Abolishing the Senate was clearly unpopular with the Australian public, 87% of voters voting against it. Large majorities of Australians did support House of Representatives enlargement to 200, meaning the new Senate would also be expanded to 100, barring another referendum, and optional preferential voting, meaning that every single ballot square no longer needed to be marked for a valid vote. A fourth question, on partial proportional representation, failed narrowly, as it got 50% of votes, not greater than 50%, after three recounts.
Following the results of the referendum, new redistributions were ordered for all states and territories - here was the new number of seats for each state/territory:
| State/Territory | Old Allocation | New Allocation |
| New South Wales | 52 | 68 |
| Victoria | 40 | 52 |
| Queensland | 26 | 35 |
| Western Australia | 13 | 18 |
| South Australia | 13 | 17 |
| Tasmania | 4 | 5 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2 | 3 |
| Northern Territory | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 151 | 200 |
Treasurer Paul Keating stated on live television that "Australia needs to increase its ties to Asia, if it is to succeed economically", on the 20th of February, 1992. While many in the Labor Party endorsed this, some in Labor believed Keating was trying to upstage PM Hawke, who had been Labor leader for almost a decade. Patriotic Front leader Graeme Campbell stated that "We will oppose all efforts to sell Australia down the river, what Hawke, Keating and company are doing is economic genocide”.
Fast forwarding to June, and Nick Greiner being replaced as NSW Premier by John Fahey, in wake of corruption, the High Court ruled in favour of Far Northern Queensland’s Meriam people, in what would be known as
Mabo, after Eddie Mabo, an Aboriginal land rights activist who passed away in early 1992. Mabo, along with fellow activists David Passi and James Rice, led the case against the discriminatory legislation in Queensland which had been enacted in the 1970s and 1980s, under the Bjelke-Petersen government. Native title was officially recognized by the common law of Australia, as opposed to the previous
terra nullius (or land belonging to nothing and no-one).
In the aftermath of the
Mabo case, the Government promptly drafted legislation to provide a nationwide framework for native title, which resulted in the following:
- A National Native Title Tribunal, or NNTT, to register, hear and determine future claims of native title.
- Nationwide recognition of native title throughout Australia and all its territories.
- Native title to be recognised under three conditions, namely connection to land and/or waters, continuation of recognised indigenous traditions, and the aforementioned common law recognition.
The legislation easily cleared the House of Representatives in August, and passed the Senate not long afterwards in September, coming into effect in July 1993. Despite their triumph in passing native title legislation, various Labor governments around Australia remained unpopular – not even a change of Premier from John Bannon to Lynn Arnold could uplift the party’s stakes in South Australia, in the wake of the State Bank collapse, and a Progress/National coalition in Victoria were swept into power in October 1992, under Jeff Kennett. Wayne Goss and Queensland Labor fared much better, holding on very comfortably post-Bjelkemander. Federally, the still high unemployment rate, which had reached 10% in August of 1992, along with little indication of recovery, and a desire by some in the Labor caucus for change, proved to be a catalyst by Treasurer Paul Keating to challenge PM Hawke, Labor leader since 1982, for the leadership. Keating proved to be successful by only two votes, and became Prime Minister on the 16th of September, 1992. Bob Hawke, as a result, became the first Prime Minister to lose a leadership ballot while serving as Prime Minister.
Over on the other side of the aisle, Progress were having their own leadership battles – some in Progress, particularly outside of both New South Wales and the moderate faction of the party alike, wanted a change from John Hewson, who led the party to a loss of four seats back in 1991. One month after Hawke was deposed in favour of Keating, Alexander Downer, one of two Progress MPs from South Australia, became the new leader of the Progress Party, by a margin of four votes, against Hewson and veteran MP John Howard, the latter of which endorsed Downer in the runoff. Five days before, the Australia Party renamed themselves the Australian Democrats, commonly referred to as the Democrats in a major re-branding under Janine Haines. It would seem that Australian politics was going through major changes.
Keating marked a significant departure from his predecessor, namely in his desire to make Australia a republic, which commenced with removing references to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in citizenship ceremonies, one of his first actions as Prime Minister. Despite applause from government supporters Natural Law, and a fair number of Labor and Democrat MPs, virtually all on the right were outraged, along with a number of Labor MPs, voters from both sides of the spectrum, and the RSL (Returned and Services League), the last of which showed the most anger towards PM Keating and his move. Before 1992 was out, PM Keating made a landmark speech in Redfern, Sydney, on the atrocities committed against Aboriginals by early settlers, the first PM to directly address this issue in this manner.
Entering 1993, and another state Labor government bit the dust, namely the WA-led government of Carmen Lawrence, replaced by a Richard Court-led Progress government. PM Keating, addressing the nation on the 20th of February, made an announcement of what would come to be known as his “big picture” – reconciliation with Aboriginals, as noted in the previous year’s native title legislation, support for a republic, strengthening ties with Asian neighbours, particularly Indonesia, and a national superannuation scheme. Natural Law, at this time, reminded the government of their commitment to repeal the GST, something which Keating supported in private at its introduction back in 1979. At this point in time, legislation banning tobacco advertising from sport was passed, to the phased out by no later than 1998, when the final sponsorship contract expired.
Also on Keating’s agenda was the introduction of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, which while opposed by Natural Law, was supported by Progress and the National Party, and passed Parliament easily. This new move put a 180-day detention period, following a Democrats amendment (initially 270 days), of asylum seekers entering Australia, who had been increasing in numbers over the past few years from China, Cambodia and Vietnam in particular. It was also introduced to maintain the integrity of Australia's immigration program, and to conduct security checks on unauthorised arrivals. Patriotic Front MPs boycotted the vote, calling it "a proxy against border closure" and "ineffective". PM Keating hit back at the Front, "It is clear these outback rednecks have no idea of what comprises an Australian".
Unemployment had reached a staggering 10.5% by July of 1993, just before Coles Myer, owner of one of Australia's largest supermarkets and department stores respectively, announced a major expansion plan, that would create 100,000 new jobs. PM Keating stated that "this is evidence that you
can be pro-business and for fairness at the same time, unlike some people in this chamber". Unemployment would recede below 10% by the end of the year. In October, the International Olympic Committee would select Australia to host the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, in a major boost for Australia, PM Keating, and NSW Premier John Fahey alike. In December of 1993, the Labor Government in South Australia was thrown out in a massive landslide, to be replaced by a Progress Government. Labor actually fell below the Democrats in the SA 1993 election in terms of vote, although still won more seats.
With six of the eight state and territorial governments now non-Labor, it did not look good for PM Keating and Labor, and major bushfires on the coast of NSW killed four people, and caused 300 homes to be lost. In South Australia, controversy arose over the proposed Hindmarsh Island bridge, when claims of a sacred site were examined, and Aboriginal Affairs minister Robert Ticker placed an interim quarter of a century ban on development while the claims were being examined. This would continue for the forseeable future, and the newly elected SA Government campaigned against the bridge.
An election has been called for the 4th of June, 1994.
Party platforms in the next post.
Poll
