LIVELY AUSTRALIAN ELECTION

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31221, 19 November 1966, Page 15

LIVELY AUSTRALIAN ELECTION

(X.Z Press Assn. —Copyright) SYDNEY, Nov. 18.

Australia’s Federal election campaign is developing into one of the most colourful and liveliest in recent years.

With Vietnam the dominant issue, the campaign has caught at the imagination of the six million voters who are eligible to decide on November 26 on the government that will lead them for the next three years. The present government—a coalition of the Liberal and Country Parties—is led by Mr Harold Holt, who is aged 58. He is fighting the campaign on his government’s record and is quite prepared to keep the matter of Australia’s commitment in Vietnam as the big issue, but it is not his choice.

Vietnam and Australia’s commitment —with the consequent use of conscripts—was I chosen by the Labour Party

as the Government’s achilles heel. The hope of Labour’s leader, Mr Arthur A. Calwell, who is aged 70, is that Australia will divide on this issue and throw out the government because of it. There is a total of 452 candidates for 124 seats. Nineteen of these seats are considered marginal. The “big three”—Liberal, Labour and Country Partywill, between them, be represented in every electorate. The smaller parties—the Democratic Labour Party, the Liberal Reform Party and the basic Industries Group—are not considered likely to take away any seats, but they are certain to prove of nuisance value to the big parties they oppose. Early in the campaign, political tipsters were confident that the 17-year-old coalition would be returned with an increased majority. (The present representation is Liberal 52, Country Party 19, Labour 52, Independent one.)

But as the campaign gathers momentum, the tipsters are less sure. Most agree that the government will be returned but there are some who believe that the issue of Vietnam is a “sleeper” and that many voters—particularly women—will turn against the government once inside the privacy of the voting booth. A resounding win for the government would convince them that the alliance with the United States and the Australian commitment in Vietnam have the backing of the majority of the Australian people.

Labour’s expressed fear in this respect is that the Australian commitment would increase and that there would be a huge influx of American capital—and consequent control of many more Australian companies. Labour say they will withdraw Australian servicemen in South Vietnam but that they will increase civilian aid to the country.

The government says this is “ratting” on an ally. Both leaders are stumping the country without pause.

There are other issues. Cost of living and education are foremost among the bread and butter ones, but none of these stirs up the bitterness that comes with mention of Vietnam, communism and conscription.

Nightly meetings are packed. Many of those attending are in opposition to the speakers and they have gone to great lengths to try to drown out the speakers. Supporters go to equal lengths to support them. Young people predominate among the vocal dissenters and supporters at these mass meetings. They gather in groups either at the front or the back of the halls and are often well organised. They come complete with banners and prepared slogans. Television is being used to an increasing extent in this campaign.