Notice that it was Seatown vs. IDS, not Labor vs. IDS. On the other hand, he was in his right to claim, bearing in mind some formal deficiencies in that election in accordance with the electoral legislation then in force, something that Bacon King noticed with wisdom. By the way, that controversy had the virtue of revitalizing a region that was agonizing in an ocean of tedium, politically speaking.
You also ran Mr. Seatown as your candidate in the recent Senate election against Sen. Yankee. Like it or not, Seatown is the face of Labor in your region.