberal-National coalition - so sure that outgoing parliamentarians Prime Minister John Howard, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile and Treasurer Peter Costello chose to step down from office in recent days, leaving what local media are calling a "leadership vacuum" within the Coalition...
In April, the ALP dispatched a significant change of policy, well before the election campaigning began in earnest. It was back then, at its national conference, that the ALP lifted its ban on new uranium mines on Australian soil.
Now that the ALP will govern federally, pressure on the Western Australian and Queensland state Labor governments to open their gates to uranium mining could quickly intensify.
