The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

$1.00 Sunday, March 3, 1996 TTTTdTiYTOX TiR TW Huge NSW swing destroys Keating STATE Of THE 7i PARTIES House of Representatives TOTAL 148 37 38 a 1 i 'o i a Twrparty preferred vote 54.23 45.77 Lai: By CLARISSA BYE Political Correspondent THE Keating Government was overthrown last night in a massive rout by voters, led by those in NSW. The massacre saw the ALP suffer a national swing of more than 6 per cent against it on first preference votes by 9pm with half the vote counted. Almost all the anti-ALP sentiment went to the Coalition, which had only needed a 0.5pc swing to gain office. Underlining the depth of carnage for Labor, about 30 seats are likely to change hands. Opposition Leader John Howard will take over the reins of government this week, with a mandate to radically reform Australia's industrial laws, sell one-third of Telstra and cut red tape for small business.

In a sign that the Labor Party may react to the thrashing with some old-style party bloodletting, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who was toppled by Mr Keating, analysed his successor's problem as "one of remoteness, aloofness, In Mr Keating's home State of NSW, the anti-ALP swing on primary votes was a massive 9pc. In Queensland the swing was 7.3pc and in Victoria where the ALP expected to pick up seats it lost 3.5pc. Overall, the two-party preferred swing was about 5pc, with the Coalition on 54.23pc and Labor on 45.77pc. Analysts last night attributed the huge swing in Australia's biggest State as a reaction to some unpopular decisions by the State -fr -v "5 mS" Labor Government, including the downgrading of the role of the Governor. The Coalition, which had needed a further seven seats to win, is expected to govern with a majority of more than 40.

Deputy Liberal Leader Peter Costello nailed the win as a "magnificent victory and a vote of confidence from middle ALP casualties included high profile government ministers and future leaders such as Communications Minister Michael Lee, who suffered a 7.2pc swing against him with 78pc of the vote counted. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Robert Tickner lost his southern Sydney seat of Hughes with a swing of 1 lpc. And Administrative Services Minister and former State MP Frank Walker was trailing by 9pc. In South Australia, Overseas Continued page 2 AT LAST: Prime Minister-elect John Howard last night. 3" OTSSffcjiL SBi jkl v4 4 A iB If II wm I fte 1 nY MONEY: P37 CROSSWORDS: P101 SPORT: P43 TRAVEL: P76 WEATHER: CLEARING-CITY MAX 24 P1 02.