In: Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften: ZSE ; der öffentliche Sektor im internationalen Vergleich = Journal for comparative government and European policy, Band 5, Heft 2
In this exploration of the 2004 political campaign by the Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the author investigates the strategies of the incumbent to argue that the implosion of the Labor Party was the important factor in the success of the Liberal Democratic candidate. Analysis of public events & international issues surrounding the campaign, & the lack of competing party platforms indicates that an exchange of preferences by parties, & the phenomenon of e-campaigning were the impacting factors in the implosion of the Labour campaign resulting in a comprehensive Liberal Democratic victory. Voting data supports the author's conclusion that Labor's focus on Beasley indicates a paradox between the nature of the federal opposition in Australia's democracy, & the presence of Labor in six states & two territories. Tables, References. J. Harwell
The party politics between the Howard government & the Backbench Coalition are related in a narrative of the developments beginning with the failure of the Federal Labor party's 2004 candidate, Mark Latham. Impacts on the political makeup of the Senate resulting from actions of the Coalition Backbench through the restructuring of immigration policy, recentralization of health policy, tax cuts & the departure of Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson have resulted in a "clean-out"of the upper house. The Coalition's working majority was perceived by the public as an assumption of power, the character of the Coalition government is revealed in their labeling of emails protesting the assumption of power as a new form of electronic "spam.". J. Harwell