SYDNEY, Nov 2 (AFP) - Australia's newly re-elected government has defended its open support for President George W. Bush in the US election, saying it was inevitable centre-right governments would back one another.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer denied Prime Minister John Howard's comment that he was hoping for a Bush win had damaged the allies' close relationship, despite Democrat John Kerry's camp declaring it "inappropriate".
Downer said the Howard and Bush government "have been very closely entwined" for four years, a period that included Australia's support and participation in the US-led war in Iraq.
"I think everybody knows that John Howard and George W. Bush have a very close relationship," Downer told reporters. "We've done the hard yards together, the Howard government and the Bush administration."
Downer said it was inevitable Howard's conservative Liberal-National coalition would support Bush's Republicans.
"We are a centre-right government and so it's not surprising that centre-right governments sympathise with other centre-right governments around the world in a very narrow, sentimental sense," he said.
Downer said the Australian government would maintain a strong relationship with the United States, regardless of who won the election.
"In practice governments operate on the basis of national interest," he said. "If the administration changes in the United States we will work very well with the Kerry administration."
Democrats Abroad Australia chairwoman Carmelan Polce said Howard was returning the favour delivered by senior Bush administration officials who criticised the Australian opposition Labor Party's election pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq ahead of the October 9 election.
"I see it as tit-for-tat," she said. "Australians saw US comments about their election as grossly inappropriate and now the shoe is on the other foot," she told AFP.
"It's not going to have any bearing on how people vote in the US."
11/02/2004 02:27 GMT - AFP