'Not happy, John!' campaign

November 2016 November 2016 2004 Campaign to remove John Howard as prime minister The Not happy, John!' campaign was an, ultimately unsuccessful, Australian political campaign to oppose the re-election of then Liberal prime minister John Howard as member for Bennelong in the 2004 Australian federal election, which would have made him ineligible to be prime minister. The title of the campaign was coined by journalist Margo Kingston, and the campaign led by John Valder, the former president of the Liberal Party. Background and campaign The campaign did not promote any specific candidate; instead, it called for votes for any other candidate standing against Howard. The title of the campaign is based on the book Not Happy, John by Australian Journalist Margo Kingston, which was in turn inspired by popular television commercial "Not happy, Jan!". https://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/27/1090693960472.html Not happy, John: angry outsiders take on Howard 28 July 2004 Grattan Michelle Michelle Grattan The Age 2008-06-11 The "Not happy, John" slogan came from journalist Margo Kingston's recent book. The campaign focused on ousting the Prime Minister as a member of the House of Representatives, with motives and desired outcomes ranging between activists. Andrew Wilkie, then a former public servant and whistleblower, stood in the seat as the Greens candidate, increasing his party's vote share by 12.34% to 16.37%.Wayback Machine http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/2004/2004repsnsw.txt https://web.archive.org/web/20250114022358/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/2004/2004repsnsw.txt 2025-01-14 2025-09-03 psephos.adam-carr.net2004-09-16 Not-happy old Lib in bid to unseat PM https://www.theage.com.au/national/not-happy-old-lib-in-bid-to-unseat-pm-20040916-gdyn49.html 2025-09-03 The Age en On the other side of the political spectrum was John Valder, the former president of the Liberal Party and campaign leader, who wanted a Liberal government, only not led by Howard. Valder, a former ally of Howard, was turned from him after his treatment of asylum seekers in the Iraq war, describing him of "deceptively cunning language aimed at misleading us all", and donated $20,000 to the campaign in seed funding.Kerr Christian 2007-08-05 Not happy, John (Valder) https://www.crikey.com.au/2007/08/06/not-happy-john-valder/ 2025-09-04 Crikey en-US Though the campaign centred around the seat the seat of John Howard, other activists contested other seats. Another influential figure in the movement was Brian Deegan a former magistrate, moved to activism by the loss of his son, Josh, in the 2002 Bali bombings.2004-07-28 Not happy, John: angry outsiders take on Howard https://www.theage.com.au/opinion/not-happy-john-angry-outsiders-take-on-howard-20040728-gdycbu.html 2025-09-03 The Age en He stood against Alexander Downer, the then Foreign Minister, in his seat of Mayo, due to Deegan believing that the government was responsible for the attack.2004-04-27 Deegan to contest Downer's seat https://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-04-27/deegan-to-contest-downers-seat/176838 2025-09-03 ABC News en-AU Downer in response said he had compassion for Deegan, and denied his claims of responsibility. Other supporters of the campaign included: Alex Broun playwright and Convenor for Artists Against Howard,Alex Broun (Playwright) https://stageagent.com/writers/10113/alex-broun https://web.archive.org/web/20250524094652/https://stageagent.com/writers/10113/alex-broun 2025-05-24 2025-09-04 StageAgent and Nicole Campbell (Labor Party candidate).2007-12-18 Sorry, Maxine, but Bennelong could have been Labor's in 2004 https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/sorry-maxine-but-bennelong-could-have-been-labors-in-2004-20071218-gdrtk4.html 2025-09-04 The Sydney Morning Herald en The campaign was launched on 22 June 2004 and continued until the election on 9 October.September 2025 The campaign sold paraphernalia, including stickers,Byrne Madeleine 2004 BRINDABELLA: Literary News from around Australia https://www.jstor.org/stable/41957394 Antipodes 18 2 176–177 0893-5580 bumper stickers, T-shirts, and leaflets. Stunts were also performed, such as putting the campaign's name in the air using skywriting.2004-10-03 Sky-high 'Not happy John' protest targets PM https://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-10-03/sky-high-not-happy-john-protest-targets-pm/562110 2025-09-04 ABC News en-AU Result and legacy 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,Not Happy John Campaign on ABC and he did lose the seat as sitting prime minister in the subsequent election. However, neither Valder nor Wilkie initially believed that Howard could be unseated. 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.Grattan Michelle 2007-02-20 Still not happy: anti-PM campaign to be revived https://www.theage.com.au/national/still-not-happy-anti-pm-campaign-to-be-revived-20070220-ge49fu.html 2025-05-06 The Age en Howard did end up losing his seat, though the 'Not Happy, John' campaign was on a much less organised than the last: with Valder focusing his attention on the seat of Wentworth, endorsing Labor's George Newhouse. Kingston wrote a follow-up book 'Still not happy, John!' to coincide with the 2007 election.Still not happy, John! / Margo Kingston - Catalogue National Library of Australia https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/7288547 2025-05-06 catalogue.nla.gov.au en References Further reading Kingston, Margo. Not Happy, John! defending Australia's democracy. Paperback, 240 pages. Published June 2004 by Penguin. 0-14-300258-9. External links Not Happy John Campaign site Category:2004 elections in Australia