Australian election TV coverage

Today more than 14 million Australian's voted for a new Prime Minister.

But at 11:50pm, we still don't know if Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott will lead Australia.

Julia Gillard, left. Tony Abbott, right. (Images from APH website)

Every Australian channel on free-to-air television deployed their top journos and presenters to cover the election. It was impossible to watch all channels at one time, so I did my best channel surfing.

From what I saw, SBS and Channel 10's main base was in their news studio. SBS's scrolling writing at the bottom of the screen was so fast it made my eyes dizzy. Every time I flicked to Channel 10, they were in their news studio with the same blue background as their news programs which was boring. Other channels made an effort to change their set, maybe I flicked to 10 at the wrong time?

Channel 9 had roving reporters like Allison Langdon who showed us behind the scenes of the manual tally board which was interesting. But it was a shame 9 didn't have former Howard government treasurer Peter Costello as a panellist on the whole time as he was enjoyable to watch (given the last election drama.)

ABC offered in-depth commentary from professionals as expected but Channel 7 had the best panel of experts for the duration of their coverage. They had the most relevant and recognisable people like former John Howard government foreign minister Alexander Downer, former Democrats Party leader Natasha Stott Despoja and former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull.

The stand out fashion ensemble went to Channel 7's Melissa Doyle. The nude top she wore under her white jacket made her look like she wasn't wearing a top under the suit jacket. I was initially so distracted trying to figure out what was going on with her top that I didn't notice the election news. For the record, the top sat high on her collar bone.

Above: The outfit in question. (Image: Still photo from YouTube video)

Interestingly, I noticed that only the commercial TV stations 7, 9 and 10 had a seats-to-win tally permanently on screen. This was such a practical graphic as aside from all the political jargon, all you needed to understand was the number of seats needed for Liberal or Labor to had win. But we're still waiting!

versus

Australia's next PM?: Athletic Abbott or cover girl Gillard?
(Image from news.com.au) (Image from news.com.au)

Who's this guy!?
What a Google Images search gives you, (old PM Kevin Rudd with Gillard's hair!)