1996 Federal Election News

Week 4: February 12 - 23

Monday 12 February
The Queensland Labor Government led by Premier Wayne Goss is in its last days. The Independent member for Gladstone in the Queensland Parliament, Mrs. Liz Cunningham, announced today that she would support the National/Liberal coalition on motions of confidence and supply. Her support gives the coalition, led Mr. Rob Borbidge, a one-seat majority of 45-44 on the floor of the house. Goss said today that Parliament would sit again on March 5, whilst Borbidge called for it to be recalled earlier. Peter Beattie, the likely leader of the Labor Opposition, said that Borbidge had achieved government by sneaking in through the back door. The Goss Government was elected on December 2, 1989, ending 32 years of National/Liberal rule in Queensland, 18 of those years under the Premiership of Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Once it falls, Mr. Bob Carr's NSW government will be the only Labor government left in the Australian states. Reports today suggested that Federal Labor would prefer Goss to go sooner rather than later. Asked about the Queensland situation, Prime Minister Keating said that he had always regarded it as bad in principle to ever support the National Party on anything, describing the party as pre-Copernican obscurantists.

The coalition health policy was released today. As foreshadowed by Mr. Howard in the television debate last night, cash payments and tax rebates form the centrepiece of the policy. In an attempt to encourage more people to take out private health insurance, the coalition is offering up to $450 to couples with children, $250 to couples without children, and $125 to single people. The payment would be means-tested, cutting out an income of $35,000 for single people and $70,000 for a couple's combined income. The plan received support from the Australian Medical Association President, Dr. David Weedon, who said the AMA supported 90% of the policy. Prime Minister Keating attacked the policy, saying the ALP's policy announced last week would offer a rebate to 80% of families. Keating said that Howard was not entitled to be believed when he promised to maintain Medicare in its entirety.

Debate continued today on the Government's proposed crackdown on tax rorts. Keating said that the coalition now had to state clearly whether it supported tax cheats or not, whilst the Opposition wanted to know why the rorts had not been uncovered over the past 13 years. The Opposition continued to call for Keating to provide a statement on the state of the Federal budget - "show us the books" - whilst Keating continued to push his argument that Howard is pretending to be someone other than who he really is.

Reaction to last night's televised debate was mixed today. The Melbourne "Herald-Sun" said it was a draw, whilst other polls variously had Howard or Keating as the winner. There seemed to be general agreement amongst commentators that neither man had scored a "knockout" punch and that therefore Howard had probably gained more from the encounter because he had survived it. Various body language experts were paraded on television to discuss Howard's twitchy shoulder, forced grin and giggly manner and to contrast this with Keating's smugness. In Melbourne, Premier Jeff Kennett ruled out any debates in the next state election, due by October this year, saying they were fundamentally boring.

Tuesday 13 February
Opposition Leader Howard was in Queensland today launching his defence policy, which amongst other things calls for the disbanding of the Defence Reserve. Howard was forced on the defensive following another outburst by the National Party candidate for Leichardt, Bob Burgess, who has argued for the return of the White Australia Policy and recently described citizenship ceremonies as "dewogging" ceremonies. Burgess said today that he was an admirer of Graeme Campbell, the former Labor member for Kalgoorlie, Bruce Ruxton and Wilson "Ironbar" Tuckey. Burgess criticised Liberal Party policy to move towards 50% female MPs, claiming that on this and other policy areas he represented a silent majority in the Australian community. Howard said that Burgess was not his candidate and that Burgess would lose the seat to the Liberal candidate.

Prime Minister Keating today announced that the Government was considering recommending the Cape York area of northern Queensland for World Heritage listing. The announcement comes as the Australian Conservation Foundation has withdrawn its support for the coalition's environment policy, describing it as a "mirage" that can't be funded because of the Opposition of the Australian Democrats who will most likely continue to hold the balance of power in the Senate after the election. Keating said that major environmental initiatives like the Franklin Dam, Fraser Island, Daintree and others had only occurred because the Labor Government had done them. "Why?" Keating asked. "Because we believe in them, we don't pretend to believe in them like the coalition."

Queensland Premier, Wayne Goss, said today that he would recall Parliament next Tuesday, following the return of the Mundingburra writ at the end of this week. His government is certain to be defeated when Parliament sits. It is likely that Goss will surrender his commission to the Governor, Mrs. Forbes, rather than wait for Parliament to vote him out of office. The new Liberal member for Mundingburra, Mr Frank Tanti, met Howard today and was congratulated by the Opposition Leader.

The Morgan Gallup Poll, to be published in "The Bulletin" tomorrow, shows a dramatic turnaround in voting intentions since the beginning of the election campaign. The two-party-preferred figure has the ALP on 49% and the coalition on 51%. Keating has stretched to a 9 point lead over Howard in the most-preferred Prime Minister poll. The extent of the change in voting patterns shown by the poll suggests that caution should be adopted in analysing it.

Friday 23 February
Opposition Leader Howard was under attack again today over leaked details of the coalition's savings policy. Using a direct mail letter sent to voters in Namadgi, the new electorate in the Australian Capital Territory, the Government claimed that the policy would cost a further $1.6 billion over the next three years. The policy, which has not yet been officially released, proposes cutting the tax on savings account interest by up to 25 per cent. However, the letter sent to voters does not indicate that the proposal is to be means-tested and available only to people earning less than $35,000 a year. The coalition claims the policy will cost $200 million a year. Prime Minister Keating said today: "I think the Liberals have gone mad. They've got $8 billion, $8000 million, in promises out there, which are largely unfunded. Soon we will be at the stage where he will be offering us a free set of steak knives."

The coalition has promised to restore full employment in Australia. It realeased a policy today called "Pathways to Real Jobs", but would not put a figure on the full employment target or say when it would achieve it. Opposition Employment spokesman, David Kemp, said the jobs would come from better economic management, taxation reforms and small business reforms to eliminate red tape, including the scrapping of the unfair dismissal laws. The policy proposes modernising the apprenticeship and traineeship system and more support for vocational training in schools. Employment Minister, Simon Crean, said he was "incredulous" that the coalition was now supporting policies it had "bagged" in recent years.

The Australian Greens announced today that they would direct preferences to the ALP in 56 of the 92 seats Greens candidates are contesting in the House of Representatives. In 29 seats, including two Victorian marginals, McEwen and McMillan, and all 5 seats in Tasmania, the Greens are not directing preferences. In another development, the Australian Conservation Foundation ranked the ALP ahead of the coalition on an environment scorecard, but stopped short of recommending a direct allocation of preferences to ALP candidates. Meanwhile, the Wilderness Society says it will campaign to unseat three Labor MPs: Peter Cleeland in McEwen, Silvia Smith in Bass and Dick Adams in Lyons.

Opposition Leader Howard said today that he had often been mobbed at schools, as the Prime Minister was yesterday. He attributed the phenomenon to the presence of television cameras. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, said he had been hurt by not being invited to Labor's campaign launch but that he was a "big boy" and still prepared "to do what I can to help". He said the tide seemed to be turning Labor's way and it was possible for the Government to be returned.

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