Prime Minister John Howard launched a media blitz yesterday to persuade undecided voters to give him a fourth term in today's election, where he will be the first of the three leaders -- US, British and Australian -- who invaded Iraq last year to face a ballot showdown.
While Howard's allies in Washington and London will be closely monitoring the election for signs of what they face in polls next month and next year, voters here have been more concerned with the economy, health and education.
PHOTO: EPA
With some analysts suggesting up to 18 percent of Australia's 13 million voters remained undecided, Howard and opposition Labor Party leader Mark Latham made their final pitches for support in a string of radio and television appearances.
Polls have Howard's center-right government the likely winner, but undecided voters opting to back Labor could end Howard's 30-year political career.
"To those Australians who are listening to this program who haven't made up their mind, this is not a time to experiment with the theory of kick him but he'll still be in office," Howard told 4BC radio in Brisbane as part of a flurry of election-eve interviews. One of the main reasons voters may want to punish Howard is his tough stance on Iraq. The staunch US ally sent 2,000 troops last year to take part in the US-led invasion, triggering the biggest peace protests in Australia since Canberra sent soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War.
Howard still has 900 military personnel in and around Iraq, none involved in offensive operations, and has vowed to leave them there as long as they are needed. Latham says he will withdraw most of the troops by Christmas if he wins today.
"People will know that we have to deal with the here and now -- stay the distance and help Iraq, or cut and run," Howard said at a press conference in Sydney. "If Australia were to cut and run from Iraq it would send a very bad signal to the world."
Howard stood by his decision to invade Iraq despite one of his key motivations being undermined by the chief US weapons inspector saying former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein did not have a weapons of mass destruction program last year.
Latham was just as energetic -- packing in 11 interviews in the morning. Voting in remote locations -- including among Aborigines in the Outback and scientists camped on Antarctica -- already has begun.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS