An inadequate response to global warming is but one reason Howard got the boot. The other major one was his WorkChoices laws (possibly the greatest misnomer in Australian political history) which leaned far too heavily to the right in favour of business and employers, and FINALLY people woke up to the fact that the Howard government didn't have the best interests of everyday Australians at heart.

That said, global warming was also a major factor, and as awareness grew and grew and the drought worsened and worsened people started to realise that action needed to be taken, targets to cut emissions needed to be set, water needed to be conserved, and we had to get a seat at the international political table by signing the current international treaty - the kyoto protocol.

So Australians finally booted him out and elected a new Labour (left-leaning is an over-statement, sadly more like centre but compared to the Howard and Bush governments seem like far left) government which has pledged to do this. We wait with bated breath as to what unfolds in the weeks and months ahead...

And I hope that the ousting of the Howard government provide a morale boost for progressive Americans everywhere that even with a powerful and greedy government at the helm that will pull all manner of dirty tricks and works to instill fear and maintain apathy, it CAN be done, they CAN be overturned if enough people start to THINK and to CARE. It took us 11 and 1/2 long years but we finally got enough momentum...

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Most don't realize that 99% of Australians vote in their elections. There is a fifty dollar fine or tax for not voting, so everyone gets busy and learns about the candidates and votes accordingly. If only America would do the same!

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I think we should be profoundly grateful that it remains possible here in Australia to throw out a government once in a while. In Monday's Sydney Morning Herald, Alan Ramsay called John Howard and his cohorts “the nastiest, meanest, most miserable, self-absorbed Commonwealth government in living memory”.
I am not alone in having been ashamed of the actions and the policies of those in power, but their bare-faced lies have sufficed to keep them in power these past eleven years. The playwright David Williamson summed it up so clearly for me in his piece in the same paper, saying:
"Morality does count, in life and in politics. I think part of the Rudd vote was due to the fact that Howard, in his selfish and single-minded quest to retain power, had pushed the sleaze boundaries further than Australians wanted to go.
Rudd will be different. If he can tilt our culture's tone to one in which fear, greed, indifference, cynicism and prejudice are a little less prevalent in our national life, then many of us will feel a little prouder to be Australians than we have in the past 11½ years."

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...that one of the Shrub's best friends is an idiot...who knew!?

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There are a numer of reasons for the fall of the Howard government. In order of significance they are:

* Industrial Relations: Undoubtedly top of the list was Howard's Draconian industrial relations laws (misleadingly called "Work Choices) which, among other things, abolished free collective bargaining, award wages, and generally did its best to exclude the trade union movement from the work place. Work Choices was the target of a well designed and implemented campaign of opposition led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. And it paid off.

* The environment. As Australia's great dry continues, as the nation's rivers dry up and even stop flowing (as the Murray River, the Australian equivalent of the Mississippi, did earlier this year) and as farmers struggle to get by with only 25% of their proper water allocation, the Howard Government's repudiation of Kyoto and denials of global warming began to bite - so much so that earlier this year, Howard actually became a late convert to the cause. However it was clear to most observers that even though he was starting to say a few of the right things, his heart wasn't in it. And the measures he proposed were either half-hearted, or anathema to the environmentally concerned - such as his support for "clean coal" (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) and nuclear energy. The Greens vote rose to 8% nationally and, thanks to Australia's "instant run-off" voting system (known here as preferential voting), a good slice of that Green vote flowed on to the Labor Party.

* Education and hospitals: While the federal government has boasted of considerable surpluses over the past few years, state governments have consistently complained that Canberra has not been providing enough funding to maintain them at adequate levels. And voters could see for themselves that school and hospital standards have been falling. Incoming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to rectify the situation.

* Howard himself. Portrayed as old (he is 68) and out of touch and likely to retire part way thoguugh his next term of office, Howard compounded the problem by admitting he probably would quit half way through his three-year term. The problem for Howard's Liberal Party was the liklihood that Howard would be replaced by former Treasurer Peter Costello, one of the few Liberals even more unpopular than John Howard.

Finally it must be said that Labor ran a better organised, better co-ordinated campaign than the government. To illustrate, the day after Howard announced the election date, I had reason to make a five hour drive south from Sydney down the coast highway. In that drive I counted half a dozen election posters, up already. Not a single one was for a Liberal candidate.

Indeed, Howard did not even succeed in getting himself re-elected to parliament, losing his own seat to high profile journalist Maxine McKew. He underestimated the quality and professionalism of grass-roots campaign and so suffered the ignominity of being only the second Prime Minister in more than 100 years to lose in his own electorate.

He will be remembered for that, if nothing else.

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Thanks to all posters, especially Gazza126 for the international perspective. It's rare to hear news, from any outlet, in the US that is from beyond the borders or oceans unless it's the Middle East. Even Alternet falls down in this regard; last year there was a fledgling attempt to have a regular feature on Latin America, but it didn't last much beyond the Mexican election. And I don't remember seeing anything on Alternet on the Australian election before this (though I will grant I could well have missed it - but if so, what does that say about the coverage?). Anyway, thank you all and congratulations to all Aussies! May your example be the beginning and an inspiration for all others around the world.

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I'd like to think the Howard support for the Iraq war was also a strong unspoken factor. The Labor party did not want to focus on this for fear Howard would drag out the fear and patriotism cards as he had done before the previous two elections. I was in an upper middle class home on Saturday night cheering for Howard's destruction and a number of "natural conservatives" were saying he should never have gotten Australia involved in Iraq.

For me the worst elements of the Howard government were the phony nationalism and the unconditional support and cheerleading for Bush foreign policy. Flag waving, military parades every second week, hands over the heart during national anthems at third rate sporting events etc. etc. Associated with this was the barely concealed demonisation of Muslims, asylum seekers, the mentally ill and the fear-mongering accompanying it. Former PM Paul Keating said he felt like he had been hosed down and cleansed after being immersed in toxic waste after Howard was sent packing.

I took immense pleasure in being a voter in Howard's own electorate of Bennelong and playing my small part in voting him out.
Good riddance to bad rubbish!

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