Farewell, John. We will never forget you - 25.11.07

Farewell, John. We will never forget you - Entry for 25 November 2007

The battle lines were drawn yesterday (the 24th November) and the Howard government went down in a screaming heap after the Liberals gave us 11 years of conservative rule (96-07) with John Howard guiding us through what has been a frightening period in world events.

Or should I say yet another frightening period in world events.

Kevin Rudd now stands in John Howard's place at the helm of Australian politics, and I didn't vote for Rudd or his party. But like a lot of Aussies, I felt that the choice was a hard one, something I've not had before. I was tempted to take a pin along to the polling booths and let fate make the choice for me, but decided against this.

It was easier when John Howard came to power, because he was a 'known'. He had a solid parliamentary background and as the "little Aussie battler " he was considered a fighter, someone who had bottle.

While Kevin Rudd's track record in politics isn't well known, even if we’re aware that he’s no newcomer, something that he’s taken pains to point out leading up to the election.

I decided against voting for Labor ultimately because, watching Rudd on tv, I thought he showed a mite too much zeal for getting on with the job of running the country, getting more zealous the closer we got to election time.

It possibly was an unfair bias because he comes across as an erudite and intelligent man but I thought - just what the world needs another bloody zealot running a country. And I'm not traditionally a Labor voter anyway.

Anyway, the Libs conceded defeat to Labor last night and the deed is done.

I sincerely hope the new PM will justify the faith a majority of Aussies have put in him and that we won’t, from hereon, proceed to be be victimised by the unions running the country with their interminable strikes - Australia has done so well without them.

What we know we’re looking at is that the new government will take steps to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol, withdraw troops from Iraq and they’ll rewind the IR laws, and that’s just for starters.

I think we will miss the rule of John Howard. Aussies in the majority have not credited his government with the return of prosperity to Australia – or the Libs would have been returned. Ultimately we may learn that they should have been.

Typically for me, a highlight of the Howard government’s time in power was to do with Mr Howard backing the East Timorese against the Indonesians – his ‘Aussie battler’ streak coming out.

For me, this is what has earned him the title of “Mister”. Saying along with the writer of the following para, "Farewell, John. We will never forget you ...

" East Timor: Despite Australia's cosy relationship with Indonesia over the previous 25 years, in January 1999 Mr Howard signalled to then Indonesian president Jusuf Habibie that Australia would be pressuring Jakarta to allow the East Timorese to vote on self-determination. The vote was allowed but, the day after the August ballot, violence erupted in the East Timorese capital, Dili. Despite being under incredible pressure from the Indonesian government not to interfere, Australia led a significant international peacekeeping force, which stabilised the situation and was vital in ensuring the independence East Timor enjoys today."

The Age
John Roskam
November 25, 2007