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The Gregg Institute on Foreign Relations
Country Profile
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Crown Colonies of Australia (1770 - 1900) -
The Commonwealth of Australia (1900 - ) >
Capital: Canberra
Official Languages: English
Government: Parliamentary Democracy and Constitutional Monarchy
Population: 22,604,980 (2011 estimate)
Currency: Australian Dollar
Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
Governor-General: Gillian Harker
Prime Minister: Dean Kerry
Treasurer: Phil Hartegan
Leader of the Opposition: Fiona Warne
House of Representatives (150)
Labor: 74
Liberal Coalition: 72
Greens: 2
Independents: 2
Senate (76)
Labor: 31
Liberal Coalition: 42
Greens: 1
Independents: 2
History:
HAROLD HOLT (b. 1908-1991)
Served as PM from 1966 to 1971
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... after an hour search Prime Minister
Harold Holt was found, walking along the frontage road back to the dock after nearly being swept out to sea. Despite this embarassing incident for Holt, he would successfully maintain leadership until 1971 when he retired from politics. Making
Vincent Mulready his deputy and eventual sucessor.
VINCENT MULREADY (1920-1983)
Served as PM from 1971 to 1972
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Vincent Mulready was a man who found being Prime Minister completely unenjoyable. He had one of the shortest stints as Prime Minister, owing to the Liberals failure in the 1972 election. Rumors persist that he took a dive during the election to avoid being Prime Minister for another term, although Mulready denies these, chalking up the defeat to people tiring of two decades of Liberal rule.
PERCY COLERIDGE (b. 1930-)
Served as PM from 1972 to 1974
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Percy Coleridge, became the first Labor PM since the 1940s, interrupting almost 20 years of uninterrupted Liberal leadership. Coleridge however found his skills limited to being Leader of the Opposition rather than Prime Minister, as once there he relied so heavily on advisors that Opposition Leader
Bartley Hartegan once quipped regarding the Coleridge Ministry, "The Prime Ministers of Australia, and seatwarmer Percy Coleridge". Liberal campaigning harped on this point, no one was shocked when in 1974, Labor lost their majority in the House of Representatives.
BARTLEY HARTEGAN (b. 1933-)
Served as PM in 1974 -1984
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Bartley Hartegan (b. 1932-)and the Liberals formed their government with one of the largest majorities in recent memory, nearly 35 seats. Hartegan's ten years in power were not quite what the Labor's feared, Hartegan turned out to be more of a moderate, and usually he was fighting his own party as much as he was the Labor Party, but he was an excellent politician. He was unseated in the 1984 election due to a fairly large campaign gaffe, which brought
Winston H. Smith, the youngest Leader of the Labor Party in Australian history, to be Prime Minister.
WINSTON H. SMITH (b. 195
Served as PM in 1984-1985
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Winston H. Smith was a man who suffered from the Coleridge syndrome. He was able to be an effective Leader of the Opposition and able to campaign very effectively, but once he got in power had no idea how to actually be Prime Minister, but unlike Coleridge, Smith thought he did. After less then a year, the Deputy Labor Party leader,
George Hogan was chosen to replace Smith be Prime Minister by the Labor Party. Smith has since become one of the Green seats in the House of Representatives.
GEORGE HOGAN (b. 1939-)
Served as PM from 1985 to 1992
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George Hogan became PM after he replaced Smith as Labor Leader in July 1985, although at the time most of the world was following the events in the United States and the "Reagan Affair".
Hogan proved himself to be a poplar leader and Prime-Minister. He had the common touch having been raised in the outback he was often went to the bush for his holidays. He also made crime, and espically knife crime a big issue. He called a Federal election in November 1986 winning the election with an increased majority in the House. 3 years later he won again but with a narrow majority. In 1990 he sent Australian forces to fight in the Gulf war, and was famously seen wearing a "bush hat" whilst visiting troops in December 1990. With the economy hitting a downturn he lost the 1992 election to young Liberal leader
Stephen J. Erwin.
STEPHEN J. ERWIN (1955 - 2006)
Served as PM from 1992 to 1997
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Stephen J. Erwin, almost suffered from "Coleridge Syndrome" as well since he was overly reliant on Deputy Party Leader
Alexandria Hartegan, and Treasurer
Fiona Warne, however by the 1995 federal election, he had found his rhythm, and proved to be an able political negotiator and politician. He was noted for his pro-active environmental policy, and often at odds with Hartegan on conservation. Polling before the 1997 election projected a Liberal sweep, but that proved to be false. Erwin himself was voted out of his seat in 1997, and in his words, "was saved from being in the opposition again". He went on to write 3 books:
The Hunt for Crocodiles, about the state of crocodile habitats in Australia;
The Polynesian Explorers, an historical study of the ancient Polynesian Explorers; and
Stephen J. Erwin, Prime Minister, his autobiography. He died in 2006 as the result of a boating accident.
ALASTOR CROWE (b. 1964-)
Served as PM from 1997 to 1999
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On Election day 1997, everyone had believed that Erwin and the Liberals had won in a landslide. The Sydney Times didn't even bother making a cover story about a possible Labor upset, yet this turned into one of the biggest surprises in Australian history. It wasn't realized until afterward that the polling organizations had updated their software and overestimated certain districts. Some swing seats were in fact not, and ones labelled strongholds were tenuous. This resulted in an almost +/- 15% margin of error, one which no one noticed until after the election.
Alastor Crowe had in fact gone to sleep before the election returns were in and told his staff to send Erwin a note of congratulation. The whole country was shocked when Labor had won the next morning. Ever since the 1997 federal election all parties now do their own polling with their own statistical software to avoid such an embarrassment again. Late night talk-show host David Letterman, of the Tonight Show made one of hisnotable monologues, "So have you heard about this Australian election? Apparently they contracted their polling out to the design team of Galileo III". Crowe and Labor weren't able to get much accomplished, since the Liberals reacted faster to the debacle of 1997, and called for the next election in only 2 years.
ALEXANDRIA HARTEGAN (b. 1953)
Served as PM from 1999 to 2007
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During Crowe's government, an MP from Tingley, Western Australia rose to prominence in the Liberal Party. Her charisma got her much public support, and her father's name and her own political savvy had her rise through the ranks of the Liberal party quickly.
Alexandria Hartegan led Australia and the Liberal Party to new heights from 1999 to 2007. She relished in free-market economic policies and successfully passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) much to her father's horror who was much more moderate in economic policy. In terms of Foreign Policy she was a frequent critic of President Bartlet and US intervention in Kundu, Qumar, and Kazakhstan. Father and daughter have a very complicated relationship, following
Bartley Hartegan's estrangement from the Liberal party. Rumor has that
Deborah Peltson-Hartegan, wife of Bartley and mother of Alexandria, has banned any discussion of politics whatsoever in her home. Alexandria's younger brother,
Phil Hartegan is a Labor MP in Queensland, and is now treasurer of Kerry's government. Hartegan's downfall came in 2007, over a leadership crisis. The Liberal coalition was tired of Hartegan being PM, and suggested that the party leader should be
Fiona Warne for the next term, Hartegan would hear none of it and insisted on being PM. Since the Liberal vote was divided, Leader of the Opposition
Dean Kerry and the Labor Party were able to capitalize on this schism in the Liberal Coalition and dethrone
Alexandria Hartegan. Much to the dismay of both Kerry and Fiona Warne,
Alexandria Hartegan successfully ran for a senate seat in the 2009 election.
DEAN KERRY (b. 1954)
Current Prime Minister from 2007 -
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Kerry's rise to be Prime Minister mirrors but is almost the complete opposite of
Alexandria Hartegan's, both relied heavily on their charisma and rose through the ranks of their party quickly, however where Alexandria Hartegan traded on her name, Kerry had none. Kerry was orphaned at age 6 when his parents were lost at sea, and went to live with his only living grandparent. After putting himself through college as an agriculture major, he got a job at the local winery, managing the vineyard. His rise to notoriety came when he became popular with the Agricultural Workers Union by joining them on the picket line, protesting against Alexandria Hartegan's agricultural programs. The Labor party approached him to run for MP, which he received in 2002. His oratory and political skill saw him gain quite a following among the younger Labor MPs, and it was 5 years later that he replace
Alastor Crowe as Leader of the Opposition, and won the federal election in 2007 becoming Prime Minister.
Kerry's first stint as Prime Minister, saw a great deal of dismantling or overhauling of Hartegan's Industrial and Agricultural policy. During the First two years of his term, he had a growing economy, but when the recession of 2008 happened Kerry skillfully managed the crisis. As a result Australia increased exports and consumer spending helped the Australian economy avoid recession in 2009. Australia was the only western economy to do so. In 2009 he goaded the Liberals into calling an election, be pretending to be drunk on the floor of the House, and in several meetings with Liberal members. Unfortunately the election didn't go as well as planned. Although Labor was able to capture the house of Representatives, Liberals made stupendous gains in the senate. Despite rumors in the international press of him being an alcoholic, in the Australian Press he portrayed as very gregarious, charismatic man of the people, hiding a keen intellect under this veneer of drunken ribaldry. This played well in 2009 but its starting to hurt the Labor party, who at this point are probably scrambling to get a new leader or buy for time until the next election, hoping to recover.
Election Outlook:
Election guidelines stipulate that elections must take place at least every 3 years. Kerry and Labor called for an election in 2009, just past the two year mark in an attempt to get rid of a hung Parliament. It partially worked, Labor got the clear majority in the House of Representatives, but the Senate is now the stronghold of the Liberals. Kerry's approval numbers following the Victoria Blazes has fallen to all-time lows, 32%. However the election rules stipulate that the earliest another federal election could be held is in December 2012.
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Casting
Vincent Mulready is Leo McKern
Percy Coleridge is Rod Taylor
Bartley Hartegan is played by George Lazenby
Winston V. Smith is Shane Jacobson
George Hogan is played by Paul Hogan
Stephen J. Erwin is played by Steve Irwin
Alastor Crowe is played by Russell Crowe
Alexandria Hartegan is played by Olivia Newton-John
Dean Kerry is played by Sam Neill
Fiona Warne is played by Judy Davis
Governor General Gillian Harker is played by Anne Charleston
Special thanks to Mark for the Hogan paragraph, and for casting help
