SYDNEY — A rush of reform bills through Parliament, a lockdown in Sydney for an APEC heads-of-state meeting, unseasonal storms sweeping across the whole continent — what's going on in Australia? Surely the signs of an knife-edge national election ahead.
True, veteran Prime Minister John Howard is vigorously stomping around the country even before declaring an election date. Equally true, Labor Party leader and aspiring prime minister Kevin Rudd is making just as many promises, knowing the poll will probably be in November.
To their credit, both political leaders have declared a truce of kinds to enable the most far-reaching reform ever in Aboriginal affairs to pass into law. The changes should go a long way toward righting historic wrongs that have long humiliated Australia in the eyes of the world.