Keating reels as Liberals win

Sydney - Australia's Labor government was reeling yesterday from a by- election result which would see the government swept from office if repeated on a national scale, writes Robert Milliken. The safe constituency of Canberra fell to the opposition conservative Liberal Party for the first time in 15 years, with a swing of 22 per cent against the Labor candidate.

Paul Keating, the Prime Minister, is obliged to call a general election within a year, when he will seek a sixth term for Labor. He accepted responsibility for the landslide defeat, saying Canberra voters may have been "spooked" by rising interest rates.