Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

Howard finally surrenders Bennelong

Yesterday saw John Howard formally out of power and out of his seat in Bennelong.  The official declaration of the poll was conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission at the Sydney North Shore Commercial Centre of Chatswood.

George W. Bush’s “man of steel” was off into political oblivion.  He took two and a half weeks to personally concede defeat to Maxine McKew.

Back on election night the Prime Minister’s seat was deemed “too close to call”.

However, the AEC Returning Officer James Carroll announced that the ALP candidate had actually won by a clear margin – 51.4% to 48.6% (44,685 votes to 42,251 votes), two party preferred.

The official declaration confirms John Howard’s ignominious title of being only the second sitting Prime Minister in Australian history to lose his seat in an election.  The first being Conservative Party politician Stanley Bruce in 1929, who also tried to dismantle the IR system leading up to the Great Depression.

In an upcoming book by Margot Saville entitled: “The Battle for Bennelong” a blow by blow account of the election campaign in the Prime Minister’s electorate is expected to make interesting reading.

According to The Age newspaper, McKew thought Howard had very bad supporters on the ground.  Some of his Liberal Party ‘volunteers’ were “insulting, sometimes on the verge of violence”.

This is an interesting observation given the vicious union bashing TV ads put to air during the election.

 


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