Not About Iraq

11 October 2004


Howard Wins Fourth Terms as Aussie PM

Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s National-Liberal Coalition won re-election in Saturday’s vote. With a swing of 2% to the incumbents, and possibly a working majority in the Senate as well as the House, Mr. Howard will wind up as Australia’s second longest serving leader, after semi-legendary Sir Robert Menzies. The American press hailed it as a victory for Australia’s policy of supporting President Bush’s Iraq policy. This would have been news to voters from Perth to Melbourne because the Australian election was about the economy.

To be sure, Mr. Howard has staunchly supported President Bush in the war in Iraq, but that should come as no surprise. Australian and American troops have fought in the same wars since 1917. If America has any allies at all, Australia stands in the first ranks. Opposition Labour Party leader Mark Latham said he would pull all of Australia’s forces out by Christmas if elected, but that gained few votes and little attention beyond suggesting the newly chosen Labour Leader was too inexperienced to handle foreign policy.

Moreover, Australia’s forces are few in number in Iraq -- approximately 250 troops in Iraq and 600 more in the Persian Gulf theatre. Mr. Latham could have brought them all back on two Qantas 747s. Even better from an Australian perspective, the country has not suffered a single fatality in Iraq. It is hard to muster up any real hostility to a war when there are no body bags being filled. Instead, Australia’s national security concerns grow out of worries about regional terrorism, the Bali bombing in 2002 and the embassy bombing last week.

On the other hand, Australia has had a growing economy for 13 years. The current terms of trade, according to the Financial Times are at a 30-year high. It would not be a lie to say that Australians have never had it so good. The homeownership rate is very high, and there were worries that if Mr. Latham were elected, interest rates (and hence mortgage payments) would rise. In short, there wasn’t much reason to vote Mr. Howard out of office and quite a few to keep him in power.

With his strengthened hand, Mr. Howard can now press ahead with the privatization of telecommunications giant Telstra, reforms to management/worker relations (to be changed in favor of the employer), and the odd tax cut. With surpluses (remember those, Mr. Bush?) extending out as far as the eye can see, he’ll be able to do just about whatever he wants. Mr. Howard got re-elected because of his record, but his record on Iraq was so tangential to the election that it isn’t worth considering.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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