Australia Marks Ten Long Years Of Howard

Look, Iraqis - this is what "Democracy" looks like:

Australia was not only seen to have become less fair, but 55 per cent of voters regard Mr Howard as a divisive figure instead of a unifying one.

Australia's role in the war in Iraq was by far the most commonly named "worst thing" Mr Howard had done. This was followed by criticism that he was too close to the US President, George Bush. Next came concern about his industrial relations legislation.

On voters' two key policy areas - health and education - Mr Howard is perceived to have done poorly, registering 73 per cent disapproval in health and 67 per cent disapproval in education. Voters also named - in order - the economy, jobs, the environment and terrorism as important issues.

But while they were nearly evenly divided on jobs (49 per cent approve, 51 per cent disapprove), voters overwhelmingly disapproved of the Government's handling of the environment, with 81 per cent critical.

The one positive for Howard - Australia's strong economy - can be summed up in one word: China. Without China's demand for Australian commodities, and the massive influx of cheap Cinese goods, Howard would probably be facing jail time by now as a war criminal.

Unfortunately, as the last two elections have shown, my fellow Australians place greed above ethics. We create the world we want to live in, folks.