A MOST PECULIAR IMPLOSION-THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION SEPTEMBER 2013: A CASE OF A FRACTURED GOVERNMENT THAT INFLICTED DEFEAT UPON ITSELF

This article explores the bizarre circumstances that produced a change of government in Australia at the September 2013 federal election. The Labor government led sequentially by Kevin Rudd, then by Julia Gillard (Australia's first female prime minister), and again briefly by Rudd, was consigned back into opposition. After a turbulent six years in office marked by the Global Financial Crisis (2008), successive policy scandals and almost four years of leadership tension, Labor was punished electorally, regarded as divided, unstable and unfit to govern by many. Victorious at the election was the Liberal-National Party Coalition led by Tony Abbott, a former minister in John Howard s government. Yet there was no great warmth for the Abbott conservatives from a largely disaffected electorate. While Abbott managed to secure a handsome majority in the lower house, his government's control over the Senate was actually eroded, meaning he will have to win the support of cross-bench senators hostile to many of his government's policies.