Having endured years of Alan Goodall's tireless cheerleading for Australia's Howard government, I turned eagerly to his Dec. 3 article to see if there would be some hint of apology for getting the election so wrong. After all, before the election, Goodall was enthusing about Howard's tax-cut promises and giving the impression that the Liberal leader was sure to win.
Of course, there was no correction or apology. Goodall put in a last plug for Howard by saying that the Howards had moved out of the prime ministerial residence "graciously."
How does he know the Howards were gracious? Last I heard, they hadn't moved out. More importantly, Goodall puts forth a Howard partisan's opinion that the rightwing government's defeat was "change for change's sake," completely ignoring the issues that really swept Howard from power: his Draconian "work choices" legislation, which all but banned unions and permitted employers to unfairly dismiss staff, and Howard's shocking inaction on climate change. Since it's a new era for Australia, is it too much to ask that The Japan Times get a more objective commentator on Australian affairs?
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