It's sure hard to root for "liberals", but I'm trying!!
Ok, so:
Howard = Liberal/Coalition
Latham = Labor (Labour?)
As far as the acronyms in this chart thingie:
"NAT" ?
ALP = "Aussie Labor Party" ?
LIB = Liberal (Howard)
NAT = National, the party that is in coalition with the Liberals to form goverment.
LIB = Liberal Party of Australian
ALB = Australian Labor Party
I think "NAT" is The Nationals -- if I'm reading this right, they're Howard's partners in the Coalition government. We want The Nationals to do well, along with the Liberals.