February 2001 World Headlines

Monday, February 19, 2001 - Web posted at 8:35:11 AM GMT

Ballot blow for Australian govt

BRISBANE - Prime Minister John Howard has been dealt another election-year body blow by discontented Australian voters deserting his conser VAT ives in droves in a state poll.

Widespread discontent at a new 10 pe rcent Goods and Services Tax (GST), fuel prices and free-market reforms that have hurt the countryside, devastated Howard's Liberal/National coalition in the state of Queensland on Saturday and in Western Australia a week before."

"Western Australia was a landslide.

The Queensland election was an avalanche," said Malcolm MacKerras, a political analyst at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Howard will be seeking a third consecutive term at the helm of this island continent of 19 million people when he calls an election, expected by November.

He will find it hard to resolve the voter dissatisfaction that swept the left-of-centre Labour Party back into power in the "sunshine state" of Queensland with a huge majority, and which ousted the incumbent conser VAT ives from Western Australia.

Labour gained an unexpectedly large swing of around 10 per cent in Queensland.

In order to oust Howard from "the Lodge" in Canberra, Labour needs a swing of 0,6 to 0,8 per cent nationwide.

Apart from a massive protest vote that gave Labour state Premier Peter Beattie up to 69 of the 89 seats in the local parliament, Saturday's vote in Queensland also cemented the resurgence of the anti-Asian immigration One Nation party.

Having virtually disappeared since it won one million votes in the last federal election in 1998, One Nation seemed set to win at least three seats in Queensland.

Right-wing antipathy toward Asian immigration and special treatment for Australia's downtrodden Aborigines also played a small role in Queensland, regarded by some as red-neck outback.

The re-emergence of Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the right-wing vote overall represents another headache for Howard.

Hanson, a former fish and chip shop owner adored by voters who feel deserted by Canberra, said Howard better watch out."

"This was a wake-up call for John Howard," the fiery red-head said on Sunday, adding the federal government should not be afraid of One Nation.

"It should be afraid of the Labour Party because it's handing it to them," she said.

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