Latham gets done over by John Howard. Latham’s tilt greenwards gives two Tasmanian seats to Howard (who gets a standing ovation in Launceston from forestry workers, an event he described as one of the most extraordinary events of his political career.)
Meanwhile, this –
Peter Van Onselen & Wayne Errington (2007) The Democratic State as a
Marketing Tool: The Permanent Campaign in Australia, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics,
45:1, 78-94, DOI: 10.1080/14662040601135805
ABSTRACT Making his first speech to Liberal Party MPs after his victory in the
October 2004 Australian federal election, Prime Minister John Howard said that he
was ‘a great believer in perpetual campaigning’ and that the government campaign to
win the next election had already begun. The concept of the permanent campaign is
important to understanding modern political communication. While an increasing
number of voters are claiming to be making up their mind who to vote for in the last
week of the formal election campaign, they are influenced in their decision by
political messages received well before the formal campaign period. The 2004
Australian federal election displayed many features of permanent campaigning; in
particular the advantage permanent campaigning affords the government over the
opposition. The Government Members’ Secretariat is an example of such advantage.
Modern campaign methods such as focus groups, qualitative polling, voter databases,
and strategic use of Senate resources for House of Representatives races are used on
a permanent basis to build a communications strategy. The resources of the state,
including government advertising, postal and office entitlements of members of
parliament, are used to research and communicate with the electorate. While many of
these techniques have been under development while also being in use for some time, it
is only recently that they have been successfully coordinated to the extent that we can
now say that the permanent campaign has reached Australia. This article examines this
process in the lead–up to the 2004 Australian federal election
marchudson.net 