Johnny Too Good for Australian Left

Australian Prime Minister John Howard won his fourth consecutive election last night, increasing his majority in a contest that was on a knife edge until the last minute.

The result is a disaster for the opposition Labor party, which is now likely to notch up more than a decade in opposition after dominating Australia's political scene throughout the 1980s and the 1990s.

A triumphant Howard told cheering supporters at a victory party in Sydney's Wentworth Hotel that Australia 'stands on the threshold of a new era of great achievement'.

The result gives him a remarkable mandate. Australian governments rarely increase their majority at elections, but Howard has now managed to lengthen his lead over the opposition twice in succession and last night won a swing of more than 3 per cent in his favour.

Initial indications suggest he may also gain a working majority in the senate, a situation which no Australian government has enjoyed since the mid-1980s.

Labor leader Mark Latham, who reawakened his party from a prolonged slump in 2003 and took it to the brink of victory in this campaign, conceded defeat at 9.40pm after a fifth of seats had been declared.

'Tonight is not our night, it's not the night we were hoping for,' he said, looking pained. 'We'll make sure the government is held to account. Thank you very much and I'll see you again.'

Labor needed to win 12 seats to take the election, but its four victories from Howard's Liberal-National coalition were outweighed by the eight seats it lost to them.

Liberal supporters were jubilant. Howard's acceptance speech was at times almost drowned out by chants of 'Johnny, Johnny' and 'You beauty!' One leg tapping in excitement, he admitted to having had butterflies in his stomach on the morning of the poll and described his endorsement as the 'greatest privilege'.

'This is a proud nation, a confident nation, a cohesive nation, a united nation,' he said. 'A nation that can achieve anything it wants if it sets its mind to it.' It is likely to be the 65-year-old's last election, although he has not said when he will hand over to his unpopular heir, the treasurer Peter Costello.

Latham said that his campaign had 'put forward clear choices' to the electorate, but in the end he failed to provide the Australian public with enough good reasons not to return Howard. Australian governments rarely lose elections when the economy is strong, and Labor's policies were often badly sold and flawed in detail.

The result challenges the notion that voters will inevitably punish governments who supported the Iraq war. Howard was lucky that Australia suffered no fatalities from its largely cosmetic involvement in Iraq, and he also scored on the fact that Australian voters are rarely swayed by foreign affairs outside their immediate region. In Australia around 40 per cent of people still believe the conflict was worthwhile.