Australians vote out staunch Bush ally
The Bush administration lost one of its staunchest political allies Saturday, when Australians chose a Mandarin-speaking former farm boy to become their new prime minister.
Labor Party candidate Kevin Rudd swept to power in a landslide, defeating Liberal Party incumbent John Howard, the second-longest-serving prime minister in Australian history. Despite the name, the Liberals are seen as more conservative than their Labor rival.
Adding to the sting of Howard’s defeat, official results showed he was likely to lose his parliamentary seat altogether after 33 years, to rookie politician and former television anchorwoman Maxine McKew. Only one other sitting prime minister has lost his district in the 106-year history of Australia’s federal government.
Australia becomes the latest country to turn out governments that contributed to the U.S. war in Iraq, joining Poland, Spain and Britain.
Australian opinion polls have shown that Australians are strong supporters of the so-called Anzus alliance - a security pact among Australia, New Zealand and the United States - but do not approve of President Bush or the Iraq war.
Howard’s legacy includes forging a strong bond with the United States. Howard was in Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the defense and security treaty between the two countries. He was one of the first Western leaders to back Bush’s original “coalition of the willing” to battle terrorism and has been in lock step with the president on Iraq and most other foreign-policy issues ever since.
In contrast, Rudd has pledged to bring Australia’s 550 combat troops in Iraq home. He also promised to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a move that would leave the United States as the only major industrialized country to shun the global-warming initiative.
Still, Rudd is not expected to jeopardize the strong ties Howard has built with Washington. The campaign was fought mainly on domestic issues.
Many voters were fed up with a host of issues that had dogged the incumbent: interest-rate hikes that Howard promised to rein in, workplace reforms that have proved disastrous, and Howard’s promise to retire midterm, and then hand over the office to his deputy who would not have had to face voters directly.
Rudd’s victory, analysts and voters said, also was due in no small part to the fact that the country was ready for a fresh new start after more than a decade of Howard’s conservative rule.
“This is about a generational change,” said Alan Dupont, director of the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. Howard’s government, he said, was “seen as competent on economic issues. But after 11 years, it’s very hard for one party to win for five terms.”
George Varvaressos, 52, who voted in eastern Sydney on Saturday morning, was more blunt.
“Howard is out of touch,” he said. “It’s the arrogance of being in power for too long - he hasn’t been listening.”
At 50, the blond and boyish Rudd is 18 years Howard’s junior and is relatively inexperienced, but the country’s 13 million voters quickly warmed to him. Polls showed Rudd leading the incumbent for months before Election Day, but the results exceeded expectations.
The Labor Party needed to win 76 seats in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament to wrest control of the government. Initial results indicated the party had won at least 86.
A jubilant Rudd - flanked by his wife, Therese Rein, and three children - began his victory speech by quieting the cheering crowd with the words “OK, guys.”
But there is nothing casual about this political newcomer, who transformed the fate of the Australian Labor Party less than a year after taking over its stewardship and becoming the most popular opposition leader in 30 years. Few in his team have any federal government experience. They include a former rock star - one-time Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett - and several former union officials.
“Today Australia has looked to the future,” Rudd said after acknowledging the long public service of his predecessor. “It’s time for a new page to be written in our nation’s history.”
Rudd also made a point to reach out to countries of the world, calling the United States “our great friend and ally.” He said he “looked forward to working in partnership” with all nations.
Calling Howard “a good friend and ally,” the White House, in a statement Saturday, said the prime minister had “served the people of Australia well by pursuing policies that led to strong economic growth and a commitment to keeping Australians safe by fighting extremists and their ideology around the world.”
The statement also congratulated Rudd. “The United States and Australia have long been strong partners and allies, and the president looks forward to working with this new government to continue our historic relationship.”
Choosing to accentuate the positive, Howard said during his concession speech that his government was handing over to the Labor Party “a nation that is stronger and prouder, more prosperous than it was 11 ½ years ago.”
Australia is one of the few countries where voting is mandatory for citizens older than 18, so practically all adults showed up at the polling booths Saturday. This being summer for the Southern Hemisphere, that meant early-morning swimmers in their bikinis, and bridesmaids in their gowns. There were even ballot boxes in hospital rooms for mothers of newborn babies and one sent out to researchers in Antarctica.
Compiled from the Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press and The New York Times.