AUSTRALIAN BACKLASH
Australian leader Scott Morrison defiant despite voter backlash
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged his embattled government will serve out a full term despite the conservative coalition looking set to lose its majority after a voter backlash in a crucial Sydney by-election. The Liberal-National coalition has a slim one-seat parliamentary majority and appeared headed for minority government status after a huge swing in a traditionally safe seat, fuelled by anger over the ousting of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. But despite the Liberal candidate conceding defeat on Saturday after high-profile independent Kerryn Phelps captured an apparently insurmountable lead in the seat of Wentworth, the count has narrowed sharply as postal votes are counted. Phelps’s lead of more than 54% under Australia’s voting system, which allocates voters’ second preferences if no candidate secures a majority, shrank on Sunday to just over 50.61%, or 884 votes over her Liberal rival. It rose late on Sunday to a margin of 1,616 as routine recount...
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