Election with Gusto

"You seem to conduct your politics with a fine 18th century gusto," Winston Churchill once told an Australian politician. Last week, as a three-week campaign for general elections ended, Churchill's observation was as accurate as ever.

Bushy-browed Prime Minister Robert G. Menzies, 66, seeking his sixth term as leader of the Liberal-Country Party coalition, called hecklers "ratbags," "yahoos,'' "silly goats." In Sydney, one inquisitor referred to a false rumor that Menzies had a weak heart, shouted to the Prime Minister: "How's your heart?" The grinning candidate yelled back: "A lot sounder than your head, old boy."

Despite the verbal fireworks--as well as a few real fireworks and stink bombs--the campaign was marked by few real issues. Menzies confidently pointed to Australia's economic progress during his twelve-year tenure, promised "good government" rather than "a long list of promises." Naturally, he did not concentrate on the 2.3% unemployment rate which, though falling, is about twice the usual figure for Australia. Labor Party Candidate Arthur A. Calwell, 65, grandson of a U.S. gold prospector who left for Down Under in the gold rush of the 1850s, emphasized the unemployment issue, promised a grab bag full of state-paid welfare plans ranging from higher pensions to free public hospitals.

When the time for talk had ended, 5,600,000 voters cast their compulsory ballots (the penalty for not voting is -L-2). There was a substantial swing against the Menzies coalition--enough, apparently, to lose him control of the Senate (whose powers are somewhat greater than the mostly ceremonial British House of Lords) but not enough to spell defeat in the House of Representatives, which introduces most key legislation. Once again Menzies will be Prime Minister.

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