Comments on: Australia Turns- Toward China?

By: Prince Roy

Prince Roy — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:58:52 +0000

this is a no-brainer. Rudd’s election will mean even more closer ties to the PRC. Practically the entire economy of Oz is riding the back of mining, and guess who is the major purchaser of the Minerals of Oz. No, not Midnight Oil fans, but the PRC, by far of any other nation. There is no way Rudd or the ALP is going to do anything to make that cash cow run dry.

By: matt_schiavenza

matt_schiavenza — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:20:59 +0000

Chris,

Interesting comment. The international media said nothing about the industrial relations changes as far as I saw- I’ll go and Google that. As for the second point, change for change’s sake, anecdotal evidence suggests that is true. Eleven years is a long time in a democracy.

I mentioned Kyoto and Iraq only because these were the reasons given by the international media in their coverage of the Australian elections. It wouldn’t be the first time that visiting journalists completely missed the point.

Australia certainly had position to maneuver on Iraq, though. New Zealand is one fifth the size of Oz and refused to back the war without any apparent damage to their relations to the US. I’d say as far as Iraq was concerned, Howard, like Blair, Aznar, and others before him, was a victim of bad judgment. And unlike the others, he dug his heels instead of admitting he might have made a mistake.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:12:09 +0000

Gday mate. Just a quick comment about your blog entry on the Australian election. You do make a few decent points, particularly in relation to Howard’s constant bowing to the US (but lets be honest, does a country as small as Australia really have any room to say no to one of our biggest allies?). You are however incorrect in some of your views on Howard and the election. Regardless of which side of politics you back, Howard is the consummate politician, arguably the most successful politician in Australian history. This is not a statement on his policies, rather the actual success of his political career. As for what lost him the election, it had nothing to do with Kyoto, and probably very little to do with the war in Iraq. The two issues that were the determining factors in the Australian election were: 1) A backlash against Howard’s radical industrial relations changes, and 2) change for the sake of change. On this second point, people tend to have short memories, and soon the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. Other than these two areas, the two political powers in Australia are basically a dead heat, with everything else (climate change, iraq, etc) being basically exactly the same.

By: Kevin Rudd: Pro and Anti-China? « Like Cooking a Small Fish

Kevin Rudd: Pro and Anti-China? « Like Cooking a Small Fish — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:48:52 +0000

[...] Rudd: Pro and Anti-China? 26 11 2007 Matt Schiavenza blogs about the Aussie expat reaction to John Howard’s election defeat, as well as the incoming [...]

By: Keir

Keir — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 11:12:03 +0000

Hope you’re right; I fear that Australia is continuing the policy the Mother Country followed disastrously vis a vis the earlier fascist countries for a quick profit

By: Australia Turns- Toward China?

Australia Turns- Toward China? — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:48:54 +0000

[...] Matt Schiavenza placed an observative post today on Australia Turns- Toward China? [...]