11-28-07, 9:26 am

The decisive defeat of the Coalition Government in last Saturday’s federal elections was a great victory for the labour movement, for the thousands of rank and file trade unionists and members of the Labor Party, for Your Rights @ Work groups and thousands of rank and file workers.

They gave their money and weeks of their time in the campaign to deliver millions of leaflets, to knock on countless doors and to hold many both big and small meetings. This was a victory for this army of workers who had one thought – to vote the Howard government out. It was helped by the fact that Kevin Rudd outmanoeuvred Howard who attempted to play wedge politics to the end.

A diverse range of other aggrieved and concerned groups also played their part in this historic defeat. Community organisations active among parents, hospital workers, environmental groups and new internet-based organisations such as GetUp which built up a membership of over 200,000 in the course of less than a year.

The Indigenous people gave an emphatic thumbs down to the military and police intervention in their communities reflected in votes in the NT.

All the hard work of many thousands of workers was rewarded with the defeat of one of the most reactionary, backward and mean governments ever elected in Australia. The sweetest victory of all was the personal removal of John Howard from his formerly “safe” seat.

The myth making by his Liberal colleagues has now begun. They claim that he was the greatest Prime Minister after Robert Menzies and that he had made an enormous contribution to Australia.

Alan Ramsey, columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald (Monday, November 26, 2007) puts a different view. He wrote: “Howard’s [defeat] couldn’t be more exquisite than that the Labor iceberg should take our outgoing prime minister down, too. Nobody is more deserving of oblivion … Howard’s enduring legacy is the utter destruction of the party to which he professed … to “owe” everything …

Nastiest, meanest ….

“As for this last election, the one that kills Howard off politically, along with the nastiest, meanest, most miserable, self-absorbed Commonwealth government to blight Australia in living memory… All that remains to sweep [Howard] out of sight is to get rid of the more obscene remnants of his governance in the months ahead”.


Howard attempted to build an Australian society that was a mirror image of his own vile sentiments and “values”. His attempt has come crashing down showing that there is in the Australian community, a huge pool of people with high moral values, who care about their communities, who are honest and motivated by goodwill.

In many respects it was more a vote against Howard than an endorsement of the ALP. The ALP’s primary vote was about 44 percent which climbed to 53.75 after the allocation of preferences.

The National Party’s De-Anne Kelly with a “safe-seat” margin of 10.1 percent, lost her central Queensland seat of Dawson, in one of the largest swings against the Coalition of 13.4 percent. The electorate had experienced an influx of unionised mineworkers since the 2004 elections. They clearly made a statement against WorkChoices.

Support for Indigenous population

Another high profile casuality was Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, who sent the troops and police into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. He was thrown right out in a swing of over 10 percent, in the Queensland electorate of Longman, on the northern outskirts of Brisbane.

The vote in the Northern Territory showed that the Indigenous people soundly rejected the Coalition government’s takeover of Indigenous communities. Labor Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon reports 88 percent support for Labor – up from 78 percent in outback booths. This is a very strong condemnation of the Howard government’s appalling treatment of Indigenous Australians.

Climate change was another critical issue that saw traditionally more conservative electorates undergo massive swings.

The Australian Democrats were wiped out. The Greens have unquestionably emerged as the third party in Australian politics. Nationwide The Greens polled an average of 7.76 percent in the House of Representatives.

The exchange of preferences between Labor and The Greens played a critical part in the election of a number of ALP candidates, without them winning a single House of Representatives seat themselves. The Greens are expected to hold five Senate seats. The Coalition’s majority hold on the Senate appears to have been broken.

The newly elected Senators do not take their places until July 2008, leaving the Coalition in control of the Senate until then.

The campaign by the Party leaders was presidential in style as Howard and Rudd personally took over “ownership” of their parties and policies, often omitting to mention the name of their party.

So-called policy statements poured out endlessly as embedded media packs scrambled for voice grabs, gaffes and photo opportunities. Their campaigns were superficial, mainly limited to the outpouring of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ dollars as they vied to buy votes. While Rudd’s “me-tooism” stymied Howard’s attempts at wedge politics it obscured and confused voters, many of whom came to see very little difference between John Howard and Kevin Rudd.

High expectations

But the electorate expects substantial change, real change in policy direction, particularly in the areas of industrial relations, climate change, health, education, Indigenous affairs, interest rates, housing, petrol prices, childcare, and foreign policy.

There has been much talk coming from the new Prime Minister of a vision for change. But whether Rudd’s vision, new leadership and change of direction accords with the expectations of the electorate is another question. The mixed messages which came through in the election campaign have left serious questions and doubts in many minds.

The majority of the people of Australia firmly rejected the neo-liberal economic and social policies of the political right but the ALP has also endorsed these policies and implemented them in the Hawke/Keating years.

During the election campaign the ALP supported the Tasmanian Pulp Mill and the intervention in the communities of the Indigenous people. It will take more than saying “Sorry” and putting something in the Constitution to right the wrongs of successive governments. It is what happens on the ground that really counts. Will the Rudd government send in armies of teachers, health workers and work out schemes and provide money to create viable jobs in Indigenous communities?

Will the new Labor government take the opportunity to move away from a slavish following of US foreign policy? Its policies suggest it will follow a more multilateral path and play a better role at the United Nations.

These questions will be answered in the near future. In the meantime we celebrate the defeat of the worst, meanest, most dishonest and manipulative government every experienced in Australia.

From The Guardian