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From TheAge.com.au

Indigenous leaders welcome Howard defeat

November 25, 2007 - Some indigenous leaders have welcomed the end of the Howard government and expressed relief that Mal Brough has been forced out of parliament.

Mr Brough - the outgoing minister for indigenous affairs - lost his Queensland seat of Longman to Labor candidate Jon Sullivan after suffering a swing of more than 10 per cent.

With the likely exception of outgoing prime minister John Howard himself, Mr Brough was the most high-profile coalition MP to be unseated.

Mr Brough, the architect of the government's dramatic and controversial intervention into Northern Territory indigenous communities, was a divisive figure.

His approach was supported by such high-profile Aboriginal leaders as Noel Pearson and Galarrwuy Yunupingu, but others deemed it racist, draconian and unworkable.

Mr Brough has called on Labor to continue the NT intervention, to which it gave bipartisan support earlier this year, but it will almost certainly be watered-down.

Indigenous affairs more generally also will undergo change.

Olga Havnen, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT and spokeswoman for the National Aboriginal Alliance, said the change of government could be transformative for indigenous people.

"Mal Brough has lost the trust of Aboriginal people and John Howard has lost the trust of the Australian people," she said.

Mr Havnen said the magnitude of the swing against Mr Brough showed the intervention was a critical factor in the election.

"Not only is this intervention a travesty against Aboriginal people's rights, but it has been a shambles."

Eileen Cummings, former policy adviser to the NT chief minister said the election result was a "moral victory" for Australia.

"Aboriginal people have supported the Labor Party," Ms Cummings said.

"Now it's time for the Labor Party to show us that our support is justified."

Indigenous policy expert Professor Jon Altman said he was relieved Mr Brough was gone.

"I thought that he was a very poor minister for indigenous affairs," Prof Altman said.

"I think there was no prospect that his approach would have delivered for indigenous people on a long term sustainable basis.

"And I think that ultimately his major initiative, the intervention, is going to be a very costly mistake."

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation national director Gary Highland said the change of government could start "a new era" for indigenous affairs.

"But we certainly can't take anything for granted and we'll still need to effectively make the case for change to achieve the sorts of things that we want," he said.

Tasmanian Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell said Aboriginal people across Australia would be relieved to see the backs of Mr Howard and Mr Brough.

"Both Brough and Howard missed the cynicism the electorate had towards the motives of the coalition for invading Aboriginal communities in the lead up to the election," he said.

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Rudd romps to historic win

Jason Koutsoukis - November 25, 2007 - As a triumphant Kevin Rudd last night led Labor to an historic landslide victory with a national swing of 5.7% giving him a likely majority of 24 seats, ousted prime minister John Howard suffered an ignominious end to his 33-year political career with the apparent loss of his seat of Bennelong.

Labor's victory means that for the first time in Australian history Labor now holds government in every state, territory and at Commonwealth level.

It also means that for the first time a woman, Julia Gillard, will hold the second-highest public office in the land.

John Howard conceded defeat at 10.35pm, admitting that Labor had won an emphatic victory and congratulated Mr Rudd on assuming the nation's top job.

"I want to say that there is no prouder job that anybody can occupy than the prime minister of this country," Mr Howard said.

"I wish him well in the task that he will undertake and I want to say on behalf of the Coalition that has governed this country for the last 111/2 years that we bequeath to him a nation that is stronger and prouder and more prosperous than it was."

Mr Rudd is only the third Labor leader in 60 years to win government from Opposition, and becomes Australia's 26th prime minister and Labor's 11th.

With a record 53.8% of the two-party preferred vote, Mr Rudd can claim an even greater victory than that of Bob Hawke, who won in 1983 with 53.2%.

He immediately declared his government would address with "great urgency" the pressing challenges of climate change and water, and would focus on creating fairness and flexibility in the workplace.

"We should celebrate and honour the way in which we conduct this great Australian democracy of ours and it's been on display again tonight," Mr Rudd told a cheering crowd in his home town of Brisbane.

He thanked Mr Howard for his immense contribution to public service over his political career.

By late last night it was apparent that Mr Howard had lost his seat of Bennelong to Labor's star recruit, former ABC journalist Maxine McKew, with a swing of almost 5%.

However, both Mr Howard and Ms McKew described the seat as being on a knife-edge.

Mr Howard will suffer the humiliation of becoming only the second sitting prime minister in history to lose his seat if Bennelong falls. But with a large number of postal votes set to favour Mr Howard, strategists on both sides agreed Bennelong remained too close to call.