Sway

In a remarkable turn of events it seems the senate may be saved afterall, by the Greens (thank goodness for the Greens) by (ironically) a One Nation split vote and by John Howards spam technique. Not only is Liberal control of the senate hanging in the balance but so, it seems, is the Liberal-National Co-alition itself. Mr Barnaby Joyce, the National candidate for Queensland, is really not sounding happy with John's solicitous advances;

"John Howard could have lost the once-in-a-lifetime chance to control the upper house by sending out a letter to the National Party base (asking people to vote) for the Liberal party ticket," he said.

Vote counting as of 23 Oct;

The National Party's calculations of the expected flow of preference votes suggest it maintains a razor-thin margin over One Nation. But if One Nation gets ahead, preference flows should ensure the Greens beat both of them for the sixth Queensland seat. This would probably leave the Coalition with 38 Senate seats, one short of a majority. - smh.

Oh, and looks like the whole Howard vote borrowing let-them-chip-wood-and-have-it-too tree thing;

"I like trees, I like forests, I believe in an environmentally sensitive nation," Howard told thousands of cheering timber workers in Tasmania. "But I do not think it's fair to throw the jobs of individual Australians ... onto the scrap heap."

was a a bit of a long shot.

Senator Brown says the Greens have also improved their position in Tasmania with their candidate Christine Milne improving her primary vote to 13.3 percent.

SBS are waiting for final results on Tueday.