Howard's harder task

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard looks set to realize his dream of officially opening the Sydney Olympics in September 2000 after narrowly winning Saturday's general election, albeit with a narrow majority over his main Labor party challenger Kim Beazley.

During the campaign Howard asked the Australian people to put their trust in his administration to cope with the global economic crisis. "I believe the government deserves to be returned because it is better able to manage the Australian economy in these difficult international times, " he said.

Now that part of his expectation has been fulfilled, Howard will surely face harder challenges from the opposition and rebel backbenchers who vowed on Monday to block his economic reform agenda -- a 10 percent goods and services tax to replace the current wholesales tax system and annual income tax cuts of A$13 billion (US$7.8 billion) -- which he said he would propose to parliament before Christmas.

Howard's government is already facing strong opposition to the sale of the remaining state-owned two-thirds of the Telstra telecommunications network, part of which was sold last year.

Despite his controversial moves, the majority of the 12 million electors voted for the conservative Howard because his government, often praised by many Australian media for its competent economic management, succeeded in turning Australia's economy around.

This was proven in August when it announced a preliminary underlying budget surplus of A$1.2 billion for 1997/1998, which catapulted Australia into the black for the first time since the early 1990s. The original forecast was for a deficit of A$1.155 billion, with a A$2.688 billion surplus in 1998/1999.

Obviously, Howard's past performance encouraged more people to vote for him than Beazley, whose promise of more job opportunities seemed to have a hollow ring to it at a time when the country's economy is expected to slow down due to the economic fallout from its Asian neighbors.

For many of Australia's friends in the region, the most significant outcome of Saturday's election was the defeat of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, which had a racial agenda.

As reflected in editorials in many Asian newspapers, Howard's reelection is expected to further strengthen ties with Asian countries, the policy adopted by the Labor government which Howard ousted in 1996 in a landslide victory.

By eliminating the anti-Asian immigrant sentiments, Australia can surely work better with its northern neighbors in improving both the welfare and security in the region, especially in welcoming the next millennium.