I maintain friendships with former colleagues at Ford Credit -we gather three or four times a year for a “virtual tea” and talk. This morning friends from Detroit, Nashville and London were asking how the new government in Australia will impact relations with America. 

In some ways the shift is profound. Australia’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change leaves the USA as the sole nation not having ratified this important agreement. The new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came to office promising to remove troops from Iraq. The coalition of the willing just lost one nation. And the winning Labor Party is more socially progressive than the incumbent Liberal Party.  Look forward to a raft of social changes up to and including gay marriage. 

“The New York Times” carried the results on the cover of their electronic edition saying Bush ally loses power. Former Prime Minister made much of his close relationship with George Bush which culminated in the APEC conference here in Sydney in September. Sadly that gathering of political leaders was conducted within segments of the city walled off to the public by three meter high chain link fences. 

Yet in many other ways the election changes nothing. The USA has a ring of allies encircling the Asa Pacific basin as a way of containing China. Australia’s remoteness, small population and abundant mineral wealth means we must maintain strong ties with America for defence purposes. Trade between the two nations is vital even if it is eclipsed by exports to China.

In family terms Australia and America are cousins - close enough to come to each others’ aid yet distant enough to live our own lives. But in the end family is family. We’ll always remain close despite our differences.