THE editor-in-chief of The Australian newspaper, Mr Paul Kelly, expects Australia to go through significant economic and social change under the leadership of Prime Minister Paul Keating during the 1990s.
''I think the coming decade will be a tough decade but a period of immense change,'' he told a luncheon hosted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hongkong yesterday.
Mr Kelly, a well-known political commentator in Australia, outlined four major changes he thinks will occur.
He said Mr Keating wanted to preside over a revolution of the Australian economy to ensure it was internationally competitive with a focus on low protective tariffs, low inflation and debt stabilisation.
At the same time, the Labor government wanted to achieve this goal within a social-democratic philosophy that supplied a safety net for the under-privileged.
Mr Keating also wanted to successfully sell Australia to the Asia-Pacific community and sell the idea of Asia-Pacific integration at home.
A large part of this outward-looking strategy would be vigorous diplomatic relations with Indonesia, China and Japan.