Hawke Outflies Peacock

Not even a last-minute television debate could lift Australia's eight-week election campaign from near somnolence. Prime Minister Bob Hawke, 54, who enjoys the highest popularity rating of any Australian leader in history, and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock, 45, whose ratings have been among the lowest ever, slugged it out last week in a 90-minute encounter over the economy, crime and other topics.

Surprisingly, Peacock outgunned the normally loquacious Prime Minister with a dynamic performance. The debate had its effect, reducing Hawke's margin and boosting Peacock's popularity; but the result itself was never in serious doubt. The Prime Minister's Australian Labor Party captured about 80 seats in the 148-member House of Representatives. That should allow Hawke latitude to pursue his cautious economic policies until new elections have to be called in 1987.

In one of the campaign's only surprises, Peter Garrett, 31, an Australian pop singer and one of several leaders of the newly formed Nuclear Disarmament Party, polled well in the Senate race and might even pick up a seat when the results are final. Beyond that, the day was Hawke's. Said he: "We will be a government for all Australians."