SYDNEY -- Who could have guessed that sugar would sour Australian politics? That's just what is happening as the Howard government gears up for its toughest national election yet.
Even as Prime Minister John Howard battles critics over his strong support for continuing Australian troop action with coalition forces in Iraq, and for pursuing terrorists in the Asia Pacific, not to mention such homegrown scandals as huge waste in the defense forces and the national telecom company, he is slammed on the very thing for which he has criticized other countries -- distorting global trade through farm supports.
A bitter battle over sugar follows a trade deal with the United States that both Washington and Canberra politicians have still to legislate. After all the ballyhoo that greeted a recent breakthrough in trade talks, one little item in the deal has emerged to sour bilateral relations and domestic politics. Sugar, the too-hard item left out of the deal, is now giving Howard a bitter aftertaste.