News
A new government in Australia
At the start of a new political era for Australia following November’s general election, Hanna Lindon gets acquainted with Australia’s new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.
Australia is standing at the dawn or a new era. After more than a decade John Howard has been ousted as the country's Prime Minister – and the general consensus seems to be that he won't be greatly missed. To be fair, Howard certainly had his good points. He can point with pride to his economic legacy: under his guidance, Australia experienced the greatest and most sustained boom in the history of the country.
In spite of being accused of overt racism and sycophancy to the Bush regime, Howard also developed Australia's immigration programme and encouraged close trade ties with China, India, Japan and Indonesia. For the Australian public, however, none of these achievements managed ultimately to compensate for Howard's mistakes – the most serious of these being his scepticism regarding climate change. Until late in 2006, Howard was a self-proclaimed global warming sceptic. Not until the effects of climate change – prolonged drought and water shortage – began to hit home, did he realise to what extent this attitude condemned him with the electorate. The people of Australia were waking up to the fact that global warming was not only a reality, but an issue that was going to impact on their day-to-day lives.
Of course, his scepticism over global warming was not the only thing that alienated Howard from his public. There was the infamous speech after the 2001 election where Howard claimed that refugees on a boat approaching Australia had thrown their children overboard, and it then emerged after the election that the government had known all along the information was false. He also refused permission for 400 refugees to land in Australia and condoned the imprisonment of David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay without trial for two years – not deeds that speak of a kind heart.
But now Howard has finally gone, there is one question on everybody's lips: will his successor, Kevin Rudd, be any improvement? The British broadsheets have already picked up on the striking similarities between Rudd and Tony Blair. Both are young Labour leaders with limited experience of high office; both are committed Christians; and both have the unwavering conviction that they know what is best for their country. Early indicators suggest that Rudd is also likely to pull the Labour party to the right, distancing himself from the unions and the more radical party members. On the other hand, he certainly appears to have more compassionate politics than his predecessor. Rudd's father died in a car crash when he was 11 years old, and the resulting experience fed his socialist convictions. "My mother, like thousands of others, was left to rely on the bleak charity of the time to raise a family," said Rudd in a 1998 speech to parliament. "It made me think that a decent social security system designed to protect the weak was no bad thing."
Rudd has also boosted his popularity in the post-election period with a declaration that the fight against global warming was one of his top priorities, and a promise to apologise to Australian aboriginals for their treatment in the past. Perhaps another reason that the public support Rudd is because he has revealed himself to be 'one of the lads'. When the Prime Minister was exposed for spending a drunken night in a New York strip club in 2003, it could have spelt the end of his career. Instead, his supporters multiplied.
Another potential blow came when he was caught eating his own earwax during a parliamentary debate, but again his popularity simply increased. Australians are clearly seeking a leader that they can identify with – and Rudd has proved himself to be only too human. Of course, many prime ministers start with widespread public support only to find their stock falling quickly. Just look at Tony Blair. And, even at the outset of his time in office, everyone has a different opinion of Rudd. He has been described variously as 'a heartless snake', a 'ruthless bastard' and 'about as interesting as a carpet'. But it remains to be seen whether he will have the convictions and the charisma to retain popularity after the memory of his predecessor has faded.
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21 January 2008