Mr. Howard's Legacy

Mr. Howard and his party will pay a political price in the longer term. He insisted, "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come." This sounds reasonable enough. But it's patently untrue, and ultimately all efforts to avoid facing reality must fail.

Australia has prospered in part because of immigrants, and those born abroad and their children currently make up 40 percent of the population. On average they make very productive citizens, even when they arrive with few skills, since they are highly motivated and push their children to better themselves through education. Yet the country has long had an ingrained fear of being overwhelmed by darker races, going back to the "white Australia" policy of the first half of the last century. Mr. Howard had a responsibility to work to eliminate that under current of xenophobia. Instead he has fanned the flames in his pursuit of votes, and damaged his country's reputation abroad by endangering lives on the high seas. Unless there is a change of policy now that the election is out of they way, it will be a sorry legacy for a three-term prime minister to leave behind.

-- The Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong