Australian prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd named his Cabinet yesterday, choosing a woman to be deputy leader and former Midnight Oil rock singer Peter Garrett as environment minister.
Announced as foreign minister was Stephen Smith, a lawyer from Western Australia who, like many top members of the incoming government, is virtually unknown outside the country.
Rudd's center-left Labor Party swept to power in last Saturday's elections, ending more than 11 years of conservative rule under Prime Minister John Howard, whose party also announced a new leadership team yesterday.
Rudd said his team represented new and strong leadership for Australia on his key themes of education, economic strength, employment and climate change.
The new Cabinet, including Rudd as prime minister, would be formally sworn in on Monday, Rudd said.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador Robert McCallum said Washington looked forward to discussing Rudd's plan to withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq -- one of two major policy changes that will put Canberra at odds with the US. Rudd wants a phased withdrawal of the combat troops, leaving hun-dreds more in supporting roles.
Most of Rudd's appointments were as expected, including incoming Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was one of a record seven women appointed ministers.
In that post, Gillard will become Australia's most senior woman politician ever, and will be thrown quickly into the top job if Rudd follows through on plans to attend a UN-backed climate change conference in Indonesia next week -- leaving Gillard as acting prime minister.
Rudd said he was proud to have so many women on his team.
"They have worked their guts out," he said.
"They are strong talented individuals and very much represent Australia's step into the future," he said.
Garrett, a former conservation activist who was enlisted as a star Labor candidate and elected to parliament in 2004, had been Labor's spokesman on the environment and climate change while in opposition.
He will become environment minister and arts minister, but loses the key climate change portfolio, which would go to Penny Wong, a Malaysian immigrant who identifies herself on her Web site as Australia's first Asian-born woman in parliament.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Brendan Nelson won a close vote against favored multimillionaire candidate Malcolm Turnbull to secure the top job in Howard's Liberal Party.
Nelson immediately ditched Howard's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
The move by Nelson -- who rides a Harley-Davidson, used to wear an earring and was once a member of the Labor Party -- drew a stark line under Howard's era.
Nelson said the electorate had shown that it rejected Howard's refusal to ratify the UN's Kyoto treaty, which aims to curb the emission of greenhouse gases.
"I have heard the message from Australians that was delivered on Saturday and whatever some critics of the Kyoto Protocol might actually think, it's symbolically important to Australians," he said.
Nelson acknowledged at a news conference that he had come to the leadership of the Liberal Party through an "unorthodox route."
"My dad was a Labor man and my family by-and-large was a Labor family," he said.
He pledged, however, to remain true to the tenets of the Liberal Party.
"It's important for us to stand true to the things in which we believe, to understand, accept and respect the decision of the Australian people," he said.
"I say to those who voted for us ... we will stand true to you," said Nelson, a medical doctor before going into politics.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to