WI: John Hewson wins 1993 election

With an election looming, one of the biggest what-ifs in Australian politics is if John Hewson didn’t gave the birthday cake interview and won the 1993 Federal Election over PJK?

Of course, he lost that year and was replaced by Downer then Howard in 1994. Where would Australia be today?
 
Hewson would be be trying to implement Fightback! line-by-line though I wonder how successful it would be, whether he will change course if his policy is not as successful as expected, and whether the electorate can stomach Fightback! when it’s implemented.

OTL he moderated his policies during the campaign (food no longer subject to GST) but I wonder if he would be able to do such a thing as moderating his policies from government or whether he would claim that his election victory gives him mandate to implement Fightback!
 
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sprite

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It depends on how much the Democrats would have held him up for in the Senate.

Cheryl Kernot was more left leaning than Meg Lees, so I expect her to ask for more than Lees did.
 
I cannot see that Australia would be any different from where it is now. Howard implemented most of Hewson’s policies during his reign in power from 1996 to 2007, especially the GST (which I often jokingly call the “Green Services Tax”).

In fact, with One Nation potentially not the electoral force they briefly were in late 1990s Queensland, Hewson might have gone further with privatisation and deregulation than Howard did.
 
I cannot see that Australia would be any different from where it is now. Howard implemented most of Hewson’s policies during his reign in power from 1996 to 2007, especially the GST (which I often jokingly call the “Green Services Tax”).

In fact, with One Nation potentially not the electoral force they briefly were in late 1990s Queensland, Hewson might have gone further with privatisation and deregulation than Howard did.

I have always said PJK created One Nation by hanging around an election too long and pushing his social agenda a little too far.

By extension by pushing the social pendulum that far it created a bigger swing back as the conservatives got more rabid. There are global forces at play as this is a world wide issue, but I wonder what could have been done if the breather was in 93 and let the country digest the 80s. Australians will let you do pretty much anything to them as long as they think that they are in control.
 
I have always said PJK created One Nation by hanging around an election too long and pushing his social agenda a little too far.

By extension by pushing the social pendulum that far it created a bigger swing back as the conservatives got more rabid. There are global forces at play as this is a world wide issue, but I wonder what could have been done if the breather was in 93 and let the country digest the 80s. Australians will let you do pretty much anything to them as long as they think that they are in control.

I think internally in the Liberal Party at least, a Hewson Prime Ministership would check the advance of social conservatives. They'd fall in behind Hewson for a chance at implementation of the "Dry" agenda on economic issues and Hewson being a moderate on social issues would probably have the ability to propose changes to institutions held dear by the conservatives, such as the monarchy, at a more palatable rate.

The link below suggests that Hewson felt that the matter of Republicanism should be taken to the Australian people in a 2-stage Plebiscite/Referendum and that he frowned on the idea of Howard taking the Liberal Party to the right on social issues. https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/john...hreaten-samesex-marriage-20170921-gylqbj.html
 
With an election looming, one of the biggest what-ifs in Australian politics is if John Hewson didn’t gave the birthday cake interview and won the 1993 Federal Election over PJK?

Of course, he lost that year and was replaced by Downer then Howard in 1994. Where would Australia be today?

I highly doubt that the birthday cake interview had much effect on the outcome (particularly as the election result was fairly clear cut). It's just one of those things that symbolises the entire event.
 
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