Finally John Howard has got what he deserved. This time, there was no way his government could avoid a crushing election defeat.

WHEN JOHN Howard won the 2004 election, the newspapers were gushing. Here was the leader who had tapped into the psyche of ordinary Australians, who understood them and related to them.

Campaigning by Your Rights at Work local groups swung a number of seats against Howard. Jim Nilon,
Rights at Work campaign co-ordinator in the seat of Blair in Queensland spoke to James Supple about why.

Howard's demise should be dated back to the mass delegates' meetings called by Victorian Trades Hall Council and Unions NSW in April and May 2005.

IRAQ MAY not have been one of the key issues in the election campaign, but it was an aspect not lost on international observers, particularly the US media.

John Howard's defeat in his own seat of Bennelong symbolised the rejection of his government. Mary Yeager, co-ordinator of the Bennelong Your Rights at Work campaign spoke to John Morris.

The vote against Howard represents a polarisation against the government by working class voters.

AMID THE euphoria of election night every word from Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Maxine McKew was cheered to the rafters. Rudd's acceptance speech was no exception. But if we know one thing already about the new prime minister, it is that every word is weighed and measured.

Jarvis Ryan writes that there is a contradiction at the heart of the new Labor government's approach to managing the economy.

Howard's dramatic defeat has given heart to all of us who want to see a better society. It was victory for the left, and the union movement in particular.

The Greens' campaign in the seat of Melbourne was a model of how to increase the party's support by breaking into Labor's working class base.

THE GREENS' vote at the election was stronger than many expected. In the context of the momentum to come in behind Kevin Rudd to defeat Howard, the Greens' vote nationally increased slightly in the lower house and by just over 1 per cent in the Senate.

THE GREEN vote in the inner city seat of Sydney held up well on November 24. As Socialist Worker went to press, The Greens' candidate Jenny Leong had won about 21.2 per cent of the primary vote.

Unions, as well as Labor party members and the Greens, are resisting a privatisation push by the Iemma government

UP TO 10,000 teachers gathered at Melbourne's Vodafone arena on November 21 to vote on the next steps in their campaign against the state government. Teachers at the mass meeting voted to reject the government's pay offer and to support an official motion for a statewide 24-hour strike on February 14 next year. They also endorsed rolling regional four-hour stoppages to follow.