Pacific Views

U.S. trying to influence Aussie elections.

That's the charge of the head of the Australian Labor party's national organization.

According to Carmen Lawrence, Dubya's administration is trying to help the Liberal party government of Aussie PM John Howard win another term. In recent months, Dubya and two senior US officials have attacked Labor party leader Mark Latham's promise to pull Australia's troops out of Iraq by this December. (For Dubya's remarks, see this earlier post. For the comments of the US ambassador to Australia, see this post at Magpie.)

They're probably working to support Mr Howard, who has aligned his fortunes precisely with those of Mr Bush," Ms Lawrence told Channel Nine.

I don't know what the outcomes will be but a lot of Australians tell me that we should be entitled to make up our own minds, taking into account all of the factors that Australians care about. We don't really need advice.

The US, of course, denies it would ever try to influence the Aussie vote.

The Australian government is expected to call elections by the end of the year. Labor has generally been leading in recent polls, which would explain the non-attempts of the US to shore up the Howard government's sagging fortunes.

Via ABC News (Australia).

Posted by Magpie at June 13, 2004 08:55 AM | International | Technorati links |