'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 Australian legislative election, 2004. The title of the campaign is based on the popular television commercial, Not happy, Jan!.
The campaign did not promote any specific candidate, but 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.
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) and Nicole Campbell (Australian Labor Party candidate). The campaign was launched on 22 June 2004 and continued until the election on 9 October.
There is now a small Not Happy John Campaign 2007 based on the philosophy behind the original NHJ campaign.
[edit] Further reading
- Margo Kingston. Not Happy, John! defending Australia's democracy. Paperback, 240 pages. Published June 2004 by Penguin. ISBN 0-14-300258-9.
