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.