Goss Blames Canberra For Vote Swing Against Alp

The Age

Sunday May 19, 1991

Gerg Roberts

The Queensland Premier, Mr Goss, yesterday blamed the Federal Government and the recession for big swings against Labor in two weekend byelections.

The ALP suffered a 14 per cent primary vote swing against it in the Brisbane seat of Nundah. In rural Toowoomba South, the swing was five per cent.

But the Liberal and National parties failed to capitalise on voter disenchantment, with independent candidates attracting most of the swing.

Mr Goss said Canberra's handling of the economy, particularly unemployment and business failures, was the main reason for the anti-Labor swing.

``The message for the Federal Government is that the average Australian is hurting very badly from the recession," he said.

``The message for the State Government is that if people are hurting, they are going to put you under the microscope and look hard at your performance." Mr Goss said the swing in Nundah sent a ``sobering message" to his Government, but it was not unexpected.

The ALP primary vote in Nundah was down from 57.4 per cent to 43.6 per cent.

The seat had been held by the Liberals for 32 years until it was won by Labor's Phil Heath in the 1989 election. His resignation last month forced the byelection.

The ALP was not helped by the controversy over a senior minister's use of the so-called ``Joh jet' to visit Mr Heath in New South Wales to talk him out of resigning, or by the former MP's public attack on what he alleged was the Government's slow pace of reform.

But given the absence of state issues in the campaign and a succession of polls showing high support for Labor in Queensland, it is likely that most of the swing was a protest vote against the recession.

The Nationals' vote in Nundah was down from 8.5 to 5.8 per cent, confirming that the party is finished as a political force in the Brisbane area.

The Liberal vote also dropped marginally, to 33.6 per cent. Because of the large vote for independent and minor party candidates _ about 17 per cent _ the final outcome will not be known until later this week.

The result confirms an Australia-wide trend of voters drifting away from the main parties.

The Queensland ALP director, Mr Wayne Swan, said the economy and revelations from the WA Inc. Royal Commission had hurt the party, but ``the outcome demonstrates an air of disillusionment in the electorate with politics and politicians".

The Nationals retained Toowoomba South, where the byelection was forced by the resignation of Mr Clive Berghofer.

The Liberals had high hopes of winning the seat, but failed to increase their vote.

The State Liberal leader, Mr Denver Beanland, said the ``savage" swing meant that the nationwide trend against the ALP did not stop at the Queensland border.

The Liberals' poor performance in both byelections appears certain to put pressure on Mr Beanland's leadership.

It will also strengthen the hand of the party president, Dr Bill Everingham, and other Liberals who want to restore a coalition agreement with the Nationals.

The Opposition Leader, Mr Cooper, whose leadership has also been under a cloud, said the results showed that Labor would lose the next state election.

© 1991 The Age

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