Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 11 april 2019
Australian prime minister calls May 18 election

By ROD McGUIRK Asylum seekers from the would give priority to find- The coalition is torn be- The coalition also argues
Associated Press Middle East, Africa and ing permanent homes for tween lawmakers who that Labor would further
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Asia would typically disable the asylum seekers who want polluters to pay for damage the economy
— Australia’s prime minis- with its policy of reducing
ter on Thursday called a tax breaks for landlords as
May 18 election that will real estate prices fall in Aus-
be fought on issues includ- tralia’s largest cities, Syd-
ing climate change, asy- ney and Melbourne.
lum seekers and economic Morrison boasts that the
management. conservative administra-
“We live in the best country tion Prime Minister Howard
in the world,” Prime Minister led delivered 10 annual
Scott Morrison told report- surplus budgets and paid
ers after advising the gov- off all federal government
ernor-general to authorize debt before the govern-
the election. ment changed at the 2007
“But to secure your future, election.
the road ahead depends Rudd had planned a bud-
on a strong economy. And get surplus in his govern-
that’s why there is so much ment’s first fiscal year, but
at stake at this election,” the global financial crisis
he added. struck.
Morrison’s conservative Many economists congrat-
coalition is seeking a third ulate Rudd for keeping the
three-year term. But Mor- Australian economy out of
rison is the third prime min- recession through stimulus
ister to lead a divided gov- spending. The coalition has
ernment in that time and accused Labor of spend-
only took the helm in late Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, second left, shakes hands with Governor General Peter ing too much and sinking
Cosgrove as he leaves Government House in Canberra, Thursday, April 11, 2019, after a meeting
August. to dissolve parliament and head for a Federal Election. Australia too deep in debt,
Opinion polls suggest his Associated Press But debt has continued to
reign will become one of mount since the conserva-
the shortest in the 118-year or sink their boats when in- have languished in island their greenhouse gas emis- tives regained the reins in
history of Australian prime tercepted by patrol ships camps for years. sions and those who reject 2013. But opinion polls sug-
ministers on election day. in waters north of Australia The conservative coali- any measures that would gest voters consider the
The polls suggest center- so that the Australian crews tion argues that the boats increase household power conservatives to be better
left opposition leader Bill would have to rescue them would start coming again bills. economic managers.
Shorten will become the rather than turn the boats because a Labor govern- The government aims to The government brought
eighth prime minister since away. Under the new re- ment would soften the re- reduce Australian green- forward its annual bud-
the country plunged into gime, the asylum seekers gime. house gas emissions by 26% get blueprint by a month
an extraordinary period of were placed in motorized The government intro- to 28% below 2005 levels by to April 2 and revealed a
political instability in 2007. life boats that were towed duced temporary protec- 2030. plan to balance Australia’s
The election pits Short- back to Indonesia. The life tion visas for boat arrivals so Action on climate change books in the next fiscal year
en, a former labor union boats had just enough fuel that refugees face poten- was a major priority for for the first time in 12 years.
leader who has presented to reach the Indonesian tial deportation every three votes when conservative Labor also promised to de-
himself as the alternative coast. The Indonesian gov- years if the circumstances Prime Minister John How- liver a surplus budget in the
prime minister for the past ernment complained the that they fled in their home- ard’s reign ended after year starting July 1, but it
six years, and Morrison, a policy was an affront to In- lands improve. Labor would more than 11 years at an has yet to detail how it will
leader who the Austra- donesian sovereignty. give refugees permanent election in 2007. achieve this goal.
lian public is still getting to The government has also visas so that they have the Labor Prime Minister Kevin Labor has also promised
know. maintained a policy adopt- certainty to plan their lives. Rudd immediately signed to spend an additional
Morrison is seen as the ar- ed in the final months of a Climate change policy is up to the U.N.’s 1997 Kyoto AU$2.3 billion ($1.6 billion)
chitect of Australia’s tough Labor government in 2013 a political battlefield in a Protocol on reducing emis- over four years on covering
refugee policy that has all of sending boat arrivals to country that is the world’s sions. Australia and the treatment costs of cancer
but stopped the people- camps on the Pacific is- largest exporter of coal United States had been the patients. It’s an attractive
smuggling traffic of boats land nations of Papua New and liquefied natural gas only industrialized countries offer with half Australia’s
from Southeast Asian ports Guinea and Nauru. Those and has been one of the to hold out. population expected to be
since 2014. The policy has who attempt to reach Aus- world’s worst greenhouse Climate change dropped diagnosed with some form
been condemned by hu- tralia by boat are told they gas emitters on a per cap- down the list of Australian of the disease in their life-
man rights groups as an will never be allowed to ita basis because of its priorities after the global fi- times.
abrogation of Australia’s settle there. heavily reliance on coal- nancial crisis hit. The conservatives have
responsibilities as a signa- Morrison remains proud of fired power generation. But after Australians swel- largely taken credit for Aus-
tory to the United Nations virtually stopping people- Disagreement over energy tered through a record hot tralia’s remarkable run of 28
Refugee Convention. smuggler boat traffic. He policy has been a factor summer and grappled with years of economic growth
Morrison’s first job in Prime has a trophy shaped like a in the last six changes of devastating drought, glob- since its last recession un-
Minister Tony Abbott’s new- people-smuggler’s boat in prime minister. al warming has become a der Labor’s rule.
ly elected coalition govern- his office inscribed with “I Labor Prime Minister Julia high-priority issue for voters Morrison hopes that voters
ment in 2013 was as minister Stopped These.” Gillard introduced a car- again. will look to him to deliver a
for immigration and border Labor has promised to bon tax in 2012. Conserva- The government warns that sequel to the Howard years
protection. He oversaw the maintain the policy of ban- tive Prime Minister Tony Ab- Labor’s emissions reduc- when a mining boom deliv-
secretive military-run Op- ishing boat arrivals to the bott scrapped it two years tion plan would wreck the ered ever-increasing bud-
eration Sovereign Borders. islands. But Labor says it later. economy. get surpluses.q