Other States will be under pressure to drop the tax, too, as soon as they can. That's a lot of people who will be pleased to see it fall off their bank statements, small though the individual amounts might be. In all, it is a clever Budget, managing a modest surplus and some significant spending at a difficult time, but it is not a visionary Budget. War and peace Judging by his comments in Tokyo, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Downer, has decided that the most useful contribution Australia can make to the renewed debate over Japan's role in the Asia-Pacific region is to concentrate on peacekeeping. This is sensible because the objective, to persuade Japan to take an active part in ventures like East Timor, might be achievable, even though not immediately.
Peacekeeping is an issue on which Australia has established credentials.
This enables it to engage constructively with the new Japanese Government of Mr Junichiro Koizumi without simply parroting the calls of the Bush Administration in the United States for Japan to expand the capabilities and range of its formidable Self-Defence Force. The Downer message was tactful but firm. As for the argument that Article 9 of the US-imposed Constitution, requiring Japan to renounce war, ruled out active participation in peacekeeping, Mr Downer made two points. On the legal issue, he suggested participation in peacekeeping might be validated through legislation rather than constitutional change. Mr Downer was also properly direct in handling the inevitable question about Mr Koizumi's controversial plan to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's war dead, including war criminals.