Rupert Murdoch Got What He Wanted In The Australian Election

Australia is back under a right wing government, and Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch seems very happy with the decision:

Aust election public sick of public sector workers and phony welfare scroungers sucking life out of economy.Others nations to follow in time

- Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) September 7, 2013

Murdoch, of course, seems to have played a role in all of this. While liberals in the U.S. and the U.K. may complain about Murdoch's political influence, it's in Australia that it's seriously noticeable. News Corporation is the largest newspaper publisher in Australia, the New York Times notes, with a 59% market share (closest rival, Fairfax Media, has 22%).

While some of Murdoch's papers had supported Labour Party candidate Kevin Rudd last time around, this time they were united behind his rival, Tony Abbott.

Here's one front page from Murdoch's Daily Telegraph:

Here's a front page that actually compares Rudd to a Nazi (in particular, Colonel Klink, a German PoW officer from the 1960s TV comedy Hogan's Heroes).

The subtlety of the campaign wasn't lost on Rudd, who said in a television interview earlier last month that Murdoch had made it known "through his own direct statements that he wants Mr Abbott to replace me as prime minister."

It looks like Murdoch got what he wants.