AK's Australian Election Series - 1982
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  AK's Australian Election Series - 1982
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Poll
Question: FINALLY here!
#1
Liberal
 
#2
National Country
 
#3
Progress
 
#4
Labor
 
#5
Australia Party
 
#6
Communist
 
#7
Natural Law
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 31

Author Topic: AK's Australian Election Series - 1982  (Read 2238 times)
Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends
Anton Kreitzer
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« on: September 21, 2014, 11:07:46 AM »

The 1979 federal election, in some ways, was a repeat of 1976 - six parties competing for the vote, each of them winning seats in both houses. However, the composition was somewhat different - in terms of votes, the NCP surged over 7%, the Progress Party also had a slight increase in their vote, both of which now outpolled the Liberal Party, which went backwards by 5.5% to a mere 13.8%, the same amount of the vote as their partners, the NCP, and centrist party the Australia Party. Labor jumped 2% to 31%, while the Communist Party was back in double digits at 10.3%. The right (Liberal-NCP-Progress) won 53.79% of the national two-party preferred vote, while the left (Labor-Communist) won 46.21%. All three referenda, the first two of which were spearheaded by the Progress Party, passed by varying margins: while the freedom of speech referendum passed 82-18, the government powers referendum passed by a comparatively small 59-41, and the retirement of judges' referendum passed 65-35.

Summary of 1979 election:

House of Representatives
Labor – 43 (+5)
Liberal – 24 (-11)
National Country – 22 (+7)
Progress – 20 (+2)
Australia Party – 12 (-5)
Communist – 5 (+2)

Senate
1976: 8 Labor, 7 Liberal, 5 Progress, 5 Australia Party,  4 National Country, 1 Communist
1979: 12 Labor, 6 Australia Party, 5 Liberal, 5 National Country, 5 Progress, 1 Communist
Total: 20 Labor, 12 Liberal, 11 Australia Party, 10 Progress, 9 National Country, 2 Communist

Two-party preferred vote: 53.79-46.21

The incumbent Liberal-NCP-Progress Government, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who had to ward off a challenge from the NCP in his own seat, and whose party lost 11 seats, was returned with 66 seats between the three parties, for a majority of 6. In the Senate, the Australia Party and Communists continued to jointly hold the balance of power. Back in government, and with all three referenda passed, the government, particularly Progress Party leader John Singleton, were keen to lead Australia into the 1980s. On the opposition side of the chamber, Bill Hayden remained Labor leader, and the new Communist leader was Eric Aarons, first elected to the House of Representatives in 1976.

Once Parliament resumed in June of 1979, legislation was introduced to introduce a value added tax, as part of the government's tax overhaul system. Following the example of the UK Government, who introduced a VAT six years prior, the proposed VAT, to be known as the Goods and Services Tax or GST for short, was spearheaded by Progress leader and MP John Singleton from WA. The GST would be set at 10%, and would be introduced in conjunction with more reductions in income and corporation taxes, particularly the latter, the removal of wholesale sales tax, along with the devolution of federal "sin taxes", namely taxes on alcohol and tobacco, to the state and territory governments. The VAT would be transferred to the state and territory governments as an additional revenue stream, and would apply to all goods and services sold in Australia.

Negotiations of the GST were hard enough in the House of Representatives - The NCP stated that they wanted it to not apply to food. The Australia Party outright opposed it in its proposed form, with Steele Hall stating that it would "hurt all Australians, especially working and middle class Australians". After some negotiations, involving a cut in the proposed rate to 7%, keeping some income tax brackets higher than intended by the Government, a raise in welfare benefits by 7% (to balance the GST introduction), and exemptions on government services and fresh food, from the Australia Party (except the NCP food amendment) the GST was passed late in 1979.  The GST, and the associated changes to other taxes and benefits, would come into effect on the 1st of July, 1980.

Before 1979 was out, legislation re-organising Commonwealth-level police forces was passed, enabling the creation of the Australian Police Force, or AFP for short. This came into existence in early 1980, and had support from the Labor Party. Bill Hayden, however, was not in favour of the GST introduction, even more so than Hall and the Australia Party. Despite the amendments, Hayden described it as an "attack on the poorest Australians". The 1979 CHOGM meeting, held in Lusaka, Zambia, saw an official declaration condemning apartheid in South Africa, along with setting the foundations for the new state of Zimbabwe, and new leader Robert Mugabe.

Entering the 1980s, inflation was down to a mere 5%, with unemployment still higher than it was pre-1976, at 5.5%. On the 24th of March, 1980, Australia made a decision about the upcoming Moscow Olympics, that Australia would be boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, in line with allies the United States. Around this time, Don Chipp became deputy leader of the Australia Party. The 1980 budget also saw a proposal which would restrict tuition-free university to those from households earning under $25,000 a year, households earning between $25,000-$50,000 a year, would be eligible for the proposed government loan system, and households earning more than $50,000 would have to pay for tuition out of their own pocket. This caused not only opposition from Labor, who outright opposed the amendment, and the Australia Party, who were extremely skeptical about the proposal, but also from the NCP, as they believed the proposal as it stood would disadvantage young adults in rural areas. It was decided to shelve the proposal for the time being.

While the higher education amendment did not succeed, another government proposal, namely that of floating the Australian dollar, effective late in 1980, was successful. The dollar, which spent most of the 1970s fluctuating against the US dollar, would now float freely, so to speak, and the Australian dollar's value would now fluctuate to the foreign exchange market. This move by the government was another in their series of economic liberalisations, and aided in opening up the Australian economy even more to the global market.

1980 in other events saw Candice Reed, Australia's first "test-tube" baby, born on the 23rd of June, and the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain from a camp site near Ayers Rock on the 17th of August, who was later found to have been killed by a dingo, some 32 years after Azaria passed away. The initial investigation from the police came to the conclusion that Lindy Chamberlain, Azaria's mother, had murdered her, and that her father, Michael Chamberlain, was an accessory. Only Lindy would end up in prison in 1982, on the basis of the "dingo ate my baby" story not being taken seriously by the police, until further evidence surfaced in 1986. Lindy was released in 1987, on the basis of a piece of Azaria's clothing found in the bush where the Chamberlains had been camping. By the time 1980 was over, the Bjelke-Petersen government had been returned once again, the Court government in WA was returned, although with Progress Party support, and a controversial report commissioned by the Victorian state government recommended scrapping most of Victoria's passenger railways, and expanding the freeway network. While more freeways were to be built, public protests ensured the railways stayed.

On the 20th of January, 1981, Prime Minister Fraser was amongst one of the first to congratulate newly inaugurated US President Ronald Reagan on his victory. A month later, keeping in line with the firm anti-communist stance of the Fraser Government, Australia withdrew their recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, whom only the Communist Party supported, and even then, there were severe intra-party splits over Pol Pot.

Domestically, 1981 saw the brewing dissent over the proposed Franklin Dam in Tasmania - while many Tasmanians wanted it constructed, a significant number did not. The proposal was to build a dam on the Gordon River, dating back to the late 1970s, and the dam would generate jobs and electricity alike for those in southwestern Tasmania. On the anti-dam side of things, there had already been a massive 10,000 strong protest in Hobart in July of 1980, and despite a revisal to the proposal in 1981, Labor Premier Doug Lowe resigned over the issue in 1981. The anti-dam groups' main reasons for opposition were destruction of wildlife and habitat, and preservation of SW Tasmania.

The significant opposition (a majority of Tasmanians supported the dam, although only by a margin of 60-40 in a late 1980 poll), to the Franklin Dam saw the creation of a new political party, the Natural Law Party. Despite Deputy Australia Party leader Don Chipp, who was seen to be to the left of leader Steele Hall, opposing the dam, this was seen as being insufficient amongst some Tasmanians, particularly local activist and leader of the 1980 protest, Bob Brown. This led to the formation of the Natural Law Party, on the 22nd of April, 1981, otherwise known as Earth Day. Perhaps in response to the creation of the Natural Law Party, Don Chipp challenged Steele Hall for leader of the Australia Party, and succeeded in July of 1981. Hall would remain in the Senate until the 1982 election, where he would retire from federal politics.

By September of 1981, the Tasmanian government held a referendum on which proposal of the dam should be built, which resulted in 49% of Tasmanians supporting the original proposal, another 9% supporting the amended proposal, while the other 42% of votes were informal, at least three quarters of these were marked "No Dams" by protest voters. Once again, Bob Brown led the campaign against the dam. After Premier Lowe was replaced by Harry Holgate in November of 1981, the Tasmanian Labor Party, who held 19 seats to the Liberals' 11, the Progress Party's 4, and the Australia Party's 1 seat, was very split over the issue, and two Labor members became independents over the dam issue. The government fell in early 1982, and a Liberal-Progress government, which was fully committed to the dam, was elected that February.

Continued in next post.
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Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends
Anton Kreitzer
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« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2014, 11:09:40 AM »

The victory of the new Liberal-Progress government in Tasmania meant that the dam was going to be built after all - even if the Commonwealth government had the power to intervene, the current federal government would not have intervened  - Malcolm Fraser, Doug Anthony and John Singleton, along with almost all of their fellow MPs, were staunch defenders of states' rights. While this was a major blow to the Natural Law Party, who won two seats in the 1982 Tasmanian election, they decided to steer their attention to the upcoming federal election, due no later than July of 1982. Meanwhile, in Queensland, the Bjelke-Petersen government's attempt to stop Aboriginal people from buying land proved to be unsuccessful, as while free speech was protected in the Constitution, blatant racial discrimination was not - measures implemented by the Whitlam Government back in the mid-1970s meant that the Bjelke-Petersen government had even more fuel added to its fire, and the Liberals broke the coalition in Queensland.

Going into early 1982, inflation was down to a low 2%, and unemployment was back up to 6%, amidst the early 1980s recession, which had affected allies the United Kingdom and United States to greater extents, particularly the former. With no defections in this term, PM Fraser called an election for May of 1982, roughly three years after the 1979 election.

An election has been called for the 29th of May, 1982.

Party platforms at this election:

Liberal Party – Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and the Liberal Party are once again campaigning on their success in reining in inflation, getting unemployment stabilised around 6%, stating how projects like the Franklin Dam are vital to job growth and cutting unemployment in a third term for the government. The Liberal Party's 1982 slogan is "A Fistful of Dollars", derived from their lowering of taxes over the past six years. Fraser has stated he will resign as Prime Minister, should the Progress or National Country Parties win more seats.

National Country Party – Doug Anthony and the National Country are seeking to build on their 1979 triumph. On the Franklin Dam, they have stated that it will bring more work to Tasmania, and help keep Australia going amidst somewhat bleak international conditions. Anthony has once again distanced himself and the federal NCP from Joh Bjelke-Petersen, stating "Denial of the sale and purchase of land is not an Australian value". The NCP's 1982 slogan is "For Rural Australia".

Progress Party – John Singleton and the Progress Party are once again running on their successes as part of the Commonwealth Government, stating that "Without the Progress Party, Australians would not have some of the rights and prosperity they have gained in the past six years". Looking ahead, the Progress Party have once again stated their low tax, high job growth plans for government, and strong support for states' rights. The Progress Party's slogan for 1982 is "Life Free and Prosper".

Labor Party – Opposition Leader Bill Hayden and Labor are running on a platform which would retain the floated dollar, in a shock announcement. Hayden has re-assured voters that traditional Labor voters would remain in the party's platform, namely Medibank would have no more private investment, university education would remain tuition-free, a repeal of the GST, and private companies would pay their fair share in taxes. Labor's campaign slogan for 1982 is "For The Everyday Australian".

Australia Party – Don Chipp and the Australia Party, while maintaining their centrist stance under previous leaders Gordon Barton and Steele Hall, now have a socially progressive tinge to them, particularly on environmental and social justice issues. Chipp has stated that "while I'll give the government credit where credit is due, such as their allowance of Vietnamese refugees into Australia over their tenure in office, it is clear they are out of touch with a significant number of Australians". The Australia Party's 1982 slogan is "The Thinking Australian's Party".

Communist Party – Eric Aarons and the Communists are again running on a similar platform to 1979 and years gone by, namely a 100% nationalised economy, full ties with the Soviet Union, and the abolition of all governments barring the Commonwealth Government. The Communist slogan for 1982 is "A Red Australia".

Natural Law Party - Led by Dr. Bob Brown, the Natural Law Party are campaigning as an environmental force, who are campaigning on more environmental protections, higher petrol and sin taxes, animal rights, and a firm anti-nuclear stance. The Natural Law Party's inaugural slogan is "Protect Australia".

Voting is open until 9am on Thursday, the 25th of September, AWST.

Me: Progress.
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Dr. Cynic
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« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2014, 01:19:47 PM »

Australia Party, mainly because I've always had a soft spot for Don Chipp.
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Goldwater
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« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2014, 04:52:09 PM »

Progress.
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ElectionsGuy
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« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2014, 04:53:13 PM »

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« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2014, 04:53:26 PM »

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PPT Spiral
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« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2014, 06:18:41 PM »

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Cranberry
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« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2014, 08:59:53 AM »

I was considering Natural Law; but for now am still staying with Labor
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« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2014, 01:25:49 PM »

Communist.
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Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends
Anton Kreitzer
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« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2014, 10:27:38 PM »

Bumping, with a reminder that voting closes at 9am tomorrow morning AWST, or in just over 21 and a half hours.
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Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends
Anton Kreitzer
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« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2014, 03:41:25 AM »

Voting is now closed, thank you all once again for your participation.
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