2 Texans Down Under

On this Environment Day, Queensland got news about water in our dams, the Prime Minister talked about cars and fuel, and everybody seemed to be paying attention to events in the United States.

On the down side, this week’s rains didn’t top up Brisbane’s reservoirs after all. They’re still a half point short of the 40 per cent of capacity needed to trigger a pull back from the current level of water restrictions here, according to an announcement by Premier Anna Bligh.

Only showers are predicted for the weekend.

But on the up side, our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, announced to Parliament that fuel efficient and hybrid cars will be the main focus of his government’s plan to assist Australia’s faltering automobile industry.

Noting that there’s already a $500 million green car innovation fund set to begin operation in 2010 and run for five years, Rudd looked to a government/industry partnership to address fuel and environmental challenges by producing not only a “green” car, but also “a green car industry.”

The biggest story in Australian news for most news outlets today, however, is an American story: the victory of Barack Obama in the Democratic primary contest. It was the lead story on the 7:30 Report (ABC, public television) last night and Hillary Clinton’s indication of her decision to soon withdraw will probably be the lead story tonight.

The entire front page of Brisbane’s Courier-Mail (tabloid) was devoted to the Obama victory and the national paper, The Australian, gave it thorough coverage, too. Public radio carried a story of jubilation in Africa and in Indonesia along with positive comments from America-watchers in Europe and other parts of Asia.

Geoff Elliott, The Australian’s Washington correspondent, wrote that there is much for Australia to be glad about in the possibility of an Obama presidency, noting that Obama is not likely to turn his back on this part of the world or the world as a whole. He cited an Obama piece published last year in Foreign Affairs in which he said, “America cannot meet this century’s challenges alone; the world cannot meet them without America.”

There is some anti-American sentiment here, and an Aussie friend of mine is convinced, as, admittedly most of us were until very recently, that the US is too racist to elect a black man. Now, some Australians are quite literally amazed by what they see happening in American politics.

The fact that a black man can even be nominated for president in the US, we’re told, is causing people of color around the globe to re-assess their views of my home country, and one headline here sums up a key element of Australian reaction to the latest news from the US.

It says, “Whatever’s next, this makes history.”