Labor Party Wins Big in Australia

Labor Party Wins Big in Australia

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7100415,00.html

By ROHAN SULLIVAN (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 24, 2007 7:04 AM EST

SYDNEY, Australia -

Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australian elections Saturday, ending an 11-year conservative
era and promising major changes to policies on global warming and his country's role in the Iraq war.

The win marked a humiliating end to the career of outgoing Prime Minister John Howard, who became Australia's second-longest
serving leader - and who had appeared almost unassailable as little as a year ago.

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The change in government from Howard's center-right Liberal-National Party coalition to the center-left Labor Party
also marks a generational shift for Australia.

Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles.

But one of the biggest changes will be in Australia's approach to climate change. Rudd has nominated the issue as his top priority, and promises to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.

When he does so, the United States will stand alone as the only industrialized country not to have signed the pact.

Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd's team - including him - has any government experience at federal level. His team includes a former rock star - Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett - and a swag of former union officials.

But analysts say his foreign policy credentials are impeccable, and that he has shown discipline and political skill since his election as Labor leader 11 months ago.

Rudd's election as Labor leader marked the start of Howard's decline in opinion polls, from which he never recovered.

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