Australia’s Labor Party sweeps to power

Conservative Howard ousted; policy changes on global warming, Iraq ahead

Labor Party's Kevin Rudd poses with his wife, Therese Rein, at his acceptance speech in Brisbane, Australia following his election victory on Saturday

Mick Tsikas / Reuters Australian Prime Minister John Howard waves to his supporters at a hotel in Sydney after conceding defeat on Saturday.

SYDNEY, Australia - Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.

Labor Party head Kevin Rudd's pledges on global warming and Iraq move Australia sharply away from policies that had made Howard one of President Bush's staunchest allies.

Rudd has named global warming as his top priority, and his signing of the Kyoto Protocol will leave the U.S. as the only industrialized country not to have joined it.

Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed.

Clear majority projected
Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor far in front after more than 70 percent of the ballots had been counted _ with 53 percent of the vote compared to 46.7 percent for Howard's coalition.

Using those figures, an Australian Broadcasting Corp. analysis showed that Labor would get at least 81 places in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament _ a clear majority.

It was an embarrassing end to the career of Howard, Australia's second-longest serving leader.

As little as a year ago, Howard had appeared almost unassailable. But on Saturday he was in real danger of becoming only the second sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government to lose his own seat in Parliament.

Howard took full blame for the drubbing handed to his center-right coalition.

"I accept full responsibility for the Liberal Party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat in this election campaign," Howard said in his concession speech in Sydney.

A new government is unlikely to mean a fundamental change in Australia's close alliance with the United States _ its most important security partner _ or its growing economic and political ties with Asia.

At home, Rudd has pledged to govern as an "economic conservative," while pouring money into schools and universities. He will curtail sweeping industrial reforms laws that were perceived to hand bosses too much power, turning many working voters against Howard.

"Today Australia has looked to the future," Rudd said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from supporters. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward ... to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history."

Generational shift
In his concession speech, Howard announced he had phoned Rudd to congratulate him on "a very emphatic victory."

The change from Howard to Rudd also marks a generational shift for Australia.

Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, urged voters to support him because Howard, 68, was out of touch with modern Australia and ill-equipped to deal with new-age issues such as climate change.

Howard campaigned on his economic management, arguing that his government was mostly responsible for 17 years of unbroken growth, fueled by China's and India's hunger for Australia's coal and other minerals, and that Rudd could not be trusted to maintain prosperous times.

Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd's team _ including him _ has any government experience at federal level. His team includes a former rock star _ Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett _ a television journalist and former union officials.

But analysts say his foreign policy credentials are impeccable, and that he has shown discipline and political skill since his election as Labor leader 11 months ago.

Rudd's election as Labor leader marked the start of Howard's decline in opinion polls, from which he never recovered.

Howard's four straight election victories since 1996 made him one of Australia's most successful politicians. He refused to stand down before this election _ even after being urged to do by some party colleagues.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21945113/

Australia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Australia has energetically pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid programme under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5 bn for development assistance;^[19] as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Australia's armed forces — the Australian Defence Force (ADF) — comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), numbering about 51,000.^[20] All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current Chief of the Defence Force is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In the 2006–07 Budget, defence spending is A$22 bn.^[21]

globalization

- Globalization is the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world, or the process of making this happen. The global economy is sometimes referred to as a globality, characterized as a totally interconnected marketplace, unhampered by time zones or national boundaries. The proliferation of McDonalds restaurants around the world is an example of globalization; the fact that they adapt their menus to suit local tastes is an example of glocalization (also known as internationalization), a combination of globalization and localization.

Whether or not the establishment of the global marketplace will be beneficial is in dispute. Proponents believe that globalization has the potential to create greater opportunities for growth throughout the world, benefiting the developed nations while leveling the playing field everywhere else; opponents of globalization believe that it will merely increase the opportunities for the wealthier nations to take advantage of the poorer ones and, furthermore, could eradicate regional diversity and lead to a homogenized world culture.

      A very important "global player" in the globalization process of the 21st century, now has a "new face" in the Labor Party's Kevin Rudd being elected as the new Prime Minister of Australia. Gone is one of The Bush Administration's closest "lapdog" allies in the defeat of the conservative coalition government of former Prime Minster John Howard. I say good riddance. It is time for all of these industrialist, neo-con influenced governments to get off the world stage. The resistance to the Kyoto Treaty, promotion of the "rich man's"World Trade Organization and support of the Iraq War have done enough damage, in my opinion. As I see it, globalization is fine, as long as the working class is not exploited. Globalization up to this point in time has primarily benefited "big business". Prime Minister Rudd, who obviously believes in globalism, wants to see the working class benefit from globalization, not just the "rich folks". Prime Minister Rudd would make a great ally for either John Edwards, Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama with a Democratic controlled US Senate and Congress. America desperately needs a "new face". America is tired of George Bush's arrogant, Ivy League smirk and "cowboy" imperialism. America is ready for the working class in all nations, to benefit from globalization. Congratulations Prime Minister Rudd!

tags: kevin rudd  australia  globalism  globalization  kyoto treaty  bush  john howard  business  china  iraq  labor  working class  richvspoor  takebackamerica  world  

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