Conservative Coalition Ousts Australia’s Labor Government Disenchantment With Policy On Unemployment A Major Issue

In a landslide victory, a conservative opposition leader claimed victory in Australian elections Saturday, ending 13 years of Labor government.

John Howard will lead the new government after the victory of a coalition of the Liberal and National parties. He said in his acceptance speech that the coalition’s victory was a comprehensive endorsement of its philosophy and policy, and that he saw the vote as an “emphatic mandate.”

Earlier Paul Keating, the Labor prime minister who campaigned to sever links with the British monarchy, conceded defeat and announced he wouldn’t continue as party leader.

It is expected that Keating, 52, a member of Parliament since 1969, will retire from Parliament later this year.

The opposition focused its campaign mainly on domestic policy. Opinion polls indicated that unemployment, now at 8 percent nationally, was the major issue for most people.

During the campaign, Howard promised action to increase job opportunities, particularly for young people in areas where youth unemployment is as high as 30 percent.

In the other major policy area, health, the new government has promised tax rebates for people with private health insurance to supplement the government-financed program.

The election was for the full 148 members in the House of Representatives, from the six states and two territories, and for 40 retiring members in the Senate.

A high turnout of voters was reported across the country, with long lines at many polling places. Voting is compulsory in Australia, and citizens who shirk their legal responsibility face a $38 fine.

The coalition parties required only nine House seats to win office, and early returns indicated a swing against the Labor government in regions stretching from north Queensland, south down the east coast to Tasmania.

More than 30 of the 78 Labor members of Parliament, including at least seven Cabinet ministers, apparently lost their seats.

Some of the biggest shifts were in what had been considered the traditional heartland of Labor support in the western districts of Sydney.

Voters in the interior also appeared to turn their backs on Labor, reflecting disenchantment with government policies on unemployment, which is more than 15 percent in some country towns, and on assistance after four years of drought.

With a three-hour time difference between the east and west coasts, voters were still going to the polls in Western Australia when it was clear from the east coast returns that Labor had been defeated.

Howard, a 56-year-old lawyer, entered Parliament in 1974 as the Liberal member for a Sydney metropolitan area and three years later became treasurer in the Liberal government.