Australasian Political Studies Association Conference 2003
Hosted by the School of Government
University of Tasmania

 

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Tasmanian and State Politics Stream

 

NSW Election - 22 March, 2003

Peter van Onselen
University of Western Australia


Abstract:

The New South Wales election of March 22, 2003 presents an interesting study in modern Australian political campaigning. With the backdrop of war in Iraq, the incumbent Labor Government of Bob Carr went to the polls challenged by a 34 year old Leader of the Opposition, John Brogden. The Coalition was coming off a terrible set of results from the 1999 election. In contrast the ALP was popular, cashed up and running on a track record of sound economic management. The results saw the Coalition go backwards on two-party preferred calculations, unable to make any head way into the ALP’s huge lower house majority. This paper details the campaign, the policy issues and the aftermath of the Coalition defeat. When the results are analysed a number of interesting findings become apparent. The concept of state verse federal issues appears to be slowly eroding in the modern political context. Elections in Australia are becoming increasingly presidential, with respective leaders dominating the advertising campaigns. In the aftermath of the defeat, the Coalition has been surprisingly reticent to closely scrutinize why it performed so poorly. On the other side of the political spectrum the pecking order in the upper ranks of the Labor Party’s ministerial team are becoming increasingly apparent. Each of these issues will be examined, as will the results of the minor parties and independents. The NSW election of 2003 highlighted the growing irrelevance of state politics amongst voters in NSW, the benefits of incumbency, as well as the increasing usage of professionalised campaigning techniques by both major parties.