Australia’s election brings significant change
Bye-bye, Howard
Australia’s Labor leader Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin speaking former diplomat, swept into power at national elections on Saturday on a wave of support for generational change, ending 11 years of conservative rule…
Rudd, 50, presented himself as a new generation leader by promising to pull Australian combat troops out of Iraq and sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, further isolating Washington on both issues…
The surge to Labor left conservative Prime Minister John Howard struggling to win even his own parliamentary seat, which he has held since 1974, putting him in danger of becoming the first prime minister since 1929 to lose his constituency…
Rudd is expected to forge closer ties with China and other Asian nations and has said he wants a more independent voice in foreign policy, but on Saturday again promised Australia would retain its close alliance with the United States.
Presuming the United States eventually makes it into the 21st Century.
Posted: Sat - November 24, 2007 at 12:38 PM