ABSTRACT
Most embarrassing of all for John Howard’s APEC vision was an unlikely prank pulled off on Thursday 5 September. The culprits were ABC comics and paid-up serial pests, The Chaser. The facts of the 24 November 2007 Australian election are clear enough. After eleven and a half years in power, cresting a booming economy, John Howard’s government was decisively rejected by the Australian people. There was a nationwide 5.3 per cent swing against the Liberal-led Coalition. For more left-leaning commentators like Alex Milmow or Kenneth Davidson in The Age , Howard’s election defeat was all about WorkChoices—making due reference to Howard’s only prime ministerial precedent in losing his own seat, Stanley Bruce. The importance of the swings in rural and regional seats also suggests that Howard’s focus on the city-based working class—repackaged as home loaning suburban battlers—was overdone.
