Defeats seen as parallel

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34026, 15 December 1975, Page 1

Defeats seen as parallel

Reasons for the landslide against Labour in the Australian election on Saturday were much the same as those which pushed the New Zealand Labour Government out of office two weeks ago, according to a Canberra political scientist, Mr A. R. Main. “Voters in both countries gave Labour a go in 1972 to see if they could be better than the established conservatives at running their economies. They responded to the ‘lt’s Time’ campaigns,” he told an N.Z.P.A. staff correspondent in Sydney. “They have now decided after three years that in their view Labour can’t do any better. In fact they believe Labour did a lot worse. “There are strong parallels in the two countries, the economy being the key issue. “It was unfortunate for both Labour Governments that they held their power at a time of world inflation and recession. However, they both contributed to their own downfall by trying to bring in reforms too quickly, regardless of whether the economy could afford them.” Mr Main said the people of both countries seemed to like the reforms as such but disliked the methods used by the two governments to finance them.