SYDNEY — Is she up to the job? That rude question is being spoken out loud by Australian voters in the wake of the first Southeast Asian tour of new Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The Australian public normally do not hold high expectations of a new leader strutting the world stage. But this one was different. Behind Gillard's first foray into international diplomacy was a down-to-earth challenge — how to stem the flow of South Asian refugees into Australia.
Meeting regional leaders at the recent East Asia Summit in Hanoi was the key point of her visit. But for the sheer urgency of hometown politics, a critical point was how well Gillard could go in getting Australia's neighbors to cooperate in stopping illegal refugee smuggling through Indonesia.