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This article examines the leadership attributes and styles of the Prime Minister (John Howard) and the Leader of the Opposition (Kevin Rudd) prior to—and during—the Australian national election of 2007. Although he led his party to defeat, John Howard was still held in fair regard by the electorate. Kevin Rudd achieved high levels of popularity from the time he became Leader of the Opposition at the end of 2006 until the election of November 2007. Both leaders attracted comments about the elusiveness of their political personalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queensland makes up nearly one-quarter of the Australian continent. After a redistribution that added the new seat of Flynn, it contained twenty-nine House of Representatives divisions. Both major parties agreed that it would be a key battle ground in the 2007 federal election. The election of the Queenslander Kevin Rudd as its leader gave the ALP a desperately-needed fillip in a state in which it held just nine seats. In all its key elements Labor's Queensland campaign was an extension of its national campaign. Labor candidates played upon Rudd's image as a young, savvy politician. Their Coalition rivals distanced themselves from John Howard and ran as local members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ALP's campaign focused on the leadership team of Kevin Rudd and the future; longer term issues such as WorkChoices; and incorporated a more centralised candidate selection strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is arguable that the 2007 election was decided on longer term issues, and longer term campaigning. This article focuses on the campaigning side. The campaigning commenced with the election of Labor's new leadership team of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in December 2006. The Howard Coalition Government, after a minor cabinet reshuffle, pressed on with the promotion of its policies and programmes; but by May 2007 was forced to change tack, making concessions on the unpopular WorkChoices policy, and then introducing a controversial Aboriginal intervention programme. The election campaign was anti-climactic. The article includes a postscript on the election aftermath, comparing Kevin Rudd with Gough Whitlam in his rapid implementation of key campaign policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian federal election of 24 November 2007 saw the defeat of the Howard Liberal-National Party coalition government after almost 12 years in office and brought to power a Labor government, the first since 1996, under the leadership of Kevin Rudd. John Howard, Australia's second longest-serving prime minister, became only the second prime minister to lose his own seat at an election. This article summarizes the election result and places it in the context of post-Second World War Australian political and electoral history. The highly unusual character of the large swing to the Labor Party is underlined, as is the rarity of a change of government in Australia since the Second World War. The article also examines the influence of the political leadership of the two major parties in contributing to the changing climate of opinion during 2007 and surveys the campaign itself, underlining the many problems experienced by the Howard government in the final weeks of its life. Finally, the article emphasizes the critical roles that interest rates, climate change and industrial relations all played in fatally undermining the Howard ascendancy. The government, faced with a politically credible and electorally attractive opponent, emerging economic difficulties and a shifting policy agenda, was unable to present itself as equipped to deal with new local and global challenges after a long period in power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on Australia's foreign policy from July to December 2007, which coincided with and impacted the results of political campaigns in the country. Prime Minister John Howard and Kevin Rudd's Australian Labor Party (ALP) were the main forces of the campaign. The most prominent foreign policy issues of the campaign were the Iraq war, Afghanistan, the South Pacific, climate change, and the place of the U.S. in Asian-Pacific politics. The case of Mohammed Haneef, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks in Great Britain, is discussed. Issues such as Australia's position on the Iraq war and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan were also important campaign issues.

In an era of continuous campaigning, elections are seldom won in the final weeks of the formal campaign period. The 2007 Australian federal election saw voters dispatch a Liberal Party and Nationals Coalition government that had presided over a buoyant economy, and return the Australian Labor Party from the electoral wilderness it had occupied since 1996. The explanation of this revival in Labor's stocks can be traced to the Wheat Board scandal, the unpopularity of the labour market deregulation, and to a series of other political tribulations that the fourth Howard Government faced during 2005 and 2006. Initially their impact was masked by the failure of Labor's parliamentary leadership. But when caucus elected Kevin Rudd and freed him to position Labor as offering fresh ideas and a safe pair of hands, Labor seized a lead in the opinion polls and retained it throughout 2007. Rudd's tactical leadership of his party proved critical. This article describes how the 2007 campaign unfolded and the pattern of events which saw a refashioned ALP win an eighteen-seat lower house majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]