Australian cabinet to discuss Asian crisis

Australian cabinet to discuss Asian crisis

SYDNEY (AFP): Growing anxiety over the Asian financial crisis now damaging Australia's currency and threatening employment growth will be discussed by a cabinet meeting next week, officials said yesterday.

Prime Minister John Howard, who will chair the meeting, will canvass options for minimizing the impact of the Asian turmoil on Australia.

He is also expected to report on his telephone call to Indonesian President Soeharto this week to discuss the crisis.

The cabinet meeting, to be held Monday and Tuesday, marks Howard's return from his summer holiday which he interrupted to urge Soeharto to comply with the terms of an International Monetary Fund bail-out package to rescue Indonesia's economy.

It will be the first cabinet meeting in what is expected to be an election year and ministers want to start to map out a strategy to try to reverse the poor end-of-year opinion polls.

By the end of 1997, the government was suffering an electoral backlash after a string of ministerial resignations, gaffes and policy reversals.

The government has also pledged to call an election if the Senate blocks its legislation to dilute the landrights to which the High Court ruled aborigines were entitled in its so-called Wik ruling.

Although the government believes the Australian economy to be strong enough to withstand the worst effects of the Asian crisis, it concedes that economic growth, in particular employment growth, will be slowed by it.

While Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea are bearing the brunt of the crisis, the relatively robust economies of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have been dragged into it along with Australia.

Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Tim Fischer told reporters the cabinet would discuss the latest information on the impact of the crisis on Australia, using trade figures being assessed by his office.

He said the cabinet would also discuss routine business, the economic scene and the start of a busy 1998.

Asked if it was also a pre-election pep-talk, he said: "It could be seen as that, this is true. Yes, it will be a chance to get ready for all that 1998 might provide."

He also responded with a firm "yes" to a question on whether the government would call an early if the Senate again rejected the Wik Native Title Amendment bill.