The final verdict is in!
What a weekend! After much debate, hoo-hah, media build-up and national obsession with the two leading players, the votes have been collected and counted. And the winner of this weekend’s national vote is… Natalie Gauci!!!
Aside from Australian Idol, however, there was another vote this weekend, and this one finished with a far more devastating whitewash. Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party obliterated the John Howard and the Liberal Party of Australia. Nowhere was the defeat more evident than in the seat of Bennelong where, for one of the few times in history, a standing prime minister lost his seat.
John Howard missed out on retaining his long-standing seat of Bennelong to popular Labor upstart and former current affairs personality Maxine McKew. Unbelievably, this seat has never gone to Labor in the past, having been held by Liberal Sir John Cramer from its foundation in 1949 to 1974, when John Howard gained control of the seat. It was one of the safest Liberal seats in the country until the tide of poularity started to turn against Howard’s government.
So as we say goodbyeto Idol’s runner-up, Matt Corby, we also bid farewell to one of the longest and most illustrious political careers in this country’s history. With the benefit of time, John Howard will no doubt be remembered amongst the Liberal greats, but for now Australia seems to have had enough of his broken promises and controversial actions and inactions concerning defense, industrial relations, the environment and education.
Farewell Johnnie. We’ll miss those eyebrows.
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