'Not happy, John!' campaign
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The 'Not happy, John!' campaign was an Australian political campaign to oppose the re-election of Prime Minister John Howard as member for Bennelong in the 2004 Australian federal election. The title of the campaign is based on the popular television commercial "Not happy, Jan!" and the book Not Happy, John by Margo Kingston.[1]
The campaign did not promote any specific candidate; instead, it called for votes for any other candidate standing against Howard. The campaign was unsuccessful, in that Howard was returned as member, but had some success in that it reduced Howard's majority by 3% in the face of a 2% swing to Howard's Liberal Party,[2] and he did lose the seat as sitting Prime Minister in the subsequent election.
Supporters of the campaign included Margo Kingston (journalist), John Valder (previous president of Howard's Liberal Party), Brian Deegan (former magistrate, who stood against Alexander Downer), Andrew Wilkie (Greens candidate), Alex Broun playwright and Nicole Campbell (Labor Party candidate). The campaign was launched on 22 June 2004 and continued until the election on 9 October.
There was a small 'Not Happy, John' campaign for the 2007 election based on the philosophy behind the original campaign. Valder discussed the increased displeasure of the electorate since 2004 on issues such as the David Hicks affair and the Iraq War. The possibility of unseating Howard had increased further since the reduction in margin in 2004 due to an unfavourable redistribution, that resulted in a very slight loss of margin.[3]
Kingston wrote a follow-up book 'Still not happy, John!' to coincide with the 2007 election.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Grattan, Michelle (28 July 2004). "Not happy, John: angry outsiders take on Howard". The Age. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
The "Not happy, John" slogan came from journalist Margo Kingston's recent book.
- ^ Not Happy John Campaign on ABC
- ^ Grattan, Michelle (20 February 2007). "Still not happy: anti-PM campaign to be revived". The Age. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
- ^ "Still not happy, John! / Margo Kingston - Catalogue | National Library of Australia". catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
Further reading
[edit]- Kingston, Margo. Not Happy, John! defending Australia's democracy. Paperback, 240 pages. Published June 2004 by Penguin. ISBN 0-14-300258-9.
External links
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