Australian voters opted for stability and continuity last weekend when they gave Prime Minister John Howard a third term in office. Although the margin of victory was greater than expected, Mr. Howard's Liberal-National coalition government only picked up a few seats in Parliament. Moreover, the policies that secured his win are unsustainable. Mr. Howard has real work to do when he gets back down to business this week.
The vote was expected to be closer. Mr. Howard had only a razor-thin majority after the last general election held in 1998: Eleven of the seats held by his coalition were determined by less than 1 percent of the vote. A national swing of a mere 0.8 percent would have put the center-left Labor Party in the prime minister's office. And indeed, until a few months ago, it looked like the Labor leader, Mr. Kim Beazley, would be succeeding Mr. Howard, as the government's tax policy had angered many voters. Instead, voters turned away from Labor and handed Mr. Howard the largest swing toward an incumbent government among the two majority parties in over three decades.
Two events shaped this election: the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the arrival of a boatload of Asian asylum seekers that sparked fears over a flood of refugees. Both underscored concerns about Australia's national security, and, as is often the case, in a time of uncertainty the voters opted for the government and policies they knew.