Political Earthquake and Tsunami struck New South Wales.

A political earthquake struck the state of New South Wales in Australia at 6 pm yesterday after the close of the state election. It was soon followed by a tsunami which none of the residents in NSW have seen in the last one and the half decade. The toll of many defeated Labor politician kept rising as ballot boxes were counted and electorate results televised throughout the evening. The final toll might not be known for sometimes until the search and rescue team of the Labor party go through the election wreckage to determine just who has survived the carnage of yesterday election.

Aftershocks continued through the evening and were felt across the state after Barry O’Farrell led his Coalition Party to a historic wipeout of Labor. As the state’s 43rd Premier, Barry O’Farrell promised his victory speech to “rebuild NSW” once the dust had settled. But if O’ Farrell lives up to his promise, it will be month – not years, before the residents start to see a difference in public transports, traffic congestion and hospital waiting list.

The tsunami caused by Coalition snatched away as many as 29 seats from the Labor and was heading for a statewide swing of about 17 per cent, although the Labor hoped to retain as many as 21 seats – eight more than the worst prediction, Luke Foley, the Labor’s campaign director conceded: “The heartland is gone.”

The outgoing Premier Kristina Keneally survived the earthquake in her electorate but struggled in her seat, suffering a swing of at least 10 percent. She quit as labor leader last night as she admitted in her concession speech Labor had deserted voters.
“The truth is the people of NSW who entrusted us with government for 16 years, did not leave us,” she said. “We left them.” My mind is still preoccupied with her conceding statement while I blog, but at the same time begin to wonder about the coming general election back home. What can we learn from this political earthquake and tsunami?

Adios Summer and Hola Autumn ...

Today is the first day of autumn in Australia, we can’t wait sooner for cooler nights to proclaim the summer done and gone. We just had a bewildering summer of natural disasters brought upon us by the 2nd strongest La Nina weather pattern in Australia since record began. It had brought unprecedented floods and cyclones in northern Australia to the bushfires in Western Australia. In fact the whole country was affected by it. The rain which fell in Queensland flowed into New South Wales and South Australia; inundated and devastated many farmlands and houses along its path. The current La Nina will go down in history as one of the most expensive for Australia, with billions of dollars of flood and cyclone damage and billions more in lost crops and productivity. But Mother Nature has wreaked havoc before. Scientists have identified more than a dozen events since 1950, lasting from several months to more than two years. The Brisbane floods in 1974 which killed 14 people and cyclone Tracy, which struck Darwin that year killing 71 people, both occurred during a La Nina weather event. In any events, the recent Australian summer will be remembered for its extreme wet weather, influenced a La Nina weather pattern in our region that contributed to the establishment of a tax levy and a political debate over carbon tax in the Australian Parliament.

Although it is autumn as of today, the late summery weather still continues and remains the same according to the week-long weather forecast. But as late summer turns into autumn, my summer vegies will be coming to an end of their season. This morning I have harvested some green chillies to use them as vinegar-pickled chillies for my hokkien mee or fried bee hoon. I will post the recipe for the pickled green chillies once I get them from my sister in law.