Midnight Oil Singer In Parliament Would Hurt US Relations - Oz FM

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"Australia's relationship with the US would be jeopardised if the Labor Party preselected Peter Garrett for a safe seat, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said yesterday. Flagging the Federal Government's line of attack if Mr Garrett accepts the offer of the south-eastern Sydney seat of Kingsford Smith, Mr Downer said he was concerned about the former rock singer's opposition to US military visits and the Australian-US satellite ground station at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs.

"Who the Opposition preselects as their candidate is a matter for them," Mr Downer said. "But I note that Peter Garrett has been one of the chief campaigners for the closure of Pine Gap and for the expulsion of the American military from Australian soil. "So I suspect that Mr Latham finds some comfort in the anti-Americanism that is put forward by Peter Garrett and has been for a very long time."

In the first sign that the Government is about to use the Midnight Oil back catalogue to embarrass the Opposition, Mr Downer quoted from the lyrics of US Forces to label any move into politics by Mr Garrett "a setback for our country".

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Mr Garrett has often found himself urging the Labor Party to take a stronger stand on environmental issues - particularly on the key election issues of Tasmania's old growth forests, the Murray-Darling river system and climate change. The forests issue will be the most problematic of these should Mr Garrett join Labor. The foundation, with other environment groups, has demanded the immediate protection of 240,000 hectares of forest, all high conservation old growth areas and wilderness areas. But despite Mr Latham's visit to the forests with Senator Bob Brown of the Greens this year, the Opposition remains committed to preventing job losses in the timber industry."

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