AUSTRALIA: Australians vote conservative John Howard out of the government after 11 years in power

Record ID: 559641

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: Australians vote conservative John Howard out of the government after 11 years in power
  • Date: 24th November 2007
  • Summary: HOWARD SAYING GOODBYE TO SUPPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3Q3IVU71STCST4IH1U5ES91U
  • Story Text: Australians vote conservative John Howard out of the government after 11 years in power, choosing Kevin Rudd's Labor Party in national elections.
    Australia's Labor leader Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat, swept into power at national elections on Saturday on a wave of support for generational change, ending 11 years of conservative rule.
    The surge to Labor left conservative Prime Minister John Howard struggling to win even his own parliamentary seat, which he has held since 1974, putting him in danger of becoming the first prime minister since 1929 to lose his constituency.
    "I want to thank the Australian people for the privilege that they have given me over that period of time, I respected and I honoured it, and it is something that has really been the most unbelievable experience. The Australian people are the greatest people on earth and this is the greatest country on earth," Howard said.
    Rudd, 50, presented himself as a new generation leader by promising to pull Australian combat troops out of Iraq and sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, further isolating Washington on both issues.
    Rudd is expected to forge closer ties with China and other Asian nations and has said he wants a more independent voice in foreign policy, but on Saturday again promised Australia would retain its close alliance with the United States.
    His message of new leadership attracted a swing of more than five percent across the nation from the previous election, locking in only the sixth change of government since World War Two.
    "On this national occasion to our friends and allies around the world that I look forward as the next prime minister of Australia to work with them in dealing with the great challenges which our world now faces. I extend our greetings tonight to our great friend and ally the United States, to our great friends and partners across Asia and the Pacific and to our great friends and partners in Europe and beyond, we look forward to work in partnership with all those nations," Rudd said.
    The election was fought mainly on domestic issues, with Labor cashing in on anger at workplace laws and rising interest rates which put home owners under financial pressure at a time when Australia's economy is booming.
    During the campaign, Rudd said one of his first actions would be to lead his country's delegation to December's international climate talks in Bali, emphasising that Australia hopes to take a lead role in efforts to combat global warming.
    Howard, who had won four consecutive elections and held power for 11 years, conceded his government had lost power in front of a crowd of supporters in Sydney late on Saturday, saying he took full personal responsibility for the defeat.
    Election analyst Antony Green predicted Labor would win more than 80 seats in the 150-seat parliament, giving it a clear majority in its own right for the first time since it lost power to Howard in 1996.
    The result will mean Labor is in power nationally and in all of Australia's six states and two territories, with the lord mayor of the northern city of Brisbane now the senior ranking elected official in Howard's Liberal Party.
    Howard had won four consecutive elections and was Australia's second-longest serving prime minister behind Liberal Party founder Sir Robert Menzies. He had trailed in opinion polls all year.
    A staunch U.S. ally committed to keeping Australian troops in Iraq, he offered voters income tax cuts, but few new policies, instead highlighting his strong economic record and attacking Labor's links to the trade union movement.
    With 73 percent of the vote counted in Howard's seat of Bennelong, election officials put him just behind Labor's high-profile rookie candidate, former national television political journalist, Maxine McKew.
    "This has been an amazing night, a wonderful night for Labor,"
    McKew told cheering supporters, adding it might be weeks before a winner is declared.
    At a sombre Liberal Party headquarters, party faithful were putting a brave face on the defeat.
    ENDS.
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